In Waking Roslyn, when John first brings Roslyn to meet the three good fairies—I mean, when he brings her to meet Beatrice, Emeline, and Cecily—they ask Nellie to take care of the scratch that John got from their training session. The following scene was in may original manuscript, but since this obvious crush didn’t have any bearing on the rest of the story, it was deemed unnecessary and was cut.
Nellie Tends John’s Wound
Roslyn (The bit that is still in the book that leads into the cut scene)
“So what brings you in?” Emeline asked. “Did you need something to eat?”
“Always,” John said as he grabbed a biscuit from the basket on the counter and ate half of it in one bite. Then he picked up the spindle and walked it back to little Charles. “But we actually came because Miss Rose inflicted a grievous injury upon me and insisted I take care of it.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “You make me sound silly.”
John looked like he was going to apologize, but Emeline spoke up first. “Trust me, you’re not.” She looked at her hands, which were covered in dough, then at Beatrice. “Beatrice, could you—”
The kitchen door that led to the rest of the house opened and another maid stepped in. The moment her gaze landed on John and me, she looked timid and uncertain, even going so far as to back up a step. Odd that she would retreat; John and I were the ones who didn’t belong here.
“Hello, Nellie,” John greeted before tossing the other half of the biscuit into his mouth.
Nellie immediately ducked her head, but then looked up shyly. “Evening, John.”
“Nellie,” Emeline said. “Perfect. John has a scratch that needs tending.” She nodded her head toward a door on the other side of the room. “Would you mind?”
Nellie’s cheeks went a little pink. “Course not.”
“We really don’t need to take Nellie away from her duties,” John said.
Beatrice pierced him with a look. “Go on, John. You know better than to leave a cut unattended.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s not a cut. It’s a scratch.”
“Do you want to tell your mother that when it gets infected?” Beatrice asked.
John raised his hands in defeat. “Fine, fine. But only because I’m afraid of you, Bea,” he said with a wink in her direction. Then he turned to the young maid. “Lead the way, Nellie.”
John (the part I cut)
Nellie’s hand shook as she smeared some salve over my chin to ward off infection. “Are you all right, Nell?” I asked. I didn’t know Nellie well. She was painfully quiet, and I had the sense that she was intimidated by me, so we barely spoke.
“I’m fine,” she said in a breathy whisper.
“Thanks for doing this,” I said, wondering why she kept fussing over it. I was fairly certain she didn’t need to continue dabbing. “Miss Rose isn’t used to the sight of blood,” I teased.
“Not all young ladies can handle such things,” she said. The way that she lifted her chin and straightened her spine made me think she was proud not to be such a young lady.
I regretted my words immediately. I hadn’t intended to make Rose sound silly, but I think I must have. I should watch my words more carefully.
“Any woman you end up with will need to be well acquainted with remedies so she knows how to care for you.” Her voice was quiet and trailed off completely at the end.
Disquiet stabbed at my gut. Because of my height, I was sitting on a chair, and Nellie was standing between my knees so she was close enough to see the tiny scratch on my chin. It had seemed a practical position to be in when I’d first sat down, but as I watched the way Nellie’s eyes had glazed over, her lips parted as she let out a sigh, it started to feel less than innocent.
Gads, did Nellie have feelings for me? It suddenly seemed like a very real possibility, and not one that I was interested in encouraging.
“All better?” I asked with a forced cheerfulness as I pulled my face back and put on a grin that hopefully said friends.
She looked startled but stepped back and dropped her gaze almost immediately. “Should be right as rain soon enough,” she said, busying herself with putting things away.
Why did I write this bit into the story in the first place?
I’ve tried to keep as many aspects of my side characters consistent and present throughout the series. In one of the previous books, it mentions that Nellie holds a “love candle” for John, and so I wanted to bring that back in.
Why did I delete it?
This thread didn’t go anywhere. Yes, Roslyn feels some mild jealousy when John goes with Nellie to get it taken care of, but having John come to realize that Nellie might have a crush on him just wasn’t important to the plot, and it never came up again. Plus, this scene is very short, and it interrupted the more important scene that was happening between Rose and the fairies in the other room.
So, what do you think? Is it a cute bit? Is it totally superfluous? I’d love to hear your thougthts!
