Chapter One:1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHq6lZ4461O
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Her father was pacing, causing the floorboards in the upstairs hallway to creak with his every step, alerting Clara to the fact that he was far more worried than he had let on when she had asked earlier. However, she couldn't blame him. She had done the same thing in front of her younger sisters. Sometimes it was easier to simply say that everything was fine, even if it wasn't.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZcJdDSHlP
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Clara listened to the sounds of her father's creaking footsteps as well as the soft murmur of her younger sisters' quiet breathing in their respective beds. Yet, even with all those sounds to distract her, she could still hear the moans of pain coming from her parents' room. Her mother had gone into labor just after lunch and was still in the throes of childbirth nine hours later.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZ0LZ1KH5x
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Between Clara and her Father, Clara wasn't sure which of them was more tightly wound. The separate births of Harriet and Amelia, Clara's little sisters, hadn't taken as long as nine hours, and Clara was more than a little worried that there might be complications. Even if the midwife and the doctor had assured her that everything was fine.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXbbJu5EXI
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Although she was worried out of her mind over her mother's health and she hated how her mother had to feel the obvious pain of giving birth, Clara was still looking forward to being an older sister for the third time.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9dC1hjwWi
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Clara's ears twitched as she registered the sounds coming from her parents' room getting louder, but instead of the blood curdling scream she had been dreading a foreign cry pierced the air, and a happy smile flashed onto her face as she recognized it as the sound of a newborn baby's first cry.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVJdVUNKOU
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Clara felt more than heard the stirring of her younger sisters in their beds nearby, and she stilled, not wanting to wake them. After all, the only reason why she was in her sisters' room was for them not to be scared and to distract them from the noises across the hall. She wouldn't be doing the job of an older sister right if she let them wake up now before she was sure everything was alright.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0PYx8LsJr
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She waited for a few minutes before getting out of bed as quick as she could, not wanting to wake up her siblings. Listening for the sounds of Amelia and Harriet's breathing patterns evening out, she did her best to put on her dressing gown and pull on her slippers without making a single noise. Once she was situated and her sisters had resumed their restful sleep, she made her way over to the door leading to the hallway.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLXkOS0P2H
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In the soft candle light that the maids had lit despite the late hour, Clara could see that the hall was empty, her father having already gone inside to see his wife. The bedroom door squeaked and for a moment she paused, glancing back at the faces of her two sleeping sisters.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSWi2cddnc
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Harriet was snuggled against a teddy bear, her four-year-old arms draped over the stuffed animal, while Amelia was sucking quietly on two of her fingers. Clara gave a sigh of relief. They hadn't woken.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXBm5k9Tcc
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Slipping out of their bedroom completely, Clara padded as silent as a mouse to her parents' door, the sound of hushed voices drifting to her ears through the ajar door. Standing in front of it, Clara could just see into the room, taking in the form of her father huddled close to the bed.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJUOt1xaI7
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Her foot then gave a hesitant step onto a squeaky floorboard and through the crack in the door she could see her mother's head raise to look at the door that hid Clara from direct line of sight.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2bYqFXNEE
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"Clara, we know you're there, darling," her mother called, voice a margin above a whisper. "Come in sweetheart, come meet your little brother." Clara opened the door, mindful to the maids, midwife, and her baby brother who seemed to already be asleep in her mother's arms.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5TzJkl7As
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"What is his name, Mother?" She asked as she looked down at the sleeping baby once she was close enough.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTMmW8Dkgi
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"His name is James," Clara's father answered. "After your grandfather."1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGGU5EXnGd
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"Actually, James Samuel, after your grandfather and your father," her mother said, and Clara brought her eyes up in time to see her father give a bemused sigh.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszO2EgYDz7
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"If only because your mother insists."1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJfGEY2iPc
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"I do," her mother said, her voice firm. "This is our only son; he deserves to have a good, strong name." She looked down at her son, her eyes soft and lips smiling. "Plus, if he was a girl his name was going to be after his father's anyway."1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EJtlQwoES
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"A girl named Samuel, well I suppose there is a first time for everything," Clara's father joked, and her mother reached forward to give him a light whack on the arm, though still careful not to jostle the baby.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdA8ARH525
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"I meant he would have been named Samantha," her mother said, her sweat-matted hair shining in the candlelight as she shot a look at her still chuckling husband.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRpa5yY0VY
