Caden stayed on to help clean up, and Dania played withButterscotch out in the garden as Caden, Kiri, Azam, and Sonya got everything back in order. By which point, they were quite exhausted.
Kiri had saved some sandwiches and scones for their dinner, and they also had some baked potatoes with salted butter and cheese.
‘I want to thank you all,’ Azam said, standing with his glass raised. ‘The opening was a success, and in no small part thanks to you all. I will have my hands full with orders!’
They all raised their glasses, overjoyed for him. Sonya had never known it was possible to feel this much happiness for another person, and the joy stayed with her even after Caden had left and Kiri took Dania upstairs. She and Azam sat on the couch by the fire, not going up yet, and she looked over at him.
He had taken off his waistcoat and looked relaxed in his shirt and trousers, sans shoes. She had her feet up on the couch. She was sitting sideways, leaning against the pillows, facing him.
‘I heard more than a few people saying that your mother would have been proud,’ Sonya said. ‘I thought you would want to know.’
He looked over at her, leaning back against the sofa. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I hope she would be. Everything I am as a stitch-witch is because of her.’ His gaze glanced back to the fire. ‘I wish I could have learned more from her, that we’d had more time.’
‘I’m so happy you had the chance to learn so much from her. Even if it wasn’t as much time as you would have wanted, it’s still something.’
‘You’re right,’ he said, turning back to her. ‘I’m sorry, that was insensitive, when you had no time with your mother at all.’
‘No, it’s okay,’ she replied. ‘I at least know that I look like her, based on—’
She broke off. She was going to say based on the late queen’s portraits, but ordinary people didn’t have portraits of themselves:it was a royal custom that only those at the very top of the aristocracy took part in, and even then, not often.
Sonya didn’t mean to draw attention to herself but she found herself slipping more and more around Azam. She cleared her throat, ‘—based on how my father and brothers describe her,’ she finished, swallowing.
Azam didn’t seem to notice anything off about the misstep in her speech. ‘Well, I shall never get the chance to meet her, which is a shame, but I know one thing about your mother for certain,’ he said.
She was curious. ‘What’s that?’
‘That she was very beautiful.’
15
Over the next two weeks, Azam got to work on the dress orders and, as he made them, he received more orders; a few from men as well, for tailored trousers and waist-coats and blouses.
Sonya was in the shop, watching Azam work as he embroidered a pattern onto the pocket of a waistcoat. The design was very handsome, but she was mesmerized by his long and slender fingers.
The second week of May was coming to an end, and the weather was much warmer. The windows were open, and she could hear the distant bustle outside, as well as the closer birdsong.
After cleaning up, Sonya had starting helping Azam at the shop for most of the day, and after he got paid for the first few orders, he started paying her as well.
‘Not as much as you deserve,’ he’d said, ‘but I hope I can give you more as the shop makes more.’
‘Honestly, you don’t need to,’ she had replied. She didn’t have much need for money as Azam paid for everything, but he insisted.
‘You should have money of your own,’ he had said. ‘So you never need to depend on anybody.’
She didn’t understand at first but soon she came to learn that he was right. With her own funds came newfound independence—it was empowering to have her own money that she’d earned. She could go out and buy sweet buns from the bakery if she wished, which was exactly what she did with her first payment.
Azam had laughed when he’d seen she’d brought enough for all of them. ‘The money was for you!’ he said. ‘To spend on yourself.’
‘But this makes me happy,’ she replied. ‘I wanted to treat everyone.’
‘Thank you, sweetheart,’ Kiri said. Dania had already finished off her own sweet bun, reaching for another.
At the shop, Sonya helped keep things tidy and got Azam the things he needed. When he was in a good flow, he could get a bit frazzled and frenetic, as if his mind was moving more quickly than his hands and magic. She liked watching him work, the way he and his magic moved.
He finished the embroidery on the waistcoat, stitching the final stitch, and held it up for her to see.
‘What do you think?’ he asked. He always asked.
