Music Monday: Another Man’s Gold (Dean Brody)

Georgiana’s eyes grew wide with understanding. “How dreadful!”

Mary nodded. “I felt a fool for having fallen for such a man.”

Georgiana stood with her hands on her hips. “But he was a deceiver! You could not have known.”

“I should have known when he chose me over my sisters,” Mary said quietly.

“Why?”

Mary smiled sadly at Georgiana. How did one explain one’s lack of beauty?

“Oh, no!” said Georgiana. “Stand here.” She pointed to a spot in front of the mirror. “I do not know what you looked like then, but look at yourself now. You are beautiful. Your cheeks are perfectly rosy. Your nose is small. Your eyes shine with your emotions, and your mouth is lovely ─ neither too thick nor too thin. And your figure…” Georgiana studied Mary for a moment. “Although you are not tall, your height is by no means deficient, and you have ─ Oh, I do not know how to say it politely ─ you have softness in all the proper places. You shall turn many heads this season, and one of them may possess that healing love of which you spoke.”

Mary’s cheeks were glowing quite rosy, and she had to blink against the tears that had formed in her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I have never before heard myself described as anything so pleasant.”

[from No Other Choice]

Published to YouTube by Dean Brody on May 23, 2014.

I have been enjoying having a tv hanging in my “office”  and playing some YouTube videos while working. (We use the tv for our homeschool videos — that’s why it is there.)

As I have said before, writing time means songs with no words, but other work times, when I am making a graphic or doing something that does not require full mental engagement so that there is a little space open to enjoy the story a song might tell, I enjoy music with words. Dean Brody is EXCELLENT at telling stories with his songs.

This one, which I listened to this past week, has a beautiful story to it, and when I went through my viewing history, it seemed to be a great one to share — simply because it tells such a lovely story.

However, I have been challenging myself the last few weeks to see if I can come up with story excerpts from my stories that fit in some way with the music video I am sharing. I am not sure how long I can keep doing that, and I thought I had hit my limit when I chose this song to share. BUT then, I remembered this conversation between Mary and Georgiana in No Other Choice. I think it fits well enough. What do you think?

I’m still working on getting the new school schedule integrated with the writing schedule.  Therefore, I do not have a lot of writing news to share today, as I did very little writing last week, and the writing I did, I ended up scrapping. It was good writing, but it just did not feel right for the story. So after two days of just letting it simmer, I could not shake the feeling and cut the words.

However, in more positive news, I have a title for Mary Crawford’s story.  I have been pondering the ideas both for the title and about why Mary is as she is that you left in comments. Much of what you said really meshed with what I was thinking. Mary has not had an easy life as far as men go. Her examples of how men treat women have been tragic. As I was contemplating these things on Saturday morning, I thought, “She’s been attempting to protect her heart.” And that thought sent a little shiver of goosebumps up my arms, and I knew I had found her story’s title and the central theme.

Because I actually have a title for that story and I wrote no new words that I kept on Assessing Mr. Darcy, I’m going to share the first nearly five hundred words of Mary’s story.

Just one side note here before we continue to the excerpt. If you are a patron following Assessing Mr. Darcy on Patreon, I have two chapters that I have written before and did a bit of editing on during this past week; therefore, I will have two posts for that story this week. 🙂

Now for…

AN EXCERPT FROM Mary: To Protect Her Heart:

As Mary Crawford watched her brother’s friend, Charles Edwards walk away from her, anger and hurt warred within her. If she could just make the anger stronger than the pain of yet another rejection, she would be able to keep her chin held high and the tears where they should be – locked away. Tears were a sign of weakness, something upon which a gentleman could ply his game. She was not the sort of lady who would be a pawn in some gentleman’s game.

“That was rather harsh. Not undeserved, I would venture, but harsh,” someone said behind her.

“Indeed, it was!” Mr. Tenley, with whom she was supposed to dance, agreed forcefully.

Mary steeled her spine and turned toward the gentleman behind her. “Mr. Bertram.”

Tom Bertram gave her a small bow. “Miss Crawford.” He greeted. “I am well, and so is most of my family. Fanny and Edmund will have a child before the summer is through. Julia and Yates already have a daughter, and in case, you have not heard, it is unlikely that Maria will ever have the joy of being a mother.”

“Now, just a moment,” Mr. Tenley interjected. “I do not like the tone you are using with Miss Crawford.”

Tom made a small, bitter laughing sound. “I do not like the abominable way in which Miss Crawford and her brother used my family. But, I will agree that this is not the best place for such a discussion.” He turned from the man sputtering beside Mary to her. “I cannot dance every set.” He lifted his cane. “And I prefer to save those sets for ladies who might fill the role of Lady Bertram when I come into my inheritance, but if you have a set free, there is a well-lit path in the garden upon which we might stroll.”

Mary regarded him warily. “You wish to walk with me?”

He nodded.

“Why?” She knew how his family’s reputation had been damaged when her brother, due to her meddling, had run off with Tom’s sister who was, at that time, married. The marriage had not survived the affair, and now Maria Bertram was a disgraced and divorced woman. There was no reason in Mary’s mind for Mr. Bertram to be kind to her.

“I wish to know the whole of the ugliness in which my sister was involved. I have had time to contemplate life in a serious fashion, and I have decided that I will not bear a grudge against you or your brother, but I must speak to both of you on the matter so that it can be settled in my mind.” Tom looked across the ballroom to where Henry Crawford stood with a group of people with a pretty young lady on his arm. “And since your brother looks as if he is in no mood to be disturbed, I thought I would begin with you, and perhaps that will be enough.”

[A/N: Tom is not going to be the hero. I am not pairing them. 😉 Tom will get his own story eventually.]

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