She cast him a teasing smile. “Because it’s fun.”
“Is it?” Nathanial croaked as the tip of Daphne’s shoe connected rather painfully with his heel.
“Faster,” the girl hissed, her little hand curled into the side of his jacket, allowing him to all but drag her along.
Fortunately, the entry hall lay deserted as all guests had arrived and the betrothed couple had joined them in the back of the house. “The stairs are clear,” Charlaine whispered. “Run! Now!”
With a mad dash, the girls flew up the stairs.
Relief welled up in Nathanial’s heart before Charlaine’s hand closed over his wrist. “Come. Quickly.” Then she, too, rushed up the stairs, leaving him no choice but to follow.
Upstairs, they glanced up and down the corridor, then proceeded down to a door that opened up to a large, light-filled chamber. Dresses lay everywhere, on beds, over the backrests of chairs as well as on the floor. “Don’t tell me you tried all of these on?” Charlaine looked from one girl to the other.
Daphne shook her head. “We said we did, but we didn’t.”
“That’s when Mama got angry,” Susan said with a bit of a shiver.
“I’m certain we’ll find something fitting,” Charlaine told the girls before she once more grasped Nathanial’s arm and pulled him back out into the corridor. “Can you go to my chamber and find two necklaces for them in my jewelry box? My chamber is around the corner, three doors down on the left.”
Nathanial felt his jaw drop. “Me?” he croaked yet again. “I cannot go into your chamber, let alone go through your jewelry. It would cause a scandal if I were found. What would people think? What—?” His thoughts ran wild, and his pulse seemed inclined to catch up.
Charlaine pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine,” she told him with a smile. Her eyes were luminous as they looked into his, not even a hint of concern in them. Instead, they sparkled with excitement and adventure. “Don’t think too much. This is supposed to be fun.”
Nathanial shook his head. “Are you certain? I cannot imagine—”
“Did you never play these games with your brother when you were young?” She grinned at him. “Remember the boy you once were.” Then she slipped back inside and closed the door.
Completely at a loss, Nathanial briefly considered simply taking his leave. Still, the thought of disappointing Charlaine when she was counting on him stopped him. After all, he was her friend, and she had asked him for a favor. A ludicrous favor! A potentially scandalous favor! But a favor nonetheless!
Inhaling a deep breath, Nathanial cast a quick glance up and down the corridor before quick steps carried him to Charlaine’s door. With another look over his shoulder, he slipped inside, closing the door behind him.
Nathanial was not certain what he had expected. The simple, brightly colored chamber was a perfect fit for the woman he was getting to know. Straightforward, honest and cheerful. A book rested on her nightstand, and charcoal drawings lay rather cluttered upon her vanity.
On them, Nathanial glimpsed smiling faces: an elderly couple, children playing upon a long beach, a young couple gazing upon one another with utter devotion. The black charcoal stood in stark contrast to the cream-colored parchment, giving the images a bit of a sharper edge that raised goosebumps on Nathanial’s skin. A strange sense of unease fell over him as he looked at them, noting a slight resemblance here and there to the woman who had drawn them.
Without a doubt, Nathanial knew that these people were Charlaine’s family.
The family she had lost.
The family she still mourned.
Running a hand through his hair, Nathanial marveled at the notion of what she had to have gone through. On her own. Without anyone there to hold her hand. At least not until she had arrived in England. Now, she seemed to have found a new family. Still, no family could ever be replaced by another, and Nathanial wondered if there were still moments when the grief over this loss was too much for her to bear.
Shaking off this thought, Nathanial carefully moved the drawings aside to reveal a small, wooden jewelry box with delicate carvings of birds and flowers upon its lid. He slid it open to reveal a few necklaces and rings, simple, and yet, elegant. Nothing the ton would treasure, but Nathanial knew they represented the woman who wore them perfectly.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed closer from the other side of the door, and Nathanial felt his pulse stumble over itself. For a second, he froze before his body seemed to act without thought. His hand reached inside the small box, closed over what he hoped were two necklaces and then quickly withdrew, dropping them into his pocket. Then he darted across the room toward the door just as the handle was being pushed down.
For a second, Nathanial feared his heart would give out.
Yet, his feet moved and he found himself pressed to the wall behind the door the moment it swung open, shielding him from whoever stepped across the threshold.
“Charlaine?” an unfamiliar female voice asked, a hint of impatience in her tone. She hovered on the threshold for a moment but, fortunately, did not step inside. Then she left and the door closed.
Nathanial exhaled a deep breath, and his eyes closed as he rested his head against the wall. “The woman is mad,” he mumbled to himself, realizing that it was not the first time he had thought of Charlaine thus. “She’s utterly and completely mad.” Still, the hint of a smile tugged on his lips, and rather unexpectedly, Nathanial found himself reminded of how he and Zach had tiptoed downstairs the night before their tenth birthday and surprised their mother as she had prepared their cake. She had just finished—something she insisted on doing every year, refusing to hand over the task to Cook—and their sudden appearance had frightened her so that she had dropped the treat.
It had hit the floor and been destroyed upon impact.
Nathanial remembered well the glower in his mother’s eyes, but it had lasted no more than a moment. Then she had broken down laughing, sinking onto the floor with tears streaming from her eyes. In the end, they had all settled on the kitchen floor that night, eating bits and pieces of their birthday cake from the floor.
It had been the best birthday Nathanial could remember.
Shaking off this bittersweet memory, Nathanial inhaled another deep breath and then carefully opened the door, praying that whoever had come looking for Charlaine was not waiting outside in the corridor. Fortunately, it proved to be empty, and so Nathanial quickly returned to the girls’ chamber, giving their door a sharp knock.
“Who is it?” came Charlaine’s hushed voice from inside.
Nathanial glanced up and down the hallway, his skin crawling with tension. “It’s me.”
In an instant, the door flew open and Charlaine’s hand reached out to grab him by the front of his jacket before she all but yanked him inside, closing the door behind him the moment he tumbled through.
Nathanial almost lost his footing.
“Did you find any?” Daphne peeped up from behind him, her little voice full of eagerness.
Straightening, Nathanial found himself looking into three rather expectant faces. “Well, I…” He reached inside his pocket and withdrew his bounty. The golden necklaces glittered in the light, and he saw the girls’ eyes grow wide with awe.