Loving Words

The letters were piled up on Alice Daley’s bed, each one made of stained and yellowed paper. They were thin and delicate, so she handled them with care. A tiny smile on her face, she brought one of them up to her nose and inhaled.

It smelled old and musty, just like the used-book store where she found them tucked into the bindings of a book full of poetry. Behind the old smell, there was the faintest hint of cologne, something sharp and aged, like a fine wine.

There were dozens of these letters, all addressed to the same woman. Her name had been Elizabeth Summers, and the writer had clearly been in love with her, as each letter was him professing his devotion and adoration to her. He never signed his own name, though it was mentioned once. He always finished his confessions with, “Till we meet again, my darling.”

Alice had read them all by now and, because each one was dated, she was able to follow their relationship from the very beginning. The earliest had been written on January 6, 1912.

My dear Elizabeth,

You would not believe the power with which I miss you. One would think my heart aches for you, but one would be wrong. My heart, not aches, but thrives at the thought that I will one day again be blessed by your goddess-like visage. The memory of your voice sings in my mind, Elizabeth, and I grow madder everyday, craving you here beside me. I will follow you to New York, my love, and I shall learn to fit into your American life, for it pains me to imagine my English life alone. There is a ship sailing this April, all the way from Southampton to New York.  A journey like that has never been done before, and I intend to board and sail and experience all the luxuries it has to offer. I will come to you, and I will come with intentions of stripping you of your last name and replacing it with mine, forever making you Elizabeth Colley, should your father accept my proposal. And if he doesn’t, then I will whisk you away and we shall live where no one knows either of our names!

Till we meet again, my darling.

It was beautiful!

Reading the letters over and over again, following their love story, Alice couldn’t help but fall in love with her idea of what the mysterious Mr. Colley had been like. She imagined a tall and warm man, with golden skin and chocolate hair matching his sharp chocolate eyes.

She would never know for sure what he was like. She would never know what he looked like. She would never know more than what she could glean from these letters.

It left her empty inside, knowing this man is a long time deceased. And he had clearly died an awful death. It had been awful and slow, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine the fear that he had felt.

Of course none of the letters described his death in detail, but she was smart enough to draw her own conclusions based on the information given.

The last letter ever written to Elizabeth brought tears to Alice’s eyes each time she read it. After the first time she cried and several tears landed on the weathered paper, causing some of the ink to run, she made sure to hold it far from her face when she read it next. The last thing she wanted was to ruin these beautiful works of love.

The final letter was written one day before the man left for New York, one day before the ship he had been so excited to board departed from Southampton. It was dated for April 9, 1912.

Elizabeth my love,

I leave tomorrow. I shall board the ship in the morning at 9:30, and will set sail at noon. Tomorrow I board a ship that will go down in history as the greatest to ever sail the waters, and that legendary ship that they call ‘The Unsinkable” will bring me to the woman I’ve missed so much these past months.

Alice had suspected before, but the word ‘Unsinkable’ confirmed her suspicions about the ship that Colley was so looking forward to boarding.

I come bearing a diamond I wish to place upon your finger, forever claiming you as my wife. This diamond could put all others to shame. It’s a diamond fit for a queen and it must be worn by a fierce woman. I can think of no better woman to wear it but you. I have been corresponding with your father just as I have been with you, and it appears he approves of our union. I am happy, my love! Truly, for the first time in my life, I know proper happiness. Your father promised to me that he would not tell you, and advised me to keep it a secret as well, but I cannot hide such good news from you. Your mother has already started planning the wedding and sending invitations. The wedding is set for this June. A summer wedding in honour of your family name!

Till we meet again, my darling.

Obviously, that beautiful summer wedding never happened, because Colley died only five days later on April 14.

After reading all these letters, Alice had spent hours doing research on the ship. She had found a list of all the victims and, just as she had expected, she found a man named Edward Pomeroy Colley, who boarded in Southampton, and was in first class. He died on his 37th birthday, and had died a very wealthy man.

It made sense to Alice. There were hints of his wealth in his letters. From his careful handwriting to how carefree he had seemed about buying a first class boarding ticket and an engagement ring.

She looked up his name and found websites dedicated to Edward Pomeroy Colley. It was clear where his wealth came from, as he was directly descended from Arthur Wellesley - the Duke of Wellington - the man who defeated Napoleon during the Battle of Waterloo and sent the dictator into exile.

