I don't expect many people here to be familiar with Martha Finley's Elsie Dinsmore series, as it's only really popular with a particular group of people I wouldn't expect to be reading or writing fanfiction. I don't grow up reading it myself, but after stumbling upon some scathing reviews, decided it would be the perfect candidate for a fixfic.
For background, the books begin when Elsie is around seven, her mother died when she was a baby, and her guardian died fairly recently leaving her with her father's family, who resent and mistreat her. She has never met her father before and has unrealistically high hopes for their first meeting, which are quickly dashed. She is held up in some circles as a model of Christian faith and virtue and femininity as she lets everyone push her around without complaining and thinks that if only she were good enough she could win her father's love and convert him. One reviewer pointed out that the books could have been good if they were about Elsie accepting that her father was a terrible person who didn't love her, but as it is, they're just terribly sad, completely misrepresent our faith, and send all the wrong messages to impressionable young girls. Since there is realistically very little a seven-year-old could do to take control and improve this situation, this story is an AU where Elsie is now sixteen.
"You will have no friends if you keep on in this way," fifteen-year-old Enna said loftily, in a perfect imitation of her brother.
Elsie shot her an icy glare, too worn out by the day's events to maintain her composure any longer. "Perhaps you've forgotten, but I don't have any friends anyway. My mother is dead, my father doesn't love me, and your family hates me. I am as good as an orphan, and I should think that you would be ashamed to treat me as you do."
Indeed, Enna was ashamed, for though she may have been spoiled and selfish, she dearly loved and was loved by her own mother and father, and the thought of her own niece (who really wasn't a bad sort of girl at all, really) being so bereft and alone did a good deal toward softening her heart toward her. And as Enna also enjoyed indulging in dramatic displays of tears on occasion, she was entirely ashamed of her own conduct when she saw that Elsie had begun to cry quietly.
"Oh, Elsie – I'm so sorry – I didn't mean – I can't believe – I'm sure my brother really does love you."
"Yes, and his prohibition against walking outside alone, or with anyone but him, is entirely for my own safety, I'm sure," Elsie said with more feeling than Enna had ever heard from her before. "I should believe it more readily if I hadn't just come on a ship from Scotland all by myself."
"Oh," Enna gasped, both shocked and awed, "but I thought you loved on your mother's estate, Viamand?"
"I did live there until I was about seven, in the care of my mother's former guardian and his housekeeper, Mrs. Murray, and a longtime servant to the family, Aunt Chloe. She had been a slave, but my mother's guardian bought her freedom, and as she knew nothing of her family and had grown attached to us, she decided to stay on with us."
Enna listened, with surprising patience, for she was sure the most excellent story was to follow. "But how did you end up in Scotland?"
"My mother's guardian fell ill and died, and Mrs. Murray soon after received word from her sister in Scotland that she was needed at home, and while she was more than willing to take me with her, she would not like to do so without writing my father to inform him of the circumstances and obtain his consent. It was the first time I had ever heard that she knew how to reach him, and of course I wondered if he knew where I was and why he did not visit and if I might write to him, for Aunt Chloe had told me of my mother, but could tell me little about my father."
"She must have been very young when she and my brother married, for I have heard that he was only seventeen at the time, but I do not know what else passed between them. Was it all very tragic?"
"It was indeed. They were very young, and I would say they should not have done it except then I should never have been born, so I can't say much about that. Your parents and my mother's guardian were very opposed to the match for their own reasons and thought it best to separate them. My mother's guardian did not expect it would lead to my mother's death soon after I was born."
"My father says she had a sickly constitution, and that is why he is so careful of you."
"On the contrary, she was quite healthy, but you know anyone's health is bound to suffer when they refuse to eat, hardly sleep, and stay in bed all day crying over their heartbreak. Aunt Chloe thought she presumed her husband dead, but I am sure it would have been better for her if she had."
Enna could hardly believe what she was hearing from the normally meek, quiet girl. "Elsie, how could you say that?"
