Peach 5
Title: Family Gossip
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution (Divide & Rule)
Flavor(s): Peach #5 (live and let live)
Toppings/Extras: Rainbow Sprinkles
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2643
Notes: June 1949; Nancy Long, Isabel Andrews, Daisy Long, Amy Long, Anne Long, Ted Long, Edward Iveson. (I realised I’d never written about how the Longs reacted to Edward’s sudden marriage, and then just had to do it.)
Summary: Edward has some unexpected news for the rest of the family.
***
“Nancy,” said Edward on the other end of the telephone. “I wanted to let you know before I told the others, but I’m engaged.”
“As what?” Nancy said and only then, at his silence, realised what he meant. “Congratulations, I should say!”
Edward gave a cough. “And that weekend I arranged in Kent - that was why I wanted us all to be there. We’re getting married on that Saturday.”
“Is this an undercover operation?” said Nancy, beginning to realise exactly why he was telling her this over the phone instead of in person. The coward. “Should you be mentioning it on an open line?”
“There’s no need to be flippant. It isn’t a joke.”
“Well, if you want me to take you seriously, you shouldn’t ring up and tell me you’ve already invited me to your wedding by stealth. Especially when it’s in two weeks and I don’t have a clue who you’re marrying!”
Edward sounded shifty now. Nancy wished again that she could get her hands on him. “Yes, well, I am sorry about that. I’ll explain when I see you. And her name’s Julia - Julia Graves - Hanne Graves’s daughter. You remember Hanne?”
Nancy did recall Hanne and if she stopped and dredged through her memory, she could also picture a six year old with fair pigtails and a cheerful disposition. A brief calculation informed her that, impossible as it might seem, that must have been at least twenty years ago.
“Yes, I do remember Hanne,” she said, “but I don’t understand the rest of it. Is she on the run, or are you? I assume one of you must have committed a crime to warrant this kind of secrecy and haste.”
There was another slight pause, and Nancy thought she had probably irritated him, but that was his fault for being ridiculous and expecting her to behave as if he was being reasonable.
“Would you believe I was getting rather superstitious?” said Edward. “Considering what happened last time.”
It was a plausible explanation, but Nancy had a suspicion that was all it was. He hadn’t said it was the case, avoiding both the truth and lying to her - they simply didn’t lie to each other. “Well,” said Nancy, “congratulations again - and believe me, I am looking forward to hearing your explanation.”
“Isabel,” Nancy said, as soon as she’d put the telephone down, forgetting that she had been warned not to interrupt her until she had her last chapter written. “Edward’s getting married!”
Isabel looked up, only slowly emerging from her fictional kingdom. “Oh, is he? Your cousin? Who to?” She paused, and then conscientiously corrected herself: “To whom, I mean.”
Nancy folded her arms, leaning back against the door. “To the daughter of an old family friend that, as far as I knew, none of us had seen in donkey’s years. And the date is set for that weekend we’re all going to Mum and Dad’s - the weekend after next.”
“Good heavens,” said Isabel, raising her eyebrows. “I see what you mean. That is unexpected.”
Nancy straightened herself. “Unexpected? I always know when Edward is seeing someone - and it’s hardly like him in any case. Do you know how long it took for him to say anything to Caroline? I’m not sure I didn’t have to ask her out for him!”
“Well, maybe that’s the sort of comment he was trying to avoid,” said Isabel. “And I grant you, it is very odd - but, Nan, please for the love of God can it wait until I’ve found a way to get my pair here off this wretched little island? I’ve finally had an idea and I mustn’t lose it.”
Nancy bit back frustration. “Oh, yes. Sorry, love. I just - well, I can understand why he telephoned, the rat! I’ve half a mind to go over there and shake him!”
“Yes, do,” said Isabel immediately. “Go at once and take as long as you like!”
Nancy laughed. “Yes, all right. I shall leave you in peace - and Ned, too. It is his business, after all, not mine. It was just a shock. I really do hope he knows what he’s doing. Or,” she added, lines of concern forming on her forehead, “what it is she’s doing.”
“Of course I’m very pleased to hear it,” said Anne Long to her husband Ted, on being told the news. “He ought to have remarried years ago, but I suppose - well, the war complicated a lot of things.”
Ted pushed his chair back from the kitchen table and carried his cup and saucer over to the sink. “I sense a ‘but’ there.”
