Chapter 25
After a restless night’s sleep, Aurelia awoke no closer to figuring out why the characters hadn’t appeared the night before.
She’d gone upstairs to change for bed, then had come back down and popped her head through the door to the shop to see if they’d arrived: no.
She woke up twice before dawn to try again, but still, no one had appeared.
It was a slow morning in the shop, punctuated by Mark’s weekly visit, giving Aurelia time to review her notes and continue writing out possibilities for Vronsky’s future.
She tried to put thoughts of something going wrong, of not being able to see the characters again, from her mind.
It helped remembering that Cuff had told her not to doubt that it could, and would, all happen again.
In fact, she was sure Cuff would have an explanation, if only she could be patient enough to get through the hours until midnight to find out what it was.
By four thirty, when no one had darkened the door of the shop for over an hour, Aurelia decided she might as well close early and get a head start on her evening nap.
Waking at eleven thirty wasn’t difficult—she practically leapt out of bed—but keeping her emotions in check until midnight was a challenge.
Why hadn’t the characters appeared last night?
Would they appear again tonight? By the time she got downstairs to wait out the last two minutes before midnight, she was chewing her lip and shifting from foot to foot as she stood by her desk.
Midnight finally arrived and she let out a breath of relief as she saw the mists rising from the books on the table.
When the characters were in solid form (or as solid as they could be) Marmee and Elinor approached Aurelia.
The others, however, nodded and smiled at her before nonchalantly walking around to chat with one another.
Vronsky, as usual, stood apart, collecting himself as he gazed around the shop, a sad smile playing across his face as he nodded hello to the others.
“What happened? Where were you last night?” Aurelia burst out.
“Weren’t we here?” Marmee asked, her face mirroring the worry in Aurelia’s tone.
“No, I was late coming home. It was after midnight.”
Marmee’s eyebrows unbound themselves and rose upwards in surprise.
“Oh, it’s alright. People—women—in my time often stay out late,” Aurelia explained.
“Hmm,” Marmee mused in slight disapproval. “Go on, then.”
“Well, when I came into the shop you weren’t here. I waited, and checked a few times, but none of you came.”
Sergeant Cuff had sidled over to the small group around her.
“You say you entered the building after midnight?”
“Yes—again, that’s perfectly normal in my time,” Aurelia said defensively.
“Ah, that explains it then,” Cuff said cryptically as he turned away from them.
“What does it explain, sir?” Elinor asked.
“It explains why we did not appear.” Cuff began to turn away again, but at the sight of many mouths opening with more questions, he stopped.
“In my experience, there are two occasions when we will not appear in the shop. One occurred last night.” He paused, but impatient faces urged him on, and he continued.
“We cannot appear when the shop owner is not in the building at midnight. Entering the building after the hour inhibits our arrival.”
“Interesting,” Aurelia said, relieved to know that what had happened wasn’t a fluke but just a bit of the shop’s unique magic.
“I was not aware of a lapse in time,” noted Vronsky as he approached their circle.
“I failed to feel it myself,” Elinor agreed.
“You mentioned there’s another time when you can’t appear?” Aurelia asked.
“Quite so. The second occasion is when someone else, someone other than the owner, is in the shop.”
Aurelia’s face fell. She’d guessed it was true, but knowing she’d never be able to share the experience with her sister or friends felt like a real blow. How could she tell them about the characters when she’d never be able to prove it was all real?
“We cannot appear if someone else is here?” Vronsky asked.
His voice brought Aurelia back to the moment, and she looked to Sergeant Cuff for his answer.
“Correct,” he confirmed with a nod.
“Well, that’s hardly likely to happen, is it, Aurelia?” Elinor asked, confident of the answer. “Who would be in the shop late at night other than you?”
Aurelia composed herself, trying hard not to blush.
“Yes, good point,” she managed to say. “I’m sure that’s very unlikely.”
