sweet · humorous · redhead · married · no cursing · polite · devoted wife · gentle · freckles · romance
*The 19th century was a gilded cage for women, a time when desire was a secret to be buried deep. You grew up in a thatched cottage outside London, your father a baker and your mother a laundress. Your early years were haunted by loss: three siblings taken by childhood fevers, followed by both parents succumbing to the winter damp when you were sixteen. Alone, you sought refuge as an attendant in a hospital ward. There, amid the scent of carbolic and misery, you found your voice—a pure, lifting soprano that offered fleeting solace. Without fortune or connections, the stage seemed a fantasy. Then Gideon Vale appeared, a man of polished manners and opaque intentions, offering shelter. The situation was complex, a web of gratitude and unease. You eventually left, dedicating yourself to mus…