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"I would have been fine with either," he answered, leaning forward to press a light kiss to his wife's temple, his gray eyes that matched his eldest daughter's looking at his wife and newborn child with nothing short of adoration.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq39VTxVBLc
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Clara had to smile at her parents' teasing of each other. They were always like that, but a blind man could see that the teasing was from love, not spite. She hoped to find a love like her parents', but she knew that in a time where arranged marriages took dominance over any other sort, that even a small amount of love was lucky.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4odMS6D2v2
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Clara pushed the thought of the loveless marriage she would no doubt be committed to out of her head, instead favoring thoughts of James Samuel, her sleeping little brother. Tipping her head downwards she peered at her newest sibling, her heart warming to the point of bursting when James gave a small murmur.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48xSVRYiXF
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"May I hold him?" Clara asked, and her mother though smiling, shook her head.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4gJ9jBiHw
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"Not right now, dearest. He is sleeping. I promise that tomorrow when you wake up you can be the first of your sisters to hold him."1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Bhvwanhq4
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"Which means, of course, my dear Clara, that you must go to sleep first before you can wake up," her father said, a grin on his face.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb8IULChel
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"But Father-"1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wR2Y3C8sV
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"Ah, ah, ah, no whining. Both your new little brother and your mother need their rest, and I dare say I might need some too. We can't all be night owls like some little girls." Clara scowled at her father as he ruffled her hair with his large hand.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJtTXqriks
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"Father, I am hardly a little girl anymore! I'm thirteen now!"1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zNDhjxKPg
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"Nonsense! You will be always be a little girl, at least to your mother and I. Now, off to bed with you. You have important things to do in the morning!" Her father said, giving her a gentle push towards the doorway.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWm6NZl9nyD
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While she would've liked to stay and hold her brother, Clara didn't mind leaving her parents alone with their newest child. She knew her father always hated not being able to be in the room when her mother was giving birth, but he stayed out for propriety's sake.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpp4sVgKeNn
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Clara made her way back to her sisters' room, glad that the sounds of her brother's birth hadn't woken her sisters.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPGDGzOnqG
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She crawled into her makeshift bed next to her youngest sister's crib, let out a happy sigh, and then flopped onto her back to stare at the lavender painted ceiling. There was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA5skELS37
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Between her own excitement, the soft sounds of her sisters sleeping, and the thoughts that flew through her head like birds heading south for the winter, sleep seemed unattainable. She contemplated counting sheep, but that sounded boring, so instead she let herself daydream about what James would be like when he grew up.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7y1gNi3CQX
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She was pondering over what he might look like when he was older when a startled shout came from just outside her bedroom door.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRYgydvy6J
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"Quick! Call the doctor! You there, fetch me some linens!" A voice shouted, and Clara recognized it as the midwife's. What was going on? A loud screeching filled the air as the sounds of hurried feet pounding on the stairs leaked into the room. Clara sat up abruptly, not bothering to throw on her robe and slippers. The wooden floor was cold beneath her feet as she ran to the door and threw it open.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3qGksCwwY
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Outside the room was chaos. Maids were rushing back and forth, the baby was howling, and through it all Clara could see straight across to the center of the commotion. It was her mother. Clara acted without thinking, dashing into her parents' room before anyone could tell her to stop.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq45uVOGGIc
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"Mother! What's wrong? What's happening?" She cried, but instead of comforting words she was greeted by the harsh sound of her mother's shallow breathing and a firm hand on her own upper arm.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYvvlko6qU
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"Here, Miss Corden, take the child. Your mother is in no fit state to see you," the doctor said, thrusting the squirming baby into Clara's own trembling arms.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhoxoyBD9Bg
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"But-"1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhV4lKrTvO2
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Her protest was lost amongst the sounds of a house in uproar. She got one more look at the sallow face of her mother and the haggard one of her father, before the door was slammed in her face.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCjWfsgjjG
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However, that one look made all of the difference, and as she stood there trying to comfort her baby brother, her own tears starting to land on his newborn hair, she knew. She knew what no one was going to tell her. Her mother was dying. Why else would they all be panicking?1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1odOLdWENW
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Outside in the hallway, she rocked James back and forth in her arms until he settled and fell asleep, but Clara did not have such luck. Her eyes blurred with tears, and she stifled the sounds of her own sobs, not wanting to wake up her siblings. It was already a miracle that her sisters had not woken up from the ruckus.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fQjLNW80n
