I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
“Yes, sir,” I said, sipping my tea, humming at the rich sweetness.
“I didn’t really need to ask that, I can see it for myself,” Teddy said. “I really do like you for him, whatever that’s worth.”
“It means a lot to me,” I said, which also wasn’t a lie. “Kit respects you. He’s scared of disappointing you.”
“I wish he wasn’t, he’s the least disappointing person I know.”
“But you just said—”
“That he wasn’t quite sane, yes,” Teddy agreed, sipping his own tea. “But that doesn’t mean I’m at all disappointed in him. He’s clever, hard working, believes in things. Incorruptible in that very honest way of a man who’s certain about right and wrong and will not be swayed in his opinion even if his hand is forced. If he was less nervous, he would have been even more of a little rebel than he was.”
“Kit was a rebel?” I asked, trying to picture him in a leather jacket.
“His mother would have called him an outright terror,” Teddy laughed. “She has never once approved of a friend he chose for himself—those people you were out with the other night areherchoices. Kit is a marvel who has never once looked at a person and thought of them in terms ofvalue. That was his rebellion. Friends from all walks of life, for as long as it took for them to find out who he really was.”
“Oh,” I said, looking down into my cup. “That must be why, umm...”
I shouldn’t say this. I didn’t want to embarrass Kit.
“Go on, just between us,” Teddy encouraged.
I believed him when he said Kit could never disappoint him. I knew he loved Kit—andlikedhim, more than he did anyone else in his family.
“He didn’t tell me about all this until Stanley showed up at the train station. I think he tried a couple times, but I guess he was scared.”
“I suspected as much. That you weren’t prepared for it, in any case. Stanley kept his secret for him.”
“I like him,” I confessed. I wasn’t sure if I wasallowedto like the staff, but I thought maybe Teddy would let me get away with it.
The more time I spent with him, the more I liked him, too.
“Stanley is the best friend I’ve ever had,” Teddy said. “Perhaps the only real friend. I suppose that sounds terribly sad to your ears, but all this is a bit of a lonely life if you’ve got anything resembling a soul.”
“I think it’s nice that you think of him as a friend,” I said. “I don’t understand your life, and I can’t judge it. But, umm. I think you could count me as a friend? If you want.”
“You know,” Teddy said, face lighting up. “I think I could.”
The door creaked open, light from the hall suddenly flooding the room.
“Ah, there you are,” Kit said.
“Stanley told you where he was?” Teddy asked.
“Mm,” Kit replied. “Seems he’s still susceptible to my best puppy eyes.”
“As, I’m sure, is your charming fiancé. Ah, no, boyfriend, we’ve already covered that. Shame, I rather like the ring offiancé. ’My son’s fiancé is American, you know,’ or ’my son’s fiancé was kind enough to sit and drink tea with me.’”
Kit raised an eyebrow.
“I’m just saying,” Teddy drained the last of his tea. “Might be nice to give me a wedding to look forward to, my life is interminably dull.”
“Kit’s taking me to London,” I said, changing the subject to save Kit the awkwardness of trying to explain to his dad why there wasn’t a wedding coming up.
“Will you be driving in, or…?”
“Andy wants to take the train,” Kit answered, smiling at me. “Can’t deny him anything.”
