A young maiden of barely nineteen stood in her white gown, smiling at the guests. On the surface, it seemed a fairytalea grand banquet hall, thousands of blooms, champagne flowing like water, and distinguished guests in fine tailcoats.
Yet behind this pretty illusion lay the truthher parents had wed her to a wealthy industrialist, a man well past his seventies.
The family had no choice: her father had lost a fortune at the gaming tables, and her mother fought desperately to keep their home and what little stability remained. The old man had offered a solutionmarriage. The girl knew it was not love, yet she did not resist. She understood her sacrifice would save them, and so she yielded.
The wedding was splendid. Guests raised their glasses, toasting the couples happiness and long years together. The old groom appeared pleased, clutching his young brides hand, his gaze never leaving her. Whispers filled the roomsome envied her “good fortune,” others judged, but none knew the dread settling in her heart as she braced for that dreaded first night.
Late in the evening, when the last carriage had rolled away, the new wife stepped into the bedchamber. A heavy silence draped the room. Upon the vast bed lay her husband, clad in a white nightshirt, his head slightly raised upon the pillow.
He looked weary, his eyes shut. Trembling, she sat beside him, fingers knotted in her lap, steeling herself for what she feared most. But then, something dreadful happened.
The seconds stretched unbearably. She touched his handand a chill seized her. Her heart stilled.
“Darling?” she whispered.
No answer.
Frantic, she shook his shoulder, but his body lay cold and stiff. No pulse stirred in his chest. A sudden apoplexy had taken him that very night.
Servants rushed in, physicians were summoned, but it was too late. At nineteen, she became a widow on the day she was made a wife.
By morning, the news had spread like wildfirethe abrupt passing of the industrialist stunned not only the household but all of London. Yet the greatest shock was still to come.
His will bequeathed everythingthe grand estates, the carriages, the bank ledgers, the jewels, the millsto his bride.
In an instant, the girl who had wed to save her family found herself the richest heiress in the land.
Her life had turned in a single night. Only yesterday, she had resigned herself to decades by his side, all for duty. But fate had other plansdoors now opened to her that she had never dared imagine.
