Part 1 (June 3rd 1847, Defiance)

My dearest Xavier,

I’ve never known love to be this forbidden, yet so real. By this dim candlelight, my hands shaking, in my barn at midnight, I write to you, pouring out words I can’t say aloud. This paper is both my joy and curse because every word I put down is a rebellion against the life I was forced into and a surrender to you.

Loving you is dangerous, and yet, it is the best thing that has happened to me. My life has been nothing but obligations, my days measured in duties that drain me. But then you came, you caught my gaze, and charmed my heart. You are the risk I’m willing to take, the fire I never knew I needed. You’re my haven.

Do you remember when our hands first brushed?

The world didn’t stop, the heavens didn’t strike us down, but something inside me shifted. I knew that I had been living in the shadows until your light rescued me. I despise this world, one where love is in whispers and my lingering gaze is an abomination in society. I won’t dwell on the sadness, because my heart is too full of you.

When the nights are long and cold, and my husband beside me, it’s your voice I hear in my mind. When I close my eyes, I see the life we could have had, in a place far away, a land of the free.

I know it’s wrong to want you like this, these desires that I can’t control. But if this is sin, then let me be guilty, because I have lived a life of sacrifice, and all I got was sorrow. If all I can have of

you is these stolen moments, then I will cherish them like a fool, counting down the seconds until we meet again.

I watch for you in everything, the way you move, the way your eyes soften when they find mine, the unspoken words that pass between us in just a look. Do you know that I memorize every inflection in your voice, hoarding each stolen moment as a miser hoards Gold?

If fate were kind, we would have met when my heart was unclaimed, when my body was not bound to another by duty and circumstance. But life has never been fair, not to women like me. Were given cages instead of wings, told what we should want instead of asked what we do want.

I feel like I’m losing myself in you, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. Would you catch me if I fell? Or would you hesitate, torn between what’s right and what we both know we want? Tell me Xavier; would you fight for me like I would for you? Or is this all just a beautiful dream?

I don’t know how this ends. Maybe we go our separate ways, forever haunted by what could have been. Or maybe, just maybe we find a way. If I have one wish, it’s that you never doubt my love for you. I will always love you.

Yours in secret,

Mirabel

Part 2 (July 4th, Fear)

Dear Mirabel,

What cruel fate it is that has bound us to separate lives when our souls so clearly recognize each other. I have read and reread your letter, each word searing itself into my heart, each confession stirring a longing in me that I can no longer contain. You speak of defying the world for me, but it is I who would burn down the heavens themselves if it meant we could be together.

I have tried, with every bit of reason I possess, to silence this love. I have told myself that you belong to another, that the life we dream of is an illusion impossible, dangerous. But what is reason, when compared to the force of what I feel for you? What is the duty when my heart calls your name with every breath? I do not know to let you go.

You are the only truth I have ever known in a world full of falsehoods. I have spent years walking a path laid out for me by others, playing my part as expected, never questioning, never daring. And then, you appeared, with your fierce spirit and defiant heart, and suddenly, the world I knew seemed hollow, lifeless. How can I go back to that emptiness now that I have known the fire of your love?

Yes, I am afraid, I am afraid of what loving you so openly will cost us. But what frightens me more is the thought of never knowing what it would be like to hold you without fear, to call you mine without hesitation. If I must stand against the world for you, then let it be so. For you, I would fight every battle, endure every storm. Just tell me you will be there at the end of it all.

You ask if I would catch you should you fall, I would not only catch you, my love, I would hold you so tightly that the world itself could not tear us apart. I would give up all I have known if it meant I could wake up to you beside me.

Do not doubt that I love you, for my love is not a fleeting thing, not a passing fancy. It is a love that has taken root so deeply within me that I fear no force in this world could remove it. Even if we are destined to love in whispers and stolen moments, know that my heart belongs to you, now and always.

But if there’s a way, if there is even the slimmest hope that we could rewrite the fate imposed upon us, say the word, and I will make it so.

Forever yours,

Xavier

Part 3 (June 5th 1847, Confession)

My dearest Xavier,

I do not know if this letter will reach you in time. Perhaps it will arrive too late, and I will already be gone, lost to a fate I can no longer control. but i must write. I must tell you before the choice is no longer mine to make.

