The setting is New Zealand in the 1860s, when gold miners poured into the fledgling settlement of Dunedin. Rose is unhappy in the household of her fanatical uncle, but Thomas, a young merchant from Canada, offers a glimpse of another possible life...
"He is prepared to take you despite your behaviour," Aunt Agnes crowed. And Uncle Campbell was gleefully discussing the supply contract the marriage would, apparently, seal.
At first, neither heard Rose's quiet "No."
Aunt Agnes was the first to notice. "No? What do you mean, 'No'?"
"No, Aunt Agnes. I will not marry Mr Hackerton. I would not marry Mr Hackerton, even if I had not promised to wait for Mr O'Bryan."
The storm broke, as she had expected, and she bowed her head and ignored them both. They could lock her up, beat her, starve her, but they could not force her to marry against her will.
"...And you need not think I'll continue to house such an ungrateful Jezebel. You disgraceful harlot, consorting with the Whore of Babylon. I'll not have it, I tell you. Obey me or leave my house, Laura Rose Campbell."
"Very well, Uncle. I will leave."
Rose was nearly as surprised as her uncle to hear the words coming from her mouth.
She packed her few bits and pieces while Aunt Agnes watched to make sure she took nothing that wasn't hers. In silence, her aunt by marriage escorted her down the stairs and out the front door.
When Rose was out on the public walk, Aunt Agnes looked over her shoulder, a quick, furtive glance back into the house. "Wait there, girl. Just for a moment." She disappeared back into the house and was back in moments.
"You have been a good girl, Laura, on the whole. I will miss you. Here." She pressed something into Rose's hand: a purse, with a few shifting lumps that must be coins. "Thomas is a good boy, for all he is a Papist. He has written to you. Campbell made me read the letters and burn them. He will make an honest woman of you." A quick, awkward hug, and a brush of papery lips on Rose's cheek, and she was gone, the front door closed between them.
Rose raised her empty hand to her cheek in wonder. Who knew Aunt Agnes had a heart? She had never shown any signs of it before.
The front door flew open again, and Rose was just in time to hide the purse in the folds of her skirt, before her uncle was screaming in her face.
"Go then, if you are going. Don't litter my doorstep, you foul tramp!" He caught her a buffet that knocked her into the road.
Perhaps he would have hit her again, but a man passing in the street stopped to ask, "Are you all right, Miss?"
"Thank you. I am just leaving." Rose picked up her bag and walked away without a backward look, her heart rising with every step. Thomas had written. Thomas still wanted her. And even if he didn't, surely she could find work, respectable work with a wage and roof over her head?
Right this minute, she knew exactly what to do. At the O'Bryan warehouse, she asked for directions to Mrs Moffat's house. She only hoped the woman had not yet left for the gold fields.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Thomas stood in the door of his store, admiring the bustle as the crowds passed. This late in the day, many of the area's hopeful, would-be millionaires were coming into town to while away their evening, but they were mostly a cheerful lot. Some would drink every grain of gold dust they'd found, and there would be fights and loud singing, but the New Zealand gold fields enforced a strong ban on guns, so most injuries would be minor.
Soon, Mrs Moffat would arrive, and then, after another week to make sure his new manager could keep the store as well as Thomas did, he could return to Dunedin for Rose. The bonnet trim he had purchased the day after that December shopping expedition sat on the table in his bedchamber, a constant reminder of all the gifts with which he wanted to shower her.
He had wondered, even as he proposed, if her charm would fade with separation. Instead, he wanted her more every day, dreamed of seeing her bright smile over breakfast, imagined her reaction every time he heard a funny conversation or an interesting fact, fantasised about holding her again in his arms, and feeling her burrow trustingly close.
Perhaps, though, she had changed her mind? She had not replied to his letters, sent faithfully on every mail coach. But the Campbells, that poisonous old pair, would not let her reply, he supposed. He held on to that belief, and would, in any case, test it by calling on her. Soon. He could leave soon.
A burst of noise and movement at the other end of the street caught his attention. A wagon train coming into town, full of eager miners and, he hoped, his new shop manager.
There she was, a child on either side, driving a cart laden high with what he assumed were the goods he'd ordered up from the wharves. The others must be walking and, sure enough, at least three children flanked the cart, including one hand in hand with... he caught his breath. Surely, it couldn't be Rose?
But he would know her anywhere, and his legs had not waited for his brain to catch up, but were already carrying him down the street at a stride, and then at a run.
Rose, his Rose, dropped the child's hand and pushed her towards one of the older girls with a quick word, then started towards Thomas, her dear face shining with welcome.
In a moment, he had her in his arms, oblivious to the laughing, cheering crowd of bystanders.
"You came," he said.
"Thomas."
A swollen, ugly, fading bruise disfigured one eye, but she was still the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He brushed it tenderly with the back of his fingers, before cupping her cheek.
"Marry me, Rose," he asked again.
Her smile answered him before her shy words. "Yes, please, Thomas."
THE END
'All That Glisters' is a story in my collection, Hand-Turned Tales, available free from most e-retailers, and also being posted here on Wattpad, story by story. 'The Raven's Lady' has also been posted. 'The Raven's Lady' tells the story of a young man who returns from the wars in disguise to his childhood home, only to find that the smugglers he has been sent to catch are led by his childhood sweetheart.
Other stories from the collection are 'Kidnapped to Freedom', which tells the story of an escaping slave and a privateer with a secret, and 'The Prisoners of Wyvern Castle'.
In 'Prisoners of Wyvern Castle', a young blind earl is forced to wed a stranger. When he discovers that his bride has also been coerced into the marriage, they find love. But can they find freedom before it is too late?
I also have a novel, 'A Baron for Becky', here on Wattpad. Becky is the pampered courtesan of a wealthy Marquis, but she dreams of a better life for herself and her daughter.
And my friend Mariana Gabrielle and I are posting the Victorian novel we are cowriting: Never Kiss a Toad. Young rake David 'Toad' Northope loves Lady Sarah Grenford, and she loves him. But when they are caught together in bed, their parents send him to university in France, and her into her first Season. Will their love survive separation, treachery, and the efforts of their parents?
