Chapter 5 #2
“Yes, well, that’s no excuse for traipsing through the city on your own, especially with it being well below zero outside.”
“I wasn’t traipsing.”
“Call it whatever you want, but it isn’t proper to be exploring the city by yourself.”
Emma scoffed. “Agnes only lives on 20th Street. It was barely even a walk.”
Alright, that was enough. Arthur needed to end this.
“Emma,” he said, making his voice as harsh as he could manage while still maintaining composure. “I will not have you behaving like this. I schedule plenty of opportunities for you to socialize. Every Sunday morning, we have church. Every—”
“Not every Sunday. Not today.”
Arthur fought the urge to roll his eyes.
“No, not today. But every other Sunday, save for a few here and there, we have attended church. Every Wednesday, several other girls come over so that you can practice your sewing with them. Every Thursday, Lizzie comes by so that you two can converse about the books you’ve been reading.
” Arthur’s heart quickened from a flash of irritation.
“Goodness, Emma, I provide so many opportunities for you! Educational opportunities! Social opportunities! Opportunities to try new things, meet new people!” Arthur let out a sigh.
“But somehow, it isn’t enough for you. You just had to sneak off so that you could see your friend, hm? ”
“Why is it a problem for me to visit a friend for a few hours? Or—or what if I had wanted to explore the city? Why would that have been a problem? I can take care of myself.”
“It’s a problem because of what people might think.”
Doubly so because of Arthur’s own Goddamned past.
Defiant, Emma lifted her chin and met her father’s eyes. “You know, some girls my age work.”
Arthur threw his head back and let out a very loud “Ha!” But then he immediately realized that his father had sometimes reacted the same way to something he had said at fourteen or sixteen or even thirty, and he made an effort to rein it in.
“Yes,” he began in a much more measured tone, “but they work out of necessity, oftentimes in terrible conditions, like in the mills or the Union Stock Yard. It’s not something that I want for you, and it’s not something that you would want for yourself if you fully understood what it entailed.”
Rather than reply, Emma stormed off, pushing past Charlotte and heading through the reception hall toward the stairs. Charlotte took a step to rush after her, but Arthur caught her wrist.
“Let her stew for a while,” he said. “She won’t listen to reason right now.” Charlotte’s face softened, and Arthur let go. “I know from experience.”
Charlotte’s eyes fell to the floor, and Arthur’s stomach twisted.
He knew that Charlotte was blaming herself right now.
But none of this was her fault. Even if she had been “busy,” whatever that meant.
Emma wasn’t little anymore. And, in some ways, Emma was right.
Women were working outside the home more often, sometimes even choosing not to marry.
Some might say that Charlotte was one of them.
He wasn’t so sure that they’d be wrong, either.
After a moment, Charlotte seemed to collect herself.
“Would you like for me to brew both of us some tea?” she asked.
Arthur smiled wryly. “Can it have whiskey in it?” he asked, though he was mostly kidding.
“If you insist,” she said, now smiling a little in return.
“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“If you’d like.”
“Then, yes,” he said emphatically. “In fact, after that confrontation, I require it.”
Charlotte laughed. “Alright, then, I shall have some too. Unless you object?”
“I will object more if you refuse it,” Arthur replied.
Charlotte turned to fetch the kettle while Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank God the two of them could carry on like this, like friends, even though only moments before, tensions had been high and both of them had been so upset.
Truthfully, Arthur still was a little upset.
Probably Charlotte was as well. But they would work through this together, like they always did.
Had Ella been here, she would have been proud of them both.
Once Charlotte had finished preparing the whiskey-tea (which required multiple spoonfuls of honey to be made palatable), the two of them took their cups into the front room and sat on the couch together.
After a few sips, Arthur crossed one of his legs and relaxed, the stress from earlier finally fading a little.
“Before we revisit the topic of Emma’s impromptu trip to her friend’s house, I have to tell you about my own shameless behavior today.”
“Oh?”
“Charlotte, I spent the entirety of my lesson trying to woo Mr. O’Connor.”
Scandalized, Charlotte recoiled and sucked in a breath. Arthur chuckled.
“Nothing happened,” he said. “Not for my lack of trying, though.”
Charlotte, seemingly recovering from the slight shock of Arthur’s confession, smiled a pitying smile and shook her head.
“Perhaps, then, you should leave poor Mr. O’Connor alone?”
“Well, I would, but I know he’s interested in me, too. I can feel it.”
“Can you now?” Charlotte teased. “Are you sure it’s not all in your head?”
“Positive,” Arthur said before reconsidering. “Mostly positive.”
“Arthur, he could ruin you.”
“Nonsense. I ruined myself before Emma was even born.”
“Yes, and ever since you and Ella were married, you’ve been working hard to change how the people in our circle see you.”
“But he’s only a typesetter. He’s not exactly an influential person.”
“Arthur, that’s a horrible thing to say,” Charlotte said, leveling a look. “Besides, it’s not even true. Do you really think that you’d be untouched by those sorts of rumors, regardless of from where they originated? He’s one of your employees. Think of how it would look.”
Ugh, why did Charlotte have to have a point?
Groaning, Arthur hung his head. “Dammit, you’re right. I know you’re right. But I swear he’s interested in me as well. I’m not so obtuse as to not be able to recognize the signs. And, if he is, in fact, interested, then I can’t imagine he’d want to ruin me. I know haven’t had many courtships, but—”
“Courtships? Arthur, Mr. O’Connor is a man.”
