All Too Handsome
Chapter Eleven
Catherine had asked what they were doing and she had looked at their writing before they had even got a chance to answer. She had not considered it at all interesting and she had quickly left them again. The only person who had come in after that had been Mrs Graham, to urge them to sit with her for half an hour. They had complied and were sitting with her in her sitting room downstairs.
A servant brought in some fruit and bread. "I had not realised I was so hungry!" Julia exclaimed when she saw the food.
"It is not good to be so shut up as you two were," said her mother. "Probably a full two hours."
"Is that long?" Henry asked uncertainly.
Mrs Graham nodded. "Young people need to eat. You also need some fresh air. After eating you will take a walk -- at least half an hour -- and then you may return to the library."
"Mama!" Julia protested. "When we worked on the shirts we never went out for a walk either."
"We moved about. We did not sit on the same chair for two hours. You will take a walk." She did not say so very sternly at all, but there was no mistaking her authority.
"Yes, Mama." She did not dare to look at Henry. He might not like that she yielded so easily to her mother. He might prefer to work on.
"What will you do with your book once it is finished?" Mrs Graham wondered. "I suppose you will have it printed if you speak of it as a book and not a loose collection of sheets."
"I shall find out how that is to be done," Henry answered. "I can afford it, even if nobody will want to buy it."
"I cannot imagine you would lock yourselves up in the library to work on something completely boring. My knowledge of Julia forbids it. No, I am sure it will be perfectly entertaining. What is it about?"
"It is about the local history and attractions," Julia replied. "I do not know if one could be very entertaining about that. It could only be entertaining to people who are interested."
Mrs Graham had been interested or she had feigned it, but at any rate Henry had been impressed. "Your parents take an interest in what you do and they are very encouraging," he remarked to Julia when they had gone out on their walk and they had walked for a few minutes without speaking.
"I do not call my father very encouraging. He laughs at me," she answered, but she supposed he was right nevertheless.
"But he knows what you are doing and he does not prevent you. Neither does your mother. She even sent us out to walk because that would be good for you. My father does not know what I am doing at all. He is away during the day."
"But does he not ask when he comes home?"
"Rarely."
"I am sorry. I am sure my parents will strike you as very odd then with their interference."
"Not at all," he smiled. "You are fortunate to have such parents." And he could see she had no idea how fortunate she was. It was all so ordinary to her to have parents who displayed an interest.
"Does your sister take an interest in what you do?"
He smiled again. "Too much. I managed to distract her, however, and she does not know we are writing a book. I did not know what she would say to that, so I did not yet tell her. She might laugh."
"But she is very fond of you," Julia said indulgently.
"I suppose so. I am all she has, if you do not count my father. Last night she said she has been worrying what would happen if I married. I had never thought about it before because I have not been considering marriage, but of course this is a much more serious matter to her than to me."
"You would take your marriage seriously, I suppose."
"Yes," Henry said with a blush. He had not phrased that well. "But supposing I choose wisely, I shall not have to worry about living without anybody to keep me company. She will be all alone if I go."
"Why should you not choose wisely?"
"Well, I do not think I shall, but Cassy has a theory about it. She says some women are friendly to men but not to other women. She fears I might be taken in because she thinks I am stupid and she does not want such a sister." He shrugged. He did not think he was stupid. Surely he was capable of seeing through a woman who was insincere?
"She has told me that most of her friends are in fact interested in you and not in her," Julia said helpfully. "But I do not precisely know who her friends are, so I cannot tell you what I think of them. I was surprised, but it does make some sort of wry sense. Girls are always ordered to marry well and you do have a lot of money, so I can imagine many girls would think that marrying well equals marrying money. And if you do not notice them on your own, they would use your sister to be noticed."
"Does marrying well not equal marrying money?" He was interested in hearing her opinion on the matter, since she spoke very disinterestedly. Did she not want to marry well?
"Some money is of course necessary, but no more than is required to live comfortably. The character of the husband matters more."
"And his looks," he could not help saying. The husband's looks must not be too good.
"Oh, does nobody else understand that a character may be influenced by a person's looks?" she exclaimed. "It may make them vain and proud and careless."
That was what he had first thought about her as well, but he could now say he was wrong. She was not vain. A little proud, perhaps, but not of her station in life.
They discussed riding out the day after and settled on a particular village as their destination and as the boundary of their territory. They would have to draw this boundary somewhere and they had agreed to make it around an hour's ride at a lady's pace, if only because they would be gone for far too long if they went further.
