“Yours, too, I hope,” Arthur said. “You’re like a mother to her.” He met her eyes and smiled wryly. “Or a mean aunt.”
Charlotte chuckled. “What? When am I ever mean?”
“When you force her to practice piano, for one.”
“I only force her to practice because you told me that she had to!”
“Or when you chide her about her manners.”
“Again, I only lecture her about her manners because you told me that you wanted to raise a respectable young woman. I’ve merely been helping bring her up the way thatyoutold me to,” she countered with a scoff.
“We’re both mean, then,” Arthur said, and Charlotte rolled her eyes. He turned to face her more squarely. “Will she have your support, Charlotte? When she’s off competing with men for her stories to be published or however it is that this will work?”
“Of course she’ll have my support. She’s like an impudent niece to me.”
Arthur burst out laughing. With a sigh, he turned back toward the fire and leaned to the side, resting his head against Charlotte’s arm.
“What about Jesse? How can I even begin to fix my relationship with him?”
“Have you tried talking to him?”
“Not since he sent me away that one morning,” he lamented. “No, he’ll never listen to me. Anything I’d say to him, he’d only ever see as empty words. False promises and hollow reassurances. I need to show him that I truly want him in my life and that I’ll never again treat him as though he is below me. I need to show him that IknowI was being a stubborn fool by insisting that I follow those ridiculous rules and that I know, too, that I was being a snob for the things that I said.”
“You could invite him to come by again?” Charlotte suggested.
“I could, but that seems so... so small to me. Too small. I mean, Ireallyhurt him, Charlotte. I insulted him in this... this huge way. I hadn’t even understood the magnitude of what I’d said to him before he ended things. Even then, it was only once I’d relayed mine and Jesse’s conversation to you, word for word as best as I could remember it, that I was able to see how cruel I’d been. And now I...” Arthur shifted in his seat, regret coiling in his stomach as the memories of that terrible night flashed in his mind. “Dammit, I need to prove to him that I realize how inexcusable my behavior was. I have to prove to him how far I’m willing to take things with him. I want him to know that he’s welcome here. In my home. In my life. People may raise eyebrows at our friendship, but I need him to see that it wouldn’t bother me. Oh, Charlotte, I made it seem as though him coming inside for that meeting, or even coming inside to wait for me in the library, would have been akin to the two of us spitting on the Pope.”
Charlotte let out a soft, pitying chuckle. Arthur frowned. Dammit, why couldn’t he think of some way to make it up to the man he adored?
“Could you invite him to the party?” Charlotte asked.
Arthur took a pause to consider this.
“I... could,” he said slowly. He tilted his head this way and that as he considered her suggestion further. “But then I’d have to... oh, God, I’d have to remind him to wear something that would fit the occasion. He may not even own something suitable for a party like that.” Arthur blew out a forceful breath. “No, if I invited him to the party, that would only lead us right back to where we are now, with this imbalance of wealth and status staring us in the face, either because I’d have to purchase an outfit for him or because he’d spend a relative fortune on one himself. Or else, if he simply showed up in one of his regular suits, nice as they may be, he would look out of place. He’d look so out of place that otherpeople would talk. Not thatIcare about that, exactly, though I’d rather the fair’s organizers like him in the event that Iamchosen to exhibit and Jesse still wants to help me with a presentation or two, but...” Arthur’s eyes widened as an idea popped into his mind with as much brilliance as a lightbulb. “Oh my Lord, Charlotte, I’ve thought of something. And Iknowyou’re going to tell me that it’s much, much too outlandish, but that’s exactly what makes it perfect.” He snatched Charlotte’s hands. “We shall tell everyone, right on the invitation, to come to the party in their finest morning clothes!”
Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up. “Morning dress?! At eight in the evening?!”
“Yes!”
“To aparty?”
“Yes!”
“Arthur, that’s—”
“Precisely the opposite of what everyone will expect and what everyone in our circle has ever done, yes! God, Charlotte, it’sperfect! Jesse will know how ridiculous it is the moment he reads the invitation. He’ll know it’s for him. He’ll know it’s my way of telling him that, while I can’t exactly run out onto the terrace and scream about our love to the world, I will make every effort to ensure that he has a place in my life. Always. Exactly the way that he is.”
“It’s incredibly sweet, Arthur, but won’t people talk?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Arthur said with a flippant wave of his hand. “I’m still doing it.” Taking Charlotte’s hands once more, Arthur rose to his feet, pulling Charlotte up with him. “Let’s prepare the invitation.” He began walking, tugging her along into the hall. Charlotte complied with a bemused shake of her head, though she was smiling as though she really was thrilled for him. Arthur’s chestwarmed from the rush of platonic love he felt toward her. “Emma can help us with the wording. She’s a writer, isn’t she?”
“Yes, I suppose she is,” Charlotte said with a light laugh.
Arthur let go of her hand and hurried ahead to the staircase, his heart racing and fluttering.
“Emma can propose the wording, and then I’ll find someone to print them. I mean, obviously I can’t ask Jesse to print them. It has to be a surprise.”
“Ithas tobe?” Charlotte teased, following him up the stairs.
