Page 1 of Alessandra (Chisholm Manor #1)

Alessandra sat on the stone bench in front of her home, enjoying feeling the sunshine beaming down on her face.

Already 18 years of age, she'd reached a point in her life where she could appreciate the life that she led at home with her parents.

As a family, they weren't as well off as some people in the village, but she knew they also weren't in such a dire position as others.

Her young puppy, Fern, lay at her feet.

He basked in the warmth they both knew was coming to an end.

It was autumn, and the trees before Alessandra were almost bare of leaves.

The ground nearby was intensely covered with the colours of orange and yellow.

Day to day, Alessandra spent her time obediently doing whatever chores her mother or father placed on her shoulders.

When she wasn't sewing, feeding the chickens, or helping in other areas of their home, she indulged in reading novels.

It was exciting to let her mind wander to lives and places far more exotic than her own.

She'd been fortunate to have been raised with a tutor and a governess. Both had taught her skills in language, etiquette, and music. What her mother had taught her throughout her whole life to date was what she'd need to know when she would one day go off with a husband to a new home.

Whenever Alessandra had thought about marriage, she'd always been excited by the idea of it.

Almost all of the girls in her immediate area were already married and in homes of their own before they'd turned eighteen.

Having attended one wedding ceremony after another, Alessandra had started to believe that marriage might not be the chosen path for her after all.

It wasn't that she had no opportunity to meet young men. A year earlier, she'd found herself quite enraptured with Tom Missinger. A handsome young man, he'd danced with her at many village assemblies over the preceding year or so. Alessandra had let herself believe that he loved her and would want to marry her. That was before she'd found out that he'd gone away and married another.

She still couldn't identify how she'd so mistakenly read his intentions.

She didn't understand why he hadn't told her if he'd had no interest in her as a potential suitor.

He seemed to have sought her out on the evenings of the balls.

He'd complimented her, and made sure she always had places for him on her dance card. It had thrilled her to be close to him, even just in dance. To her, he was the most handsome young man in her acquaintance, with his easy-going manners effortlessly making her laugh and feel much at ease.

Since realising she had greatly misread his intentions, Alessandra had built a more solid resolve around her.

She'd raised an armour to make sure she wasn't so easily misled for a second time.

She would never again misconstrue any man's feelings towards her.

Having a different ethnicity blend compared to other people in their village, with her Italian mother and an English father, she knew in her heart that she was plain.

She expected she would never turn any man's head through prettiness.

The question that played on her mind was simply that of wondering what her life would entail if she truly was not intended for marriage.

"Alessandra," she heard her mother call from inside the house.

"Can you come and help me please?"

Alessandra abruptly stood up, waking up Fern in the process.

After the young puppy jumped to attention, they looked at each other.

"Sun time is over for me, Fern," Alessandra said before walking into her home.

She found her mother, Isabella, in the kitchen, looking busy as she looked through the storage of jars and boxes.

"Oh, Alessandra," Isabella said on seeing her daughter approach.

"I think it is a good day for you and I to head out to the garden and harvest as much as we can.

We need to ensure that whatever is out there is adequately stored for winter.

It feels like a cold front is coming. We must be prepared for it."

Alessandra nodded at her mother.

She'd often quietly wondered how her mother and father were both so handsome and yet had made her - someone so plain.

She quickly dismissed the thought from her head.

Such thoughts fell under the umbrella of vanity - something she'd been taught she shouldn't let herself fall victim to.

The two of them walked out the back door and into the sprawling area behind the house.

Alessandra imagined that sometime in the past it must have been wonderfully well kept, tidy, and structured.

Now, with only the family plus one married couple to help in and around the house, it always seemed like there was never enough time to keep on top of everything that the property demanded.

As Alessandra walked alongside her mother, she felt particularly plain and dull.

In her mother, she saw beauty, confidence, and a true sense of power.

Alessandra knew her parents had presented the world with four children.

The first two hadn't survived past infancy. Now there was only Alessandra and her older brother, Nicholas, and he was already married and well settled with his own family underway in their own home.

Watching her mother begin to harvest what was left of the late fruit, vegetables, and herbs, Alessandra began to suspect there was more to their time outside together.

She waited patiently as her mother seemed to gather her words and then finally spoke.

"Alessandra, you know that we have always told you that one day you will marry," her mother began, making Alessandra's heart skip a beat at the words.

