35
The next morning, Aurelia awoke to find Oliver’s side of the bed empty.
She frowned, seeing that it was only just eight o’clock—fairly early for him to be up and about after their late night.
Walking out of their bedroom, still groggy after nights of little sleep and days of anxiety, she found Oliver and Antonia speaking in undertones in the kitchen.
Antonia nodded to him, communicating some message that wasn’t yet clear to Aurelia, and then walked over to where she stood.
“I’m just going to wake Julia. Our train leaves in a little over an hour, so I’ve got to get her moving.”
“Train?” Aurelia asked. “Where are you going?”
“We’re going up to see Dad. I figured we’d get out of your hair for a bit.”
“But—” Aurelia began.
Yorkshire had been their backup plan, somewhere for Antonia and Julia to go if Oliver hadn’t believed them and Aurelia needed more time to convince him.
But with Oliver convinced of the truth of what happened in the shop after hours, Antonia and Julia didn’t need to leave.
Couldn’t things go back to something close to normal now?
Antonia put a hand to Aurelia’s arm and gave her a sympathetic smile. Aurelia cocked her head in a question, but Antonia walked into the guest room and closed the door without giving her an answer.
For a moment, she stared at the door as though Antonia might reemerge and clear the air, but the door remained shut.
She then turned to Oliver, who was still in the kitchen.
He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and his head down.
She felt a sudden unease, as though she were about to be called out for some misdeed, but she still wasn’t sure what exactly it was she’d done wrong.
Hadn’t everything been put to rights last night?
Aurelia walked into the kitchen and stood before him, waiting for him to look at her. It seemed to take too long, and she wanted—needed—to see into his face, his eyes, to know it was going to be alright, whatever it was.
“Oliver, what’s going on?”
“Let’s wait until they leave,” he said quietly, still not making eye contact with her.
“But what is it?”
“I’m going to take Biscuit out for a walk. I’ll bring back breakfast and we can talk then.”
He called to the dog and strode down the stairs, with Aurelia trailing lamely after them before stopping at the top step.
“Oliver?”
“I’ll be back and we’ll talk then,” he called up to her from the bottom of the stairs, just before closing the door behind him.
Aurelia stared at the stairwell for a moment, then walked to the guest room and knocked on the door.
“Antonia? What’s going on?”
Antonia opened the door, then turned back into the room.
“Julia, you go and wash up. We need to leave in ten minutes, so make it quick.”
Julia emerged from the bedroom looking like she could have done with several more hours of sleep. Aurelia put a hand on the top of her head as she passed, then waited for the bathroom door to close before speaking again.
“Well?”
“He’s upset. He wants time to talk to you today, just the two of you.”
“Upset? But… I thought he understood? He said he believes us.”
“I think it’s one thing to believe you, but it’s another to get past the fact that he’s been with you, and living here, for so long without you saying a word until now.”
Aurelia closed her eyes. Right, she told herself with a sinking heart, the small matter of me lying to him for as long as he’s known me.
She walked into her bedroom and dropped onto the bed.
“Somehow I forgot that part.”
Antonia leaned against the doorway and said, “It’s sort of a big part.”
“I know… I was just so relieved when he believed me that I put it out of my mind.” She sighed, her eyes moving around the room without taking anything in. “You helped me convince him that the characters are real. I wish you could stay here and convince him to forgive me, too.”
“I wish I could.”
Julia came out of the bathroom and stood behind Antonia, peering around her.
“Can we come back, Aunt Aurelia? After a few days?”
“I hope so.” Aurelia smiled sadly.
Julia ducked past her mother and sat down next to Aurelia.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make Oliver angry.”
“Oh, you didn’t,” Aurelia promised, pulling Julia to her. “Not at all.”
“But I told Mum, and then that meant you had to tell Oliver, and now things are all weird.”
“No. It’s my fault for not telling him sooner. It’s nothing to do with you, okay?”
Aurelia could feel Julia nodding and released her.
“You and your mum will head up to see Granddad, and Oliver and I will sort things out here. We’ll be fine.”
Tears threatened to fall but Aurelia managed to keep them in check. She didn’t want to make Julia feel worse after having reassured her that everything would be alright.
“Let’s get you two to the station, hey?” she said, standing and pulling Julia up beside her.
As they walked back to the guest room to gather their bags, Julia turned to Aurelia.
“You won’t put the books away, will you? I want to see Kitty again, and I haven’t finished reading all their books. And we still haven’t figured out why everyone came to meet me.”
“Oh… No, I’ll leave them there. I promise.”
“I’ve packed my books and I’ll finish Jane Eyre on the train so I can start Pride and Prejudice.”
“That’s great!”
They were in the shop now, heading toward the spiral staircase.
“But we’ll probably be back before I finish Pride and Prejudice, right? I mean, we’ll at least be back in time for the wedding. We’d never stay that long, would we?”
Julia looked from Aurelia to Antonia.
“I’m sure we’ll be back before then,” Antonia said, nudging Julia toward the stairs.
The two sisters looked at each other, and Aurelia finally let a tear escape before swiping it away. Antonia hugged her tightly.
“It’s going to be alright. You love each other. And you weren’t trying to hurt him.”
“I know.”
“Come on, now,” Antonia said, brushing away more of Aurelia’s tears. “I’ll call you tonight?”
“Okay.”
Aurelia stood at the railing and watched as Antonia and Julia left the shop and headed toward the high street. She took a few bracing gulps of air and went upstairs to shower and ready herself for whatever came next.