Chapter XVII: Decisions::

The trip to Lathbury was harder than Emily thought. She had a hard time understanding why- she'd be seeing Isaac- her heart melted. Isaac. Oh, how wonderful the name sounded. She could just picture him, standing there, with his mouth wide open as he gaped at her. He was the heir to the Davis fortune- a vast amount of money and land that came with that inheritance and she? She was the heir to the….well, she was ninth in line to the Colwyn fortune. However, even being a ninth still came with its advantages- 8,000 lbs. per year worth of dowry and share in wealth. James, being a legitimate child, the second-oldest of David Colwyn's children, and, obviously, a boy, thus held the highest percentage of inheritance.

She had spent the week before with the Hamilton's (Jane's parents) in Derby. She was beautifully dressed up with the most magnificent dress that she'd ever laid eyes on- a dress that belonged to her step-mother, the very one that she wore when she first met David Colwyn…It was a gift (actually she was going to wear it, take it back to Colwyn Bay, and give it back to Jane) from the Hamilton's to Emily Colwyn and she was absolutely stunning in it.

Sophia Hamilton (Jane's mother) watched as Emily, reluctantly, came out of the dressing room. Sophia's eyes lit up. "Why, child, you look exactly like your Mother-"

Emily frowned, a frown, which, Sophia caught. "I mean…I mean…well, what I mean is-"

"I look like Jane Colwyn, if she were actually my Mother."

"No, Emily. Strangely enough, you look just like Jane; very much so, in fact, that if Jane had never told me, well…the truth, I would have thought you to be hers. You look exactly like Caroline and Sophia Colwyn."

Emily looked in the mirror and smiled. She remembered when she had first seen Caroline and Sophia when she came back from Derby. Her first thought was on their beauty. Caroline was a mixture of her Father and Mother- the excessive beauty of her Mother that could not even be described and the dark brown eyes and the dimpled chin of her Father. Sophia, on the other-hand, was the spitting image of Jane Colwyn (except for the strawberry-blonde hair) - gray eyes and all- the beauty that would get the sassy "red-headed" girl in trouble. To even be compared to them was a girl's dream come true.

Emily entered the party. It was one of those events where you feel so awkward that you think everyone is staring at you, but they are not. It's your own self-consciousness eating away at you- only, everyone really was staring at Emily Colwyn. Emily kept her head up, presented herself with a graceful curtsy before Isaac's cousins and then, everyone forgot about her- that is everyone except for Isaac, himself, who sneaked up on her, grabbed her hand and quietly led her away without even stopping to look at her.

He finally stopped when he reached a quiet alcove, still not aware of her splendor. "I heard them call your name, so I came up and-" he had turned to look in her eyes, but instead, he felt as if he were standing before an angel- she was beyond any comparison- a beauty that surpassed anyone at the party.

"Well, you came and what?"

Isaac remained silently entranced.

"Isaac…Isaac- ISAAC!"

His head gave a quick shake and he looked at her; Emily thought he was going to weep. "You look absolutely- no, you look-" he looked down at his feet, searching through all the words in his extensive vocabulary. "No, I can't say that-" Then he looked up, stared at her, and his mouth opened. "Indescribable."

Emily let out a quick giggle and snickered into a gloved hand.

"What? What did I say?"

Emily lifted her head. She was rosy pink from laughing so hard. "Of all the words, you could think up 'Indescribable'?"

Isaac stared at her and they both burst out into laughter. Soon they stopped laughing. Emily wished they hadn't because she knew he was going to say something serious.

"I…I…I, now, Emily, hear me out!" He said, mustering a little too much courage.

"Who else would I have to listen to with all this silence?" Emily retorted.

Isaac turned pink in embarrassment. "Emily," he said a little softer and took her gloved hand in his own and lead her to the window seat, where she sat down, her hand sliding off of his flattened one. "Emily Colwyn-" he began, turning his back to her. "I've debated this all week and now I know my decision to do this was correct," he was now staring at her, deeply, ever so deeply, making her breathing increase and her chest heaved against her tightly-bound corset. He sat at her feet, taking both of her hands in his own, "Will you marry me?"

P.S. Should she say 'Yes' or 'No'?

Review, pretty please(frowning-smiley goes here)!

-Briette Julienne Laures-