Arthur waved one of his hands back and forth. “Semantics.”
“I know you’re trying to be funny, but I’m trying to be serious.”
“Look, Charlotte,” Arthur began, uncrossing his legs and turning to face her, “I will be careful. Extremely careful.”
“I know,” she said, both her tone and her expression softening.
“But if something were to happen between the two of you, there would be risks. And I hope that you might consider coming to me so that I could help you navigate them. Although . . .” She frowned.
“Perhaps I’m not the right person for that.
I’m realizing now that I may not be as crafty as I once thought. ”
Confused, Arthur tilted his head, silently urging her to explain what she meant. Charlotte rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, worry lines reappearing on her forehead.
“You can tell me,” Arthur encouraged. “Whatever it is that you’re referring to, I would never think less of you. I promise.”
“Well . . .” She blew out a breath. “I’ve fallen in love with someone.”
Arthur’s eyes widened. “Who?!”
“Miss Hawthorne.”
“Lizzie’s tutor?!”
Oh, now Emma’s earlier remarks were starting to make sense. Arthur began to laugh.
“Stop that!” Charlotte scolded, now laughing with him. “Don’t laugh at me.”
“Wait, so Emma knew that you two were together earlier? Why were you even together?”
“We wanted to spend more time with each other!”
“But why not bring Emma to see Lizzie, then?”
“Because I thought that Emma would be happy enough to stay home and sleep in for once! I loved staying in bed on Sundays whenever my family would skip church!”
“God, me too.”
Charlotte lifted one of her hands, palm facing upward as though to tell him that he ought to have seen her point.
She continued, “Anyway, the last time Miss Hawthorne and I saw each other, she suggested that the next time Lizzie went to church with her parents, she could try to come visit me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I wasn’t ready to.”
“Even though I had previously confessed to you that I could see myself being with a man? Hell, even recently, I mentioned how intrigued I was by Mr. O’Connor!
” Arthur clicked his tongue several times in mock chastisement.
“Did you forget that I know the reason—the real reason—why you never wanted to marry as well?”
“Claire—” She cut herself off and restarted. “Sorry, Miss Hawthorne—”
“Charlotte, you may call her by her first name with me. Good Lord, you just confessed that you’re in love with the woman.”
Charlotte blushed. “Right. Sorry. Again.” She took a breath. “Claire is Lizzie’s tutor. And I thought you might be upset with me for liking her.”
“Never,” Arthur said emphatically. “I could never be upset with you for something like this. Ever.”
Charlotte blinked a few times in rapid succession, likely trying to hold back tears.
“Thank you. I promise we’ll be more careful.”
“I’ll take Emma to church myself from now on,” Arthur said. “You and Miss Hawthorne can have some time to yourselves on Sunday mornings.”
“Oh, that’s too much.”
“It’s not.” Arthur paused to take one more sip of whiskey-tea and then snickered. “You know, it’s funny that you scolded Emma for walking ten minutes to Agnes’s house when it sounds like you had your friend walk nearly the exact same amount of time to reach here.”
“It’s not the same!”
Arthur burst out laughing, and Charlotte’s face went red as she chuckled along with him.
“Gosh, I’m horrible, aren’t I?” she said.
“You’re not horrible. Not as horrible as me. Clearly. I mean, I’m really playing with fire here. If Mr. O’Connor and I were ever caught . . .”
“Oh, Arthur, he may not even return your feelings.”
“I really think he does.”
Charlotte tapped her teacup with her fingernail. “You barely even know him.”
“I spent the whole morning with the man,” Arthur retorted.
“One morning.”
“One very nice morning.”
Heaving a sigh, Charlotte said, “Goodness, Arthur, you’re hopeless.”
“I know I am. I throw my whole heart into these things,” he said. “You know that, too. Remember, I was the same way with Ella.”
“Yes, but you were only nineteen when the two of you met. I thought that you had matured over these last seventeen years. It’s not like you’ve pursued anyone since, man or woman.”
“Ah, well, now you know the truth. I haven’t matured. Not even a little. It wasn’t that I had spent this entire time holding myself back from these things. I simply hadn’t met anyone worth liking.”
“If Mr. O’Connor is—”
“Jesse,” Arthur cut in. Grinning, he wiggled his eyebrows. “It’s a lovely name, isn’t it? It’s a smart name. Strong. Kind.”
Charlotte crooked an eyebrow. “I’m not sure if a name can be those things, but I’m afraid that I don’t have it in me to try to convince you otherwise.
” Arthur laughed. “Well, if Mr. Jesse O’Connor is interested in you, then you two will have to be careful.
And I implore you to be more cautious while you figure out whether or not he reciprocates these romantic feelings of yours. ”
Arthur relented with a sigh. “Alright, fine. I will try to be less flirtatious. Until he shows interest. Once that happens, I may even kiss him in the middle of one of the shops.”
“Not when it’s open, I hope.”
“I make no promises,” Arthur said.
Obviously, he was only kidding. Or, well, mostly kidding. Jesse was so handsome, his personality so bewitching, that Arthur could honestly imagine forgetting himself.
“You’re lucky you have enough money to start over if you ever needed to.”
“I really will try to be careful,” Arthur said.
“Thank you.”
“Now”—Arthur set his teacup on the end table and clapped his hands on his thighs—“which one of us should talk to Emma?”