"You also know that we do not have such a level of land or income that may have presented you with suitors to choose from as you wished."

Alessandra nodded.

She had no idea about their financial situation as a family, but guessed money wasn't too readily available, given how they lived.

She remained silent as she saw her mother stop walking and look intently at her.

"We have found a young man who you are to become betrothed to," Isabella said, surprising Alessandra all the more.

At the astonished look on her daughter's face, Isabella continued.

"This young man lives on a large family estate near Bath.

It is a good match for you."

"But, Mother, why should he want to marry me, knowing that I have nothing to offer him?" Alessandra asked.

She was confused about how such a thing could have come about, given how hopeless the idea of marriage had seemed only minutes earlier.

Her mother looked at her deeply.

"Because you do have something to offer him, Alessandra," Isabella said before pausing to wonder how her daughter would receive the news about to be delivered.

"Although we have never advertised it, your father and I have had money put aside for you through all these years, for your dowry."

"We are not poor?" Alessandra asked meekly, still not understanding.

On hearing what her mother had just said, she felt like she was in shock.

Her mother took her hand and led her to a stone bench in the sunny corner of the garden wilderness.

"Your grandparents - my mother and father - were distantly related to the royal family in Italy," said Isabella.

"They were very wealthy.

When they died, they left a considerable amount of money in trust for your dowry.

It has never been touched as you had to wait till you turned eighteen until you could access it. Now that you are of age, it can be used for the purpose it was intended."

"Then this man who wishes to marry me ... what he actually desires is this money?" Alessandra asked her mother.

She could still not see what the attraction would be for this other mystery family.

Her mother looked at her and took her hand.

"Alessandra, it is every woman's right and duty to marry, set up their own home, and start their own family.

This family is a farming family.

They have much land and many tenants.

What they do not have is the level of ready money they would like to keep their estate well cared for. Therefore, yes - they wish for this match due to the size of the dowry you will take with you."

Alessandra considered the situation being presented to her.

She'd known this was how marriages were formed, of course.

Marriage was a recipe of two parties needing something from each other, but as Isabella spoke, Alessandra felt like she was simply an item, being put up for sale.

"What if they take this money but then they do not want me?" she asked.

"Where will that leave me?"

"You seem more worried about the issue of the money than the issue of getting married," Isabella replied.

Alessandra took a moment to think about this news.

Some man she didn't know, wanted to marry her.

Only, he didn't necessarily want to marry her because he had never met her - or had he?

"Have I met this man?" she asked her mother, who shook her head.

"No, you have never met anyone in this family," Isabella replied.

"They live far away, and have only contacted us via post."

"How does he know that he wants to marry me? He might see me and then run away," Alessandra said, making her mother laugh softly.

"Oh, Alessandra, he will not want to run away when he sees you!" Isabella reassured her.

"But it is his father and mother who are initiating this, not the young man himself.

I suspect he has as little to do with this decision as you do."

"Have you already accepted?" Alessandra asked her mother, not at all certain how she was feeling about the news.

"No," Isabella replied as she shook her head.

"Your father and I agreed that we would talk to you first, and see how you felt about it.

We will not force you.

With the kind of money that was left to you, you do have the power to make your own choice. But this family seems honourable and well known, Alessandra. They will introduce you to good social standing. I also understand the estate is vast, which will be something for you to pass on to your children."

"But will it be, in any way, good for you and Father if I do this?" Alessandra asked.

"It will mean security for you," Isabella said, nodding.

"Your father and I will not be around forever.

We would like to see you settled.

We want to know you are being taken care of, and you are old enough now to be married and starting your own family."

At the thought of that, Alessandra blushed.

In the few novels she'd read, there had been mention of what happened between husband and wife in the dark of night.

It equally frightened her and intrigued her.

To dispel such thoughts, she looked at her mother and nodded.

"Mother, if you think this is the right thing for me to do, I will marry this man," she said.

"I should like you and Father to be there with me when I meet him, however.

Will you be?"

"We will all go to their family estate and spend some time there before you are officially betrothed," Isabella replied, smiling.

"If you do not wish to marry him, you may tell me or your father why, and we will consider what is to be done then."

Alessandra leaned in and hugged her mother.

She'd long wondered if such a day would come.

Now she had to prepare herself for the reality to happen.

"But what will happen to Fern?" she asked quietly.

To that question, she received no response.