54
When they went downstairs to open the shop in the morning, Aurelia and Julia stood in front of the table, silently considering the books that had released the misfit group of characters they’d come to know over the past few weeks.
“Ready?” Aurelia asked.
“Ready.”
Aurelia picked up the stacks of books and held them in her arms for a moment, practically juggling them as she tried to keep them from toppling to the floor. Julia reached out to help, but then quickly pulled her hands back.
“Maybe I shouldn’t touch them?”
“Maybe not,” Aurelia agreed, finally getting a good grip on the books.
She staggered over to her desk and put the copies of The Moonstone on the ledge running along the front of it. Slightly less laden down now, she walked back to the Recommended Reads table.
“Alright—here goes.”
She began putting the books back on the table, organizing each stack by title. When her arms were empty once more, she and Julia regarded the table again.
“Well, then,” Aurelia said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I guess we’ll see who we get tonight.”
“It’s a long time to wait,” Julia said, a slight whine in her voice.
“It’ll give you time to finish Emma,” Aurelia suggested. “And you can pick out a few more books to take with you when you leave tomorrow.”
“Ooh! Really? Can I pick out anything I want?”
“Sure. Well, as long as at least one of the books you pick is by Dickens.”
Julia considered this, then said, “Deal.”
Aurelia tried to squeeze in as much writing as she could that day, eager to sink back into her book, but it was Saturday, which was one of the shop’s busiest days of the week.
They met Oliver out for dinner that night and then they all returned to the flat, where Aurelia hustled Julia to her room to pack.
By five minutes to midnight, Aurelia and Julia were downstairs, anxiously waiting to see which characters would arrive in the shop.
Aurelia found herself crossing fingers, hoping to get a chance to see Lizzy and Jane again.
As the mists started to appear at last, she let out a breath of relief as she saw the same six she’d met weeks ago: Jane and Rochester, Lizzy and Darcy, and Matty and Peter.
“Is it them?” Julia whispered.
“It is! They’re back.”
When the characters were fully formed in front of them, Aurelia stepped forward.
“Welcome back! It’s wonderful to see all of you again!”
“That’s quite a greeting when we’ve only just seen you last night,” Rochester said impishly.
“Oh, but you haven’t. I know, for you, it seems like it was just last night,” Aurelia explained. “But it’s been a few weeks, actually. A few really mad weeks, so we’re very happy to have you back with us.”
“We? Us?” Rochester asked, turning to Jane. “Is someone else here?”
“Yes, the young lady I mentioned before,” Jane told him as she turned to Julia. “You are Aurelia’s niece—Julia?”
“Yes, that’s me,” she said with a shy wave.
“I think you’ve only met Jane, right?” At a nod from Julia, Aurelia continued. “Let me introduce you to the others, then.”
Julia said hello to everyone, but she was a bit more reserved than she’d been with her first set of characters. When she met Lizzy, though, her reserve broke at last.
“I’ve just said goodbye to your sister, Kitty!”
“Have you? Was she here for a visit?”
“She was—she told me all about you, and… Mr. Darcy.” Julia hesitated as she looked up at the imposing and handsome man standing next to Lizzy.
“And how was she?” Lizzy asked. “On her best behavior? Or frightfully silly?”
“She wasn’t silly,” Julia said loyally. “She told me about places she wants to visit—London, Italy, and Paris. Okay, she did spend a lot of time telling me about the dresses she wants to buy in Paris, but other than that, I wouldn’t say she was silly at all.”
“Dresses from Paris!” chortled Rochester. “She sounds like a coquette in the making.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it sounds offensive—so she isn’t,” Julia said, narrowing her eyes at Rochester.
“Doesn’t know the meaning of ‘coquette’? Jane, you could dust off your tutoring skills and give her a French lesson,” Rochester said.
“I don’t need a lesson—I’m French,” Julia asserted, her tone still slightly annoyed, though she walked over to where Rochester and Jane were standing. “Or I’m half French, anyway. Coquette must just be an old-fashioned word.”
Rochester let out a loud laugh. “Old-fashioned, indeed! Julia, was it?”
Julia smiled, then, taken in by Rochester’s teasing. She seemed to recognize he didn’t mean any harm.
“That’s right.”
“Jane, what do you think? Has your husband grown old-fashioned in his dotage?”
“You are a few years from your dotage yet, Edward,” Jane replied.
“Only a few years, then? Shouldn’t you like to flatter me by claiming I am further still?”
“No, I should not like to say that at all. It might go to your head,” Jane said with a subtle smile.
“I wonder—perhaps Julia can help us to ensure we are up to date on our French? I have not studied for some years, and we have not visited France for nearly as long. Perhaps there are some turns of phrase we ought to learn in order to remain en vogue?”
Julia happily took on her assignment, giving Aurelia a chance to catch up with Peter and Matty.
They passed a pleasant evening with the characters, all the more so now that Julia didn’t feel pressured to find out why they’d appeared. Not to mention, this new group was much more relaxed and easygoing than their last visitors.
In the final minutes before dawn, Julia grew a little sad when she remembered she wouldn’t be seeing the characters—or any characters—until her next visit to London. She gathered herself together, however, and managed to wave goodbye to them with a smile, promising she’d see them again one day.