SPRINGTIME PROMISES *published*

CHAPTER 21: A SISTER'S FAREWELL

The sun had barely risen over Kingston and the streets were still quiet as the town slowly stirred to life. Inside the Curl household, however, the day was already bustling with nervous energy. Eva's wedding day had arrived. Her sisters, Allace, Lillie, and Edith had been up before dawn, making sure everything was in place. The quiet of the early morning, however, gave them space to think—and with it, their thoughts drifted to their younger sister.

Allace stood by the window, gazing out at the pale morning sky. She had always doted on Eva, just as Lillie had. From the moment Eva was born, they had taken on the role of protectors and surrogate mothers to their sibling even after their parents had passed, but something weighed heavily on her heart today - a feeling she hadn't been able to shake ever since last night's supper.

She turned toward Lillie who was carefully smoothing out the folds of Eva's wedding dress, a soft smile on her face as she worked. 

"Do you think Mrs. Bruton will ever forgive us?" Allace asked, her voice low.

Lillie paused, her hand hovering over the fabric. "I don't know," she said softly. "But I hope she does. I hope she sees that we're trying to become part of her family, not take anything away from it."

Allace nodded slowly, but her thoughts wandered back to the look on Mrs. Bruton's face the night before when the truth about the wedding being held at the Methodist church had come out. The shock, the pain, had been palpable. Allace hadn't known until that moment how deeply it would cut, not just for Minnie but for the entire Bruton family, and now, here they were, on the day of the wedding, with a heavy cloud of tension hanging over them.

"Maybe Eva could have done things differently," Allace murmured, mostly to herself. "Maybe we all could have."

Lillie looked up, a crease forming between her brows. "What do you mean?"

"She should have told them earlier," Allace said. "About the wedding at our church. Maybe give them time to accept it instead of waiting until the last minute. It wasn't fair to Mrs. Bruton."

Lillie's gaze softened as she walked over to her sister, resting a hand on her arm. "It's not just about the church, Allace. I think Mrs. Bruton feels like she's losing Harry to us...to Eva, and maybe she's worried about the kind of life they'll have together, with everything changing so fast."

Allace sighed, turning back to the window. "I don't like seeing her in pain. She's losing a son today, in a way." A flicker of sadness passed across her face as she continued. "I miss Mother and would like Mrs Bruton to see us as family."

There was a pause and then Allace added, almost in a whisper, "I can't help but think of Leah, you know? From the Bible."

Lillie looked at her quizzically. "Leah?"

"Yes," Allace's voice growing more pensive. "The way she must have felt, watching her sister Rachel be chosen and loved while she was overlooked. I know Edith and Eva don't mean it, but sometimes...it feels like that. Like we've spent our lives looking after Eva especially, and now she's the one who gets to marry first while we're left wondering if it'll ever happen for us."

Lillie smiled sadly, understanding the weight of Allace's words. "I know what you mean. It's hard to watch her step into this new life, but it's not Eva's fault. Things just turned out this way."

Allace nodded but didn't say anything. Lillie was right, of course. It wasn't Eva's fault that their parents had died when she was young, or that they had taken on the role of caretakers, but it didn't erase the ache in Allace's heart - the feeling of being left behind.

"I just hope she doesn't forget about us," Allace whispered. "Or about everything we did to make sure she had this life."

"She won't," Lillie assured her. "She loves us, but things are changing, and we have to change with them. We can't hold onto her the way we used to."