“Well, it is odd,” said Anne. She refused to elaborate further, since nobody else needed to know that she’d spoken to Edward about this very subject only two or three months ago. He had said that Mr Morley and Mr Harding kept telling him it would be better for his prospective political career if he was married, and she had offered to invite him more often to any gathering she might host, if she’d invited somebody suitable. If he had already been seeing someone, then why on earth had he agreed? And if he hadn’t been, then how could he possibly be getting married so soon?
Ted shrugged. “It’s his business, you know. It’s not as if he needed to even tell us, if he’d wanted. Anyway, I thought you’d liked the girl’s mother.”
“Oh, yes. Very much,” Anne said, gathering up the ironing, still a little distracted by her reasoning. “I shall be so glad to see Julia again. But it is very odd, and even you can’t pretend it isn’t.”
He headed for the door. “Well, make sure you keep that thought to yourself when they’re here.”
“You know I would never be so insensitive,” said Anne. “It’s only that I do wonder - well, if it’s some sort of arrangement, rather than a love match and I don’t like the thought of that. Not for Ned.”
Ted disappeared out of the door and left her to worry about it alone.
Amy Long arrived at Edward’s with a box full of odds and ends. When Edward answered the door, she handed it over and followed him in as he looked about for somewhere to put it. “Hello,” she said. “It’s for you - and there’s another in the car, but it’s a bit heavier, so maybe you could go and fetch it in.”
“What is all this?” said Edward, dumping it on the sofa in the living room. He poked around inside it and pulled out an angular vase, studying it in bemusement. “Did I miss a message from you?”
Amy paused and thought for a moment. “Oh, dear - did I not say that bit on the telephone? I thought I had. Look, go and fetch the other and I’ll explain.”
Edward disappeared and Amy walked to the window to watch his progress, glancing about the house. Edward had rented it out for years and she’d been quite young last time she was here. She frowned, trying to remember when and why that would have been, and failed.
“I thought that car had had it,” said Edward, returning and putting down the larger box beside the other.
Amy turned. “Dad had a go at it and coaxed it back to life. You know he’s always been fond of the old thing.”
“Well, but be careful getting back again, won’t you?” said Edward. “And now, dare I ask, what is all this in aid of? Are you volunteering me to host a jumble sale?”
Amy laughed. “Don’t be silly. I just thought that there must be a whole lot of things you won’t have yet, and of course you couldn’t buy them right now because Julia will want to choose her own, and there will be wedding gifts - so I brought this lot up. Anything you don’t want, just donate it to somebody, or let me know, and I will.”
“Wedding presents?” said Edward, as if she’d talked of something much more alarming. “Good God, no! I’m not expecting anything - tell everyone not to bother.”
“People will,” said Amy. “You can’t stop them. Best to ask for some things that would be particularly useful. With the short notice and the small number of guests, it shouldn’t be too terrible for you.”
Edward shook his head. “No, no. I don’t want anything! I think there are things from last time up in the attic, and I don’t see -”
That got Amy’s attention. She straightened instantly and didn’t wait for him to finish. “Ned! You don’t mean that, do you?”
“Well, of course I do. The whole point of keeping this quiet is to avoid all that kind of fuss and nonsense.”
Amy fixed him with a stern look, as he was clearly missing the point. “Ned. You haven’t really still got wedding presents in the attic, have you?”
He hesitated, and then gave a nod. “Just a box with a few odd things. Most of it I either gave to Caroline when she left - the things from her people, or that she had chosen - and the rest I let go with the house, but there were some things we put up there at the start to save for later - a tea set, I think, and a table cloth and some other bits and pieces. I never really thought about it again.”
“Then either get them down and put them in with the rest of your things, or let me take them!” said Amy. “Honestly, Ned! Even I would find that odd. What would you say to Julia when she found them?”
“There wouldn’t be any reason for her to be up there.”
“Of course there would,” said Amy. “It will be her house, too - why on earth wouldn’t she go in the attic sometimes? Now, take me up there and let’s have a look. Otherwise it’d all end up being like something out of a terrible gothic novel, and you don’t want that. It’s not even as if you live in a castle.”
Edward unbent a little and laughed. “I don’t think it’d be as bad as all that, but, yes, please, do take them, if they’re there. I certainly don’t want them.”
“If it’s a nice tea set,” said Amy, “I could give it to the vicar’s wife to raffle for the Children’s Fund. She’d be thrilled. She was complaining the other day that she didn’t have anything worth the price of entry.”
