Hello. For those who celebrated, I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day. I certainly did. This week’s Tuesday tale is one based on a picture prompt. Here’s the one I chose. Today, I’m reintroducing a character from The Price of Honor, The Canadiana Series, Book One. Murielle was a key figure, instrumental into assisting Isabelle in her flight from Caen.
Enjoy!
Murielle Leroux adjusted the mob cap on her graying hair, walked into the dining room, and lit the candles in the ornate candelabra, one of the few wedding gifts she’d kept all these years. She’d been a widow more than half her life, her Gaël dying weeks after the wedding, thrown by one of the Count de Caen’s horses. The countess, newly pregnant, had opened her home to the young widow, offering her a position in the household.
When Isabelle was born, twenty-year-old Murielle had become her governess. Two years later, when Fiona’s sister had died in childbirth, the countess had assumed responsibility for the child her own father shunned, and Sophie had joined the nursery. Her charges, her girls. For twenty-five years, she’d cared for them, nursed them through colds and heartbreak when the countess had died, and then later when the count had remarried, and finally when Isabelle’s beloved Pierre had died. But they were both gone now, and other than her niece’s family and her uncle, she was alone in the world.
Once the girls had gone—Sophie unwillingly to New France to be some stranger’s wife and Isabelle running away from her fiancé, hoping to hide aboard the same vessel, determined to discover the truth about poor Pierre, her murdered husband—Murielle had left Caen, returning to what was left of her family.
She didn’t know what had happened to her girls, but the answer, like the one Isabelle sought, was in the colony. Poor Isabelle’s escape had been a dangerous one. The girl had defied not only the Chevalier d’Angrignon and her step-mother, she’d refused a command from King Louis himself. Such behavior was an act of treason. She could never return to France, not if she wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders.
That’s it. Don’t forget to check out all the other posts on Tuesday Tales.
Living the Dream 
I enjoyed the drama and familial complexities you so well depicted here. I must say, too, that I love the aristocratic French names and the historical aspects. Looking forward to more!
Thanks Flossie. Writing a story with three separate plot lines that will eventually intertwine is a challenge LOL
Very intriguing! Very caught up in the drama with the two girls! Great job!
wonderful post. Lots of family tie ins here and good to get some back story on the history of the mother of the girls. That whole keeping your head on your shoulders in France is a scary thing. Life sure was brutal back then…. well, I guess it is now too, in lots of places. Jillian
Wow! I didn’t realize her peril was that serious. That’s love and devotion for you!! I love learning these things through the ideas of the governess. Easy way to fill in some information without doing a big backstory dump. This was perfect.
Excellent snippet! You have a talent for writing these tales from the past. LOVED the last line “…not if she wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders.” Great job!