Page 89 of The Starling and the Hatter

He trotted along behind me until we stood right in front of Garnet. “Hatcher, I would like you to meet”—I reached over and took hold of her hand—“my grandmother.”

Garnet smiled, her eyes bright with tears. When I looked to Hatcher, he was stunned and smiling. “Your…grandmother?”

I nodded vigorously. “And Grandmother—Garnet—Grandma”—I didn’t know what to call her, but she just smiled—“this is Hatcher. He’s the one I…” I swallowed.

Her eyes lit with understanding, and she turned her attention to Hatcher. “You are the one?”

He gave an adorable shrug.

“Oh, dear boy,” she said and pulled him into a hug.

He laughed and hugged her back, looking over her shoulder at me. “You have a grandmother?”

My hands were sandwiched together and pressed against my mouth as I happily bounced on my toes. “So it would seem.”

As we turned toward the house, Hatcher’s chore forgotten, I launched into my explanation, which I then had to start over once we’d gone inside.

Each time I was able to introduce her to someone as my grandmother, I thrilled to say the words. She was so kind and quirky and eager to hug me, but she also took care not to overwhelm me. I told her about my life and travels. She told me how she’d lived in Viago for a long time, but after her husband died, she’d gone to Murrwood, hoping to see her daughter pass through with the festival crowd. She hadn’t realized that my mother had died the year before. She’d seen the wolf wagon on occasion, but she didn’t connect it with Eliza. It had changed and improved since my mother had ridden away on it with Henry Wolfe, and since neither Henry nor Eliza had been with it, she assumed it belonged to someone else.

“And how did you know I was here?” I asked the next morning as she sat with me in the Hatchers’ home, darning socks at three times the speed that I did.

“I asked a lot of people,” she said as she looked at me with a teasing glint in her eye—one I was learning to recognize was uniquely hers and very much a part of who she was. That’s what made her such a great mystic. She loved people, and she found joy in teasing those who came to her with dramatic warnings or gentle nudges in the right direction. “Eventually, enough had told me you resided in Dressle that I was persuaded to trust them.” She swallowed as she looked over at me with wet eyes. “And I’m very glad I did.”

I set aside my work and curled up in my chair facing her. “Tell me about my mother.”

27

Maddox

I had it all planned out—how I would propose. Since arriving back in Dressle, every minute I waited felt like a minute too long, and yet I couldn’t do it now. Elise had been miraculously reunited with her grandmother—a grandmother who was kind and seemed to truly love her and want her. After suffering so much heartache with her father’s death, her mother’s disappearance and her brothers’ treachery, she deserved to have as much time as possible to get to know her grandmother.

If only that time wasn’t preventing me from asking her to be my wife…

Elise

It was dawn. I was sitting by the tiny stream that ran behind the Hatchers’ home. The sun hadn’t peeked its head up over the horizon yet, so the stream and grass and trees were still just shades of gray, waiting to be brought to life by the golden light of day. I’d spent so much time with my grandmother over the last three days, and though I hated the idea of missing any time with her, I did find myself longing for just a little bit of solitude. So I’d come out here before anyone else was awake to be with myself and my thoughts.

I was also missing Hatcher. He’d been nearby a great deal, but hardly ever near enough to speak with him or hold his hand. The way that lack made my whole body achy and uneasy was a testament to how strong our attachment was.

How was it that I hadn’t seen that before? Had I really taken him so much for granted, believing he’d always be there for me, and thus not recognizing how much brighter my world was with him in it? Yes, I supposed I had.

The sun burst over the horizon and I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth on my face and the sound of the stream trickling by.

The door opened behind me and I turned to see Hatcher step outside. He held up a hand to shade his eyes from the new day’s light and looked around as he closed the door behind him. It took a moment for him to see me, but when he did, his eyes lit up and he jogged forward, practically skidding to a halt and dropping to the ground beside me. “Good morning,” he said, enveloping me in a hug.

I returned the embrace, leaning into him so that I could breathe in his warmth and light. “Good morning.”

He pulled back but left his arm around my shoulders and rested his cheek on the top of my head.

This. I wanted more of this.

“How is your grandmother?”

I sighed in contentment. “She’s well. She exists,” I said with a laugh. “I still can’t quite believe it.”

“How long do you think she’ll be able to stay?”

“I’m not sure. Why? Is Dorothy ready to kick her out?” I teased.