Edward grinned, “Oh, well, that’s all right then, isn’t it?”
As they made their way upstairs to the top floor, Amy took the opportunity to ask, “What’s she like? Your fiancée - Julia? Nice, I hope.”
Edward smiled. “Oh, very nice, but I’m probably biased.”
“Pretty?” said Amy, and wished she’d not asked when she was two steps behind him, so that she could have seen his face.
“Yes. I think so, anyway - but it’s an inadequate way to describe her,” he said. “You’ll see when you meet her.”
Amy caught up with him as he waited for her on the landing and put her hand on his arm. “Never mind the others. They’re only worried, you know, because of last time - but that’s nonsense. Father still asks me if I know the way when I drive into town because of that time I got lost. And that was once, ten years ago! Ignore them all, I should. Dad says if you’re not old enough to know your own business by now there’s no hope for you.”
“Thank you,” said Edward. “Although I don’t think I can quite ignore everyone yet - first I have to see Aunt Daisy.”
Daisy Long refrained from saying anything until she’d supplied Edward with tea and hunted out a tin of shortbread. It wasn’t her business what Edward did, of course, but since he’d clearly come to tell her about it, she would admit to being curious - and, yes, a little less hurt at his odd secrecy over the issue.
“So,” she said, settling herself down in the narrow, upright armchair. “What is all this about?”
Edward concentrated on the shortbread. “Where exactly did you find this, and how old is it?”
“If you don’t want it you needn’t eat it,” said Aunt Daisy, dealing with that diversionary tactic in exactly the manner it deserved. “I take it you’ve come to tell me about this tale about getting married in two weeks? What has got into you?”
Edward glanced up, his expression carefully bland. She knew that look well. “It’s all very simple. I’ve met someone I want to marry, and I’m going to marry her.”
“Well, if that was all you had to say, you needn’t have bothered coming down here.” Daisy paused. “Not that I’m not always pleased to see you, of course.”
Edward gave a slight, guilty grin. “Yes, true.”
“Did you get the girl pregnant?”
Edward choked on his shortbread, and then shot her a reproachful glance. “No, I didn’t. Honestly! Nancy asked that, too.”
“Well, if you get married in an indecent haste, what do you expect people to think?”
Edward leant back in the chair. “Frankly, I’m beginning to wish I’d got on and eloped instead.”
“Listen,” said Aunt Daisy. “You’re more than old enough to sort your own affairs by now - or if you aren’t, there’s no hope for you! I merely think a sensible explanation of some sort shouldn’t be too much to ask for.”
Edward held up his hands. “Yes, all right. The truth is that perhaps I haven’t been seeing Julia that long - but it’s not as sudden as it might seem. I met her when I was out in Germany, nearly two years ago. It wasn’t the moment - things didn’t work out - and I never mentioned it, because I thought that was the end of it. I hoped otherwise, and I even told Mother, if you want to know, but I knew it was only wishful thinking. Then I ran into Julia again in Paris and I couldn’t let the chance go by again, or leave her there for long. There’s a lot of unrest over there at the moment and she’s already had enough trouble to deal with. On top of that, she doesn’t exactly have anyone much left - a few distant relatives she can’t stand, from what I gather. So, I didn’t want a big affair with all my relatives, and her side all but empty - even aside from the other issue of my divorce ruling out a church wedding anyway.”
“Why didn’t you say that to the others?”
Edward leant forward again. “So much of it is Julia’s affair, so it’s up to her whether she wants people to know all the details. But you won’t make a fuss, or ask too many questions, I know that.”
“Thank you,” said Aunt Daisy. “And this girl - this Julia -?”
Edward looked up. “None of it is her fault. I need you all to be kind to her - she’s been through too much lately, and I wanted -”
“I should hope none of us would be unkind,” said Aunt Daisy. “That wasn’t what I was asking. It’s only that is if this is some kind of pragmatic arrangement between you two, it’s your business, but that’s something you should both think long and hard about before you do anything irrevocable.”
Edward gave a smile. “Ask Julia that, if you’re worried,” he said. “For me, I’m doing exactly what I want to.”
“Well, in that case,” said Aunt Daisy, “I wish you both very happy. Congratulations, Ned. I must say, it’s well past time, if you ask me.”
And even though it wasn’t her business and she didn’t have any mind to interfere with his affairs, she nevertheless felt highly relieved to hear it.
