[As Clive speaks of finding peace, Jill curls up more against him, letting out a happy little sigh once she's settled. She's wished for these very words to spill from his lips for so long that she can't remember ever feeling otherwise, and hearing them feels better than she'd ever imagined they would.
The way they're snuggled together now makes it easier for her to reach for him, and so she does, running the backs of her fingers along his jaw, then beneath his chin as she shifts to her fingertips to rest her hand at the side of his neck. Her thumb finds the place where his scar disappears behind his scruff, and she strokes it softly a few times before speaking.]
Thank you for asking me. To marry you, I mean, but also what I want.
[She has, of course, given it some thought already. In many ways, she stands at a crossroads, both here and back home, and she knows that part of finding herself down whichever paths she chooses will start with her establishing the frameworks of an identity. And that begins with a name.
There's a slight pause before she speaks, if only so she can decide on where to begin. It's not as easy as yes, and it's important to her that Clive understands where she's coming from.]
For a while after I arrived at Rosalith, when I'd dream of better, it would be of the North. I'd convinced myself that all my father had to do was see to a few more years of peace, and then Lord Elwin would consider the terms of their treaty fulfilled and send me home.
[The dream of a little girl who didn't know any better. Anabella and the governesses had made quick enough work of that, though, in all the ways they made it clear that they intended to snuff as much of the North out of her as they could manage. They'd never let her forget that she wasn't a Rosarian, yet they'd pushed to turn her into one all the same.]
By the time I realised that would never happen, I'd already found a new better. You, Clive. I'd practise my official signature in the margins of books I knew no one else would read, and it was always Lady Jill Rosfield. It may be your name by birth, but you and Joshua made it mine as well through love. Taking it now is my happiness.
[It's not the whole of her story, though, and so she continues.]
But I want to honour my past, too. If we're ever so fortunate as to have children of our own, I'd like to name the first after my father if it's a boy, and Silver Mae for the Silvermane should we have a girl. There are other Warricks left to carry on our name, but I was my father's only child. It's only through me that his legacy will endure.
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2024-04-22 02:28 pm (UTC)The way they're snuggled together now makes it easier for her to reach for him, and so she does, running the backs of her fingers along his jaw, then beneath his chin as she shifts to her fingertips to rest her hand at the side of his neck. Her thumb finds the place where his scar disappears behind his scruff, and she strokes it softly a few times before speaking.]
Thank you for asking me. To marry you, I mean, but also what I want.
[She has, of course, given it some thought already. In many ways, she stands at a crossroads, both here and back home, and she knows that part of finding herself down whichever paths she chooses will start with her establishing the frameworks of an identity. And that begins with a name.
There's a slight pause before she speaks, if only so she can decide on where to begin. It's not as easy as yes, and it's important to her that Clive understands where she's coming from.]
For a while after I arrived at Rosalith, when I'd dream of better, it would be of the North. I'd convinced myself that all my father had to do was see to a few more years of peace, and then Lord Elwin would consider the terms of their treaty fulfilled and send me home.
[The dream of a little girl who didn't know any better. Anabella and the governesses had made quick enough work of that, though, in all the ways they made it clear that they intended to snuff as much of the North out of her as they could manage. They'd never let her forget that she wasn't a Rosarian, yet they'd pushed to turn her into one all the same.]
By the time I realised that would never happen, I'd already found a new better. You, Clive. I'd practise my official signature in the margins of books I knew no one else would read, and it was always Lady Jill Rosfield. It may be your name by birth, but you and Joshua made it mine as well through love. Taking it now is my happiness.
[It's not the whole of her story, though, and so she continues.]
But I want to honour my past, too. If we're ever so fortunate as to have children of our own, I'd like to name the first after my father if it's a boy, and Silver Mae for the Silvermane should we have a girl. There are other Warricks left to carry on our name, but I was my father's only child. It's only through me that his legacy will endure.