Work Text:
There was a smudge of lipstick on her sleeve. It was Rebecca’s lipstick, a dull red against the black of her dress. She had not noticed it when dressing Rebecca. It was only now that she had been relegated to this quiet room while Rebecca dutifully sat through her engagement dinner that she had had a moment to think. She had sat in the window seat for almost an hour now, pondering everything that this dinner would mean. An early summer wedding, surely, and a honeymoon that stretched into September. And then… what?
Danny’s mouth twitched. She knew what would happen then. Married life. Children. Rebecca’s glow fading with every passing year. Rebecca did not take well to being contained, she never had, no matter how grand her prison had been. First boarding school, from which Danny had heard impassioned accounts when Rebecca was home for the holidays. Then a few more years at her childhood home. Presiding over her father’s dinners, running the household in her late mother’s stead. Stolen days here and there. Attending parties with school friends — two words only Danny knew to be code for something else entirely — a weekend in the country to go riding, summer by the coast in her sailing gear.
How would Rebecca live without her little freedoms? Danny could not imagine that any husband of Rebecca’s would allow her to continue as she had.
There was a small commotion in the hallway. A moment later, Rebecca slipped into the room.
“You need to hem this before I wear it again, Danny,” Rebecca said at once. “It caught in my shoe. I nearly knocked over a very expensive vase.”
“This type of skirt is meant to be long,” Danny said patiently. “You’re supposed to lift it while you walk.”
“I know, I know.” Rebecca rolled her eyes. She took a few more steps into the room, lifting her skirt above her knees. “Something like this, no?”
Danny could not help but smile. Her gaze flitted down Rebecca’s leg, the silky fabric of her stocking, the silver buckle of her shoe. “Why aren’t you at dinner?”
“Oh, I said I needed to powder my nose.” Rebecca shrugged. “I was dying to hear your opinion.”
“My opinion on what, madam?” It was easiest to feign innocence. Rebecca need not know how much her impending nuptials had occupied Danny’s thoughts.
“You opinion on Max, silly. You know my assessment of him won’t be complete until you’ve told me what you think.”
And yet, Danny thought, you are already engaged.
“Well?” Rebecca had squeezed into the window seat next to Danny, one hand coming to rest on Danny’s thigh. “Tell me.”
“He is very handsome, madam.” A glimpse of him in the foyer had been sufficient to ascertain that.
“I know that. What else?”
Danny sighed. “He appears to be very well-bred. He certainly has money.”
“And?”
“There’s not much else for me to observe from a distance, madam.”
“I suppose not.” Rebecca pursed her lips. “Father approves.”
“He would be a fool not to. Mr de Winter is more than able to provide for you.”
“Still, it’s dreadfully rural, isn’t it? Cornwall. I’ll spend most of my time paying calls and receiving dreary people for tea.”
“You’d be calling on people in London too. It’s not so different.”
Rebecca shrugged her shoulders again and leaned back against the window frame. “I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad if you were there.”
“Pardon?”
“I want you to come with me to Manderley. Father can talk all he wants about hiring a new maid once I’m married, but I don’t want any of them. I won’t have anyone but you. Please Danny, say you’ll come with me? I couldn’t bear to go if you weren’t with me.” Rebecca’s eyes were wide, her face earnest. She reached out her hand.
Danny took it without hesitation, even though her heart was racing. Go with Rebecca to Manderley. Spend each day with her there, dressing her, observing her, enduring each change in her as long as it meant Danny never had to leave her. A future full of Rebecca morning, noon and night. Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca.
“Please, Danny.” Rebecca squeezed her hand. “I’ll beg father to pay for one of the London courses for you if you’re worried about your duties. Not that I think you should be. I’ll do anything. Please just let me keep you.”
“Of course, madam.” Danny’s mouth was dry. “Of course I’ll come. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you.”