***
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution (Divide & Rule)
Flavor(s): Peach #5 (live and let live)
Toppings/Extras: Rainbow Sprinkles
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2643
Notes: June 1949; Nancy Long, Isabel Andrews, Daisy Long, Amy Long, Anne Long, Ted Long, Edward Iveson. (I realised I’d never written about how the Longs reacted to Edward’s sudden marriage, and then just had to do it.)
Summary: Edward has some unexpected news for the rest of the family.
***
“Nancy,” said Edward on the other end of the telephone. “I wanted to let you know before I told the others, but I’m engaged.”
“As what?” Nancy said and only then, at his silence, realised what he meant. “Congratulations, I should say!”
Edward gave a cough. “And that weekend I arranged in Kent - that was why I wanted us all to be there. We’re getting married on that Saturday.”
“Is this an undercover operation?” said Nancy, beginning to realise exactly why he was telling her this over the phone instead of in person. The coward. “Should you be mentioning it on an open line?”
“There’s no need to be flippant. It isn’t a joke.”
“Well, if you want me to take you seriously, you shouldn’t ring up and tell me you’ve already invited me to your wedding by stealth. Especially when it’s in two weeks and I don’t have a clue who you’re marrying!”
Edward sounded shifty now. Nancy wished again that she could get her hands on him. “Yes, well, I am sorry about that. I’ll explain when I see you. And her name’s Julia - Julia Graves - Hanne Graves’s daughter. You remember Hanne?”
Nancy did recall Hanne and if she stopped and dredged through her memory, she could also picture a six year old with fair pigtails and a cheerful disposition. A brief calculation informed her that, impossible as it might seem, that must have been at least twenty years ago.
“Yes, I do remember Hanne,” she said, “but I don’t understand the rest of it. Is she on the run, or are you? I assume one of you must have committed a crime to warrant this kind of secrecy and haste.”
There was another slight pause, and Nancy thought she had probably irritated him, but that was his fault for being ridiculous and expecting her to behave as if he was being reasonable.
“Would you believe I was getting rather superstitious?” said Edward. “Considering what happened last time.”
It was a plausible explanation, but Nancy had a suspicion that was all it was. He hadn’t said it was the case, avoiding both the truth and lying to her - they simply didn’t lie to each other. “Well,” said Nancy, “congratulations again - and believe me, I am looking forward to hearing your explanation.”
“Isabel,” Nancy said, as soon as she’d put the telephone down, forgetting that she had been warned not to interrupt her until she had her last chapter written. “Edward’s getting married!”
Isabel looked up, only slowly emerging from her fictional kingdom. “Oh, is he? Your cousin? Who to?” She paused, and then conscientiously corrected herself: “To whom, I mean.”
Nancy folded her arms, leaning back against the door. “To the daughter of an old family friend that, as far as I knew, none of us had seen in donkey’s years. And the date is set for that weekend we’re all going to Mum and Dad’s - the weekend after next.”
“Good heavens,” said Isabel, raising her eyebrows. “I see what you mean. That is unexpected.”
Nancy straightened herself. “Unexpected? I always know when Edward is seeing someone - and it’s hardly like him in any case. Do you know how long it took for him to say anything to Caroline? I’m not sure I didn’t have to ask her out for him!”
“Well, maybe that’s the sort of comment he was trying to avoid,” said Isabel. “And I grant you, it is very odd - but, Nan, please for the love of God can it wait until I’ve found a way to get my pair here off this wretched little island? I’ve finally had an idea and I mustn’t lose it.”
Nancy bit back frustration. “Oh, yes. Sorry, love. I just - well, I can understand why he telephoned, the rat! I’ve half a mind to go over there and shake him!”
“Yes, do,” said Isabel immediately. “Go at once and take as long as you like!”
Nancy laughed. “Yes, all right. I shall leave you in peace - and Ned, too. It is his business, after all, not mine. It was just a shock. I really do hope he knows what he’s doing. Or,” she added, lines of concern forming on her forehead, “what it is she’s doing.”
“Of course I’m very pleased to hear it,” said Anne Long to her husband Ted, on being told the news. “He ought to have remarried years ago, but I suppose - well, the war complicated a lot of things.”
Ted pushed his chair back from the kitchen table and carried his cup and saucer over to the sink. “I sense a ‘but’ there.”
