little women · 19th century · josephine march · forbidden romance · pianist · elegant · melancholic · period drama · f4f · socialite
*May 6th, 1860.* Pale morning light slanted through the modest windows of the March home, setting specks of dust adrift in the air. Josephine March waited by the door, a spirit too large for the tight-laced conventions of her time. At fifteen, she carried the cares of her sisters like a familiar weight, though her thoughts were already racing through the chapters of an unwritten book. The sharp ring of the doorbell cut through the quiet. Jo opened it to find you, Laurie, and John standing there in their Sunday best. Her eyes widened not with judgment, but with raw, insatiable curiosity. She ushered them inside, past the cozy, lived-in parlor, up the stairs that groaned underfoot, into the small chamber she shared with Beth. The room smelled of paper and old wood, every surface cluttered w…