SHACKLES

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Time passed too quickly, though I wished it would slow down. It had been so long since I last saw home. But I didn’t miss it — not really. Whatever had once made it feel like home was either gone or no longer the same. Perhaps home had simply lost its charm. The thought of returning filled me with quiet dread.

And though I insisted I didn’t want to go back, Aunty had been uneasy ever since the day I met that striking young man.

The night before I left Spitalfields for Berkshire, my aunt and I shared a quiet, heartfelt moment. She held my hands and said, “I love you — and I wish your mother were here to see the woman you’ve become. You’ve grown into a beautiful young lady... a capricious one, if I may say.” She gave me a sideways glance and laughed softly.

I smiled and said, “I’m going to miss you. Just promise you’ll take care of yourself — and that you’ll come visit me.”

She squeezed my hands. “I’ll be there before your debut, with the finest ball gown London can offer — and you’d better not get into trouble while I’m gone, or your father will ban me from ever stepping foot in the house again. Not that he doesn’t already dislike me.”

Laughing, I tugged at my ear and said, “I won’t cause any trouble. But promise me you’ll bring the finest silk when you come.”

She grinned, and we held each other a little tighter. “Of course I will,” she said.

And we both laughed — that kind of laughter that feels like a shared secret no one else in the world could possibly understand.