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Day 7: Kate and her future (Nothing but sweetness and light)

Kate was not an early riser by nature but every once in a while her eyes would pop open after the first light of morning when everything was quiet and fresh and new. When the future felt endlessly full of possibilities. When she could have or be or want and no one would know. The stillness held all her secrets.

Sometimes she would think of Edwina, of her prospects and future, both so bright. Before they'd come to London there were no specifics but as suitors made themselves known, Kate would imagine living her spinster years on their generosity, helping Edwina with her children.

It never felt quite right. None of these men were for Edwina, she was certain (especially not Lord Bridgerton). Her sister would make a wonderful match, a love match if possible. Kate would make sure of it.

More often on these quiet mornings, Kate would imagine her own future life. Not the one she was confident would come to pass (her spinsterhood and continued poverty) but the one she could scarcely allow herself to hope for. A future where she had a family of her very own.

There was always a husband but he was a faceless, nebulous sort of creature that surely existed but had very little impact. It was the children she felt fill her heart. Perhaps a boy with her sharp features but lighter hair and eyes or a girl with her wild curls and chubby cheeks.

She sometimes rested a hand on her flat stomach and thought about all the ways they would change her. Mary's confinement had been fascinating to Kate, watching as her belly grew and grew until one day a squalling Edwina emerged as if by magic.

It was magic, Kate decided, and one of the few powers men did not hold. Only women could bring life into the world.

Eventually, she would sigh and put her fantasies away. It might be a woman's power to create life but it was one Kate knew she would never hold. She would not be a mother no matter how she wished for it because that faceless, nebulous husband did not exist, not for her. (And if there was a face that had begun to appear in her mind's eye, well, no one needed to know but her.)

The bright light of day held no space for impossible dreams. Kate saw the future with clarity-- in a few months, she would return to Somerset with Mary after ensuring Edwina made an exceptional match. She would be the best aunt her sister's children could hope for and it would be enough. Her family, small and full of so much love, was enough.

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

Day 7: Aubrey Hall

Seeing Aubrey Hall brings into sharp relief what a lady author meant in her descriptions of another great estate.

Day 4: "People are staring at us." (Damsel in Distress)

Kate and Anthony decide to run into each other on purpose. It goes well until it doesn't.

TW: mild head injury

Day 5 (super late): Do you want me to reconsider?

"When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it." - Charles de Lint

or

Four conversations Kate and Anthony did not have and one they might've.