47
After a few more minutes, Aurelia and Oliver stood and said goodnight, then she waited until he’d gotten to the top of the stairs before opening the door to join Julia in the shop. Everyone was downstairs chatting but grew quiet as Aurelia came down the spiral staircase.
“Hi—I’m sorry I’m late,” she said with a wave. “I wanted to thank you all for talking with Oliver and my sister over the past week. I know it was a bit strange having to talk to them through the door—and through me—but I can’t tell you how much it’s helped.”
“It did,” Julia chimed in. “They believe us now. So I can get back to figuring out why you’re here to see me.”
“But I still don’t understand. Why can’t your husband see us?” Mrs. Jamieson demanded.
It took Aurelia a moment to remember that her ‘husband’ meant Oliver.
“Oh—well, because he doesn’t own the shop. Only people who own, or will own, the shop can see all of you.”
“That’s right,” Julia said importantly. “It’s not his shop, it’s hers.”
“You are forgetting, child: she is married, therefore the shop belongs to her husband,” Mrs. Jamieson replied tartly, as though stating an obvious fact.
“No, Julia’s right. The shop is mine. Women in my time can own property since it doesn’t automatically pass to their husbands when they marry.”
Just then, she spotted Miss Clack tucking another one of her tracts about sin onto a bookshelf and sighed.
“He let you keep it, then?” Kitty asked.
“No, he didn’t let me do anything because he didn’t have a choice in the matter. It’s the law during my time.”
Julia had been listening with a look of confusion and finally cut in, “Wait, the shop would have been Oliver’s if you’d inherited it back in their time?”
“Mm-hmm.” Aurelia nodded.
“What about your brothers?” Blanche asked. “Surely one of them should have inherited it instead of you?”
“I don’t have a brother. And that’s another benefit of my time—property doesn’t automatically pass down through male heirs.”
“Truly? How fascinating,” Blanche said with real interest in her typically disinterested voice.
“Your brother inherited everything in your family, right?” Julia asked her.
“He did,” Blanche said coolly. “It has made things a sight more difficult for my sister and me, as there is a dearth of potential husbands who aren’t in dire need of a woman of property.”
“So, you can’t just find someone and fall in love with them? They need to have money or they won’t want to marry you?”
“I might not have expressed the point quite so bluntly, but… yes.”
“Did you even like Rochester, then? Or did you just want to marry him because he was rich?”
Blanche demurred, saying, “You make me sound like a mercenary, dear.”
“Oh, wait—is that why you’re unhappy? Because you can’t marry for love and have to marry for money?” Julia asked eagerly.
Blanche raised her eyebrows and condescended to answer, “I would consider that sufficient cause to be displeased with one’s circumstances.”
“There you go, Aunt Aurelia. You can write a new story for Blanche where she has lots of money and doesn’t have to bother with Rochester.”
“What’s this?” Blanche asked.
“That’s not really how it works, Julia,” Aurelia said quickly. “It’s not that simple.”
“You said sometimes a character appears alone if they’re unhappy with their ending, and she says she didn’t like not having money and being desperate to find a rich husband.”
“‘Desperate’? I’ll have you know I am considered the beauty of the county. Desperate, indeed!”
“Okay, but wouldn’t you like to have money so you don’t have to bother getting married, or at least not to someone you don’t even like?” Julia wheedled.
“Of course I should like to be wealthy. I should like quite a lot of things, but it is no use wishing and hoping. One must take action where one can.”
“Right—Aunt Aurelia can take action and write you a new story. Maybe you can get a job somewhere, or open your own shop.”
“A ‘job’? If you refer to labor, then I’ll thank you not to attempt a story on my behalf.”
“I don’t think the solution here is for me to write anything,” Aurelia interjected, remembering how badly it had gone when she’d tried to write Harriet’s story without her heart being in it. “Sergeant Cuff, isn’t this supposed to be about Julia, not me?”
Sergeant Cuff had been chatting with Miss Clack, though Aurelia had noticed that he was only partially focused on their conversation.
“I agree, Aurelia. I do not believe that you can resolve whatever brought these women here, but that Julia must do so.”
“I have to write them all new stories? But I hate writing.”
Aurelia filed Julia’s answer away for a future conversation, deciding instead to focus on the matter at hand.
“Is this really about writing new stories for them?” she asked Cuff.
“I am not at all convinced that it is,” he said.
“I should like a new story,” Kitty said, stepping forward. “I want to marry Wickham. Or Darcy—or Bingley, for that matter. Or, no! I should like to marry someone ten times as wealthy as Darcy!”
“Are we putting in requests, then?” Mrs. Jamieson asked with interest. “I can imagine one or two things I should like to change in my own story.”
“No, that’s not really on offer,” Aurelia said, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. “I can’t completely rewrite your stories. That’s not what I do, or at least it’s not what I’ve done. And I wouldn’t do it. I mean, I’m not going to unmarry Lizzy and Darcy!”
“What about Lydia and Wickham, then?” Kitty asked hopefully.
“I won’t unmarry them, either. Look, if I undid everything that happens in your stories, you wouldn’t be who you are now, and your family and friends wouldn’t be who they are.
Mrs. Jamieson—if things had been different for Miss Matty, then she might not have been reunited with her brother.
And Kitty—if I wrote that Lydia and Wickham didn’t get married, then Lizzy wouldn’t have seen Darcy’s good qualities, and she and Jane might not have married the men they love. ”
“The butterfly effect.” Julia nodded sagely.
“That’s right—change one moment or event, and everything else changes.
If it was just a matter of changing what might happen in your own future, that might be alright, but the past isn’t that simple.
One change to your books could undo what happens in your friends’ and families’ lives—things they wouldn’t want to be any different than they are.
” Aurelia looked around at Blanche, Kitty, and Mrs. Jamieson, then added for good measure, “I won’t do it. ”
“Great, back to square one,” Julia groaned.
“If you want to figure out why each of them is here, you’ll need to keep talking with everyone,” Aurelia advised her.
“Really dig in, Julia. Why don’t you and Kitty go up to the window seat and Kitty can tell you about herself.
Ask her where she lives, what her family’s like, what she does and doesn’t like to do.
” As she spoke, Aurelia remembered she was talking to two teenagers who wouldn’t like being bossed around, so she added breezily, “That’s what I would do, anyway. ”
Julia looked to Kitty and asked, “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” Kitty said with a smile.