Page 3 of Alessandra (Chisholm Manor #1)

Alessandra spent the next two weeks relishing what she knew would possibly be the last time she'd be home.

Although her family lived simply, it was the house and township that she'd grown up in.

It was somewhere she had a deep sentimental appreciation for.

She'd known for a long time that one day she might have to leave. Knowing that didn't make it any easier for her as she packed up her few belongings into trunks, ready for the journey she would soon make with her parents.

During the final days in her home, Alessandra leaned on her mother.

She appreciated that her mother was talking to her as a wife, sharing with Alessandra the last information that Isabella felt her daughter would need to know.

Of the intimacy between husband and wife, all she would say was that it was a wife's duty to do as her husband wished for.

She should do it without argument, regardless of how uneasy she may feel about it.

Alessandra pondered her mother's wording.

The choice of words made it sound like the marriage act was, for some, a completely unenjoyable thing to experience.

And yet, when she watched her mother and father together, she'd only ever seen affection between them.

They'd never been overly intimate in front of her, but she remembered seeing small moments when they would look at each other in such a way that would make her mother blush. She could also remember moments when her father would touch her mother. Sometimes he'd straighten up a small area of hair that was determined to not stay tidy. Sometimes he'd take her hand in his, and hold it in his while looking into her eyes. It was difficult for Alessandra to align their level of affection to something horrible being done to her mother night after night.

She knew that thinking about that aspect of marriage was something she shouldn't be focusing on.

It was wicked to think such thoughts so often but, until she met the young man who would be her husband, she found she couldn't think of any other aspect of it.

Her role would be, after all, to have children.

It would be her responsibility to provide an heir for the family she was possibly going to be a part of.

Finally, the time came when Alessandra and her parents were on their way to the estate of her possible betrothal.

Alessandra could see tension on both of her parents' faces.

They each appeared to be in their own thoughts about it all.

Looking at her father as they travelled, she wondered what he was thinking.

He'd said nothing.

He wasn't a man who was cold toward his children, but he was less inclined to speak to her than her mother was.

The days of Alessandra being able to enchant him with a hug, or a smile, appeared to have ended many years earlier. She'd noticed her father grow increasingly withdrawn from her in recent years, as she'd evolved into a young woman.

Having never left her home town before, Alessandra became excited as she saw the landscape change.

She saw views she'd never visualised even in her dreams and imagination.

For one night, mid-journey, they stayed in an inn.

It was something else that was also new to her. The inn owners were a married couple who appreciated the custom. They also enjoyed viewing the excitement Alessandra exhibited in being able to eat and stay overnight in the establishment. To Alessandra, it all was starting to feel like such an adventure - so much so that she almost forgot where they were heading, and why.