Dear Future Husband

35. You Are An Absolute Rogue

10 May 1892

Rosalie watched in shock and some mild pleasure as Anna marched down the aisle, every inch a dignified yet righteously angry young lady. "You, Sterling Bennett, are an absolute rogue. You have used and treated many women horribly!"

The minister's mouth was agape. He did not seem to be handling this interruption to his ceremony very well. "Young lady, I beseech you to sit down–"

"Why should I? You have just asked us for any reasons why this young man and woman might not be wed, and I am giving you one. He first courted me three years ago, and then, he kissed my friend, most forcibly, in an act that she did not agree to. Afterward, he attempted to convince her father that her reputation would be ruined if she did not marry him," Anna said emphatically, and Rosalie felt a warm glow of affection for her. "Yet that is not the worst. I have heard rumours of him consorting with... with ladies of the night."

A collective gasp rose around the parish. Emilia Livingston jerked her hands free from Sterling's and tore off her veil. Her delicate features were now inflamed by fury. "Say it isn't so!"

"Yet it is," Anna said. "I come now, not as a woman scorned as Shakespeare might say, but as a woman who seeks to speak the truth about this man. He is a most horrid rake, libertine, and fortune-hunter."

"How dare you tell such slanderous lies against my son," came the booming voice of George Bennett. "He is nothing but an upstanding gentleman."

"Your son is a social climber who would do absolutely anything to achieve his goals in life, even if they hurt others. Tell me, does that sound like the mark of a fine, upstanding gentleman to you, Mr. Bennett?" Anna asked, her voice unwavering in her declaration.

"You have no proof for your words," Sterling Bennett spoke at last, but his voice sounded strangled, his face reddening with anger. "You spew these empty lies to slander me. As the bard once said, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Rosalie stood from her seat, unable to be still for any longer. "It is not mere libel! I, Rosalie Winthrop, can attest to this matter! Sterling Bennett did indeed make unwanted advances upon my person three years ago, forcing me to be sent away to boarding school."

Now, murmuring accompanied the gasps. Anna and Rosalie locked eyes. It had been many years since they had spoken in person or communicated properly at all, but now Rosalie felt the urge to defend her old friend, who had believed in her at last. She didn't care if it stained her reputation. She would speak the truth, as God had intended for them to do. As He had called them to.

At her side, her father squeezed her hand before standing next to her. Her shoulders sagged in relief, afraid that he might scold her for making a scene. Or, well, escalating a scene that had already been created. Or worse, that he might tell her that her reputation was ruined by her admission. "It is true. Sterling Bennett is a rather despicable person, and I only regret not telling that to him sooner."

Emilia was at this point in tears, her fair skin now blotched with weeping. She shoved Sterling away from her and ran down the church aisle in a flurry of white.

Anna met Rosalie's gaze over the shoulders of all in attendance and at last, Rosalie knew that they were friends once more.

17 May 1892

Dear future husband,

Allow me to enlighten you of all that has occurred in the past week! I have witnessed Sterling Bennet's fiancee, Emilia Livingston, throw a bouquet of flowers in his face before tearing off her veil and stomping down the aisle. I really do feel for the poor girl. I can't imagine discovering one's fiance's true colours on their wedding day, and to have the truth revealed by a complete stranger to boot! Truly a horrid tale only fit for a penny dreadful, I must say.