The Rescue by Lucy Gould

Prologue

As she sat by the window, gazing out into the nearly-cloudless, starry night, a shadow fell across her room.

She turned toward it in surprise, half-hopeful, half-terrified...but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. She sighed and slid off the window seat, resigning herself to another night of disappointment.

Out of nowhere, a hand slid around her waist and another over her mouth. She froze in pure terror until she heard a voice say, "Wendy, I'm here..."

~

Wendy Moira Angela Darling was born to Molly and George Darling on July 7, 1850, one year after her brother, John, whose birthday was February 5.

Shortly after Wendy turned nine, she had to say goodbye to her beloved mother; Duchess Darling had caught the common, and unfortunately fatal, tuberculosis.

Duke Darling, a vain, powerful, and greedy man, claimed that he had to remarry "in order to keep up appearances." But despite her young age, Wendy was certain that her father had reasons bigger than the one he supplied, and that those reasons were born of selfishness.

The wedding to a Lady Mary Stuartt, the daughter of a count, took place nearly a year after the Duchess's death. Even though Wendy refused to recognize Lady Stuartt as her new mother, she had to admit that the wedding was spectacular. It was at that wedding that Wendy began to invent the world that would be her sanctuary and the boy that would always be by her side.

It seemed that Duke Darling had met his match in every way; where the Duke faltered, his new wife smoothed the ground in a way Wendy's mother never had. It was the Duchess's kindness and forgiveness that watered Wendy's love for her.

Four months after the extravagant marriage, it was officially announced that the Duchess was pregnant after some public speculation, and three months after that Wendy had another brother. Wendy loved him from the moment she saw him in the governess's arms; her little Michael, though she wouldn't have objected to a little Margaret.

Overjoyed at having another son to secure the Darling line, Duke Darling gifted his wife with a puppy Newfoundland who was affectionately named Nana by Wendy, who had yet to receive the gift of clever names.

Thanks to her new mother's involvement in her upbringing, Wendy developed passions for reading, singing, and writing. Especially writing.

She began to write down the stories, the adventures, of the boy who lived in the land that had come to her during the wedding she had once wished would go up in flames. Now she was nothing but grateful that the Duchess had saved her from a motherless life.

It was then that Wendy began to grow a talent for naming things, because the land that she imagined never aged she named Neverland. Not the best, or most clever, but a good attempt for a beginner.

As for the boy, in her stories he was brave, strong, smart, selfless, and he could even fly! But once she became a teenager and boys started being interested in her body-and in her dowry-she began to think of the boy of her imagination as handsome, respectful, and dreamy. She was falling in love with a fairytale.

Even once she reached the marriageable age of twenty-two, Wendy never let go of her dream boy. She never let go of her Peter Pan.

To no one's surprise, for Wendy had grown up to be both beautiful and rich, the Duke secured a marriage for her only a few months after her birthday to a man she had never met but had certainly heard of.

He was a "merchant" named Baron James Wilson, by all noble accounts. But the stories painted a more vivid picture. According to the gossip, which when pertaining to her fiancé Wendy made sure to hear, Baron Wilson was not born into the nobility. Murky circumstances involving murder, an affair, and the loss of important documents (not necessarily in that order), led to the middle class seaman James Wilson being elevated to Baron with an entire estate and a whole ship at his disposal. Not to mention a significant fortune, enough that made Wendy's father agree to secure her marriage to a noble of lesser standing.

Wendy was not informed of the betrothal until the documents needed to be signed. Given no option but to agree to the match, Wendy signed the papers. In her eyes she had just signed her death warrant; she had no interest in getting married, especially to a man who spent his life on the sea and would no doubt leave her all alone in the estate save for the bustling servants. And from his reputation as a philanderer during his time as a lowly seaman, there was more than just a suspicion in Wendy's mind that she would not get the loving marriage she had always held in such high esteem.

The wedding date was set to May 16, 1873, and Wendy wished with all her heart that Friday would never come.

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