Post by Clara Honeyfield on Jan 4, 2022 20:59:18 GMT
It had happened to quickly. Clara had paused before joining Lina outside, to talk to the man whom was now her husband. It was no longer strange to think of him as thus, despite how much it had changed her role here. Not longer a governess, but a mother for Lina. Which was why he had asked her to marry him, to assure that his daughter had a mother. It also meant that if anything happened to him (which she prayed nothing ever would) that Lina would be protected. Because she could stay with Clara.
As she walked out, she noticed that Lina was in the distance near the edge of the wooden peer that was on the edge of the water. Sitting her basket of sewing down, Clara begin walking with quick steps down that way. The two guards looked toward her as she called out to tell them that they needed to send Lina back up here. That, as she could not swim, it was dangerous for her to be on the peer.
And before she had even finished telling them--Lina had disappeared. Clara screamed her name, and began to run. Both guards entered the water to find the girl. By the time Clara was close enough, one man had came up for air, and gone down again to find her. They held her up to the peer, and Clara pulled her up into her lap, crying as she noticed that the girl was not breathing. She had heard of children falling in tubs before, and getting water int heir lungs. It was something every mother--or caretaker--feared. Pushing on her chest, Clara begged the girl to open her eyes. With each press, Clara's hand went harder and hard, and her words begged more.
Finally, the little girl opened her eyes, and weakly blinked up at her. Clara did begin crying in earnest this time.
Reuben Slade & Lina Slade