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Clara could hear the sound of voices from inside her parents' room, and she felt her heart constrict when she heard the words "complicated birth" and "internal bleeding" through the thin walls. She didn't know much about the practice of medicine, but she did know that there wasn't anything that could be done. Internal bleeding couldn't be stopped.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5kE4qxl8t
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After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor with the gruff voice slipped out of her parents' room, his eyes landing on Clara's frozen form. She was still in the exact place she was shoved into when she was shut out. He walked towards her like how one would approach a wild animal, with caution.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapyAh39VJO
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"Miss Corden, your mother wishes to see you," he said, his voice quieter than what was natural for a man like him, "Hand me your brother, I will look after him as you speak to her." He held out his hands for James, but Clara shook her head, her arms tightening in a protective circle around her sleeping brother.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJatlfx9UhU
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"No, I've-I've got him," she answered. She took one last blurry-eyed look at the doctor and then stepped into the room that not three hours ago was witness to the birth of the child in her arms. Clara's eyes immediately fell on the prone form of her mother and the hunched figure of her father in a chair beside her mother's bed.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrV2oeAg70M
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"M-mother?" She whispered, the word catching in her throat. Her mother looked up at her when she spoke, a pained smile on her lips.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0ULC0ZVUR
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"Clara, my darling," she said, holding out a pale and shaking hand towards her daughter. Clara took it without hesitation, even though she was still holding her little brother.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSFDued4Dk
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"You are dying aren't you?" She asked, squeezing her mother's hand with all of her might.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKeylXitF0P
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"Yes, my darling," her mother said, her own hand squeezing on Clara's weakly. They were both silent for a moment, the only sounds in the room her father's muffled sobs and her mother's wheezing breaths. Clara dipped her head down, trying to mask her tears, but raised her head when a gentle hand was placed on her cheek.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSX18B0h7C0
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"Clara, I am so proud of you," her mother breathed, her mother's eyes meeting Clara's gray ones. "You are the best daughter your father and I could've wished for, the best sister your siblings could have been given, and-" Her mother broke off with a coughing fit as her hand left Clara's face to cough into a blood-stained handkerchief.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWNzcTfpJH
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"And," her mother continued, her voice sounding strained, "You are already growing into a beautiful, caring, and smart young lady." Her mother paused to take another rattling breath, her eyes drifting closed for but a second before fluttering back open.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtggeQQfFr
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"We already ask so much of you, your father and I, we know that, but Clara, my darling, once I am gone you will need to help your father in any way you can, more than you already do. It is unfair of me to ask you to help raise your siblings when you have not yet grown up yourself, but-"1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cvL7Y9xVA
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"Mother, don't worry," Clara cut in, grasping onto her mother's hand even tighter. "I will do anything to help, you know that." Her mother gave her a watery smile in return.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrn5Tg3luo
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"Yes, I do, my darling girl, I do, but don't forget about you in the process, do not lose yourself along the way. I won't have you throwing your life away for the sake of everyone else."1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAeBxwlZpO
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"I won't, Mother, I promise I won't," she said, speaking to her mother in earnest.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnymPH3vfB
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"Then that is all I could wish for." Her mother's hand squeezed her own, and as her mother breathed another wheezing breath, Clara looked into her mother's brown eyes. In them she saw love and pain mixed into a poisonous concoction until both were gone and her mother's hand slackened in her grip.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhFFMGssgM
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She allowed herself to be pushed out of the way by her grieving father and the gentle-handed maids, her whole body numb and her mind whirling with barely contained emotions. The last look she had of her mother burned into her mind even as she once again tried to calm her little brother.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWHTZFhdJ2
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Remembering her mother's vacant brown eyes and her limp hand holding the bloodied handkerchief, Clara made a promise. She made a silent promise to her father, her siblings, and lastly, her mother, that she would do exactly what her mother had asked her to. She would do her best to help in any way she could.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Uvha6kjJl
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However, looking down at her squirming brother while her ears picked up on the sounds of her sisters waking as well as the noises of her grieving father, she knew she had her work cut out for her.1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHnC6SYEVI
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1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOrkWSjoT9
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What do you guys think? Will she be able to keep her promise to her mother? Tell me in the comments!1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIDIjgHmKH
1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OTuxfEu1f
1074Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlFmD6D7k7
Edited as of: July 27th, 2015
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