For several weeks they spent almost every day writing and riding out. The pile of neatly written sheets was growing steadily thicker. They had taken advantage of the weather and gone out as often as they could before the untrustworthy autumn arrived. Mr and Mrs Graham had both received some comments and inquiries about their daughter's frequent riding trips with Henry Thompson, but they had not told Julia about them and they had certainly not told her what they had answered.
Julia lived in happy unawareness of this gossip -- in a generally happy state, it must be said. She never had to do anything she did not like and she got along so well with Henry now that she was always glad he had come after he had been absent for a day.
But then he came with some bad news. "My father is taking Cassy and me to Italy next week."
"Next week?" Julia cried.
"Yes." He looked gloomy. "Apparently he had been planning it for a while to surprise us and although I have always wanted to go I think it is unfair to you to go at such short notice."
"But that is not your fault," she said automatically. "Next week!"
"We leave on Monday and set sail on Wednesday. There was nothing I could do about it."
"You must not even try. You must go and enjoy it," she said, but the cheerfulness with which she had begun her sentence was gone by the end.
Henry's head dropped. He was disappointing her. "He did not know I was so busy. I am very sorry about it. We were making such good progress."
It was a shock, but Julia was determined to be positive, however much she felt the opposite. "Yes, we were, but we can continue when you come back. When will that be?"
"In three or four months. That is so long."
"Yes." Julia wanted to do or say something, but she did not know what. All she knew was that if she started to speak here, they would be interrupted by a member of her family and she did not want to be interrupted. "Shall we go for a walk? I need some air."
"But it is windy."
"Even more air. Good."
"But you will see Italy," she said when they were in the park. Perhaps she had a rather tight grip on his arm now that he was still here, but she hoped he would forgive her. "That is very nice."
"Yes and it is very nice that my father surprised us. I have been a little wrong. I am sorry about that as well." He looked troubled.
"Do not be. How could you know if he never said anything and he was never home? It is only natural that you would think he cared very little. But I am very happy to hear he is taking both you and Cassy. Is she pleased?"
"Yes, very." He sighed. "I wish we could take you too," he blurted out.
"Me?" She stopped walking in surprise. Although she wished he could stay, unfairly and selfishly, she had not for a moment wished she could go along.
"You are my best friend and you would enjoy it."
"Your best friend," she said softly. He had become her best friend as well. She had realised that a week ago, but it had not had such importance then. "But I am not family. You are going with your family. Bringing strangers would alter that. Er, how clever of me to note such a thing."
"Julia!" he exclaimed all of a sudden and drew her close.
"Oh." Such a thing had happened to her before, practically every time someone was about to propose. It was rather astonishing that it was Henry doing it, however, but it was quite nice that he put off proposing until much later. He merely looked into her eyes and made her feel dizzy. She had never felt dizzy when her suitors had held her and she put her arms around him for support.
"Oh, you do not mind?" he said in surprise. "I thought I was too forward, but I really wanted to do it."
"So did I." She rested her head against his shoulder. There was nothing forward about embracing one's best friend. It felt completely natural. "I shall miss you."
"Yes...I could only think of you when my father told me, although we are merely writing a book and we should have no reason to write on our book there and --" Henry shrugged.
"And your desire to take me along must have sprung from something else?" she guessed in a soft voice. That would be the case for her. After all, it had been equally agreeable to take breaks for meals, during which they sometimes never spoke of their book at all.
"Yes."
Julia felt tears sting behind her eyes. It was a sweet discovery to find she liked Henry so much and that he liked her, but it was nearly the end of the world to have to do without him for three months or more just when she had made this discovery. "You will come back?"
"Of course."
"You must not think of me there, or you will not enjoy your trip."
"I do not think I could not think of you." He gave her a soft, quick kiss, but she did not pull away. It gave him the courage to try again.
Chapter Twelve
"I could marry you when I come back. Should I speak to your father?" Henry asked. He and Julia had walked, but they had discussed very little that made sense. They had certainly not spoken of anything specific with regard to their book.
"It is possible that he would forbid you to see me between now and Monday," Julia said carefully. She hoped she would be allowed to see him, but one never knew. Her father might not think kissing was something they should be doing and although they would not tell him, he would guess that something of that nature was likely to occur. She did not doubt it would if she saw Henry between now and Monday. There was no reason to abstain.
She had never been kissed before, always having escaped from previous embraces because she had had no intention of marrying. This time it was different. Marrying him would be agreeable, if that was what he had in mind. He still had not said and she prodded him a little. "But are we engaged?"
