Girls' Night In
Roy had no idea how eagerly his "sisters" waited for each new batch of letters to come.
Once everyone had gotten her chance to read each letter, and they had gossiped and giggled over every phrase, Chris quietly claimed it and bore it away to her own private office to join the others, leaving the younger women to work on their replies. Both she and Grumman were confident that the girls remained unaware of the real purpose behind the weekly correspondence. And if any one of them suspected, she wisely kept it to herself.
So once a week, Grumman sidled into the bar and ordered his whiskey neat. He knew Chris had been watching him more intently than usual, and she knew that he knew it. But neither of them said a word when she casually left the small packets, neatly tied with ribbon, next to his empty glass along with his change. Grumman only smiled elusively and slipped away as silently as he'd arrived.
Responding to Roy's letters became something of a weekly ritual for Madame's girls. They'd gather at Sophie's small apartment, as she was the only one with a proper writing desk, shouting out questions and advice and words of encouragement to be passed along to their "little brother," while Elinor scribbled furiously and laughingly told them to slow down and speak one at a time. Elinor had won the honor of being Roy's primary correspondent by popular vote, as she had the best penmanship.
As each page was filled, Elinor passed it to Violet, who drew funny pictures in the margins while Lucy giggled over her shoulder. Ada and Claire often ended up in an argument over the wisdom of sending Roy books to alleviate his boredom (But Claire, he should be studying! Isn't that why he's there? / Oh come off it, Ada! Roy can't study ALL the time; he's got to take a break every now and then!) But all eight of them managed to agree that Juliet should send him a care package of her fabulous shortbread cookies. (Although the first batch she attempted was promptly devoured by her co-conspirators…for the sake of quality assurance, of course. It wouldn't do to send their beloved little brother cookies that were sub-par, would it?)
And so, upon the receipt of their third "weekly" packet, the girls descended on Sophie's little townhome and made themselves comfortable in the living area with wine, tea, and Juliet's cookies.
"She sounds like a bit of an introvert," Claire said, skimming over the letters again for reference. "It's not just shyness; she seems perfectly fine talking to him when she wants to."
"And why wouldn't she want to?" countered Ada, who was sitting on the floor and resting her head against Claire's knees. "Even if she doesn't know him very well, he's smart and handsome and charming! And sweet, and funny, and-"
"Yes, of course, Ada; paragon of virtue and all that," Claire interrupted, with an absentminded pat of Ada's blonde curls. "But she has no way to know that when all he's done is ambush her and ramble on about cleaning supplies and cooking breakfast and what not. Elinor, remind him to ask her about her interests, for pity's sake. Maybe she'll warm up to him if he stops acting like an awkward teenager who's never talked to a girl before."
"And what is that all about?" Elinor laughed as the pen flew over the paper before her. "It's so unlike him!"
"It's probably the first time a girl hasn't fallen at his feet the moment he smiles at her," Juliet answered from her perch on Sophie's kitchen counter.
"Our little heartbreaker," Ada murmured affectionately.
"However unintentionally, young Miss Hawkeye is playing hard to get," Juliet continued, reaching for another cookie. "Which only makes him more curious about her, and more determined to win her over."
"Remember what Madame said?" Lucy piped up cheerily from beside Claire. "About how Master Hawkeye goes through students so fast? Miss Hawkeye probably doesn't have much chance to get to know them well because they're never there long enough. I mean, friendships take some time to build, right? So, the harder Roy studies, the longer he'll be able to stay. And the longer he's there, the more she'll get used to him, and the more she gets used to him, the more likely they are to become friends!"
"He'll grow on her, you mean," Sophie said, a mischievous sparkle in her blue-green eyes. "Just like a fungus." The others erupted in giggles, and Sophie had to duck to avoid the throw pillow that Lucy aimed at her head.
"Oh, you know what I mean!" Lucy said, but she was giggling with the rest.
"It does make sense," Violet agreed as she opened another bottle of wine. "If the town is as small as Roy says, and the girl doesn't go to the local school with all of her neighbors' children, then she probably doesn't really interact with kids her own age. And I'm sure not all of her father's students have been young. So she may not know how to act around him."
"And Roy's not exactly the retiring type," Sophie chimed in again, tossing her red-gold hair and pushing her wine glass towards Violet, who took the hint and refilled it. "He's probably going stir-crazy in that little backwater farming town. He's bound to overwhelm her with the force of his personality, if she's the only one around for him to talk to."
"There's something else going on here," Veronica said softly from Claire's other side. She'd gently taken the letters from Claire's hands a moment before. The others all turned to her with questioning looks. "There's more to this….see how he says she seems scared of him, in the kitchen? And how she doesn't know how to react to a compliment, when he's just trying to be nice…I know it was an awkward attempt on his part, but still."
"What are you thinking, Vee?" Juliet prompted, leaning forward a little. She had an idea of where Veronica was going.
"I bet some of those other students were horrible to her," Veronica said, looking up at last. "So now she just avoids them all, as best she can."
"Oh! You mean you think she's been picked on?" Lucy cried, distressed.
