Chains of Silk and Soil
This prequel to The Trial of Misella Cross explores the life of eighteen-year-old Mariette Beckford, Misella’s mother, and how she came to marry Johnnie Cross, a grounds keeper on her father’s estate. A victim of the primogeniture law of the land, Mariette cannot inherit the land or her father’s fortune because she is a woman. Though pregnant, Mariette is abandoned by her lover, Richard Maltby, after her father rejects him as an acceptable suitor for his only daughter. Instead, Richard marries Lady Sarah Wentworth, daughter of an Earl, thereby making Richard a Lord and Master of the estate when the Earl dies. His wife, Lady Sarah, suffers the indignities of marriage to the her insufferable, entitled husband. The novel ends with the birth of Misella.
WHAT’S INSIDE
Chains of Silk and Soil
Excerpt
As the inquisition commenced, Mariette Beckford stood before her father in his office, like a penitent in an executioner’s den. In command behind his enormous desk, his face turned away from her, his jaw clenched, shoulders rigid, he seemed prepared for a battle. His stern demeanor frightened her, unbalanced her. Throughout her growing up years, whenever she was troubled, he would smile at her little mistakes, pull her onto his ample lap or, as she grew older, hug her to his broad chest and tell her to keep a stiff upper lip. Never before had she witnessed such hardness in him, at least no unleashed against her.
She perspired, her hands clammy as she clasped them together, though the room was cooled by the early morning breeze wafting through the open French doors. Breathing in gulps of the fresh air, she tried to control the nausea that threatened to overtake her. She needed to remain calm and strong to win this battle; she needed to keep a stiff upper lip. “Father,” she said, her voice rising as she tried to control its trembling. She would not resort to begging or crying. “I understand why you are angry, but please let me explain why I have…”