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“I mean this.” He gestured to her choice of clothes. “Do you often go around dressed as a man?”
“Truthfully, no. This was an idea that came to me only yesterday and it was after something you said.” She smiled at him. Edward’s brows furrowed at that. What on Earth could she mean by that?
“What did I say?” Edward asked. He was momentarily distracted when she took her hat off and her hair tumbled out of it. She looked up and met his gaze.
“Let’s keep anything personal out of it,” she said. “Edward,” she added. She seemed unsure as she spoke his name but Edward couldn’t help but grin. He liked his name on her lips.
“I have something for you,” he said, taking a box out of his pocket.
“What is it?” Ariadne asked curiously.
Edward produced a small heart-shaped chocolate box with a bow on top. “Just a small token of appreciation for your help.”
“I can’t take it,” she said in a small voice. Ariadne visibly swallowed and Edward held back a smile. He knew she wanted it.
“Take it,” he said, thrusting it toward her, “please.”
“Chocolates, you say?” Ariadne asked again. She seemed torn, visibly tortured. “I had one when I was a child but none since.”
“I can vouch for these chocolates. They’re made of sumptuous caramel and chocolate.”
“Caramel?” Ariadne repeated. It was taking Edward some effort not to laugh. He didn’t want her to think he was laughing at her. On the contrary, he was delighted by her obvious desire for the chocolates although she was trying not to show. He made a note to thank his sister later for her ingenious idea.
Finally, Ariadne seemed to lose the battle with herself and accepted the box. Unfurling the bow, she took one small piece out and relished it. Her eyes lit up and Edward could tell the precise moment the chocolate melted in her mouth. It was a simple thing but it had a remarkable effect on him. His heart swelled as he saw her eat the chocolates like a child discovering something new.
Ariadne recovered quickly. She coughed and in a small voice said, “Thank you, Edward.” Her former sneering tone was missing and Edward knew he had made taken the first step in winning her over. He would bring her chocolates every day if he could see her like this.
Not wanting to embarrass her further as Edward knew that it might hurt her pride, he changed the topic. “What’s that you’re wearing?” he asked when his eyes fell to the pendant nestled under her throat. Ariadne looked down and quickly hid it under her shirt.
She didn’t answer for a long moment and he almost thought she wouldn’t. “It’s a pendant that used to belong to my mother.”
“I’ve never seen you wear it before.”
“You hardly know me,” she said. Edward knew it was her attempt to change the subject now. He had memorized Ariadne and could even draw her from memory. He would remember if she wore a pendant.
“It wasn’t there yesterday,” he said with conviction.
Ariadne looked at him for a few moments before she sighed. She searched for something in her pocket and then presented it to him. “I found this parchment inside the pendant yesterday. I remember my mother wearing it when I was younger but after her death, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Emma claimed that Pa had it with him even though he never spoke of it either.”
Edward examined the miniscule piece of paper on which a line was written hurriedly—All answers lie here.
“Do you know what this means?” he asked.
Ariadne shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“So the pendant was with your father all along?” he asked.
Ariadne nodded. “It would appear so. But I don’t understand why he would hide this cryptic message inside it.”
Edward turned the paper over in his hand but after finding no other clue, handed it back to her. “The paper doesn’t look too old.”
“It doesn’t,” Ariadne agreed and then paused. “I…I just, it’s strange to have it with me after so many years.” She played with the metal chain that held the pendant. The chain was old and rusty. Edward felt a pang in his heart and a great desire to replace the chain with a new one. But he knew Ariadne wouldn’t take kindly to it if he so much as proposed it. “Pa was always writing notes to himself. Maybe he wrote something to remind himself of it later and then forgot about it,” she said, talking to herself rather than him.
“What happened to your mother?” Edward asked softly. He remained where he was, afraid to step closer in case that made her shut him out again. Despite her insistence to keep things impersonal, she had shared something with him which meant something deep to her. He was determined to learn more about it.
“She passed away due to a mysterious illness when Leda was two and I was eight. Leda doesn’t remember her at all and I only remember bits and pieces,” she said. She had a faraway look on her face, remembering her past. “We didn’t have enough money for a good physician. Pa couldn’t do anything either so we watched helplessly as the disease took her. She wasn’t the only one to die that year.”
“What happened after that?” Edward asked.
