She had been quiet, controlled and practiced the entire evening. She smiled when someone glanced at her, responded when someone spoke to her and was the perfect young lady. But Miss Audrey was missing her spark, the vividness that had become so comfortably familiar.

He understood how to go through the motions, he had been trained his entire life to be the perfect gentleman. Young Mr. Canterbury knew when to smile when to lean, how to eat only the parts of his meal that he liked and just how much whiskey was acceptable to drink with a cigar. And this evening, Audrey Kai had done her part from smiling to pretending to eating to stealing larger gulps of her dinner wine.

Jacob waited until they stepped out of the front door and onto the steps onto 82nd street, before venturing into socially unacceptable behavior.

"You've been quiet this evening." Jacob started, making sure his grip on her hand was tight as they stepped down to the waiting carriage. Audrey barely hummed in agreement, the social façade of charming young lady slipping when it was only for him.

Jacob waited until he was helping her step up into her seat before giving a small voice to his internal concern.

"Were you upset that I offered to escort you this evening? Would you have preferred a different young gentlemen and I've just become acceptable to your guardian?"

The question, or really the small voice so unfamiliar in the boy, made Audrey snap her eyes to his face searching. She smiled instinctively at him, the warm intimate smile he never saw in the company of high society.

"Do be less silly, Jacob." She teased pulling him up into the carriage, as she scooted over. He allowed himself to be propelled by her motion, not resisting or allowing his own strength to overpower her. Jacob had learned how Audrey, unlike the other ladies he knew, did not like being considered delicate or reminded that men were stronger than her.

He settled in the carriage, politely allowing only his arm to lightly touch her as he knocked up the driver. She ignored, as he thought she might, his socially dictated space and rested her head onto his shoulder. He released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

The carriage started moving, the trot of the horse muffled under the creaking of one of the wheels. It wasn't terribly late, though it couldn't be considered early, and Jacob silently appreciated how the driver would take the long way home.

"Did you like Miss Livingston?" Jacob hedged.

"I didn't notice her much." Audrey yawned.

"Thomas had mentioned Casey hoped you might socialize with her."

"What's it like to be able to do as you please?" Audrey popped her head up.

Jacob frowned at her jerking movement as well as her words.

"Do you believe I do as I please?" Jacob sighed tugging impatiently at the bowtie at his neck.

"You are a young university society man." Audrey shrugged. "No one treats you like a child."

Jacob chuckled at the claim.

"Do you remember in the summer, after you refused Sir Gregory's proposal?"

"When you sent me into the city with your family carriage and driver?" Audrey nodded.

"Thomas helped me lie to my father about our carriage, but the driver told him upon his return. And then my father called me to his study and said if I was going to act a child then I would be treated as one. My father hadn't given me a thrashing since I had been 12, but he took a belt to me that afternoon for sending out his carriage without permission and then the next morning for lying about it."

"Jacob, I didn't really…" Audrey began.

"My father, he's a strict man but he's always been fair. But when he was thrashing me the second time, he said being a man meant being many things. Being honest, trustworthy, and knowing that I could not just doing as I please."

"I didn't mean for you to take the blame…" Audrey tucked her head back onto his shoulder.

"I made the choice, and though it was a fleeting thought, I did know there might be consequences. The point, Miss Audrey, is not for you to feel sorry for me but to understand. I may never do as I please, I'm in the city because my father has business that I will inherit and I must take interest in. I wear this bothersome suit because a man of my standing must to these dinners."

"Try wearing one of these skirts." Audrey murmured.

"The closest I come to doing as I pleased is when I spend time with you," Jacob sighed catching her hand and squeezing it encouragingly. Audrey closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, feeling the pressure on the space between her thumb and index fingers. She felt compel to tell, to share her day in a way that would be unfamiliar to them both.

"My sister paid a call today." Audrey stated without opening her eyes.

"Your sister? The one that…" Jacob startled. The young man could feel his heart quicken, he released his hold on Audrey afraid she could feel the sudden violent beats. In all the months that he had known her, Audrey Kai had never once spoken about her past or her life outside of the Longfellow home. She avoided answering questions and never volunteered any information. All that Jacob knew about her came from busybodies and gossips, fragmented memories of scandals.

"Yes, the sister that ran away to get married." Audrey couldn't help but smile at just how proper Jacob Henry Canterbury truly was, a real gentleman.

"She came calling for you?"

"Well, she came calling for Casey. She was raised a lady of society, Casey did just have a baby."

"How is little William?" Jacob laughed. Trying to control the urge to ask every question that was surfacing in his mind.

"A delight." She smiled indulgently. She had written about the baby boy, almost as soon as he had been born. Jacob had never known more details on an infant he had never met, or any infant for that matter.

"Did something happen with your sister?"

"Caroline and my…" Audrey caught on her word and nervously coughed. "…some old family friends are worried about me. I, well, I might have let my temper get the better of me."

"You got into a fight with your sister?" Jacob nudged her shoulder, lightly teasing.

"Thomas made me apologize, and as a lesson in temperance is keeping some of my letters that arrived today."

Jacob nodded, he knew she received letters even if she never spoke of them. He had, on several occasions, noticed her reading them or quickly hiding them in her skirts or sleeves. They seemed precious and coveted items and now he understood her mood during dinner.

"You don't believe your sister has any right to fret about you?" Jacob hummed knowingly.

"She left me behind long ago enough." Audrey shrugged stubbornly, defensively. The two young people sat contemplating quietly as the carriage pulled along the main avenue. They were silent until the carriage jolted to a stop in front of the Longfellow home. Jacob ducked out of the carriage and held out his hand to help Audrey down.

"You know Miss Audrey, I haven't seen Emma in months, it might even be a whole year before I see her again. But I don't think I could ever stop worrying about my little sister." He commented nonchalantly.

"Jacob…" Audrey began.

"I may not be back for a couple of weeks, I've got exams to sit for and a great deal of studying." Jacob explained hurriedly. "You'll write?"

"Yes." Audrey nodded. Jacob gave her one of his brilliant smiles, before ducking down to give her a chaste kiss on the top her gloved hand.