Chapter 1
"You look beautiful mija." May finished piling my hair on top of my head and arranged the stray ringlets so they framed my face.
I smiled warmly at her reflection in the mirror and instead of looking at myself in my vanity, I turned to face her to tell her how much she meant to me but words failed me and instead I found tears rolling down my cheeks.
"No mija! Why did you do that for? Now, I will have to put more powder on you!" May tried to scold me but she was also trying to hold back tears. I embraced her tightly and she did the same before quickly checking outside the door if anyone was nearby and then locking the door. She even locked the windows in my room.
"Now May, don't you think this is a bit excessive? We are on the third floor. How can anyone possibly be able to listen to us?" I smiled as she looked frustrated with me.
"Susannah, they will have my head for this and you will never be able to even leave your room without a chaperone if anyone even hears a fraction of what you plan on doing."
I felt guilty thinking how silly she was being because in truth, the situation was truly grave. I walked over to my bed and sat down, trying to calm my racing mind.
"Are you sure you still want to leave?" May sat next to me, anxiously twisting her apron in her hands.
"My only regret is not being able to take you with me." I said resolutely. "I've been sending down cases of my clothes and necessities this last week. I had the cases sent down to the stables to seem like they are simply part of my father's business. No one would dare question him, so they were safe. Fernando has been taking them in the cover of night fall. Now, I just have to meet him in the edge of the woods so I can finally leave with him."
May's face paled and that was surprising because her olive skin had become even darker because of the passing summer.
"He's been here?" She asked.
"Just the stables. He wouldn't dare come closer. My father is constantly walking the grounds. Fernando knows what he is gambling." I squeezed May's hand in reassurance.
She wasn't too fond of Fernando because he's been known to sweet talk several girls for his own benefit. I wouldn't have looked twice at him either when I first met him, despite how tall and handsome he was. The man he works for, Mr. Henry Blake, came to visit my father for business matters and Fernando came as well. I had been asked to accompany my father and Fernando was at his master's beck and call because he was blind and elderly. As my father and Mr. Blake had taken their business into my father's private office and Fernando was not allowed to listen to their conversation so he and I stayed in the parlor.
"Please, Mr. -?"
"Fernando Gonzalez, but please Senorita call me Fernando."
"Fernando, please have a seat. The heat is atrocious, have some cold lemonade."
I remembered seeing his smile and being charmed almost instantly. It was shameful how quickly my cheeks warmed when I began speaking to him. I enjoyed speaking to him because he spoke to me like he wanted to know my opinion on everything. Fernando's conversations involved intricate politics and he even taught me the little bit of history he learned from the point of view of his Mexican descendants. He made me feel like everything I though and said mattered. It was far from how every other man spoke to me.
Much too quickly, my father and Mr. Blake finished speaking. I felt sad to see Fernando go but it was highly inappropriate to arrange to see him again. However, once they left, my father said that Mr. Blake will be returning the following week to finish business and it may take some time to get everything arranged properly so he will stay in our house for a few days. It seemed a bit odd to me because business deals never took that long but I was more concerned with the fact that Fernando will be here as well.
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