Edith and Luna grew closer day by day. Arm in arm, Luna and Edith strolled through the wintry streets of London, admiring the Christmas decorations in the shop widows. Luna turned to Edith and said, “Sweet Edith, you are like a sister to me.” Edith, however, remembering the torture her sister meted out on her, explained that while she felt an unbreakable bond – some deep connection – with Luna, it was not of the sisterly sort from her perspective. One night, after finishing the wedding cake for one of the biggest weddings of the year, Luna and Edith relaxed in Edith’s apartment – enjoying a Pimm’s Cup for old times’ sake. After Edith tucked Marigold into bed. Edith made another round of Pimm’s Cups. Being a bit tipsy, Luna gingerly approached the precipice of the past. “So Edith, darling, how did you come to ruin and despair?” Edith, embarrassed and unwilling to be humiliated by her dearest friend, lied “I was happily married to a member of the landed gentry. Because he was an Earl, he was given the rank of General in the War, but was not allowed to be on the front lines. His love for his country and countryman overtook his good senses and he enlisted as a soldier under a false name, so he could fight for his country on the front lines. He was shot down by a sniper, but because he enlisted under the false name, no one believed that he was my noble husband, so I did not receive the widow’s stipend. Furthermore, because my husband left his general’s apparel in an old barn where he changed into the soldier’s garb, it appeared to the army that my husband had abandoned the fight. As such, they labeled him a coward and confiscated all of our assets.” As Edith wove this intricate tale, her face was solidly stoic. She did not shed a tear. True love is blind, and Edith nearly believed the story herself.
After yet another round of Pimm’s Cups, Edith bravely asked Luna to share her sorrowful story. Luna truthfully recounted how she married her true love against the strong opposition of his mother and sisters. It was a love that could withstand anything. Or so they thought. When she became pregnant with his child, her in-laws became irate. They secreted her away to a lunatic asylum and let her husband – who did not even know she was carrying his child, his heir – believe that she had abandon him for greener pastures. Eventually his mother and sisters fabricated a story that she was found in a brothel howling like a jackal and had turned into a crazed animal. So long as her in-laws paid a premium for her treatment at the lunatic asylum, the asylum administrators when along with the evil scheme. After her son was born, they took him and gave him up for adoption. She never even got to hold her precious child.
Even though her treatment prohibited her from seeing guests, she had channels to receive news from the outside. With a forlorn look, she told Edith, “I got word that nearly did drive me mad. My sweet husband had taken a lover. And the worst part: he truly loved her! I was in despair. I knew I could never regain his love and affection.” As irony was typically lost on Edith, she tried to comfort Luna. “What a wicked woman she must have been. That’s perfectly dreadful. To have a floozy steal your husband while you’re innocently locked away in an insane asylum! It’s a disgrace.” As Edith gently rocked a sobbing Luna in her arms, she vowed to herself, “If I ever discover the woman who destroyed my best friend, I will exact complete vengeance.”
Back at the bakery, Ed and Lu’s was prospering. Occasionally, Marigold tried to help with the baking, but she just didn’t have the knack for it. Edith and Luna were modern and understood that criticizing the young Marigold (now 8 years old) would damage her self-esteem. So they were careful to secretly discard any of the cakes she made, before anyone lost a tooth. Despite their success in business, Edith and Luna did not forget their less fortunate days, nor their less fortunate friends. Every week, they would stop by the soup kitchen with several loaves of freshly baked bread. Their old ragged friends would gather around as Edith would read stories to them – mainly about unicorns and magical pieces of jewelry.