Thomas Longfellow sat at his desk, a grand wood monstrosity that he found a bit ostentatious even by his grandfather's standards. But he had loved the desk when he was a boy and now it was his to master. A forgotten mug of coffee sat by his right hand, as he ran the edge of his pencil along a ship manifest and compared it to an accounting tally by his left hand. He had half a dozen tasks to do this morning still, inventory records and vendor payments, smoothing over a partnership negotiation some junior partner had mucked up, reviewing plans for a new shipping warehouse acquired in Brooklyn, and the list went on, but Thomas was having trouble concentrating.
The sun was high above the business buildings of lower Manhattan and the clock near his brandy cart chimed softly. These days it felt as if clocks existed to mock him. He had never noticed time so much when he was younger. He glared at the numbers on the accounting sheets.
He didn't hear her approach or even enter his office but he sensed her presence the moment she leaned into his doorframe. A tilt to her body that was much more reminiscent of a newsboy or two than a young society lady.
"How novel, you can do as you are told." Thomas' voice sounded impatient and grating even to his own ears. He sounded like his own father had a decade ago when he had been closer to her age.
"Your request was particularly forceful." Miss Audrey pursued her lips with distaste, just enough annoyance to hide the tiny bit of trepidation? Joy? Thomas couldn't decipher what was hiding in her gaze.
The young lady reached somewhere behind her and pulled the baby carriage into the office with her as she pulled the door closed. Thomas controlled the urge to press his thumbs into his temples and pray for patience. From the silence he knew the baby was sleeping, making it impossible to raise his voice.
"By the heavens Audrey, if you gave Nanny the slip and have sent the poor women into a tizzy…" Thomas began.
"Nanny is sitting out beyond with your junior associate, Rupert? I told her to take the afternoon off and let me take Will for an afternoon to visit you. She refused, so it seems I have a nanny now too."
Thomas hoped Casey would not be home in time to find her infant and nanny missing. He wasn't sure his wife had any patience left for their wayward ward these days.
"The business district is not the place for a baby. And maybe that would be the best way to have you mind, a nanny." He sighed.
"Nonsense," Audrey snaps before smiling and continuing "The bustle has helped him fall asleep." Audrey coos down into the black carriage.
Thomas leans back in his office chair, knowing without a doubt his ward brought his child to hide behind. He watches as Audrey begins tinkering around his office, a place she had never been before. Her fingers dance over the glass decanter of brandy, hesitating barely enough to indicate she had debated and dismissed asking for a taste.
Audrey Kai was standing tall, confident, and well, excited even. Thomas noticed how she floated about the room almost elegantly, noting she was whole and healthy. It had been days since the man had seen his ward. She had accepted invitations to different events all week, not an uncharacteristic behavior until paired with her lack of presence at events with the Longfellow couple and her late nights. Thomas had noticed her arrival just before first light this morning and had scratched out his invitation to lunch before heading to work.
"I didn't realize what a favor Jacob had been rendering me." Thomas lamented.
Audrey's brown eyes snapped to his face, her cheeks rounding into her lower lashes as she squinted at him. She always had a quick temper.
"He does aim to please." She replies lightly but her expression doesn't change, as she waits for the rest of his thought.
"He always escorted you to the door after your events. Didn't leave you to your own devices." Thomas ventured.
"I am able to find my own way home, sir, I promise." She mocks him with the sir, tests the air to see what he knows if he's angry.
"You expect me," Thomas stands now. "To believe you were at that dinner party last night into just before dawn?"
"There were dinner parties with Jacob where I returned just before dawn." Audrey volleys back at him.
Thomas nods, he knows this, but he also knows other things. He had been a bird at her age, he knew of space between obligations and danger. A slip among appearances and adventures.
"Do you have something to tell me, Miss Audrey?" Thomas tries, crossing his arms expectantly. A dull memory stirs in his mind and he reminds himself of his own father yet again.
"Have you heard something to be told?" Audrey prods again.
"Every night this week you've arrived near first light, and I believe you've lost a gown or two, which is a curious problem you blamed on the wash I heard. Must I remind certain men of the rules of engagement?"
"The rules are I must come home." Audrey stubbornly argues.
"The rules are more extensive than that, Christopher enumerated them to you enough times that you should be able to recite them." The threat of Critter is clear, though Thomas isn't sure he wants to involve the man.
"Crit gets bored hearing about suitors and dinners." Audrey smiles. It's the smile that sets Thomas on edge. He knows, the way his own father must have known all those years ago, that the girl is up to something.
"Audrey, you are not to be putting yourself in danger. If I find you are doing something reckless, it will be the end of the arrangement."
"You did reckless things," Audrey whispers.
"But you," Thomas steps out from behind his desk and points at her sternly. "Will not be doing such."
"It's just been late dinners, Crick." She sighs. He wants to believe her, but he doesn't, and not just because Conlon has been pestering him about her for weeks.
Audrey has become an excellent bird. Unencumbered with her gossiped escort, she's become even better. Critter and Jasper praise her good work and the young lady has buried herself in being. He remembers the intoxicating nature of being the whispers, finding the unfound, existing everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
"How much longer Miss Audrey?" He demands, waving away her lie. Accepting and unaccepting because he is still a bird.
"Just a few more nights," Audrey whispers. He nods, acknowledging her concession. Thomas trusts Jasper or Critter to keep her in line. If she's in something, they will know. They always know. All the birds report to them.
"It's nothing scandalous?" He presses a knuckle under her chin. He is asking if it's dangerous. He is always asking if it's dangerous.
"Not anything to worry about." She lifts a hand and pats the wrist holding her chin up. Then she smiles, that charmingly little grin she's had since she was a baby. And that's when Thomas knows it is dangerous, it is reckless, it is everything it should not be. But Audrey has become an excellent bird and birds, as he knew, did nothing but dangerously reckless things.