your will shall decide your destiny

the truth of the matter

Diana didn't know what to think. Aunt Josephine and Aunt Gertrude. A romantic ideal? When she had asked Anne, she confirmed her suspicions.

"They were in love."

Those words rang in her head all night. She slipped away from the party. She really needed a moment to think.

After Cole and Anne had talked to her she felt guilty yet still confused. She was glad that her Aunt Jo didn't miss out on love and happiness, but she wasn't sure what she thought of it all.

A woman and a woman? She never considered that possibility. She vaguely remembered there being a story in the paper about a man and a man who had been shunned from society and gone to prison. It was barely a memory, for as soon as her parents saw her eavesdropping on their conversation, they scolded her and sent her to bed. But she had been a mere six years old. But now, at fourteen, she understood so much more. And suddenly everything she was taught and told to believe, seemed like grazing the surface of possibility.

Not only that, but the prospect of not marrying and taking piano seriously as a career seemed groundbreaking. She knew many resilient women,and whats the word, feminists were pushing the boundaries of what is to be expected. But Diana was a Barry. That name held so much prestige and honor. Her mother wanted her to finish and become a lady so that she may one day become a good wife. But is that really what Diana wanted? She didn't know anymore.

Actually had she ever wanted that? Or was it just what she was supposed to do? Diana realized that her future was hers. She never considered other opportunities and possibilities because she always assumed that she would do what was expected of her. But that is what Diana always did. What was expected of her. She always had to follow the rules and please her parents. 

Diana was utterly conflicted. Her future had been decided for her. But was any of it what she wanted? She didn't know anymore.