Heart's Content

Part Sixty

{'Book shops on the Spassky Bridge at the 17 century' by Apollinary Vasnetsov from Wikimedia Commons}

The cool weather would have provided enough of a reason for Genevieve to hide her face with the use of her cloak and while she did wear her cloak to protect from the chill, it wasn't doubling as a disguise for her appearance. She was aware of the presence of her scars, as she had been from the moment she had understood she was different, but they didn't bother her so much as they had. Lisette had made it quite clear to her that none worth her while would treat her poorly because of them and anyone who acknowledged them in a cruel manner wasn't worth her attention. None of Nathaniel's servants had acknowledged her defect when she arrived and Mary didn't bat an eye as she welcomed her. None of them had even questioned what had happened to leave her in such a state and while she might have thought that perhaps they carried on in such a way because they didn't want to upset her more than she had already been, it took only a short time of being at least a temporary part of the household for her to realize that her scars just simply didn't matter to them. It was almost as though arriving in Esece was a complete erasure of her past which only lived on because of her own memories and because when she looked in the mirror, she was still as she had always been.

Her memories were not something she would ever willingly part with, they were as much a part of her as her scars. At one point in her life she may have wished to be free of the latter but Lisette had taught her that the events that caused them only served to make her the person she currently was inside and that their outward appearance meant little. The memory of Lisette in particular was not something she was willing to part with and as she alighted from the carriage and felt the warmth of the sun on her golden crown despite the chill air, she was reminded of this.

Mary had done her best the previous weeks to help Genevieve realize that if Lisette loved her as much as she loved Lisette, she wouldn't want her to waste away and once Genevieve had crawled out from beneath the weight of her grief, she determined that she would do her best to be happy in Lisette's memory and experience all that she had expected to experience at her side. She pictured Lisette's enthusiasm as they joined the throngs of people moving through the streets as they socialized and shopped, leisurely peering through windows at displays and merchandise neatly organized for customers while other people moved more briskly and with purpose, seeming to ignore everything available for purchase because of some previous engagement to which they were rushing. She felt herself smiling softly at the idea and a sweet sorrow pressed warmly against her chest as she made her way through the crowd with Mary, Laura, and Danny, leaving Warrick to look after the horses and the carriage.

Danny was a young man in his late teens with soot black hair that was trimmed short in the back but worn longer in the front so that it always seemed to want to obscure his sapphire blue eyes, especially when he wore a cap that held the ends firmly in place, his dark lashes combing through them to the point that all who knew him often wondered if it bothered him at all or if he was simply used to the sensation and didn't notice. Along with the steel colored wool cap atop his head which failed to impede his vision despite its best effort, he wore a chocolate brown peacoat over his lean frame paired with a pair of pale gray trousers that were tucked into black leather boots that went up to his knees. He gave Mary's elbow a gentle pinch to call her attention and smiled slightly before he began to move away towards one of the streets leading away from the main entrance of the district.

"I'll send the girls to fetch you later," Mary said with a smile and a nod which he returned before he turned away and quickly weaved through the people passing by and even travelling in the same direction he was going. Genevieve looked on curiously and Mary gave her a playful wink before she hurried them on about their own business.