“Well, it is odd,” said Anne. She refused to elaborate further, since nobody else needed to know that she’d spoken to Edward about this very subject only two or three months ago. He had said that Mr Morley and Mr Harding kept telling him it would be better for his prospective political career if he was married, and she had offered to invite him more often to any gathering she might host, if she’d invited somebody suitable. If he had already been seeing someone, then why on earth had he agreed? And if he hadn’t been, then how could he possibly be getting married so soon?
Ted shrugged. “It’s his business, you know. It’s not as if he needed to even tell us, if he’d wanted. Anyway, I thought you’d liked the girl’s mother.”
“Oh, yes. Very much,” Anne said, gathering up the ironing, still a little distracted by her reasoning. “I shall be so glad to see Julia again. But it is very odd, and even you can’t pretend it isn’t.”
He headed for the door. “Well, make sure you keep that thought to yourself when they’re here.”
“You know I would never be so insensitive,” said Anne. “It’s only that I do wonder - well, if it’s some sort of arrangement, rather than a love match and I don’t like the thought of that. Not for Ned.”
Ted disappeared out of the door and left her to worry about it alone.
Amy Long arrived at Edward’s with a box full of odds and ends. When Edward answered the door, she handed it over and followed him in as he looked about for somewhere to put it. “Hello,” she said. “It’s for you - and there’s another in the car, but it’s a bit heavier, so maybe you could go and fetch it in.”
“What is all this?” said Edward, dumping it on the sofa in the living room. He poked around inside it and pulled out an angular vase, studying it in bemusement. “Did I miss a message from you?”
Amy paused and thought for a moment. “Oh, dear - did I not say that bit on the telephone? I thought I had. Look, go and fetch the other and I’ll explain.”
Edward disappeared and Amy walked to the window to watch his progress, glancing about the house. Edward had rented it out for years and she’d been quite young last time she was here. She frowned, trying to remember when and why that would have been, and failed.
“I thought that car had had it,” said Edward, returning and putting down the larger box beside the other.
Amy turned. “Dad had a go at it and coaxed it back to life. You know he’s always been fond of the old thing.”
“Well, but be careful getting back again, won’t you?” said Edward. “And now, dare I ask, what is all this in aid of? Are you volunteering me to host a jumble sale?”
Amy laughed. “Don’t be silly. I just thought that there must be a whole lot of things you won’t have yet, and of course you couldn’t buy them right now because Julia will want to choose her own, and there will be wedding gifts - so I brought this lot up. Anything you don’t want, just donate it to somebody, or let me know, and I will.”
“Wedding presents?” said Edward, as if she’d talked of something much more alarming. “Good God, no! I’m not expecting anything - tell everyone not to bother.”
“People will,” said Amy. “You can’t stop them. Best to ask for some things that would be particularly useful. With the short notice and the small number of guests, it shouldn’t be too terrible for you.”
Edward shook his head. “No, no. I don’t want anything! I think there are things from last time up in the attic, and I don’t see -”
That got Amy’s attention. She straightened instantly and didn’t wait for him to finish. “Ned! You don’t mean that, do you?”
“Well, of course I do. The whole point of keeping this quiet is to avoid all that kind of fuss and nonsense.”
Amy fixed him with a stern look, as he was clearly missing the point. “Ned. You haven’t really still got wedding presents in the attic, have you?”
He hesitated, and then gave a nod. “Just a box with a few odd things. Most of it I either gave to Caroline when she left - the things from her people, or that she had chosen - and the rest I let go with the house, but there were some things we put up there at the start to save for later - a tea set, I think, and a table cloth and some other bits and pieces. I never really thought about it again.”
“Then either get them down and put them in with the rest of your things, or let me take them!” said Amy. “Honestly, Ned! Even I would find that odd. What would you say to Julia when she found them?”
“There wouldn’t be any reason for her to be up there.”
“Of course there would,” said Amy. “It will be her house, too - why on earth wouldn’t she go in the attic sometimes? Now, take me up there and let’s have a look. Otherwise it’d all end up being like something out of a terrible gothic novel, and you don’t want that. It’s not even as if you live in a castle.”
Edward unbent a little and laughed. “I don’t think it’d be as bad as all that, but, yes, please, do take them, if they’re there. I certainly don’t want them.”
“If it’s a nice tea set,” said Amy, “I could give it to the vicar’s wife to raffle for the Children’s Fund. She’d be thrilled. She was complaining the other day that she didn’t have anything worth the price of entry.”
