Page 42 of The Dravenhearst Brides

Dearest Pa,

—unfinished, from the desk of Margot Dravenhearst

The sun came up in the morning. She walked to the pasture to watch Merrick ride. Went to breakfast with him. Kissed him by the front door when he departed for the rickhouses.

And then she stumbled, stuporous already, to her bedroom.

There wasn’t even a question this time, zero hesitation. There was only the laudanum.

The laudanum and the voices in her mind.

“So much to learn, fledgling,” Babette cooed.

“We’ll stay with you, keep you company, dearie,” Eleanor said, crawling into the bed beside her.

Margot reached, and she drank.