Henry looked uncertain. "I suppose so, if you will have me."
"Of course I will." She squeezed his arm and smiled at him. "I wonder what my father will say if you went to him. Would he laugh?"
"Of course."
"Why?" she cried. She suspected it would have something to do with her earlier words. Henry was too handsome, naturally.
"Because it took so long. I am sure he expected it much sooner."
"Why? Was I not supposed to get to know you? My mother would think that getting a good look was enough, but that is my mother's opinion, even though I told her I did not want handsome men." Her mother probably knew she had been silly, which at twenty-three was rather bad to find out. Other girls her age already had children of their own.
"Getting a good look?"
"Which I did not get," Julia said with a blush. "But my mother thinks otherwise."
"Well, if she did not stop you from working with me after that good look, I suppose she can only approve of the engagement," he reasoned. "So do you think I am ugly that you would condescend to marry me?"
"No, you are far from ugly. Bah. I am sure everybody will laugh at me now." Julia was ready to laugh at herself first. She deserved it. She had been completely silly. "I never should have said a word about handsome men."
"But at least you came to know why you did not like them."
"True. And you are nothing like that. You are a very good handsome man."
"Mr Graham? Might I have a word?" Henry asked. He felt more nervous than he should. Mr Graham had always been reasonable. There was no reason to expect anything different now.
"Of course. How is your book coming along?"
"A problem has come up. My father revealed that he will be taking my sister and me to Italy next week." Henry left it to him to realise it was not going to be a short trip.
"Next week! And then all the way to Italy. That is a surprise."
"Indeed it was. I felt very bad about having to give up our work for so long." He frowned and looked at the floor. He hoped he would be motivated to continue when he came back. It would not be fair to Julia if he returned without any interest in their project. Three months was a long time. He might completely have forgotten their plans for the next chapters.
"Is that all you feel bad about?" Mr Graham inquired very quietly.
Henry was relieved that he would not have to surprise the man with his other news. It was perhaps only a little worrisome that the man had known this before he had. "No, sir. I have already told Julia what I also feel bad about."
Mr Graham appeared to understand. He looked understanding, at any rate. "Ah! And how did Julia feel about that?"
"She felt the same way." He paused for a few moments. There was no need to explain how they felt precisely, he assumed, which was good. Julia and he had not discussed that literally. "I suppose we are now engaged."
"Congratulations, Henry." Mr Graham shook his hand.
He did not look surprised, but Henry was relieved to see he looked pleased instead. It was always pleasant to be accepted. Writing a book with the daughter was one thing, but becoming the son-in-law was quite another. He would no longer go away when the book was finished.
"I had been suspecting that it would come about sooner or later."
"Really? Why?" Henry had been expecting that, but still he was curious.
"Never mind that. As to practical matters, I suppose you will want to be married after your trip and not before."
"Yes, but it is an awfully long time." Henry sighed when he calculated that a wedding would probably close to half a year away. He could not be married the day he got back. "I am not desperate, but since I have very little to do I should look forward to all the activities that a marriage entails."
Mr Graham raised his eyebrows. "All the activities? Such as?"
"I suppose we should have our own house and it will need looking after. There is no way of getting a house within a week of my return, is there?" His face fell when he thought of how long it might take to find a good house and to furnish it. At least money was not going to be a problem. That was only a small consolation. "Then we cannot be married until sometime next year."
"You could always live with your family or hers until you get that house. There is no reason to postpone the wedding on account of a house. Why do you not come back, finish your book and then find a house?" Mr Graham suggested. "Mind you do that in time, before your first child."
"Child?"
"Yes, that brings me to an important matter. The risk is small, with only a few days to go, but it may be greater directly upon your return. I beg you to consider Julia's reputation and have that first child arrive no earlier than nine months after your wedding. It would be nice if you could stretch it to ten months."
Henry stared.
"There are some people in this neighbourhood who expect her to be pregnant already, you see," Mr Graham said matter-of-factly, as if his daughter's reputation were not in question at all. "Mrs Graham has received quite a few comments on Julia's apparently getting heavier. With all the riding and walking she has been doing lately I say it is more likely that she has been getting lighter, but that does not suit the ones who gossip."
Henry was indignant. "The men who would do such a thing are precisely the men she does not want -- although I have kissed her, but I know that does not do any physical harm."
Mr Graham laughed heartily at that. "Indeed."
After Julia had heard from Henry that her father did not have any objections to anything he might do -- he left out the objections to things he would not do -- he had said he had best tell his own father and his sister. This had left her free to speak to her mother.