"Don't you see? Your sister Adelaide lost her fiance a few years ago, did she not? I heard one of the servants say so. And she mourned him greatly, but eventually she was able to accept it and carry on. And due to the nature of his passing, she could neither think ill of him nor blame herself, yet my mother thought herself abandoned by a man who could return but chose not to, and it was that heartbreak which led her to neglect her health to the degree that she died. I suppose as I never knew her, I must only think well of her, but I do think it hard that she left me as she did."
Enna appeared enthralled. "Well, what did Mrs. Murray say when you asked her?"
"She did not wish to disappoint me, but she knew she could not hide the truth forever, either. She told me, as gently as she could, that my father had been informed of my birth and my mother's death, and had even sent a note of acknowledgement, but as he had never come or desired that I should come to him before, she thought I should not get my hopes up too much.
"She did write to him all the same by way of his family here, and he sent his reply – the first time I had seen so much as a letter from him – to say she should do as she wished, and it was just as well if she was willing to take me rather than leave me as a burden to his family."
Enna gasped audibly and her face grew hot at the coldness of this reply. "And then Scotland?"
"Yes. It rained far more than it does here, and it was occasionally foggy, but it was very green and lovely, and we went to the ocean often in the summer months. Of course Mrs. Murray and much of her family spoke English, but they taught me Scottish all the same so I could get by without their help."
"I suppose something must have happened to Mrs. Murray, and Aunt Chloe, for you to return alone."
"Indeed, Aunt Chloe did find her family, long after they had all given up hope of ever being reunited on this earth, and naturally she went to live with them. I had a letter from her in Scotland and she said they were all well and happy and settled in the North.
"And Mrs. Murray became ill. She was a Christian and not afraid of death, but she did not like to leave me without knowing I should have a home, so she wrote my father again and informed him of the circumstances, and told him that while I could always count on a home among her people, for her family would certainly never cast me out, if he ever had any intention of providing me with a home, he had better do it now, as I was already fifteen.
"He sent his reply a few months later telling me to come and giving directions for how I should get here. After disembarking from the ship, I took a cab to the train station and then a servant met me at the station in _." Elsie thought a moment. "It was quite an adventure, and I admit I was a little nervous at times, but it was not an entirely unpleasant experience."
As an avid reader of adventure novels, Enna greatly admired Elsie now. Only one question bothered her.
"You must have been very brave. But when you came here, you were so shy and quiet, and we were all so unkind. Why didn't you say anything them?"
Elsie sighed. "I didn't suppose it would do any good. I did not expect to be particularly welcomed, but I did hope if I was polite and respectful, they would not resent my presence. Then when I first met your brother... Can you imagine what I felt, Enna?" She sighed again and shook her head. "The Bible says we ought to honor our father and mother, and I certainly hope to do so. I have no wish to dishonor him or treat him with less respect than I would a stranger. And yet he has been a stranger to me these past sixteen years, and he has not treated me like a daughter since my arrival, as I can see neither love nor justice in his words or actions. He denies me his own affection but demands my own, offers only criticism and never a word of praise, and altogether treats me like a determined nuisance, a burden, a child incapable of reason. Do you know that last week, he forbade me to walk through the meadow? I did not feel it a great loss, but I did ask the reason and he refused to tell me. Do you know why?"
Enna shook her head.
"I asked one of the servants if he knew of any reason and he shook his head and said, 'You don't want to go there miss, there's some awful big rattlesnakes in that meadow."
Enna gasped, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm sure Father has told us before to stay out of the meadow, but he never said why, and so I forget, and just yesterday I walked through it on my way to _ as a shortcut."
"And if they had only told us there were snakes there, we should have never forgotten it, and there would never be any danger," Elsie concluded. "As it is, we might have died, which hardly seems a fair punishment for a moment of forgetfulness."
Both girls fell silent for a moment. Enna spoke first.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm not sure. I have been praying and considering my options. I am a fair seamstress, so I could inquire about that sort of work. And I believe Lucy mentioned that she knew of a family looking for a governess, so perhaps I could find a position. Or perhaps things may improve here. All I know is that I must be patient for now."
I could probably come up with a better ending, but I've already been working on this for long enough. If anyone else wants to pick up where I left off, feel free.