(Chapter Thirty-Four)
Charles' Return
Elizabeth was having tea at the café one afternoon.
"More tea?" she heard a voice say.
"Oh, no thank you, Abigail. I should probably be going," she replied as she pushed back her chair and stood to her feet. "Thank you, Abigail," she said as she walked towards the door.
Abigail nodded and Elizabeth opened the door. She saw the afternoon stage roll I and Charles step out. She was surprised to see Sofia jump out after him. I wonder why she's back. Elizabeth decided to ask.
"Hello, Charles. Sofia."
"Hello, Elizabeth," Charles replied quickly. Sofia greeted Elizabeth with a simple "hello".
"So, Sofia, what are you doing back here?" she voiced her question.
Sofia chuckled softly.
"Well, that's a long story. And we don't have the time right now," Charles spoke before Sofia even had a chance to open her mouth.
"Oh, alright," Elizabeth replied quietly. She thought something strange was going on here, but did not voice any more questions. As Charles said, they did not have time to tell her the answers. "How about you come over for dinner one night to tell us all about it?"
"We'd love to," Sofia answered for them both.
"Alright, how's Tuesday?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. We're busy that night," Charles was quick to decline the offer. As he uttered the words, he looked over a Sofia, smiled, and squeezed her hand.
Elizabeth pretended not to notice. "Alright, then how about Thursday?"
"Sounds great!" Sofia enthused and Charles agreed.
"Perfect, then we'll see you around 6?"
"Oh, can we make that a bit later. We have plans at 5:30. So maybe 7?" Charles voiced it this time.
"Perfect," Elizabeth answered again. "We'll see you at 7 on Thursday."
They bid each other a good day and parted ways.