Chapter 3 I hadn't expected to see Violet again so soon. Just a week later, she came to our door carrying gifts, saying she wanted to thank Julian for saving her. Soon, the table was laden with an array of exquisite pastries. Our neighbor, Mrs. Henderson, leaned in to whisper a warning to me. "Eleanor, dear, you need to be on your guard. You're not married into the Hawthorne family yet, and there are plenty of women out there with their eyes on your Captain Hawthorne." Her eyes remained fixed on Violet as she spoke. When I still didn't react, Mrs. Henderson reached out and patted my head with a sigh. "You silly child." Then she turned away, muttering under her breath and even spitting toward Violet. "Hussy!" I'd heard the talk too. After Julian rescued Violet, she had asked him to dinner alone multiple times, all in the name of thanking him. They'd been seen together more than once at the State Diner. Mrs. Henderson knew about the debt Julian felt he owed me and about our engagement. That's why she was so keen on protecting me from Violet. But I shook my head. After that dream, I was even more certain: I couldn't use my so-called "sacrifice" to bind Julian to me. His life should be his to choose. And as for me-I wanted to be free. I no longer wanted to stay with the Hawthornes. Because aside from Julian, no one here treated me kindly. Violet, by contrast, was welcomed with open arms. Even Margaret Hawthorne, Julian's grandmother, adored her. She liked her so much that she kept pulling Violet's hand, pushing her closer to Julian, telling everyone their family needed exactly a member like her. They hadn't even known each other long when Margaret gave Violet the diamond ring, the treasured heirloom meant for Julian's future wife. 21.43% I remembered Julian once mentioning that heirloom. It was supposed to go to his bride. When he happened to come downstairs and heard his grandmother's words, his brows furrowed in displeasure. "Grandma, please don't say such things. I'm going to marry Eleanor." But even as he said it, he and Violet were growing closer by the day. As fate would have it, his next assignment from the army was to provide personal protection for Violet, the brilliant intellectual just returned from abroad. That mission bound them together, day and night. And the people in the estate never missed a chance to mock me. Day after day, they teased me to my face. "Eleanor, your man was seen at the pictures with Violet." "Little fool, Captain Hawthorne went shopping at the General Store today." "Does Captain Hawthorne still want you? We all saw him buying Miss Sterling a vintage floral dress. Did he buy you one?" Whenever they started, I would slip away to sit under the old locust tree by the gate. I wasn't even sure if I felt heartbroken. The truth was, I could imagine not marrying Julian. But did he have to cast me aside completely? I didn't want to be alone. I...I needed a family. Julian had always been good to me. He was all I had felt. If we couldn't be husband and wife-couldn't I still be his family member? I picked up a twig and began tracing circles in the dirt. Chapter 3 21.43%