[Author's notes: I'd had ideas for some scenes, but at the time, they didn't really fit. I'd written over 100k, but used only 73k of it. So I'll put them here should someone want to read them. I may make a few short one-shots. Please let me know what you think.]

My first day as a married woman, in a marriage of my choosing, was...unexpected. Edmond avoided me from sunup to sundown.

We were far too old now for silly traditions and superstitions, but I suspected that wasn't the reason he was so peculiar.

He intended to make us all breakfast, that much I knew. I was pleased to arrive at the dining table to find him standing there. Poppy and Piglet had beat him to it.

So instead of sitting at the head of the table, he stood, staring at the empty chair. I thought to call out to him, to beckon him near but resisted.

None of this was a real celebration. Not with poor Raphael's estate being on the line. And then the matter of our nuptials and why they were even possible.

I'd wanted the occasion to be nicer.

Once the girls, girls who were no longer on speaking terms with me, arrived for breakfast, Edmond waited for them to set his place at the head of the table. Then, he picked the plates up, bowed his head, and backed out of the room and into the kitchen.

Piglet took his choice the hardest. It was more than clear that they'd worked so hard.

Since none of us three spoke together, it was an especially unpleasant meal.

Partway, I stood, gathered the food I could, and slipped into the kitchen also.

Edmond sat on a stool, eating his breakfast. He seemed satisfied with the menu at least. When I took Cook's usual chair across the table from him, he sat up, wearing a scowl.

"We are marrying today," I said, "and I refuse to start my first meal with you...without you."

He sighed out through his nose and gave little resistance, something unexpected.

More and more, I longed to see him smile. I suspected it would be a long wait.

Poppy made my dress. Which surprised me. It was a simple blue piece, but regal. Something Piglet informed me was for poor Edmond's sake, and not mine. I couldn't waste her effort, so I wore it. For the first time, I longed to do something special with my hair but hesitated. Again, this was no happy occasion. I did it up anyway. I even used blush, which was so very unlike me.

My status falling so low that a servant with a meager title was on par with me for marriage would devastate anyone. But I wasn't devastated.

The priest arrived late. As he trudged to the garden, led by my daughters, I wondered if he were giving me ample time to run away.

He closed in, more and more, wearing a look of doubt. He came to a stop before us but we did not move. Four people attended this miserable wedding. Five, if the priest were included.

Edmond had asked Cook; her response was...less than ideal.

I could have—should have—warned him against that ill-fated invitation. She quit the same day. But while Edmond worried over it, I, already living in a house with two women working against me, needed no third.

To be sure, this must not have been Edmond's first wedding. It certainly wasn't mine and I did not appreciate how fast the priest sped through it. More than once, I leaned in and asked him to repeat what he'd said, slower.

It embarrassed him enough that he slowed and did his routine properly.

Once the man solidified our marriage and we signed his ledger, he skulked away, much like a murderer abandoning the scene of a crime.

Piglet waited for him to leave before rushing us. I held out my hands for her but she zipped by me, embracing Edmond as she said, "Oh, congratulations. You could have held out for someone younger, though."

Edmond's eyes bugged and he laughed. "Noted."

Poppy was next to hug him, both of my daughters paying me no mind.

Her smile didn't meet her eyes and Edmond asked her, "Must you go away to school so quickly?"

After letting out a sigh, she walked back into the house.

Piglet watched her retreat. "I'll miss her so."

It was ill-advised to engage her but I couldn't help it. "You and I could—"

"Would you look at the time, Edmond," Piglet said while giving a fleeting wave. "Best I get started on your congratulatory supper."

I watched her go, feeling more like a speck under their shoe and less like a mother.

"Well, look on the bright side," Edmond drawled.

My weary eyes settled on him. "Oh?"

"I am still in good standing. They seem to be treating you well on my behalf so you can be certain they won't poison you."

"Don't be too sure," I grumbled.

In my hand, I held roses. The bouquet was pitiful.

Edmond followed my gaze. "I'd picked a big bouquet," he told me, "but I reduced it. We are in no position to make this in any way braggadocios."

I did not answer. For what could I say?

He made the mistake of asking, "How do you feel?"

"Cross."

Losing this much status had always been a nightmare in my eyes. But now that the time had come, I didn't hate it. I couldn't smile because that would be arrogant. It would also disrespect the sacrifice given to get this far. My girls' anguish wasn't an act. I'd hurt them. And Edmond's danger was no act as well.

On the surface, I was sad it came to this. But deep down, I was also relieved. Being at the very bottom was lovely with someone I cared for.

