48
Julia and Kitty chatted together for hours, though Aurelia suspected they were sometimes dipping into subjects, like fashion and boys, that wouldn’t help Julia much.
They stayed in the shop until dawn, waving goodbye to the characters as they shifted back into their books.
Not only did the characters shift back, but small mists rose up from all around the shop, floating up from bookshelves, Aurelia’s desk, and the armchair.
“What are those?” Julia asked.
“I’m pretty sure they’re Miss Clack’s tracts. She was probably hoping someone would stumble on one and be inspired to start reading about their sinful ways.”
“Like living with your fiancé before your wedding,” Julia said with a sly smile as they walked up the spiral staircase.
“That’s me: fallen woman and common shopkeeper.”
Aurelia awoke to the smell of freshly brewed tea coming in from the kitchen. She smiled and stretched herself awake, knowing she would find Oliver out there getting ready to leave for work.
“Good morning,” she said as she made her way into the kitchen.
She looked into the living room and saw that Julia was fast asleep on the sofa. Antonia, meanwhile, was still shut up in the guest room.
“Good morning,” Oliver said in a near-whisper. “Did I wake you?”
“Yes, but I’m glad you did. It’s given me a chance to give you a proper kiss before sending you off to work.”
She leaned in to do just that.
“How was your night?” Oliver asked.
“It was good. Julia’s still trying to work out why the characters showed up for her. She offered my services to rewrite their novels, so that was a near disaster.”
“What, rewrite them full stop?”
“Yup. Kitty wants to marry Darcy or Wickham or Bingley—she isn’t particular about which one. And Mrs. Jamieson and Blanche weren’t shy with their demands, either.”
“You turned them down?”
“Obviously! I’m not about to undo literary history.”
“Keeping to your strict literary moral code?” Oliver laughed softly.
“That’s right.” Aurelia nodded firmly. “Anyway, I have my own book to finish. I’m hoping for a quiet day in the shop so I can get a few more chapters to Louisa. I think Antonia’s going to take Julia out for the day since she’s heading back to Paris tomorrow.”
“She knows she can stay with us, right? She was planning to be in London next week, anyway, so she might as well stay.”
“I offered, but she said she wants to get back.” Aurelia reached out a hand to his arm and nodded into the living room where Julia was sleeping. “Are you still okay with having her stay? Do you want Antonia to take her home?”
Oliver shook his head and smiled. “No, I wouldn’t dare. I know she wants to work things out with the characters, and she’s easy enough. Maybe we can plan another dinner with Jack? Oh—” he said suddenly. “My parents.”
“Right! Dinner with your parents. That’s this week?” Aurelia asked.
“It’s Thursday night. Do you want me to put them off? I can.”
“No, Thursday’s fine. I doubt Julia will want to join, but we can set her up with an adaptation of Cranford and she’ll be happy.”
Just as she’d hoped, Aurelia had been able to get some solid editing done that day. It felt good being back to her old writing routine, getting lost in her book in between chatting with customers.
On their return late in the afternoon, Antonia and Julia were exhausted from a busy day of running around the city. Julia had gone up to the flat to drop off a few shopping bags and then had come back down to keep Aurelia company until closing.
“Did you learn anything new from Kitty last night?”
A customer had just stepped out of the shop, leaving Aurelia to pick up the conversation she’d started with Julia before they’d arrived.
“It was sort of more of the same. She’s worried she won’t find a husband, she doesn’t really get along with her sister Mary, and she’s really into soldiers,” Julia recounted. “Something about their uniforms,” she added with a grin.
“Hmm,” Aurelia said, furrowing her brow. “I was thinking… You know how you told Blanche that she could find a job?”
“Uh, yeah—” Julia put a hand to her chest and adopted Blanche’s tone of outrage, “‘Are you referring to labor?’”
Aurelia laughed. “You absolutely scandalized her.”
“I don’t get it, though. Jane had a job—she was a governess.”
“But Jane was an orphan with no inheritance. She had to either rely on her extended family, who—at least at first—refused to help her, or find her own way to earn a living. Being a governess was one of the only positions a woman of her social standing and background could take on without losing all respectability.”
“She couldn’t have been a ‘shopkeeper’?”
“Not unless she wanted to step into a different social class. Actually, you can ask Mrs. Jamieson about that. Her sister-in-law married a surgeon, and Mrs. Jamieson practically excommunicated them.”
“Because he was a surgeon?”
“Well, back then it wasn’t considered a ‘suitable’ occupation for a gentleman.”
“So women could only be governesses—”
“A certain class of women, yes.”
“—and men could only be… what?”
“Curates or soldiers, generally. The ideal for that class was to do nothing—just go to social engagements, run their estates, and do some odd charity work.”
“Huh,” Julia said, considering. “Blanche, Kitty, and Mrs. Jamieson—none of them went to university, right?”
“Right.”
“Blanche seems smart. She’s sort of mean, but even her mean comments are clever. I could see her at university, or maybe as a professor.”
“Maybe now,” Aurelia agreed. “But back then I doubt she could have gone to university even if she woke up one day and decided she actually wanted to go.”
Antonia opened the door into the shop from the flat and came down the spiral staircase.
“All packed and ready to heave off tomorrow morning,” she told them.
“You’re sure you don’t want to stay? Oliver said to tell you you’re very welcome.”
“No, I’d better get home. I left in a rush,” Antonia said, nudging Julia. “I should go back and pull a few things together. I’m sure if I asked Max to bring the dresses Julia and I are planning to wear to the wedding, he’d show up with something bizarre from the back of our closets.”
“Oh! When do we get to see your dress?” Julia’s face lit up with excitement.
“Your mum is going to come pick it up with me when she gets back. Do you want to come with? The dressmakers said I could make an event of it.”
“Yes, please! Is it going to be big and poofy?”
“No! Have you never met me?” Aurelia laughed. “It’s very understated and sophisticated, just like I am,” she added in a mock-serious voice.
“Show her the photo of Mum,” Antonia suggested.
Aurelia opened the desk drawer where she’d been hiding the photograph from Oliver, digging under a stack of papers before finding it and handing it to Julia.
“Is that Gran?” Julia asked in a hushed voice as she ran her finger over the photograph.
“Mm-hmm. That’s her on her wedding day.”
“But her dress is yellow—why wasn’t it white?”
“Well, because she was very modern and cool,” explained Antonia.
“Are you going to wear her dress?”
“No. Unfortunately she didn’t keep it. It wasn’t a big, fancy gown, so I think she just gave it to a charity shop after she got tired of wearing it. But I’m having something similar made for me.”
“In white?” Julia asked hopefully.
“Close enough to white, yes.” Aurelia turned to Antonia as she saw her quickly wipe at her eyes. The sight of her sister’s tears made Aurelia’s own eyes well up. “Now you’re going to get me crying, thanks very much.”
“I’m sorry.” Antonia shook her head and let out a deep breath. “I’ll probably cry again when I see you try it on, and then again at the wedding,” she added.
Aurelia gave her sister a hug.
“Me too. I warned Dad—I didn’t want him to be caught off guard when he saw me wearing it.”
“Aw. Knowing him, he’d definitely recognize it,” Antonia said, smiling through her tears.
Aurelia smiled back, then wiped away her tears and gave Julia a hug, too, for good measure.