Romeo and Juliet for Children, Chapter 2: Juliet
A/N Chapter 2 is a short one dedicated to Juliet. There's a lot going on in the Capulet family and I wanted to take some time to give a little insight into Juliet's side of the story.
Chapter 2: Juliet Juliet danced easily, her mind wandering as her feet followed the steps she'd rehearsed over and over with her music teacher.
All accomplished young ladies were to have a proper upbringing, her mother had said, and hers was excellent. She's mastered the how's and how'd-you-dos of social etiquette, the steps to almost every dance her teacher could remember and the finer art of how to keep quiet and let the men do the talking. Of course.
All this and more she'd done to please her distant mother, who looked at her coldly and was rarely impressed and even more rarely affectionate. Her father, of course, was always proud, and loved her dearly, although he had a terrible temper when angered.
While Juliet was hopeful, she knew, deep down that her mother did not love her. She had heard her father talking once, about how her mother had married too young. He himself was almost forty when he had married her, but Lady Capulet had been almost a child, and still a child when she'd had Juliet.
That was how it worked with the women of rich, powerful families. They were married off quickly, and to people their parents had chosen for the good of the family.
Juliet had already reached the age of thirteen. In her mother's eyes, she was already a woman, and well ready to be married. As a pretty young girl and the only daughter of the Capulet family, there were plenty of men who wished to have her as their wife.
Juliet herself was not so keen, but had little choice in the matter. When the young, handsome Paris, cousin to the Prince of Verona, had asked her father for her hand, her parents had been overjoyed.
Juliet had only said, "I would be happy to marry Paris, if that is what would please you."
Juliet wasn't unhappy. It was her responsibility; this was how things worked. Still, she wished for a romance like she'd heard about in stories from her nurse...
