Beth got off the train and saw Edmund waiting for her at the bench. With a rush of excitement and trepidation, she went to him. He stood with his hands in his coat pockets, smiling openly.

"You came," she said happily.

"I said I would." He said as if she shouldn't have expected anything else. She felt like shivering with the combination of nerves and excitement for what was happening. "I thought you might have forgotten me . . ."

"No." He said simply, still smiling. He was looking at her comfortably, no longer the shy nervous boy from their last parting. He continued, revealing butterflies beneath the smooth exterior. "I was nervous, I didn't know if you had been serious . . ."

"We are going about this in a strange way." She admitted, biting her lip.

"But I like it." Edmund assured, adding, "I've seen stranger things happen."

"Really?" Beth asked, intrigued by his tone. He grinned. "Shall we trade stories over tea?"

"Yes, let's, I want to learn all about you."

Edmund's smile revealed his pleasure at those words. He too wanted to learn all about the strange girl who had entered his life. They walked to a café and ordered drinks. Beth started. "I told my family all about the noble gentleman who had saved me from a mugging. My parents are eternally grateful."

Edmund laughed a bit in embarrassment. "It was nothing."

"I told them you said that too and now I think my mother is quite taken with you." She laughed and he couldn't help joining in.

"Did you tell them you were meeting me here?" He asked. Her sheepish smile relieved him. He smiled. "I haven't told my family either. They think I am at the bookstore."

"Even Lucy?" Beth asked, impressing Edmund that she remembered his sister's name. He grinned. "I wouldn't doubt she's figured it out. She spotted us talking that day."

"Ah, do you think she'll tell everyone else what you're up too?"

"No, Lucy would never do something like that. She's special like that." he said fondly. Beth smiled and sipped her tea. "She sounds like an extraordinary girl."

"She is very much. Peter and I like her better than our other sister, Susan."

"That's a terrible thing to say!" Beth said, though she didn't sound like she was scolding. He laughed and shook his head. "Maybe, but if you knew her. . . Su's forgotten everything that's important. All she cares about now is being an 'adult', fashion, and rich suitors."

"Oh!" Beth said, putting a hand to her heart and empathizing with his disgust. "Trust me, I know sisters like that, I have sisters like that!"

"Really? How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"I have only three sisters."

"No brothers, eh?"

"None, and the oldest, Karen and Samantha, all they care about right now is a boy named John that they have been fighting over for the last year. They barely listened to my story about you. Annie, though, she's my favorite."

"Older or younger?"

"Younger. And she said I should have chucked the trip and spent the time with you."

"I like her already."

And so went their first date, then the second, and a third. They went to bookstores and picture-shows. Beth dragged him into a ribbon shop on their fifth date. "Just for a bit, Ed. I want to pick out a gift for Lucy."

"You don't have to buy her a present to get her to like you." He said. The other Pevensies had learned of Beth the week earlier, when Peter and Lucy had put their minds together and figured out that he wasn't in the library. Edmund had stayed up all that night telling Peter about her.

"Wow, Ed," Peter had said with bright eyes and a teasing grin. "Sounds like you're in love!"

Edmund hadn't thrown a shoe at him like when he was twelve, the last time Peter had suggested that he was in love. This time he had sighed and said, much to his older brother's bewilderment, "I think I am, Pete. You have to meet her!"

Lucy, of course, had been thrilled for her brother, and boasted to the others that she had seen Beth at the train station. Susan had smiled and said nice things, for once thinking of something other than shoes. A meeting had been arranged for the next weekend without much say on Edmund's behalf. Fortunately, Beth was optimistic about meeting the names she heard so often. After their traditional tea and tour of town, Edmund and Beth were to meet up with Peter and Lucy. (Susan had gone to the country with some close friends on the last minute, and had sent her apologies that morning.)

"I know, but I still want to." Beth said to Edmund, rummaging through a box of ribbon on a shelf. "Lucy feels like a sister to me the way you talk about her, and I always get Annie a ribbon."

Hearing Beth call his sister a sister secretly thrilled him, but Edmund rolled his eyes, smiled, and kissed her hand. "I think her favorite color is blue."

Beth grinned and set to searching. He watched her face change every time she found a prettier ribbon. He was smiling because he couldn't help it. Beth felt his eyes on her, but pretended she didn't notice as she surveyed every shade of blue she came across. He sped the process up by literally tossing the rejected shades to the back of the bin and judging several on his own. They got into a silent battle over this until Beth surrendered and trusted his judgment.

"I want to ask you something." He said as he laughed over his triumph. "Give me you hand?"

Beth froze in shock and double-looked him. Then she realized that he was literally asking for her hand, and not for marriage. He had his own extended between them, a golden ribbon ready to tie. She presented her wrist with hardly a noticeable hesitation, trying to breathe normally and get her heart rate down again. Edmund had continued, bringing up the real question he intended to ask. "My mum figured out about us and now she wants you and your parents to come around for dinner. Do you think that will be okay?"

Beth laughed. "Yes, that would be great." She said as he tied the ribbon in a neat bow.

"There, what do you think?"

"I love it."

"If I bought it for you would you wear it every time I saw you?" He asked. Suddenly Beth wasn't so sure if he had been only asking for her arm earlier. The look in his eyes held her in place and made her forget what she was going to say. She managed to break eye contact and remembered the ribbon. She touched it. It was warm from his fingers. She nodded. "Would you tie it onto my wrist everyday?"

"I could." He said thickly. Both knew what the ribbon represented now. They were toeing the edge of a big leap, so big that neither of them could see the other side. They were terrified, but sure at the same time.

Beth giggled at his answer. Edmund grinned and purchased the ribbon. Beth found a beautiful sky blue lace ribbon that suited Lucy. The atmosphere of the day returned, only this time with more happiness and deeper understanding than before. Beth couldn't wait to get home and tell Anne all about it.

"Where to next?" Edmund asked as they stepped onto the sidewalk. He offered her an arm. Beth took it and hugged close to him. It felt so natural neither noticed it was the most contact they had ever had. Beth was avoiding stepping on the dividing cracks. "Well, we still have an hour before we meet up with Peter and Lucy, and since I made you go into a girl's shop, it's only fair that we go to a boy's shop next."

He laughed and squeezed her arm under his. "Thank you, love, but boys don't have shops because we don't shop when we can help it."

Beth flushed. He had never called her that before. Edmund realized what sentiment he had let slip but felt no need to take it back. The next thing Beth knew, he had swept her up in both arms and they were dancing down the sidewalk. They spun past the shop windows in a two-step waltz that she wasn't familiar with, but he led with such surety that she soon learned the simple steps. She laughed aloud in pure joy. "I can't believe we are just dancing down the street!"

"Would you rather do something else?"

"No! I never want to do anything else." She admitted. People were starring, but she didn't care. She felt like she was in an elegant gown, and he was looking at her like she was the belle of the ball. He held her in a secure dance frame that made her wonder, "Have you taken dance lessons?"

"Yes," He said with a mysterious smile that she had come to recognize. Beth raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so you learned as Sir Edmund?"

"Of course, knights must learn to dance. It instills grace and rhythm needed in sword craft."

Beth laughed. "That's right! Is it possible you've read as many stories as I have?"

He shrugged evasively. "It's how I spent my childhood."

"And now you've moved on to detective novels?" Beth asked, watching his reaction. Edmund didn't say anything. He met her eyes and looked away. She sighed and stopped the dancing. "You will tell me one day, won't you? Whatever it is you aren't saying now?"

He stopped pretending to be confused about what she was talking about, gulped and then nodded. "One day I will. I promise."