Edward grinned, “Oh, well, that’s all right then, isn’t it?”
As they made their way upstairs to the top floor, Amy took the opportunity to ask, “What’s she like? Your fiancée - Julia? Nice, I hope.”
Edward smiled. “Oh, very nice, but I’m probably biased.”
“Pretty?” said Amy, and wished she’d not asked when she was two steps behind him, so that she could have seen his face.
“Yes. I think so, anyway - but it’s an inadequate way to describe her,” he said. “You’ll see when you meet her.”
Amy caught up with him as he waited for her on the landing and put her hand on his arm. “Never mind the others. They’re only worried, you know, because of last time - but that’s nonsense. Father still asks me if I know the way when I drive into town because of that time I got lost. And that was once, ten years ago! Ignore them all, I should. Dad says if you’re not old enough to know your own business by now there’s no hope for you.”
“Thank you,” said Edward. “Although I don’t think I can quite ignore everyone yet - first I have to see Aunt Daisy.”
Daisy Long refrained from saying anything until she’d supplied Edward with tea and hunted out a tin of shortbread. It wasn’t her business what Edward did, of course, but since he’d clearly come to tell her about it, she would admit to being curious - and, yes, a little less hurt at his odd secrecy over the issue.
“So,” she said, settling herself down in the narrow, upright armchair. “What is all this about?”
Edward concentrated on the shortbread. “Where exactly did you find this, and how old is it?”
“If you don’t want it you needn’t eat it,” said Aunt Daisy, dealing with that diversionary tactic in exactly the manner it deserved. “I take it you’ve come to tell me about this tale about getting married in two weeks? What has got into you?”
Edward glanced up, his expression carefully bland. She knew that look well. “It’s all very simple. I’ve met someone I want to marry, and I’m going to marry her.”
“Well, if that was all you had to say, you needn’t have bothered coming down here.” Daisy paused. “Not that I’m not always pleased to see you, of course.”
Edward gave a slight, guilty grin. “Yes, true.”
“Did you get the girl pregnant?”
Edward choked on his shortbread, and then shot her a reproachful glance. “No, I didn’t. Honestly! Nancy asked that, too.”
“Well, if you get married in an indecent haste, what do you expect people to think?”
Edward leant back in the chair. “Frankly, I’m beginning to wish I’d got on and eloped instead.”
“Listen,” said Aunt Daisy. “You’re more than old enough to sort your own affairs by now - or if you aren’t, there’s no hope for you! I merely think a sensible explanation of some sort shouldn’t be too much to ask for.”
Edward held up his hands. “Yes, all right. The truth is that perhaps I haven’t been seeing Julia that long - but it’s not as sudden as it might seem. I met her when I was out in Germany, nearly two years ago. It wasn’t the moment - things didn’t work out - and I never mentioned it, because I thought that was the end of it. I hoped otherwise, and I even told Mother, if you want to know, but I knew it was only wishful thinking. Then I ran into Julia again in Paris and I couldn’t let the chance go by again, or leave her there for long. There’s a lot of unrest over there at the moment and she’s already had enough trouble to deal with. On top of that, she doesn’t exactly have anyone much left - a few distant relatives she can’t stand, from what I gather. So, I didn’t want a big affair with all my relatives, and her side all but empty - even aside from the other issue of my divorce ruling out a church wedding anyway.”
“Why didn’t you say that to the others?”
Edward leant forward again. “So much of it is Julia’s affair, so it’s up to her whether she wants people to know all the details. But you won’t make a fuss, or ask too many questions, I know that.”
“Thank you,” said Aunt Daisy. “And this girl - this Julia -?”
Edward looked up. “None of it is her fault. I need you all to be kind to her - she’s been through too much lately, and I wanted -”
“I should hope none of us would be unkind,” said Aunt Daisy. “That wasn’t what I was asking. It’s only that is if this is some kind of pragmatic arrangement between you two, it’s your business, but that’s something you should both think long and hard about before you do anything irrevocable.”
Edward gave a smile. “Ask Julia that, if you’re worried,” he said. “For me, I’m doing exactly what I want to.”
“Well, in that case,” said Aunt Daisy, “I wish you both very happy. Congratulations, Ned. I must say, it’s well past time, if you ask me.”
And even though it wasn’t her business and she didn’t have any mind to interfere with his affairs, she nevertheless felt highly relieved to hear it.
***