“I’m sorry, I’m an anxious fool,” she said. “Even the thought of Daniel taking William anywhere without me makes my heart shake.”
“Are you still getting menacing visits from your A.U.N.T.?” Cecilia asked.
“No. After Daniel taught the last person who tried to assassinate him how to do a carotid restraint properly, Mrs. Kew acquiesced and signed the consultancy contract. The invitation to William’s christening probably helped too.”
“I get nervous when I leave Alex alone with the children,” Charlotte confessed. “I’m sure one of these days he’ll decide letting them play with his sword is a grand idea. The only reason I was able to luxuriate while they were visiting with my mother was because I had the house parked across the road and a telescope aimed at Mama’s sitting room. So you’re not an anxious fool, Lissy. Or, if you are, I am too.”
“What do you think they’re doing right now?” Cecilia asked, stretching her legs out over the tiles. Moonlight flowed into the white muslin billows of her dress, illuminating her like a love interest in a romantic poem.
“I dread to think,” Charlotte muttered.
“I can’t hear any crying,” Alice said, tilting her head toward the roof hatch. “Should we go down and check on them?” Her heart yearned as always for her boys—but then again, the stars were so lovely, and, as a bonus, no one was clutching at her bosom. So long as she knew they were safe nearby, she was quite content to remain up here a while longer with her friends.
Her friends.Fiddlesticks. Even after more than a year, she still got tingles when she thought of it. In fact, they were more than friends, these women, their husbands—they were an extended chosen family, at least according to Ned, who alone of the group was not afraid to say it. They were honorary aunties and uncles to each other’s children.
Alice wished she could reach back to little Alice, hunched alone andhurting on a dormitory bed in the Academy, and assure the girl that time would see her happy and loved just the way she was.
And that the Academy tutors would wake some thirteen years later to find all their birch switches burning atop a pile of their shredded training manuals. Alice smiled. That had been a fun night.
Crash!
The women flinched at the sudden loud sound from downstairs.
“Everything’s fine!” Ned called out.
Cecilia glanced wryly at the other two. “I apologize, Lissy. Almost certainly, something is not fine.”
Alice grinned at her. “Don’t worry. I don’t mind a little mess.”
“Hm,” Charlotte said with a disapproval that sounded almost as stern as Daniel’s. She pushed herself to her feet, managing easily in her trousers. “I had better go and check.”
“I’ll come too,” Alice said, standing. On Charlotte’s other side, Cecilia also rose, brushing wrinkles from her skirts. The three began to step sidelong toward the trapdoor.
“This reminds me of the time Alex and I danced in Clacton-on-Sea,” Charlotte said, swaying a little to keep her balance on the ridgepole. She happened to catch Alice’s glance, and a glimmer of humor passed between them.
“What is it?” Cecilia asked. “You’ve stopped. Is something the matter?”
“I was just thinking,” Charlotte said, the humor tugging now at her mouth, drawing it into a crooked, piratic smile. “Perhaps we need not go down just yet.”
“Oh?” Cecilia inquired.
“Perhaps we might go up instead.”
She held out her hand to Alice, who took it without hesitation. Her other, she presented to Cecilia.
“Lottie Pettifer,” Cecilia chided. “Are you suggesting witchcraft?”
Charlotte shrugged and nodded. “Yes.”
“Excellent.” Cecilia took her hand.
And as Charlotte whispered the magic word, they rose from the roof. Three wicked women who had run away from who they were supposed to be and found themselves, found each other; three wild women holding hands, sharing laughter, as they danced together in the midnight sky, beneath a yellow moon.
The men stood looking at the broken vase. Alex and Ned, holding their swords down, grimaced guiltily. Daniel just smiled and rocked the baby in his arms.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I hated that vase and am glad to be rid of it, but never could tell Alice. Mrs. Rotunder gave it to her.”
“I clean up!” Evangeline called out happily, running to kneel down in front of the broken pieces. Ned quickly crouched beside her, taking her little hand before she could touch anything sharp. He passed her the bottom half of the vase, which now looked more like a bowl.