Alice went in deeper, looking into his life and came across a site like many of the others, but in the comments section of this one someone had posted,

“I had to do a project on a Titanic victim in my first year of uni, and I chose this guy. I looked into him and got some help from my family, and what I learned from my grandmother is that this guy is my great-great-uncle. He was her uncle and apparently he was quite the character and resented his so-called ‘blue blood’. My grandma gave me a stack of letters that he had written to a woman he was going to marry. That’s why he was on the ship, he was leaving Southampton to follow her to her home in New York. Unfortunately, I’ve since lost the letters. I’m almost 100% sure my publisher thought it was meant to be a part of my book, so maybe he put it inside one of the original copies. I would love to have them back in the family, so everyone please keep an eye out for old letters inside a poetry book called Loving Words written by Lucas Bunbury. If you find them, please either call me or email me.”

Lucas Bunbury left his home number and personal email.

Out of all the people in the world, Alice had been the one to find and fall in love with the letters. She had fallen in love with this mans great-great-uncle.

With shaking hands, she reached for her bedside table to retrieve her phone. She dialed his number and brought the phone to her ear, and listened to it ring.

Just when she was sure no one was going to answer, a deep voice on the other end said, “Hello?”

It took a second for her to force the words from her throat.

“Hi… I’m Alice Daley and I-I found your… Edward Colley’s letters.”

She could hear him breathing, but there was no answer. They were both silent for nearly a minute before he cleared his throat.

“It’s nice to meet you Alice,” he said, sounding a little flustered. “I don’t know where you live, b-but would you be interested in meeting up? You can bring the letters, and I’ll pay for the coffee.”

“Coffee?”

“Well, I thought we could go for coffee. Or not, if you don’t like coffee. Out for lunch maybe?”

The two of them spent nearly an hour speaking on the phone, planning their meeting and exchanging stories about Edward Colley. He told her more about his early life before he met Elizabeth, and she told him some of the information she had found during her research.

Weeks passed and the day of their meeting arrived. Alice drove herself to the quaint coffee shop they had chosen, and walked in with the image of her version of Colley in mind. And when she saw a man matching the image in her head, she knew in her bones that he was Lucas Bunbury.

He was a man made of chocolate and gold, and as she came closer, she even recognized his smell as the cologne she knew from the letters.

She came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned to face her, his face lit up.

“Alice Daley?”

“Lucas Bunbury?”

They both nodded and took their seats.

Alice pulled the letters from her purse, all of them tied loosely with a piece of twine, and slid them across the small table.

And with that, she began explaining all she had learned.

Author's Note

It's still a work in progress, I know there's still a lot wrong with it

Reviews

[Kate Lee-Reyes]

I stumbled upon this using the Discover page and just wanted to let you know that I thought it was really great! The idea for this story is so original and creative. You could totally create a longer story about Alice and Lucas and I would definitely read it!

[Askew]

Thank you so much! I worked so hard on this and spent hours researching everything I needed, I'm really proud of it and it's great to hear that someone likes the characters and idea as much as I do!

[Rodric A Johnson]

As with Kate Lee-Reyes, I found this by happenstance using the discover tool. I am not a mushy person and disdain romance. Your words evoked in me a change. It is lovely, the story is a great start to what could be a marvelous tale. Toward the end, I wanted nothing more but for Alice and Lucas to become a pair. As I read, I hoped Alice's great maternal figure was the love interest of this Edward Colley. You pulled me into your work in progress and I await the finished project if it is a book.

This is the first time that romance has interested me. The letters I believe could be more polished for this time period, the language more creative and descriptive. The story is enticing and grabs me in as I know it will grab people who normally read romance writing. I want to read more. I want to know if Lucas thinks Alice is as dreamy as Alice considers him. Does Alice mistake her feelings for the man in the letters for a true character assessment of Edward and seeks for it in Lucas? These questions I hope you will answer as you develop the story further.

[Askew]

Thank you Rodric! This review really means something to me, especially coming from someone who typically isn't a fan of romance. I don't usually write romance, but when my Creative Writing teacher told us to write a short story about whatever we wanted, I wanted to challenge myself. Any feedback or constructive criticism is more than welcome, and I look forward to people reading the finished product once I have the time to finish it.

[Rodric A Johnson]

I look forward to it! A friend of mine online, Bill Holland suggested that we write about something that we would normally not write. In your case, you are on to something here. If it works for you AND you enjoy it, I hope all the best for you. I look forward to reading other things you've written.