However, seeing him here, standing at my side but not holding me. The miserable scowl he'd worn for the last month hurt me to my core.

At that, he turned to me.

We stared at one another. He was holding something back, as was I.

Today was not ideal, but it was something.

"Is it wrong that I am happy?" I asked. My voice trembled so I sucked in a deep breath. The mouth-watering flavors of an impending supper hung in the air. "No one else is."

"I am. I..." he hesitated then confessed, "I must tell you what the doctor said."

"No." I stood strong, my back stiff. "Not after we've just married. I wish to have only good news today." Reaching down, I brushed his hand. "Will we share my bed tonight or—?"

When he choked and struck his chest, I became fed up.

"Do you not want this?"

His eyes met mine finally. "I'll join you in your bed. The size is fine."

But it barely held him. The times when he worried for my health enough to stay with me in bed, he was forced to crouch up.

"We can get a larger bed," I suggested.

To which he reminded me, "We won't have the money."

Vexed, I stomped away. My intent was to perhaps change and do some chores but instead, I found myself walking to the gate, then out onto the road. Not long after, a carriage trotted beside me. It was Edmond.

He leaned over and called, "Let me carry you."

I held my head high and ignored him. As he was going to sell poor Raphael's estate against my urging, I refused to go.

His dark eyes bore into me for ages before he nodded.

He carried on without me and I slowed in my walk once I found myself on the road side across from the gully where Arabella and Raphael fell atop one another.

It was strange seeing it from this angle. It was also terrifying. Remnants of an old wheelchair still remained, long overgrown and eaten by the lands.

Not far on the other side of the gully was Raphael's pear tree. Tears stung my eyes but there was no reason for them.

Life was strange.

And life was sad.

But life was short and they both experienced something others would live and die and never feel. I almost lived and died without feeling it. And I never would have known I'd missed out on something so amazing.

So I sat down, staring up at the hill that nearly took Arabella's life. It was surely the moment Raphael decided to fight for their love. I saw her now, gearing up to run that chair up the hill. How powerful she must have felt once she'd arrived at the top. And then in the blink of an eye, reality took over and left her defeated.

Back then, I was too panicked to think, but now I wondered if she'd have gone over that ledge rather than let the chair slide down the hill yet again.

Once I found my answer, I decided that she would have.

How stubborn.

"I wish you were here now," I muttered, for it was true. Oh how I wished I'd known about them sooner. Wouldn't I have helped them? Wouldn't I have realized my own stubborn feelings towards Edmond as well?

No. I would have cowered.

I would have shied away. I would have failed.

Night was approaching by the time I stood. I waited on Edmond, my apparent prince.

A lamplight came in the distance and stopped before me. He wore a peaceful smile as he stared me down.

"If you are late for supper, Piglet will be angry."

Smiling, I held out my hand to him. "Will you sit?"

He scanned the dimming dusk, darkening now with the sun falling away.

Five minutes later, he sat on the grass with me. After I stood and approached him, he put his hands out.

I fell into his lap. A quick scan of the empty road had him smiling.

"Perhaps you will stop doing that after today," I muttered.

"Perhaps."

"And I want my full bouquet in the morrow," I affirmed.

I received a nod for that as well.

This felt perfect. Too perfect. And then Edmond told me, "The doctor said...."

For a moment, I blacked out. I hadn't heard him, and yet I had, and yet I hadn't.

Here, sitting on his lap, I turned my upper body until we faced one another. His eyes held fear, hope, anger, disappointment, pride, all in one.

I scoffed. "I'm sorry, Edmond. But I'm nearly thirty-five now."

He lowered his gaze and focused on my shoulder as he confessed, "That was what I'd said as well." He cleared his throat and insisted, "But if it is true, we'd have to move quickly to stop it."

Those words hurt. "If it were true, I'd never stop it. Of course, I wouldn't."

He refused to look at me. "If it were true and it was a boy, I'd name him Rafi, after Eze."

The sentiment had me smiling. "And how about Izabella for a girl? After Bella?"

Edmond pulled me close, peering at the hill, the lamp by his side.

"I hope they are together, finally," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "I hope they never part. So, if it were true and we named one Rafi or named it Izabella, doesn't that mean the other is left behind?" When our eyes met, he kissed my lips and said, "So it's all right if it's not true."

Where to next? Poppy's story continues in "For My Next Trick..."

Or, if you're looking for a Fantasy Romance, give "The Hunchback's Reluctant Bride" a try.