Chapter Eleven

Every day, the gift of life is breathed into a small defenseless child.
But the gift is not giving to them by their mother or father but from a stranger, someone they will never know. It is given to them by a dying sole that is taking their own last breath.

-From the New-York News of the World Gazette, Wednesday, January 9th, 1902

Even though the sun was shining brightly down upon Manhattan, the temperature was dropping slowly, only making it colder than it had been in weeks. Diana's uncovered hand was placed on chilled window of her sister's carriage. Her soft eyes were closed, creating a world where there was no light for a short time. She felt her body sway with every imperfection in the road while her ears picked up the melody left behind by the trotting hooves of two horses. Diana had now been in Manhattan for three days with only a select number of people knowing she was here. She had managed to move around town without being recognized but her past few days mainly consisted of lying low at her sister's home. Diana was not quite ready to be one of society's top priorities. She knew that the papers would be filled with her mysterious arrival and that she would be the talk of the sleepless city. But she also knew that once she was recognized, there was no going back to a world where no one knew her name.

Diana's hand was beginning to match the temperature of the frosted window. She felt a drop of icy water slowly make its way down the outside of her hand. It was then she opened her eyes and placed her hand on top of her warm coat. She smiled at the remains of her hand as it sat upon the window. Water began to race down it, trying to erase the damage that had been done. While watching her hand print slowly disappear, she noticed that beyond the window movement outside. People were walking on the snow covered streets in their warm high fashion coats. Stagecoaches like the one she was in were passing along side of them going into the opposite direction. Diana's heart began to race. She took one hand and pulled the brim of her hat over her eyes in an attempt to hide herself from eyes of the city that lurked outside. Once she placed her hands back in her lap, a quite laugh emerged from beside her.

"Oh Di, no one is going to recognize you in here," her older sister laughed, looking up from her book. Elizabeth leaned over and pushed Diana's hat back up so that she could see.

"The only way someone would realize it was you is if they were looking for you and believe me, I highly doubt anyone is expecting you to turn up anytime soon." Diana crossed her arms in frustration but she knew Elizabeth was right. It would be wise to take what she her sister had said to heart for she had been in same situation almost two years ago. But of course, her story was slightly different. Elizabeth and her so called friend Penelope had everyone in Manhattan convinced that she was killed in a carriage accident. While no one expected that Elizabeth would somehow ever turn up again, she managed to come back to New York and stay here for weeks before a fatal incident in the train station. After that, everyone knew she was alive and well but in the meantime, her husband Will was killed. But no one really knew what happened to Diana. All they knew was that she was gone. The only ones that knew that she was in Paris were the one she trusted to keep her secret and for the past year they stuck to their word. But their stories were also quite similar. No one was expecting either of them to show up so each girl could go unrecognized in the restless roads of their home town.

"Alright, but if I see my name in the papers tomorrow, it will all be your fault," Diana mumbled quietly.

"And I will take the blame," her sister replied then buried her nose back into the aged pages of her book. It was then Diana's curiosity took over when she noticed a gold letter on the cover of her sister's book.

"What are you reading?" she asked. Like her older sister, she enjoyed to read. She liked to learn about a couple's adventure as they discovered love where they thought they would never find it. It made her believe that one day; she might even find love again.

"It's called Last Ride," Elizabeth said without looking up.

"That's strange, I have never heard of it." Diana had read almost every book that Elizabeth had ever owned plus the books she had purchased over the years. If Elizabeth had had this book for a long time, and by the condition of the book it looked like it, she should have recognized the name.

"It's an old book. I found it on the shelf the day you arrived," Elizabeth said.

"Well if you don't mind, may I see it?" Diana asked politely. Her sister shut the book cautiously and offered it to her. She took it with great care and ran her fingers across the delegate lettering. She slowly opened the front page where she found the same ink inscription Elizabeth had found days before.

"This, this is-" Diana struggled to complete her sentence although she didn't need to. Elizabeth nodded her head.

"That's our father's handwriting." They both smiled at each other in the memory of him.

"Why do you have this?" she managed to ask when she handed it back over.

"I don't know, but I am giving it back to Mother once we get there." Diana was pleased with her sister's selfless act. It had been a year sense Diana had last talked to her mother and she had some butterflies flying around in her stomach. She was excited to see her mother again, but she was also heartbroken. To see her mother in the state she was in was almost unbearable. This was the second time she had gotten this sick. It almost made her wish she had never left for Paris so that she could have spent more time with her. At her age and state of health she was in, everyone knew she wouldn't live much longer. For the rest of the ride, the sisters were quiet. They both were deep inside their own thoughts that talking to one another wasn't important. The fact that they were in each other's company was good enough.

Diana heard the driver's voice command for his team to slow down and come to a halt. The carriage jerked forward like it always did when they stopped. Diana then wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as she prepared herself for the cold breeze that would soon fill the cab. She watched Elizabeth brace herself as well, but she also held the book close to her body to protect it from the harsh and unforgivable wind. Elizabeth caught her sister's glance and she offered Diana her hand. She took it and felt Elizabeth give a converting squeeze as if saying everything was going to be alright. Diana heard a knock on the window. She turned and saw the driver standing outside in the cold winter wind. She nodded to him and he opened the door kindly for her. Diana let go of her sister's hand and stepped outside into the sunlight that gave off no heat. She turned around to see the familiar house where she had spent countless months growing up and learning how to be a lady. She smiled at the thought of having her mother being with her every day as she learned the proper way to present herself. Her mother was always there for her. But today, it was Diana's turn to be there for her dying mother.

Thanks for reading and please please please review! I need to know what you think about my story so I know what to change or what to keep the same.
-wr