"I am engaged," she announced. "But he is going to Italy next week." And she burst into tears.
"Henry Thompson, I assume?" Mrs Graham inquired. "You have hardly had time to meet other fellows, to their great chagrin, and you have been seeing rather a lot of him."
Julia sniffled.
"But what is he going to do in Italy?"
"His father is taking him. I am trying to wish him an enjoyable trip, but it will be three or four months!"
Mrs Graham was practical. "They could have gone over the entire Continent instead and that would have taken them a year."
"How does that help me?"
"Not at all," her mother admitted. "Though four months is not very long if you have a wedding to plan. I am sure a wealthy man like Mr Thompson would like a nice sort of wedding for his son. Getting you a gown will not take four months, but you must set some time aside for it."
"While someone else is working on my gown I shall still not have anything to do," Julia pouted.
"I have plenty of work for you. You are materially quite unprepared for marriage, or were you planning to take half of this house with you?"
"Where have you been?" Cassy cried when Henry came home. "I have been trying to pack and --"
"What? Already?" Henry thought packing on Sunday was soon enough if they were leaving on Monday. And it was not yet Sunday.
"You are not excited about this at all," she accused him. She was very excited herself, never having expected such a trip.
"I am, but I had something to take care of first."
Cassy looked at him slyly. "Why, did you have to tell Julia?"
He was wary. "What do you know about Julia?" After a while he had of course told her he was working on a book together with Julia Graham, to which she had never replied very much. This had been quite unlike herself and he had been wondering, but he had been afraid to ask.
"Oh, just local gossip." She was all innocence. "Are you in love with her?"
He had not yet thought of it in those terms, but he supposed they applied. "I am."
"Is she in love with you?"
"Well, I suppose so. We are engaged." Henry did not think his sister would disapprove of that, but he was nevertheless nervous.
Cassy smiled. "I am happy for you, because I do like her, although she has shunned me lately. I hope I shall see more of her once you are married. All this pretence of writing a book will end then, I assume."
"Pretence?" Henry exclaimed. He had never imagined his sister could see it as such. Even when she said she did, he could not. Why would anyone come up with such a silly pretence? If one could come up with a good idea for the book one was pretending to write, one might as well write it. It followed that if one spoke of a good idea, one was truly writing.
"Do not tell me you are writing a real book!" She was ready to laugh, albeit a little incredulously.
"We are!"
"Oh, would everyone be surprised about that! So am I, in fact. I thought it was the worst excuse I had ever heard for spending time in a girl's company. Writing a book, when everyone knew you were kissing in the library."
"We were not!" he protested. "We were truly writing. Until today. I think you know rather too much about kissing in libraries, more than I do, in fact." It was surprising that people would tell her about such things, since he did not think she spied on them. No, he could not imagine that she did.
"I have friends," Cassy said enigmatically. "But how will you be able to bear the separation?"
Henry pulled a manly face. "Like a man."
"So you will cry in bed at night?"
Chapter Thirteen
When Mr Thompson heard from his son that he wished to be married after the trip, he had been astonished. He had not known at all that something of that nature might occur. Because he had no idea who Miss Graham was, he had suggested that Mr and Mrs Graham and their eldest daughter be invited before the trip to Italy. He knew Mr Graham, but he had never displayed any interest in the man's family or in any other young ladies and consequently he could not put a name to a face.
Henry had delivered the invitation and had been pleased to find it accepted, even at such short notice. He was a little anxious, for Mr Graham was of course a gentleman and his father was not. Although he had not perceived any marked differences in Mr Graham's behaviour or manners, Mr Graham himself might disagree. Henry was afraid that the difference was in things he did not see because he was no gentleman either. Julia was not worried and she had told him so. This had reassured him, as well as the fact that her parents had already given their blessing to their union. His family must be acceptable.
The evening itself went very well. He supposed it must be different from meetings of the same kind that occurred in other families, because the trip influenced every topic. They had just taken a step forward and were now forced to stand still for four months. It had felt that way, but after that evening he realised that although they would be apart, there was still enough to do and to think of. There were apparently things one needed to have in one's house. He would have thought they could simply be bought, but it seemed that there were many differences in appearance and costs, and that it would in fact require much thought. He would be happy with any choices Julia made in his absence. She and her mother undoubtedly had excellent taste.
The day of their departure neared. They had not done much more work on the book -- practically none, in fact. Talking about his absence and his return had been much more interesting. Julia had urged him to enjoy the journey and he knew he should, for he would not soon be given a second chance to go.
