The Lost Heiress (Completed)

A Vanderbilt Dinner

Crying surely put me to sleep but my eyes sting as soon as the light hits. I look over at the clock to see it reads 7:03 AM. I still have twenty-seven minutes until Anne comes in and wakes me up for school. With that, the thoughts of what happened yesterday hit me like a knife. Wren is promised to someone else and there's nothing I could do about it... What's going to happen to us now...?

Not wanting to lie there and sulk any longer, I get up and walk to the bathroom and turn on the tub's faucet. The warm water hits my hand and I immediately feel ten times calmer than I did ten seconds ago. Sitting in the tub, I look around, taking in the room I still haven't gotten used to, and couldn't wait to visit the orphanage this weekend. Then I made a mental note to buy the kids presents.

"Miss," Anne was a bit earlier this morning, "You're awake early today, is everything alright?"

"Good morning, Anne," I smile at her from where I was, "I couldn't sleep. You're a lot earlier today as well."

"Oh, I got the jitters and couldn't go back to sleep either. I brought you coffee and some pancakes, Miss," She smiles, "Would you like them while you bathe or outside?"

"I'll be right out," I answer, "Thank you, Anne!"

I can hear Anne from here, hearing the bedsheets scratching against one another. Anne always makes my bed as soon as I get out of it. The cold air hits my skin as I get out of the warm water; the room smells like lavender from the bath soak that I used. Lavender has always been my favorite scent, so soothing and calming.

There was a knock on the door and I quickly put on my bathrobe before someone comes in and sees me completely naked. Anne rushes to open the door as I try to hear who it could be. There's complete silence and I hear the door closes, but no voice. I walk outside to see a defeated-looking Wren, staring straight at me. Before I could even speak, Wren rushes over to me and pulls me into his arms. He rests his head on my shoulder and lets out a huge sigh, "Pens..."

I hug him back, wrapping my arms tightly around him and draws patterns on his back as he hugs me tighter. Even though we're standing in the peaceful atmosphere of my room, we both know we're bracing ourselves for the biggest battle yet, and neither of us is ready to face it. The silence is somehow comforting and we both just stand there, holding each other, like we're awaiting an immense storm.

"I don't know what to do to make it right, Pens..." Wren sounds exhausted, like he hasn't slept all night, "I just got you back..."

"You'll never lose me, Wren..." I whisper in his chest, "Even if you get married off to someone else and live happily with them, I'll always love you."

"Pens," He sighs, "How can I live happily with someone who isn't you?"

"What can I do...." The tears are getting harder to hold back when Wren's holding onto me like this and when he sounds so defeated. It's like we're fighting a battle we already know we can never win.

"Don't ever leave," He pulls away and cups my face with his soft, warm hands, "Promise me. Promise me that no matter what, you'll never leave. Promise me, Pens... Just hold on and we'll figure this out, okay? I promise. Just stay by me through it all, okay?"

"I promise." As soon as the words come out of my mouth, Wren's lips crash onto mine, and I knew. I knew that this was going to be the reason to hold on, to fight, to keep going, no matter how hard we might be sinking in the quicksand, we'll fight. We will fight until we can no longer breathe.

Every one is eating breakfast in silence, occasionally glancing over at me then at Wren but no one dares to touch upon the subject that has been haunting the whole family since last night. When everyone's finishing up breakfast, Grandfather sighs and looks up at each and every one of us.