To Have and to Hold

To Haveand toHoldBy Amy Horikami No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, whether by graphic, visual, electronic, film, microfilm, tape recording, or any other means, without prior permission of the author.This work is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real and are used fictitiously. They are in no way shape or form related to any real persons, places, or things and are coincidental if such a case occurs.All rights reserved 2023 © Amy Horikami DEDICATIONTo my daughters and nieces;I love being your mother and aunt.May you find someone to cherish you when the time comes.Love You Lots! Chapter 1Summer of 1810JOSH Do you hear that?” I asked my twin, Jacob, who was walking just a few feet away from me. We looked exactly the same, except for our hair. His was a honey blonde, while mine was a dark brown. Not that it made any difference. My mother still mixed us up plenty to make up for it.I stood up and searched the woods, squinting my eyes to focus my vision. I thought I heard a small cry in the distance and looked around the pond and woods that were beside it, but I couldn’t see anything.“Quiet,” Jacob whispered to me as he squatted down at the edge of the pond with his arms out and ready to catch any fish, frog, or some sort of creature that would bring utter chaos to our household. Usually, mischief that boys at the age of sixteen would do to pass the summer before being sent back to boarding school to learn to be proper. Here we were free from all the strict rules at the moment…sort of.To my mother's dismay, we were out by the pond that bordered our property, trying to catch fish. Having rowdy boys was hard when she was a Duchess who wanted pristine order and refinement constant in her household, but for all her order, she loved us dearly, and we couldn’t have asked for better parents.A soft cry and a whimper reached my ears again, and I realized it was coming from the bushes to my left, next to the border between our lands and the Carrol’s. Jed Carrol was a wealthy merchant who owned a trading ship company out of Maldon; Carrol Trading and Co. While not a member of the elite, he had enough wealth to make up for it. What he had in wealth though, he lacked in etiquette; at least, that is what my father had said.We tried to be good neighbors, but he shunned us all the same. Told us that he would “have nothing to do with those who didn’t have to work a day in their life to earn what they’d been given.” Which, of course, was an outright lie. Father worked harder than any man I knew and gave freely to those what he could. He was someone I looked up to and hoped to be like one day. While I wouldn’t inherit since my brother, who was born only a few minutes before me, would. I knew that no matter the occupation I took in life, I would try to follow in his footsteps.“You can’t reason with men like that, son,” he told me, “you must be better than that. No amount of wealth can ever replace kindness; remember that.”I never did.I stepped towards the bush, and another soft whimper filled my ears. I knew for sure that someone or something was crying. But who?I didn’t want to go by myself in case it ended up being an animal in danger and while sporting for fish was fun; who knew what dwelled in these woods by our house; it could be a wolf for all I knew.“I heard it again,” I turned to Jacob who was still concentrating on the water, hoping he would come with me to see what it was.“Well, why don’t you go figure out what it is,” he told me slightly irritated that I kept interrupting him. He waved me away, ignoring me once more.“Fine,” I gruffed out and looked around to find a stick before I carefully made my way along the edge of the pond towards the bush. I held out the stick in front of me for protection from whatever I faced.I was right in front of the bush now. I looked back at my brother for some reassurance only to see him quickly put his hands in the water to grab something, but came up empty-handed.“Oh, drat!” he spat out.“That’s what you get for not coming with me,” I told him smugly, and he glared back, and I laughed out loud, which made him laugh also.We were thick as thieves, and while we got on each other's nerves sometimes, it never lasted.He bent back down to try and catch another fish ,and I turned back to the bush.“Here goes nothing,” I told myself before raising the stick above my head with my right hand while my left parted the bush before me, but what I saw made me drop my stick and step back. My stomach clenched at the sight before me.A girl about my age was sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped around her knees as her shoulders shook with tears, but that’s not what made anger surge through my body. No. It was the bruises that were up and down her arms.Who would ever treat someone like this? Especially a girl. I didn’t want to frighten her since she still did not look up from my presence, so I cleared my throat to grab her attention.She quickly looked up, her bright blue eyes, wide with shock, and my own eyes widened even more by a bruise that was forming on her cheek.“Are…are you all right?” I asked her and stepped through the bush to see if I could help her up and maybe