“It’s a long time to wait,” Julia said, a slight whine in her voice.
“It’ll give you time to finishEmma,” Aurelia suggested. “And you can pick out a few more books to take with you when you leave tomorrow.”
“Ooh! Really? Can I pick out anything I want?”
“Sure. Well, as long as at least one of the books you pick is by Dickens.”
Julia considered this, then said, “Deal.”
Aurelia tried to squeeze in as much writing as she could that day, eager to sink back into her book, but it was Saturday, which was one of the shop’s busiest days of the week.
They met Oliver out for dinner that night and then they all returned to the flat, where Aurelia hustled Julia to her room to pack. By five minutes to midnight, Aurelia and Julia were downstairs, anxiously waiting to see which characters would arrive in the shop. Aurelia found herself crossing fingers, hoping to get a chance to see Lizzy and Jane again. As the mists started to appear at last, she let out a breath of relief as she saw the same six she’d met weeks ago: Jane and Rochester, Lizzy and Darcy, and Matty and Peter.
“Is it them?” Julia whispered.
“It is! They’re back.”
When the characters were fully formed in front of them, Aurelia stepped forward.
“Welcome back! It’s wonderful to see all of you again!”
“That’s quite a greeting when we’ve only just seen you last night,” Rochester said impishly.
“Oh, but you haven’t. I know, for you, it seems like it was just last night,” Aurelia explained. “But it’s been a few weeks, actually. A few really mad weeks, so we’re very happy to have you back with us.”
“We? Us?” Rochester asked, turning to Jane. “Is someone else here?”
“Yes, the young lady I mentioned before,” Jane told him as she turned to Julia. “You are Aurelia’s niece—Julia?”
“Yes, that’s me,” she said with a shy wave.
“I think you’ve only met Jane, right?” At a nod from Julia, Aurelia continued. “Let me introduce you to the others, then.”
Julia said hello to everyone, but she was a bit more reserved than she’d been with her first set of characters. When she met Lizzy, though, her reserve broke at last.
“I’ve just said goodbye to your sister, Kitty!”
“Have you? Was she here for a visit?”
“She was—she told me all about you, and… Mr. Darcy.” Julia hesitated as she looked up at the imposing and handsome man standing next to Lizzy.
“And how was she?” Lizzy asked. “On her best behavior? Or frightfully silly?”
“She wasn’t silly,” Julia said loyally. “She told me about places she wants to visit—London, Italy, and Paris. Okay, she did spend a lot of time telling me about the dresses she wants to buy in Paris, but other than that, I wouldn’t say she was silly at all.”
“Dresses from Paris!” chortled Rochester. “She sounds like a coquette in the making.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it sounds offensive—so she isn’t,” Julia said, narrowing her eyes at Rochester.
“Doesn’t know the meaning of ‘coquette’? Jane, you could dust off your tutoring skills and give her a French lesson,” Rochester said.
“I don’t need a lesson—I’m French,” Julia asserted, her tone still slightly annoyed, though she walked over to where Rochester and Jane were standing. “Or I’m half French, anyway. Coquette must just be an old-fashioned word.”
Rochester let out a loud laugh. “Old-fashioned, indeed! Julia, was it?”
Julia smiled, then, taken in by Rochester’s teasing. She seemed to recognize he didn’t mean any harm.
“That’s right.”
