*Scarlett*
I need solitude to regain my composure. I hadn't planned to discuss the writing machine tonight. I am far too protective of it, but it is important to me for reasons other than financial. And I certainly hadn't planned to discuss matrimony.
Because I had been given a tour earlier, I know which hallway to traverse to reach the door that will lead me onto the terrace and beyond it into the gardens. As I make my way to it, I decide I will run screaming through the flora until I reach its end. I will climb over the wall and race through the streets until they swallow me up.
But once I am outside, I go only as far as the low wall at the terrace’s edge, grateful to discover I still hold my snifter of brandy and it isn’t yet empty. I had been so mortified by the earlier exchange wit