"Maybe," Veronica replied, blue eyes hard and angry. "Seems likely, though, doesn't it? Why else would she be scared of Roy? That kid's a pussycat."
"You don't think…I mean, there's her father, too," Violet said. "You don't think he could've-?" But Veronica was shaking her head.
"Doubtful. She doesn't avoid him, but she'll only go into a room where Roy is if her father is already there too. Remember his first few letters? The very first night, when she asks him about meals only after her father is there? And then that other letter, where he talks about how she brings her father tea in the study sometimes when they're both in there, but that he hardly sees her otherwise?"
"Oh, the poor little darling," Lucy whispered.
"Do you think—her father might've added to his bad reputation simply because he's thrown out students he could've kept on? Ones that were bullying her, I mean?" Juliet asked, frowning.
"Why else would he get rid of a steady source of income?" Veronica replied with an arched brow.
"Sure, because even an idiot who was hopeless at alchemy could be kept on and milked for the income he provided, at least to a point," Sophie agreed. "So they did something to piss him off, else he wouldn't have sent them away quite so soon. I think you've hit it, Vee."
"Do you think we should say something?" Ada asked, looking up at Elinor, who had long since stopped writing and was listening quietly.
"To Roy?" she asked. Ada nodded. After a moment, Elinor shook her head. "It wouldn't change anything, really."
"He should've noticed it by now, anyway," Claire added. "I know he's just a kid, but he's not a complete moron."
"Well, not all the time," Sophie said, grinning. "But I agree. At the very least, he's already noticed that she's not the most trusting person, and he's bound to wonder why that is. Start picking up the clues."
"Right," Violet agreed. "And even if he doesn't quite get it, don't you think he should just keep on being himself? Let her see with her own eyes that he's not the kind of boy to tease her or play mean pranks on her or whatever those others did?" The others were nodding.
"After all, it's only been a few weeks," Lucy chirped, brightening again. "She just needs more time to get to know him. She'll see what a dear he is, I'm sure of it!"
"Right you are, Lu," Claire said fondly, wrapping an arm around the younger girl, as the others smiled at her optimism.
"That's that, then," Elinor said, serenely taking up her pen again. "All right, where was I? What came after, 'Do remember that your teacher's specialty is flame alchemy, darling…'"
"Let's see…how about this? 'So no hanky-panky with the teacher's daughter under that charming little honeysuckle arbor of yours,'" Sophie dictated.
"'Unless you'd like to end your alchemy training with nothing more to show than a few second-degree burns on your bum,'" Veronica finished.
"Oh, that will embarrass him!" protested the tender-hearted Lucy.
"That's the idea, dearest," Claire said, gently tugging one of her golden locks. "But don't you worry. Our boy can take a little teasing."
"Now! Can we please talk about how adorable it is that Roy doesn't even see what a monster crush he has on this girl?" Ada asked.
"'She's cute when she smiles like that; I wish she'd smile more often?'" Lucy and Juliet quoted in unison. The other girls exploded into giggles and squeals.
"Oh, it's a pity they're so young, yet!" Violet lamented. "We could be asking him when the big day will be, and whether we'll get to be bridesmaids, and all! But she's just a baby, yet, not even legal for what, four, five years?"
"I do hope we get to meet her, one day!" Lucy said, clapping her hands together. "Wouldn't it be lovely if they became really close friends, and he brought her around for holidays and then when they got older they fell in love and got married and-"
"All right, all right," Claire laughed, "You're putting the cart before the horse! It'd be nice if they could have a conversation that didn't end in her running away, to start with."
"Right! So, Elinor, tell him to quit spooking the poor kid. Treat her like she's a skittish baby deer. Be quiet, be calm, and let her come to him!" Sophie advised, still laughing.
"And be diligent in his studies! Or old man Hawkeye will chuck him out and all our wisdom will go to waste!" Juliet cried.
Elinor's pen dashed back and forth across the page, recording everything she heard. She smiled to herself, knowing that Roy's ears would burn bright red upon reading this letter, even as Veronica added:
"Dammit, I knew we should have given him kissing tips before he left! How can you explain that in writing?"
A.N. Chris's girls have been patiently waiting to have their say for AGES now :) They've been breathing down my neck for weeks, so it's nice to finally get them off my back. Though this probably won't be the last we hear from them-they were a lot of fun to write!
And yes, Roy's mystery thriller from last chapter was The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. Great read for a rainy day (or several-like Dickens, the man was paid by the word, and it shows!) Cheers to 'danslaperspectiv' for guessing correctly! And also, thank you very much for the review, since I am unable to respond to you individually! :D
*Fun fact: If you look very, very, VERY carefully, the names I've chosen for Chris's girls might seem familiar, but only if you are as big a book worm and nerd as I am-each of them, with the exception of one, has her name based on a favorite fictional character of mine. Yes, I have a lot of favorites. No, they are not all from books. When I write from their POV again (somewhere down the line) I will tell you who they are and to whom the original belongs.
And so ends the longest Author's Note ever...thanks for reading, everyone!
xoxo Janie