Thinking about Minerva’s love life. First, she loved the boy from Scotland; Dougal McGregor. A farm boy, a dreamer, who was nothing like ambitious, fierce Minerva at all. But they went together like bees and honey. She stayed with him through her childhood, and then in 1954, when he proposed, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t give up her dreams and ambitions at the Ministry, even for the boy she loved. Who she had loved since as long as she could remember. So she had to say no, she had to see that spark in his eyes that she had fallen in love with a million times die out. She turned away and did her best to never look back.
It would be a lie to say Poppy and Minnie had nothing going on, even before 1954. They’d cared for each other, truly and deeply, but they’d never voiced wanting to be more than friends. It was a quiet, tender secret sort of love that unfolded between them in pieces. And they left it like that, content with the memories to hold onto and the friendship to look forward to. Decades passed. 1982, Dougal died.
Dougal had a wife and kids. A wife and kids that weren’t Minnie. And she mourned that. She even taught his kids, had to send letters to the address she’d blocked off her mind years ago and write reports and messages. He’d only ever replied with the utmost courtesy. Ever the sweet gentlemen, Dougal always had a taste of pride and politeness in the way he spoke. A weird sort of balance to his speech. Just another thing Minnie had loved about him.
She inevitably marries another minister, Elphinstone. She doesn’t love him. Doesn’t hate him, either. He’s nice to her. Buys her things, compliments her, does his fair of chores. They do work together. They sleep in the same bed and hardly argue. But there’s no love. Just a mutual respect and a strong understanding, wanting independence and wanting peace, and finding a balance of that with each other.
Minerva never listened to her heart; even as it screamed at her and begged her to listen. She gave up both of the people she had ever loved because she knew society wouldn’t let her, and she regretted it ever since.
or:
Minerva & Dougal (darkwise/wisedark): childhood friends to lovers to strangers (I can’t believe SHE HAD TO TEACH HER FIRST LOVES CHILDREN 😭)
Minerva & Poppy (wiseflower): childhood friends, roommates, slow burn, coworkers and THEN after like 30 years finally maybe lovers
Minerva & Elphinstone (wisestone): respected each other greatly and had a mutual want for companionship and independence
