Paul strode in our direction before Daisy could hit me with her questions. “Cool calligraphy.” He pointed at the envelope in my hand, then passed a letter to Daisy and then me. He held onto her envelope an extra moment when she tried to take it. “I know you’re about to get your MFA, but it wouldn’t hurt you to work on your handwriting. I practically need a decoder to read these.”
She pretended to kick him. “I’m working on it. Those fountain pens are the worst, and I don’t have the necessary time or patience. I’m doing my best. Emma doesn’t even use the pen Grace gave us.”
They turned momentarily accusing looks at me, then laughed.
“Stop,” I said. “My pen’s clearly broken.”
The familiarity between them was endearing and something I hadn’t noticed before. “Do you two know one another?” I asked. “Outside class, I mean?”
Paul shot her a mischievous grin. “I had Daisy’s older sister in my first English Lit class as a professor. I was a train wreck. I’m only slightly better now, but I keep trying,” he joked.
“He’s still her favorite teacher,” Daisy said.
“Speaking of class,” Paul peeked at his watch. “I’m teaching in an hour, so I’d better get going.”
We said our goodbyes; then Daisy hooked her arm with mine. “I hope you have time for coffee, because you have so much to tell me,” she said. “Starting with who wrote that letter. I saw your expression the moment you picked it up. It’s the reason I ran over to your cubby.”
I tried to fight my smile but failed.
Back at Hearthstone, I spent two more hours reviewing and improving my plans for a Rini Reads remodel; then I switched gears to give my brain a break. Caffeine coursed through my body. Coffee with Daisy followed by a pot of tea had helped me do a weekend’s worth of work in a few hours. The crash coming later would be totally worth it.
I curled onto the window seat in the study, pushing aside some of the craft supplies I’d used to make my extensive bookstore plans. I’d done my work, and now it was time to embrace my inner nineteenth-century socialite and swoon for the fun of swooning.
I opened the letter from Forever Yours, giddy and eager to lose myself in the words.
Emma,
Did you know the love between poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning began with an extended exchange of letters? According totheir heir, those letters were the only ones they ever exchanged, because once they married, they were never apart again. Can you imagine that kind of love?
I can.
Forever Yours
I pressed the page to my chest and suppressed a squeal as I scanned the additional page included with his letter. A copy of one of the Brownings’ correspondences, and the transcript.
I had no idea who Forever Yours truly was, but somehow he knew me well.
How could I give up on love when there was at least one man in the world who wrote things like that? A man who saw straight to my heart.
I let my head fall back and my arms go limp on a bone-deep sigh. If I could fall in love via letters, then spend the rest of my days exploring the life with that man, I’d die happy. There wasn’t any point in denial. The possibility was too romantic to resist.
The distant crunch of gravel drew my eyes to the study window, and I straightened to get a better look. A familiar pickup truck rolled to a stop, and panic shrieked through my bones. Davis and I had afternoon plans, and I’d lost track of time again.
I nearly hit the ceiling when my doorbell rang. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” I raced through the manor on fuzzy-socked feet and slid to a stop in the foyer. Then I opened the front door with an apologetic frown.
Davis and Violet waited outside.
“I’m so incredibly sorry, but I’m not ready. I got busy and didn’t realize so much time had passed.”
Davis wrinkled his nose and forehead as he scanned me. “What are you wearing?”
I dropped into a squat before my fluffiest friend and covered Violet with kisses and hugs. Then I rose to face her human. “This is my brainstorming outfit. Come in and close the door.”
“Wow. You’re all jazzed up,” he said, stepping into the foyer.
“It’s called happiness,” I corrected. “I’m excited. I’ve made a ton of progress on my bookstore plans, and I’ve also consumed a lot of caffeine.”
“Ah.”
