Dearest Molly,

I fear as if I may have ruined things.

After my near-miss with Mother, I decided it might be best if we put a hold on our meetings, or at least created an excuse to give were we to be caught again. He didn't agree. For the first time since I have known him, he became mad with me.

He accused me of not loving him as much as I said I did, of putting my family first over what we had, but that is not true. Mother suspects something and I know that if anyone were to find out, he would be sent away from our household. Of course, he believes that no one is going to discover us as long as we are careful, but that does nothing to stop the nerves eating away at me.

We need a little bit of time to make sure we had a story planned just in case someone asked questions. I do not want to have to lie to Mother and Father, but I have no choice. I also do not want to have to stop our meetings when they are already so few and far between, but what else can we do?

I do love him, truly I do, but I fear that my suggestions may have ruined things. He became so mad, Molly. I have never seen him act in such a way and I will do whatever it takes to make it up to him, I just do not know what to do. Or at least, I do not know if it is an acceptable thing to do.

There are — as there are with most things — rules that must be followed and I know these rules must be followed, but do they apply to us? We are in love now and I know I want to spend my life with him. Would it be alright for me to break these rules because I love him? It isn't as if anyone else will find out, so what can the harm be?

I need to do something drastic to get him to see that I do love him.

Maybe some rules are made to be broken.

Until next time.

Love, Catherine.

~~~

First Published - February 19th, 2022