Read On the Isle of Sound and Wonder Online

Authors: Alyson Grauer

Tags: #Shakespeare Tempest reimagined, #fantasy steampunk adventure, #tropical island fantasy adventure, #alternate history Shakespeare steampunk, #alternate history fantasy adventure, #steampunk magical realism, #steampunk Shakespeare retelling

On the Isle of Sound and Wonder (40 page)

“This is foolishness,” said Mrs. Beaufort, upset. “Caroline is but a child!” Mr. Beaufort shushed her. The gypsy had more to say.

"There is one thing that may redeem your son: your daughter. When you have a daughter, she will be an angel from heaven, if you have the means to save her. Do not let your own brilliant mind be wasted in preparing for your children’s future." The gypsy turned away, leaning on her husband for support, and the husband thanked the couple for their generosity again.

“What does that mean?” demanded Mrs. Beaufort, but the fortune was told and done.

For years, my mother toiled over what the prophetic words could mean. As she grew older, she read a great many books and was considered 'unhealthily educated' by her mother. Thinking perhaps the gypsy meant there would be something wrong with her daughter when the girl was born that would require fixing or even prevention, she read all she could about surgery and medicine.

She studied anatomy and engineering and sciences to further her understanding of life, the mechanics of the human body, and the untapped potential therein. The words regarding her son were full of praise and success, linked inexorably to the fate of her daughter. If she could save her future daughter, her son would also be saved.

When her father died, my teenaged mother was taken into the care of her father’s friend, a man called Frankenstein. A romance bloomed there, and ultimately, they were married. She bore him a son, Victor, so-called for his predestined victory in whatever field or profession he should chose. The next child to be born was also a son, whom they named Ernest. My father would have been quite settled with these two healthy boys, but my mother was determined that a daughter should be born.

“Then, my dearest Elizabeth, the unthinkable happened,” wrote my mother. “I was, at last, with child again, but tragedy struck me, and the infant was lost. The doctor revealed to me after the incident that it had been a female child, and I lost much of my health and ability to carry on, thinking very much that I had failed my prophecy. The doctor advised your father to take me to Italy for warmer, more temperate climes, and so we went. It was there, my dearest girl, my true angel, that we found you.”

I realized that I had been holding my breath for a little too long. I sat back and breathed, closing my eyes for a moment to clear my head. The rest of this letter was professions of faith and love, and reassurances that I would be well all the days of my life if I entrusted myself to Victor faithfully, and cared for him in deepest love and honesty.

I studied the second fat envelope, marked “On Your Wedding Day.” This first letter was the hitherto untold story of my mother’s journey up to her most generous adoption of myself. What else could possibly lie unsaid? Curiosity spread through my veins like poison, and I ran my fingers over the paper. I wanted very badly to open it and read it, though it was not my wedding day. With Victor away at his studies, I had no idea when that day would come, I realized with a sad twist in my gut.

I shook my head to clear it of confusion. My mother hid these things knowing—or at least hoping—that I would find them someday, and I must trust her to know when the truths would be most rightly revealed.

I hid the journal and letters back in the floorboards, replacing it and carefully dusting everything with a rag, so as not to betray any one place that had more or less dust than the hiding spot. I would wait. I had to wait. I would continue to do her proud by caring for the family, and loving Victor, even in his absence, and waiting for the day of our marriage.

. . .

Continued in
Mechanized Masterpieces: A Steampunk Anthology

2013 Xchyler Publishing