Chapter 1
“I have received a proposal from the local baker, and I was wondering if I should perhaps consider it.” Ophelia looked up from the book opened in front of her, her eyes wide as she registered her mother’s words.
A proposal from the local baker?
“What kind of a proposal?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what her mother meant. Since her father’s demise, her mother, who was still beautiful and exceedingly bright in her forties, had received several proposals from many widowers and older men about Kent. The baker was neither the first nor the last.
“He wishes to marry me.”
“And do you wish to marry him?” Ophelia knew the answer to this as well.
“My wishes hardly matter in this regard, my darling.” Her mother sighed, a sad smile gracing her lips. Ophelia looked closely, the extreme exhaustion on her mother’s face apparent. It was not simply exhaustion from doing work around the house but also the utter exhaustion she had undergone in the past four years since her father, Viscount Lockwood, passed away.
“Your wishes matter the most, Mother,” Ophelia insisted, holding both her mother’s hands across the kitchen counter, which also served as their dining table during meal times.
“We need the finances, Ophelia.”
What gave her the most sorrow was she knew her mother was right. For the past four years, they had suffered immensely, their funds rapidly dwindling. Whatever they had left now would not be enough for the whole year, and they would submerge into complete poverty.
How had life turned from a mansion in Hastings to a cottage in Kent? Ophelia did not understand.
She looked up at her mother once again, silently sipping her tea as she stared out into space even though her eyes rested on her three other children sitting in the small living room attached to the kitchen. Ophelia, too, turned around to look at Andrew, her three-year-old brother, playing by himself from some pieces of broken wood. Amelia and Sarah, her sisters, just fourteen and sixteen, were busy talking in whispers, both of them smiling.
It was heart-warming for Ophelia to see someone laughing despite the circumstances that had fallen upon them.
“Mother?” she turned back towards her mother, who had always been praised for her unmatched beauty. Ophelia had taken after her father but was still quite beautiful in her unique way. Amelia and Sarah, on the other hand, were exactly like their mother.
“Yes, my dear?”
“Are you considering the proposal seriously, then?” she asked, sighing deeply.
The burly form of the baker came into her mind, his pot belly hiding under the lumpy velvet coat he insisted on wearing no matter what the weather was. Inside his bakery, he was always dressed in simple shirts, the buttons open to his stomach, showing things no one wanted to see.
However, what truly disturbed her was certainly not the physical appearance of the baker because that was something one could overlook entirely. What perturbed her was his unkind attitude and sour mood, which was so in contrast to her deceased father that Ophelia could never see her mother married to a man such as him. Her mother represented kindness and warmth, while the baker was the exact opposite of it all.
Ophelia did not even wish to picture them together.
“We have no money left, Ophelia.” The sadness in her mother’s voice was apparent, but she kept her voice deliberately low to keep the information from the other children. Ophelia was the only one who was aware of her mother’s troubles, and she wanted to do nothing more but somehow be of help.
“None at all?”
“A few months at best.” Her mother shrugged. “If everything had not been taken away from us, things would have been okay. Now, I am just a dowager viscountess, and you are the children of a viscount but without the money and resources which were rightfully ours. We have been left with nothing, and you know that.”
The simple fact that her mother was desperate enough even to consider such a proposal was enough indication for Ophelia that things were truly awful. In the past few years, her mother had been holding her own by doing small jobs and Ophelia had been helping her by doing the same. However, now, no small jobs would be able to help them since the financial instability was constantly growing.
“You cannot marry that man, Mama.” She shook her head, completely dismissing the idea. “I will not let you go to such extreme measures. We will think of something or other to step out of this hole, but under no circumstances will I let you marry someone as selfish and unkind as that baker.”
“You do not understand, Ophelia.” Her mother shook her head. “I have to give you three a good life, and with no money, that will be impossible. Andrew will eventually grow into a young boy and will need to pursue a gentleman’s education just the way your father wished him to. How will we support that? How can we send him to Eton if we have no funds?”
Ophelia sighed. Her mother was right. Despite that, it did not mean Ophelia would let her make this large a sacrifice.
“Mama, I know how important a formal education was for father, but it does not mean that to provide that for Andrew, you have to marry someone you do not love. That is something I cannot allow you to do. It will break you, and in turn, it will break us as a family,” Ophelia insisted, a tear falling down her face.
“It’s not just Andrew, Ophelia. Sarah expressed her desire to become a teacher, and to pursue a teacher’s education, she, too, will need to go to school. Amelia wishes to get married, and we must have some money set aside for that,” her mother explained, controlling tears of her own. You must have some hopes and wishes as well, my darling. You are just twenty and so young. How can I take away your life from you? I want all of my daughters to make good matches in marriage and how will you be able to do that if we have no money for survival?”
“You have done everything to give us a good life even after Father passed away,” Ophelia reasoned, “if anything, I amgrateful to you. But now, please let me try to help you so we can step out of this situation without you succumbing to a loveless marriage.”
“How? You know we cannot ask your Uncle Edgar for anything.”
