Hellen

Once Charles finished ranting about Charlotte’s departure in Shakespearian, I stood up and bid farewell to Delilah and Charles. I would need to comfort my friend before she did something dumb, like sail away to England rather than confronting life’s obstacles. As I thought about this, I laughed, as I had done just that not long ago. 

I walked to the bakery, where I assumed that I’d find Charlotte stress eating—I figured she’d probably be trying to shove ten French macarons into her mouth at once, or possibly ten muffins. 

To my surprise, when I walked into the bakery, I did not find Charlotte making a mess with crumbs from sweets. Instead, I found that the main room was completely empty. There was no sign of Charlotte; no sign of James; no sign of anyone. There was not a crumb in sight, though the platters where the baked goods were kept were running low on food. The muffin platter was particularly scarce of muffins. Well, I thought. She was definitely here. 

I looked around the room, searching for a clue about where Charlotte may have run off to. My eyes fell upon the kitchen door. I knew where I had to search, but I knew that Charlotte’s mother would probably kill me if I did. I argued with myself for five minutes; five minutes of my life that would now be long lost. I’d never see those five minutes again in my life.  

Eventually, I gave up on arguing with myself and just let the mischievous part of me do what it wanted. I entered the kitchen. 

Automatically, I felt like I’d been stabbed. At first, I thought I had been. My hand flew to my stomach, but luckily there was no blood. I guessed that I’d been so angry at myself for entering that my mind punished me with the pain—or maybe it was because of the kitchen’s design. 

The kitchen was huge, and beautifully decorated, even for a kitchen. There were stained glass windows on the domed ceiling. The cookware was what appeared to be the most expensive models that were manufactured. There was a brick oven in the corner, next to a counter, where a five-tiered wedding cake was being decorated with roses made from frosting, and for some reason, there was a coin frosted on the side of the middle tier. I walked over to the cake to examine the topper. 

The cake topper was a hand-carved girl and boy. The girl, who donned a beautiful white gown, was blonde with fair skin. The boy was dressed in a fancy suit and had dirty blonde hair. I realized whose cake this was. Then, I jumped at the sound of a snore. I had been so focused on the cake that I hadn’t noticed the Brunette lady who was fast asleep, less than two inches away from the cake. Her hair, which was tied up, lay touching the bottom tier. I would’ve woken her to mention that, but I knew that this was Charlotte’s mother and I also saw a note sitting next to Mrs. Jones. 

I picked it up and unfolded it. I began to read:

Dear Mother,

I have a very urgent thing to tell you, but before I do, I believe I should tell you that I'm traveling to Rhode Island in search of my fiancé. Yes, I know that you think he's been here all week, but that was not Edmund that you've been fitting to fancy suits and shoes. That was Hellen's brother, Charles Page. We had a plan that involved me marrying Charles rather than Edmund, even though Charles annoys me and is far too obsessed with Shakespeare for his own good.

We sent Edmund to visit his supposedly sick grandmother, though any moment he will find that she is perfectly healthy, and he'll be forced to return home. Yes, I'm aware that we're nearing November and that he might be trapped in a blizzard any day now, but that is why I am giving you this note to inform you that the wedding must be postponed, for I am about to set off on a journey that could be two days, or two weeks. I could not be certain about either.

Please don't tell the Turners where I've gone. They would never forgive the

Page siblings.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Jones

I hid the letter and I raced to the place where my siblings and I had first shown our faces in New Haven. From there, I set off on the journey to Rhode Island, determined to find Charlotte before anyone realized she had gone.