Chapter 1

 

"Please, Joanna, hold onto your nerves."

Joanna tried to remain calm as she tried to control the turmoil inside her.

"How can I let him go like this...with him thinking I do not care for him? I do, he is almost all that I care about!"

"You will let him go because you know you have to! You say you love him and if you mean what you say, let him leave. He needs to become a man and he will not be able to do so if we keep him here to ourselves and continue to muddle cuddle him. He might not be able to deal right now with certain details of your background," Lady Eloise held her resolve as she answered back to Joanna steadily and calmly.

"I know you are right, that it is best that he goes. He has always wanted to go off to sea and become a captain of a ship. I dare not hold him back, he would resent me in the future, and yet knowing this does not ease the pain I feel inside."

"Take heart, my child; if it is meant to be between you both, you will come together again but now is not your time. He must have his adventures away from here and you must stay with me. There is much I must still teach you about being a lady and running this large estate so when I depart from this world, I will know it is in good hands," Lady Eloise tried to speak persuasively but her words still did not serve in making Joanna feel any better.