By This Dear Encounter

"He is the half part of a blessed man, left to be finished by such as she."

December 20th

"M'lady," the servant pleaded, "Lord Mercutio doesn't like to be disturbed here."

"Then it's very good that I am a visitor and not a disruption, isn't it?"

"If m'lady would agree to wait while I see-"

"She will not," the lady snapped.

"But this is the family wing, part of Lord Mercutio and Lord Romeo's private quarters!"

"So I gathered from your previous hysterics!" No indignant serving man would stop her. Mercutio Montague was reputed as a clever young man. She wanted to know how much of that was owed to preparation. Ignoring every instruction on manners she had ever heard, she slammed the door shut between herself and the servant.

Think of Marriage Now

"My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour."

December 3rd

Bianca awoke to a winter sunrise peeking around the drapes. It was the same light, the same room, the same drapes with which she had lived most of her life. Long ago, the room had been the nursery. When her brothers outgrew the nursery, they had been given larger, better quarters. When Bianca outgrew the nursery, her parents refurnished it. At the time, she didn't see it as an insult. Claudio would always live at Montague Court, and Antonio might live and die there as well. She would leave the house forever when she married.

Crack Pairing Offspring

January 4th, 2015: Downloads added! See the end of the post.

40+ pictures ahead. Consider yourself warned.

Most Welcome

"As good luck would have it."

November 9th

Long before she eloped, Anne had resolved to be a better mother than her own, a suffering creature who had only been saved by widowhood. The bare minimum of her hopes was that her children would never think their lives would be better without her. She wanted to contribute to their happiness and well-being. A good mother would do that. A good mother would bring something to her children's lives that no other person ever could. These had always been her hopes for her children with George. In the waning days of her last, unexpected pregnancy, Anne had worried that giving up the child would be the moment in her life when she lost all claim to the title of good mother. What good came from a mother surrendering her own baby?

More good than she had ever imagined.

A Simple Choice

"They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, but, bear-like, I must fight the course."

October 23rd

Nerissa glared at the ledgers, threatening them with general doom if they didn't give her happier numbers. A sweep of summer illness had dented their profits in August. Now, the neighborhood was hiding from a rumored action by the Ducal Guards. Brothels were not illegal in Verona, but there were plenty of traps in the relevant laws. Everyone at the Palamon brothel had agreed it was best to wait out the witch hunt. Nobody would starve on Nerissa's watch, but some fresh income wouldn't have hurt.