There were other rooms but she wasn’t interested in them because at the end of the hall was a wide, glassed-in area. Tropical plants were along the edges: palms, orchids, bromeliads. It was like a botanical garden that a person would pay to see.

To the side was a young woman. She had on a ruffled dress of light blue, the square neck quite low. Her dark hair was piled prettily on top of her head. She was bent over a wooden embroidery frame and sewing on a sampler. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss it read. Below that was the author’s name Charlotte Brontë, but the final ë hadn’t yet been sewn.

She looked up and saw Etta. “You’ve come at last.” She stood up. She was Alicia. It was Etta’s sister’s face, body, voice.

The young woman took a step and Etta saw her limp. She picked up a silver-topped cane and took a few more steps.

“Alicia,” Etta whispered and her eyes filled with tears. Her sister was always ready to listen to people’s problems, always had a solution. “I’ve had the most awful dream. I got married but he says I’m old and ugly and your parasol was cut and—”

The woman let her cane fall to the floor and she opened her arms. “Come talk to me.”

Gratefully, Etta took a step forward, then…

She woke up.

My Heart Will Find You

By: Jude Deveraux

Available from MIRA April 2023!

Copyright © 2023 by Deveraux Inc.