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Their eyes held onto one another for a long, beautiful moment. Charlotte forced herself to step back, to tilt her eyes towards the sky. Somehow, the glittering blue sky above pulled her back to reality.
“I had best check on my mother,” she said. “Ensure that both she and the fabric owner remain alive.”
“Has it grown quite so tense between them?”
“You haven’t any idea,” Charlotte said with a mischievous smile. “Although perhaps one day, you’ll meet my mother.”
“It’s difficult to say what will happen next,” he said. “She sounds like quite the character.”
Charlotte turned back towards the door, frankly too afraid to remain before Jeffrey, as she felt as though she might sweep towards him, collect herself in his arms, demand something more from him than he could possibly give. Once at the door, she spun back and said, “Louisa and I are to attend a ball this weekend.”
“I see,” Jeffrey said.
“Do you plan on being in attendance?”
“I believe I’ve received the invitation, although, to be frank, I have been a bit exhausted of the near-constant social scene,” he said. “After my years apart from society, it’s taken a good deal out of me.”
Charlotte’s heart dropped. She yearned to articulate just how little she wanted to be in the midst of such a crowd if it meant he wasn’t somewhere lurking behind a pillar or waiting for her near the garden.
“Okay. Then I suppose we can discuss this in more detail in the coming weeks,” she said.
“I suppose we can,” he told her.
“Thank you again for making the trip to town.”
Charlotte shuffled back into the fabric store, just as her mother cried out, “I don’t understand this thick skull of yours, sir. I’ve told you time and time again that this sort of service doesn’t support the women of this county. I’ve discussed it at length with several friends …”
“And yet, these friends you’ve mentioned are friendly and joyous patrons of mine,” the fabric store owner blared back. “They’ve never articulated any sort of malice towards me. In fact—” Here, he lifted both hands towards the sky, “I’ve decided on something. I’ve never done this before, Lady Stanton. But I’ve decided to ban you from the shop.”
“You can’t!” Lady Stanton cried.
“I very well can. This is my shop, and I can do whatever I please. I’ve asked after you with a few of these so-called friends, and you know what they’ve told me? They’ve told me that their list of troubles with you are several miles long and that I should do what I please. For the first time in my life, perhaps I feel strong enough to do precisely that.”
Lady Stanton looked as though her jaw might drop from her skull and onto the ground. She blinked wide eyes towards the fabric store owner, who reached for his tape measure, snapped it into a straight line, then hung it around his neck.
“Now, I should like to ask both you and your seemingly kind daughter to leave my shop,” the man said. “I cannot serve you a moment more. Good day, Lady Stanton. Good day, forever.”
Back in the carriage, Charlotte had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She’d never seen her mother at a loss for words. Her mother spread her palms across her gown, heaved a sigh, then muttered to herself.
“I don’t suppose he’s telling the truth. Which of my friends would ever say such dastardly things about me? I cannot imagine it. They’re all so loyal. So thoughtful.”
