Ivyxellie
~ Forbidden love
~ 1800s
"I have been thinking. About Paris. About this week." She stepped closer, confusion on her face.
"Just say it," she whispered. "It is only me." Her hand brushed my cheek, steadying what trembled inside me.
"I- I see you as more than a friend," I finally confessed. "I am utterly enchanted by you. I see my future with you... only you."
Evelyn Hartley is a 19-year-old girl who cherishes quiet mornings in her garden, long walks with a book in hand, and baking alongside her sister Clara. She has lived all her life in the peaceful village of Willowmere, where the rhythm of the seasons shapes her days. Every year, as the mornings begin to warm and the sun rises over the woods, Evelyn indulges in her private ritual of reading among the trees, until this year, when she unexpectedly meets a young man.
James Ashford, a 21-year-old from Everleigh, a town known for its wealthy inhabitants, is polite, charming, and secretly very fond of Evelyn.
A talented painter, he carries his heart in quiet strokes of color, hoping she might notice. Their feelings for each other grow quickly, but an old family argument keeps them apart, a disagreement that has lasted for generations.
Will Evelyn and James dare to fight for their love, or will the weight of history hold them back?