CounterClockwise: A Blast From The Past Romance

Thanks again for staying with me here! This week I’m going to talk a little about Nora Wells. She’s a fan favorite and I wanted to dive in a little deeper to her story.

Nora Is A Firecracker Right From The Start

I’m possibly adding this bit of backstory to Nora’s list of accomplishments. Here we go….

At age 17, Nora became engaged to a man who was not of her own choosing. Her father, Sir Brantley Evans (there’s a bunch of middle names for him too but they are up in the air), was a traditionalist and wanted to ensure that his daughter, his only daughter mind you, married well. And so, with all the best intentions, he arranged a match for her.

Since her looks were extremely good, and she was smart (not so much a plus for brides in those days but Sir Brantley knew it might help later on) not to mention very comfortable in the drawing room as well as in the saddle of a horse, Brantley knew that with a healthy dowry thrown into the mix, Nora would have no trouble attracting some seriously rich and powerful attention.

She did. And oh boy was it a wild time.

Enter Lord William Sinclair (again, lots of middle names but I’m not doing that here yet), a man of 40, a widower who “lost” his first two wives to illness and had no children. Mysterious as those two deaths were, he was still ridiculously rich (at least on paper you know) and good looking; not yet running to fat in his middle years despite his love of rich food, and there was always that glorious title hanging in the air for a firstborn son. Here is my idea of what he looked like…..

Sir Brantley was beyond flattered that Sinclair was so enamored with Nora. In fact, once Brantley had given him the suggestion, he could barely contain the Sinclair’s enthusiasm for marrying Nora in short order. However, the flattered state started to wear off when Sinclair became a constant visitor to Highgate (the Evans’ vast estate), already acting like he would one day own the place, and was over-the-top attentive to Nora.

Nora Was Not Impressed

Instead of being a starstruck teenager, Nora was instead a young woman of strength and brains and kept her wits about her at all times. Sinclair tried his best, but Nora was not giving in to the allure of his lavish gifts (a diamond necklace that was a family heirloom and totally inappropriate for a 17 year old girl) and his crazy-nuts manners. I’m talking sashaying across the floor when he saw her, bowing like she was an Empress instead of a Knight’s daughter, albeit a wealthy one, and guiding her into a chair like she was made of fine china. It was enough to turn Nora’s stomach. But for her father’s sake, she kept her tongue.

So, Did Nora Marry The Idiot?

Well….at this point I’m thinking, yes, Nora did. And it led to a year of her dodging everything from her less-than-gentle husband, to spitting out odd-tasting food in a nearby potted plant, to actually finding a slithering creature who somehow had managed to find his way into her closet…..

That’s it for today. Let me know about this backstory line.

Have a great Thursday!