A Surprising Invitation

The day broke with plenteous possibilities and for Beth, the will to live; the will to truly live. She had made a great decision the day before: to stop feeling guilty for the life she was living, the life that had been bestowed on her and to no more permit the likes of Lady Cossington to faze her. She would live her life for herself, attending to her duties as asked of her by the ton, but far from their will and orders. She would live for no one but herself. And if Lord Carlisle would allow her, she would live for him too.

Beth's hand searched underneath her pillows and she retrieved her journal. The brown, leather jacketed book had for long been her friend and her confidante. Its pages had always listened to her complaints, collected her words as a friend and agreed with her as an ally. She smiled and began to flip through it.

She recalled to memory every event that led to the words on each page. Her fingers rubbed the watermark her tears when she told the pages of Lord Carlisle's a