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When she opened her eyes, she started to recognize the familiar sights of London. She could not help but smile, listening to the murmur of a familiar dialect, the language she grew up with, the streets she walked through. She knew that she was returning to them as a stranger, but still, there lingered inside of her a sense of welcoming, and she relished it. Finally, the carriage passed through a familiar gate, the gravel crackling underneath the horses’ hooves, and then, it came to a halt.

“Is she here?” a voice echoed in the distance. As she was still in the carriage, she could not see who it belonged to. Patiently, she waited for her father to get out of the carriage. He helped his wife first, and Penelope scolded herself for hoping that he would extend the same hand of help to her as well. He did not.

Penelope exited the carriage on her own, and before she could breathe a single gasp of London air properly, someone’s arms wrapped around her, welcoming her into an embrace. The moment Penelope inhaled the person’s scent, she knew it was Adeline. She always preferred those rare perfumes with a hint of orange.

“I cannot believe you are really here!” Adeline pulled away, her face radiant with youth and vitality, and her eyes bright with joy and excitement. “Let me take a look at you!”

Penelope was left speechless. Adeline’s features, though familiar, bore the mark of time passed since their last meeting. Her once childish face had matured into delicate beauty, framed by cascading waves of chestnut hair that danced around her shoulders. A warm smile played upon her lips, dimples appearing with every grin.

She was dressed in a simple yet elegant gown, the fabric draping gracefully over her slender frame, accentuating her youthful charm. Penelope immediately felt ashamed of her oblate garments as she had only those to wear. The thought occurred to her only then. Her parents had come for her, but they did not even think to prepare some traveling clothes for her. Penelope wrapped her arms around her chest, feeling almost naked and beyond disgraced.

She smiled at Adeline, not wanting to appear rude. “It is lovely to see you, Adeline. You look… beautiful.”

“And you…” Adeline tried the same compliment, but it was difficult to compliment a nun — or an oblate like her, at least — wrapped up in shapeless, bland-colored clothes. “You must be tired from the journey. Come.” She grabbed Penelope by the hand, pulling her into the house. “We will go to your chamber and find you the most beautiful gown there is!”

Penelope doubted that she possessed such an item, but her mind was unbothered by that. It was something else that was missing.

“And Vanessa?” Penelope looked around as she was being dragged into the house that held so many bad memories for her.

Instead of Adeline, her father replied, catching up with them, “You may have half an hour to freshen up. Then, we shall all meet for tea in the parlor and discuss… things.”

Nothing was a discussion with her parents, and there was no exception to the rule. Still, she hoped that Adeline knew something, so she merely nodded and rushed after Adeline in an effort to leave her parents behind, at least behind a closed door if further away was not possible.

Just as she thought, Penelope did feel better behind a closed door. She could breathe properly again as she turned around what used to be her chamber all those years ago. She smiled at the little things left untouched with a gentle layer of dust covering her vanity table, the dresser, and the chair in the corner, almost as if that chamber was purposely left untended. Penelope did not mind. Not anymore.

She turned to Adeline with a smile. “I am honestly surprised that Mother and Father did not turn this room into another library or something of the sort.”

Adeline looked down at her feet then her lips pouted ever so slightly before she spoke. “Father wanted to, but I asked him not to. I… I was always hoping you would come back.”

Penelope’s heart almost broke. She walked over to her sister and caressed her cheek. Their parents both had that favorite child, and they did not even try to hide it. Mother had preferred Vanessa, who resembled her in every manner a child resembled its mother. Father, on the other hand, had chosen little Adeline, for she was the most obedient one; the most malleable. That left Penelope in the middle. No one’s child.

“Thank you,” Penelope replied, “for keeping all of this for me.”

“I would never let them turn it into anything other than what it is, Penelope, and that is your room.”

Penelope sighed. “I am afraid it will not be my room for much longer as it seems I am to get married.”

Adeline seemed slightly confused at the comment, but she did not say anything. Instead, she hastily walked over to the window and opened it. “To let some fresh air in,” she exclaimed. “It is a lovely morning.”

“It is,” Penelope agreed, turning to her. “Now, will you tell me why everyone is avoiding questions about Vanessa?” She paused for a moment, gripped by a sister’s worst fear. “Has something happened to her?”

Adeline’s eyes immediately widened in shock. Her lips parted, but no words flowed. It was obvious that she was having a battle with her own self, whether or not she should speak.

“Adeline, please,” Penelope spoke tenderly. “I have been kept in the dark from the moment Mother and Father came for me. First, they tell me I am to marry someone I have never met. And then, I return home to find that one of my two sisters is missing. Please… tell me what this is all about.”

“Oh, Penelope,” Adeline spoke, her words weighing a ton as she spoke them. “Vanessa is not here. Vanessa has… run away.”

“Run away?” It was Penelope’s turn to become paralyzed with shock.

She could not imagine their mother’s perfect daughter doing something so dreadfully shameful to the family such as running away.

“With a man?” Penelope asked for more clarification.

“No, no, it is… the opposite.”

“The opposite?” Penelope exclaimed. “I do not understand…”

“Vanessa ran away exactly because she did not want to marry that cold duke Father had chosen for her,” Adeline clarified.