Ribbon of Red: Editing

I

In the light of the full moon I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling, pondering the upcoming event of my wedding. My childhood friend and fiancé Elizabeth was returning home from Paris in the morning to prepare for the ceremony. The bedroom was cold even though the fire shone dimly in the corner.

I turned my head to look at the opened letter that laid on my bedside table. The candle occasionally dripping speckles of wax upon the neat yellow parchment. I rolled my feet over the side of the bed and sat up, taking the note in my hands. It was from Elizabeth.

I reread the contents of her letter, delicately printed in thin black ink.

𝒯𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓂

𝐼𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔, 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝐼 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝒶𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝐼 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃. 𝑀𝒶𝓂𝒶 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝓈𝒸𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝒸𝓀𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝒻𝑒𝓌 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒. 𝐻𝑜𝓌'𝓈 𝐿𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓃? 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒. 𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒶𝒹𝒶𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝑒𝒹𝒾𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒. 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓁𝓎 𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓏𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽

In the morning I dressed in one of my best suits and top hat, and started off to greet my playfellow upon her arrival. The morning was rather foggy and small droplets condensed upon the carriage windows. The streets of London were waking but still had sometime before I would count them lively.

The streets near the docks were faintly bumpy, but soon smoothed over. When the carriage came to a halt, I waited in the back seat until passengers began to come out. Stepping out of the carriage just in time to see Elizabeth emerge.

Time had been kind to her, and she had blossomed into that of a beautiful woman. Her golden hair tied back in loose ringlets that flowed over her shoulders and back perfectly complementing her light pink dress.

Her blue eyes searched the crowd, and her face shone with glee when her gaze rested upon me.

"William!" she cried out as she waved to me. I nodded back to her with a faint grin upon my lips. She picked up her skirts and flung herself down the ramp and into my arms, as she did when we were children.

"Oh William, look at you!" she cried "all grown up."

"And you" I told her "more beautiful than the moon herself."

"You flatter me" she said casting her eyes shyly downwards, a slight blush creeping upon her face.

"My friend knows I speak only the truth."

"Then I believe your eyes are the ones who lie, for I do not shine with the moon's glory."

"Quite right, quite right the sun is more adequate for you." I said teasingly.