The Homecoming Bride

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Great Divide

CHAPTER SONG: "The Great Divide" by Emmy Rossum

The letter was stuck in the post slot inserted into the front door when all ladies of the Schofield family were approaching the house, coming back from the train station...

The return address in Dublin, Ireland...

The sender's name penned in elegant ebony scroll...

Mrs. Charlotte Henshaw-Seymour... writing to the bereft Emmanuelle Hunterson-Schofield.

It was just the lifeline she needed to cling onto, recovering herself from the separation of her beloved William back to France in continued service of his country.

Emmy listened as Molly read the letter aloud, waiting to send little Cecelia and Giselle upstairs to nap and discuss the matter between the two adult women.

"There's no question you need to go to Dublin and be with her, dear sister." Molly wasted no time in her urging Emmy to take action. "And don't use me and the girls as your excuse to stay here wallowing around. You'll adjust to Will's absence as I have; I know you will as you've endured much worse ordeals."

Molly's strict orders kept Emmy alert in her listening, nodding along as she contemplated the situation. Logically, the American woman knew her coming to Dublin wouldn't cure Charlotte of consumption, but she owed the Yorkshire widow her life, if not more than that.

Emmy didn't need to ask if Molly and her daughters would fare safely if she temporarily left as they had survived long before she had entered their lives.

There was only the matter of affording the train ticket to Ireland on a one-way trip as Emmy no longer had the technological advantage of a mobile phone to navigate her destinations in a foreign country as she had back in the 21st century...

As much as she adored and loved her new life in the 1910s, Emmy sometimes missed the convenient access of the Internet...

And as a woman traveling alone, the more vulnerable she would be, making such a journey without her Will as a protector and tour guide...

But part of her was anticipating doing this on her own without needing assistance.

Molly needed every pound and shilling in her possessions to provide necessities for the children and upkeep the rent and Emmy swore to herself that after the chaos of the wedding and the comedown from the honeymoon passed, she would pull her weight and find a job in the village and make her own savings...

The last thing she wanted to be was a free-loader...

Her marriage to William Schofield was one of love and sacrifice, and wouldn't be centered on economic position.

And as a woman literally out of time, she possessed none of her own money and she wanted to earn it as she had earned her newfound family's love.

And her first venture in difficult earning would be paying for the train ticket to see her dying friend...

And she wouldn't ask for charity.

Emmy walked through the village square, knowing where she was going as her eyes sought out the OPEN sign of her destination inside one of the shop windows.

She didn't have much of her own valuables... none she could do without as so much she had been given by those she loved was too precious to part with.

Her hand shaking, she inhaled a breath and pushed open the door, the ringing bell piercing the air.

.

.

Molly couldn't wait much longer for Emmy to arrive home as the sun set and she had to make supper for the girls.