TEN

                                    

                                          
                   
                          
"It's here!" 
                          
Sophia is sitting on her bed reading her favorite book when her mother runs inside with a big shriek. "Sophia, your engagement ring has come," she announces delightedly.
                          
"Here open it, open it," she urges as she hands her the black velvety box with a letter tied around it. She starts opening the box but her mother holds her hand. "Start with the letter, it makes this moment so much more special." 
                          
Sophia does as she's told. She lays the box on her bed and unseals the letter.
                          
"My dearest Miss Willis," she starts reading it out loud. "Along with this letter, there is a box where you will find my promise to you." She pauses, trying to imagine his voice. "I have been thinking of my future, and the plans I had before I met you, and only to realize that my plans are nothing if you are not included in them. And with this engagement ring, I promise that you will always be included in my future plans. I will respect you and cherish you. And I couldn't be happier to call you my wife. Yours truly, Adam Lancaster."
                          
            Sophia looks at his hand writing and it was like she could see him writing this in his study. His gentle hands holding the pen, his broad shoulders moving up and down with his breathing, his handsome face focusing on the task at hand.
                          
"Awe, now there is boy who knows how to write love letters," her mother sighs interrupting her thoughts.
                          
In that moment, Lucia walks in without knocking. "Who knows to write love letters?"
                          
"Who else?" her mother retorts. "Mr. Adam Lancaster." Lucia rolls her eyes at her response but her mother ignores it. "Go on, open the box," her mother urged again.
                          
Sophia exposes the ring. A golden ring with a solitary diamond. She slides it on the third finger on her left hand, and watches it glimmer with the light, it is perfect.
                          
"He is very fond of you Sophia." She hears her mother say proudly.
                          
Sophia jumps at the sound of Lucia snorting. "How can you tell that from a ring?"
                          
"What do you mean how? He wouldn't have even bothered on getting her such an expensive ring if it was otherwise."
                          
"Mother," Lucia says. "I know men, and I know that they pursue women with expensive gifts."
                          
"Not the good men. Good men, show women their love with nice things. Now, Sophia, come down so you can get your wedding gown tailored, it's going to be beautiful." She walks out after giving Sophia a kiss on her forehead.
                          
Lucia doesn't even bother to move. She stares at Sophia making her very uncomfortable, until she speaks, "Do you know how men really show you their love?" Sophia doesn't answer, she doesn't want to even listen to her, but Lucia continues, "By making love." Sophia felt her heart stop, why was Lucia telling her this? "You want to know how I know this and with whom?"
                          
"Lucia, you better leave," Sophia replies firmly.
                          
"No, I think you should hear this." She sits closer to Sophia and whispers, "Adam Lancaster, your fiancée, showed me very well how much he loved me, multiple times."
                          
"You are lying," Sophia protests, but Lucia laughs.
                          
"No, it's true. He entered this very house in the middle of the night five years ago, and everything happened in my room. And may I say you are a very, very, lucky girl."
                          
Sophia couldn't stand it anymore, she held her sister's arm tightly enabling her to leave. "Listen to me, because I am only going to say it once. I don't care what happened in the past. But if I ever see you around him, flirting with him, I swear, I will lose control and I will hurt you, you hear?"
                          
Lucia smiles mischievously. "What do you fear? That he will crawl back to me after finding out to what a bore he married?"
                          
"Stay away from him," Sophia replies.
                          
Lucia pulls away as the smile fades from her face. "No matter what you say, he will always be thinking of me. We both lost our virtue to each other, and trust me, that will never be erased."
                          
She leaves a trail of doubt as Lucia exits the room. It couldn't be. Certainly Adam wouldn't be interested in someone like Lucia. He was perhaps eighteen or seventeen. Sure, Adam has always been a flirtatious man, but her sister was also flirtatious, always has been, then it only made sense that they would end up in a room together. Sophia can't stand the uncertainty of this situation, so without a word to any one, she walks out of the house with a single goal in mind.