She was secretly grateful to know that the characters couldn’t detect gaps in time when she wasn’t in the building or when someone else might be there with her, since it would avoid some awkward conversations.
Aurelia might have a boyfriend come through the shop to spend the night at the flat, or she might stay at a boyfriend’s.
Either way, the characters wouldn’t be there to witness her very modern dating habits.
But, given the state of her romantic life, she reminded herself, there wasn’t much to observe anyway.
Marmee and Elinor moved off to the front of the shop with Cuff, who continued discussing his theories. Aurelia began to follow them but stopped when she noticed someone reaching out to catch her attention. It was Rachel, who was arm in arm with Marianne.
“We hoped to engage Alexei in conversation,” Rachel said with an arch smile.
“Let us see what future he has conjured!” Marianne added excitedly.
“We have been concocting our own adventures for him and would like to see how his ideas compare.”
They walked over to Vronsky, who had begun talking with Laurie about their experiences traveling through Italy. Both men bowed to the women as they approached.
“We arrive with a plot afoot,” Marianne began.
“Yes, we are ready to share our visions for the life you might lead after your novel ends,” Rachel continued.
“Oh! Is Vronsky featured in a sequel?” Laurie seemed eager to join the ladies’ fun, likely recognizing his friends, the March sisters, in Rachel and Marianne’s scheming. “I myself am in a sequel—two, in fact.”
“You know about Little Men and Jo’s Boys?” Aurelia asked in wonder.
“Yes, Cristobel told me about them.”
“And… did she tell you anything about what happens?”
Aurelia wasn’t sure whether Laurie and Marmee were aware that some of the March family didn’t survive the sequels.
“No, she insisted it wouldn’t do to know all that would happen.
She only told me enough so that I would know I had a fulfilling life ahead of me.
She quoted one line from Jo’s Boys about me and Amy, and said that should give me peace of mind: ‘Life had been a kind of poem to them since they married…’”
Laurie smiled, seeming to find comfort in what Cristobel had shared. Aurelia, too, smiled to think of the great-great aunt she’d never met.
“And you have a sequel, Count Vronsky?” Laurie asked again.
“I do not, and sadly my novel ends at a most unfortunate period in my life.”
His smile dimmed and Aurelia thought again of the strain he must feel, held forever in the limbo of his grief at the end of Anna Karenina.
“We have been working on a project for Count Vronsky,” Rachel said. “We thought that imagining his future could give him some comfort, just as you said your sequels have done for you.”
“Rachel and I are quite happy with our endings, as our authors gave us some hint of what our futures might hold,” Marianne explained. “Sergeant Cuff is happy with his, and Marmee is happy with hers as well. Only Alexei seems to have been left to face a troubling future.”
Something clicked in Aurelia’s mind. Only Vronsky was unhappy with his ending and where it left him; only Vronsky had appeared alone from his novel.
She looked around the room and saw Sergeant Cuff smiling at her.
His eyes sparkled in amusement and she knew she’d figured out his mystery at last. She smiled back, but then frowned as she realized she wasn’t sure what it all meant.
They were trying to help Vronsky think of a better future, but once they’d helped him, what then?
Would he come out of the book with another character?
Could just dreaming about a new life really make a difference for him?
The others in Aurelia’s circle noticed her distraction, and Rachel reached out again as if to touch her arm.
“Are you quite alright, Aurelia? Has Sergeant Cuff been troubling you?” She nodded in Cuff’s direction and gave him a sly smile, which he returned.
“I was just lost in thought for a moment,” Aurelia said.
“Speaking of old Cuff, I had best rescue Marmee from another of his monologues on roses,” Laurie said, nodding in farewell.
Marianne suggested they move upstairs to the window seat, so Rachel, Vronsky, and Aurelia followed her up the spiral staircase.
They shared their ideas and though Vronsky tried to look interested, something seemed to hold him back.
Aurelia found herself watching him, wondering again and again about Cuff’s hints.