Once again in my barn, I am writing you this letter, hiding behind the bales of hay, my hands trembling as I clutch this paper. The lantern flickers beside me, casting trembling shadows against the wooden walls, tears rolling down my chin. The scent of damp straw and aged wood fills the air, and outside, the restless whinny of a horse echoes in the distance.

My husband is watching me, Xavier. He has begun to notice the letters, the way I clutch them close and refuse to let him read them. I told him they were family business, word from my father, but I saw the suspicion in his eyes. I feel his gaze linger too long. Soon he will know.

He plans to take me to a land far away from here. A place where even whispers of your name would be swallowed by the distance and time. He speaks of fresh beginnings, of opportunities that mean nothing to me. What is a new land if my heart is left behind? What is a new life if I am still trapped within it? I do not want to go, xavier.

We do not have time. if you mean to come for me, it must be now. now or never. The land he wants to take me to, it is vast, untouched, wild with rolling hills and rivers that stretch beyond the horizon. his father's inheritance, a land of prosperity, livestock and harvest. He says it will be a fresh start. He says it will be good for me.

But I do not want a fresh start with him, Xavier. I want a fresh start with you. Do you remember the night we last met? The way my heart pounded when you pulled me close, the way your fingers brushed against my lips, silencing the words I was too afraid to say? I should have told you then that I could not do this without you. That I could not breathe in a world where you were not near.

I am telling you now, please, before it is too late. Last night, he came home drunk again xavier. The scent of whiskey clung to his breath as he staggered through the door, his eyes dark with something cruel. I tried to turn away but he grabbed me, forced me beneath him, like I was nothing more than a thing to be used. I did not fight Xavier, I could not. To fight would have meant worse.

So, I lay there, staring at the ceiling, biting my lips to keep from crying, my mind retreating to thoughts of you, to the warmth of your arms, to the love I have only ever known in your embrace. Please, if you love me, come, take me far away from this nightmare before I become too broken to ever be whole again.

Meet me beneath the great oak by the river at midnight in three nights. The one where we carved our names, Sealing our love into the bark so it would never fade. If you come, I will be yours. If you do not, I do not wish to think of that. The mere thought unravels me.

Yours in secret,

Mirabel

Part 4 (July 5th 1847, Hope)

My dearest Mirabel,

Your letter has left me shattered. I read your words, and it felt as if my very soul was being torn apart. The thought of you in that house, caged, afraid, enduring things no heart should ever bear, is a torment I can scarcely endure.

We must act, and we must act wisely. Your husband is no fool. If he suspects you, he will set traps, and we cannot afford to fail. But my love, I know you are clever. You must make him drunk, so drunk that he cannot stand, he cannot think. his men too, all of them. You play the dutiful wife, pour their cups until they overflow, until they lose themselves in their indulgence.

That is when you move. Dress as a man, my love. leave behind the corset dresses and anything that ties you to the

woman he knows. Bind your hair, and take only what you need. From his pocket, take as many coins as you can, consider it your recompense for the suffering he has inflicted upon you. And his best Knife, the one he treasures most, the one he would never part with. That too belongs to you now, for everything he has done.

Bring your horse, we will need her speed, and I will not risk you on foot. Ride swiftly and silently to the great oak by the river. I will be waiting in two nights. I wish I could come sooner, but I know it will take a day for this letter to reach you, and we cannot risk you moving without careful preparation.

I must tell you this, before you make your choice: I am not a rich man, Mirabel. I do not have grand estates, Large farms and cattle, nor wealth to shield us from hardship. If you come with me, my love, you will have to work as I do, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, to build a life for us.

But I swear to you, with everything that I am, that it will be a life filled with love, with laughter, with freedom. A life where you are not caged, where you are not afraid. A life where you are mine and I am yours, as it should have always been.

Be careful, my love. If anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself. I would tear the world apart to bring you back, but I do not want vengeance, I want you whole, safe and with me. I want to claim you as mine, utterly and completely.

Forever yours,

Xavier