“I am sorry,” Joseph said, when the laughing had run its course and they were all standing in the empty ballroom in the aftermath of it. He said it to his father, “I know it was wrong.”
Harper was quiet for a moment.
“Why did you do it?” he said. “You deliberately brought the dogs in?”
“I did,” Joseph nodded, “but you… you really must understand that I did it out of love. I was… you see… You have been for days. I thought that if I could make you laugh then perhaps it wouldhelp.” He paused. “I know that was not the right way to go about it but the dogs seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Why bring them to the ball?”
“Because…” Joseph sighed. “During the dance, I saw you. You looked like something terrible had happened, and I knew that I had to act quickly. It was naive, yes, but… at least I got you laughing at the end of it.”
Temperance felt her heart clench. The dance… Harper had been upset because of it, though she could not have fathomed that it would impact him in the slightest.
“The dogs,” Harper said, “are never a good idea, and I told you that nothing good comes from bringing them in.”
Harper crossed the room to his son as the latter held very still.
“Are you very mad at me?” he asked.
The room seemed to hold its breath for a long moment. Temperance worried that perhaps Harper would get angry now, for Joseph had disobeyed the principle that his father laid out. But Harper surprised everyone once again, and wrapped his son in a hug.
“I understand that you didn’t meant harm, and were only trying to help in your own way. Thank you,” he said.
Joseph looked at him with his mouth agape.
“Are you certain?”
Even Albina let out a whoosh of surprise, but Temperance could only smile.
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t. But this does not give you license to continue to go against what I say in the future. So don’t do it again,” Harper said.
“I won’t,” Joseph said, shaking his head, “But did it work?”
Harper was quiet for a moment. His eyes moved across the room and found Temperance, briefly, and she held the contact for a second before looking at the floor. The smile on her face hadn’t left.
“Yes,” Harper said. “I suppose it did.”
Joseph’s face broke out into a large grin.
“Can the dogs stay inside tonight?” he said. “Given the circumstances.”
“Don’t push it,” Harper said. “Now, go up please. Let me speak to the others.”
Joseph sauntered off, with one of the dogs trailing behind him. As soon as he was gone, Albina stepped forward with a grin on her face.
“My, my, my,” Albina clapped her hands together, “so this is exactly what I meant that we all should come together as a family. Harper, I think you’ve made the right decision here and shown Joseph that his good intentions must be honored, instead of punished.”
“It’s true,” Temperance added in. “We’re all quite... Well, we’re happy to see this change in you.”
“A change?” Harper challenged, raising his brow. “I still want the best for my son, as I always have.”
“But now you’re responding to it in a different manner,” Albina said, impressed. “I think that’s growth, and it seems that we might have rubbed off on you more than you let on.”
Harper locked eyes with Temperance again.
“I suppose I cannot deny that.”
Once again, Temperance began to flush and she thought back to the moment in the terrace. Their moment had been interrupted half-way, and she was only now beginning to understand that under no possibility could she go back to pretending as though nothing had happened.