"Mama will keep me busy, I expect," said Julia as she tidied away their notes and maps. They could not leave them on the table now. "But if she does not I could make some drawings for the book."
Henry felt guilty for not being able to do his share. "Is there anything you would like me to buy?"
"I do not know what they sell there, but you could always write down your experiences. I should like to read what you saw."
That was a surprisingly agreeable prospect and he brightened at the idea of doing something for her. Instead of being glum and lonely at night he would be able to write in a diary of sorts. "Yes, I could do that."
"But do not neglect your sister. You must protect her from evil Italians."
Henry smiled. "I doubt Cassy needs my help."
"Does she speak Italian?"
"By the time we get there she will. She bought a book immediately and only speaks to me in Italian now. I understand nothing of it."
Julia smiled as well. "But you must still not neglect her. I have asked her to protect you from evil Italian women too. Well, women who are too nice to you. I do not know if they are really evil if they are nice to you. If you see any hanging off bridges..."
"Women who hang off bridges are not nice to me."
"Oh!" she cried, but she was not offended. "Well, travel on before they become nice to you. And do not remove any clothing."
"Are you suggesting there are women who become nice to me because I removed some clothing and not because I rescued them?" he wondered.
"I would rather not take that risk," Julia said with a blush.
Julia had got up very early to see the Thompsons off. She had even got an opportunity for a private embrace, which was very satisfying, but she nevertheless cried on her way home. Mrs Graham took her into her sitting room for cup of tea when she returned. "When your father first travelled without me, I was very sad as well," she said. "But he always came back."
"But he never went for four months." At least, she did not think so. She had never heard him speak of such a long trip.
"My dear, you would not have been any less sad if he had gone for four weeks or even four days. Now, drink your tea and think of what we can accomplish without the distraction. If you insisted on seeing him every day we could never go to London to buy you anything."
"We should have taken him along."
"Julia, men do not enjoy shopping expeditions and women do not enjoy taking men along."
"We have never been," Julia sulked. "How do we know?"
"We have never been because I am loath to spend money unnecessarily and it was never necessary to spend. However, it is not unnecessary to get the best bargains if one has a lot to buy. There is far more choice in London."
That was all far too practical for Julia at that moment, but after two cups of tea she pulled herself together. "Very well. What do I need?"
"Everything," Mrs Graham smiled, undaunted. "We have some things laid aside upstairs, but not very much, since doing so for three girls close in age would have required much more space than we have. We shall first look upstairs to see if there is anything you want, although I fear your grandmother's china may not be exactly to your taste."
"Henry does not care." And at this moment she cared very little herself.
"That is true and your father did not either, but you will and there is a reason why it is upstairs. I think you may be very lucky that Henry no longer has a mother."
Time had passed surprisingly quickly, Julia felt when she received a letter from Henry. He wrote that he had not been seasick, but that they had not yet seen very much except Gibraltar. That was still more than Julia had seen, so she read his letter avidly. He promised to write frequently from Italy and she was happy to read it. Although she had had to wait a while for this first letter, the next ones promised to be more frequent and the last one might be arriving shortly before his return. She would not have to do without him for long anymore, even though she would only have his letters.
Cassy had written a few lines as well. Her observations were of course different from her brother's and they amused Julia very well.
Her own sisters had been rather excited about her upcoming wedding, which had surprised her. They did admit that they considered Henry slightly boring and bookish, but he was handsome and friendly enough, and if it did not matter to Julia that he was boring, it would certainly not matter to them. They were very happy to be taken along to London to go shopping and they exerted themselves at giving good advice.
It was surprising how little time she had to work on the book, although things could certainly have been done. She had only managed to copy a map.
The neighbourhood had come to hear of her engagement and not everyone was surprised. What with Mrs Graham keeping her busy Julia had not paid any attention to people's reactions. She certainly did not wonder what people might think and which gentlemen might be disappointed. She had seen her sisters' male friends in the meantime, but until the engagement came about they had not dared to speak to her about Henry. What they had been observing, she did not know.
It was at an evening party that she saw some of them again for the first time after her engagement. There was dancing for the young people and Mr Neville asked her to dance. "I was surprised that you did not turn down Thompson," he said. "He has money and all that, but he has no connections."
"He has connections when it comes to important matters," replied Julia, thinking of the bridge. He knew a carpenter. "What else do I need?"
"Er...well..." Neville regarded her with a puzzled look for a few moments. "Perhaps you are right. You are perhaps not the sort who needs connections in town."
"I should be happy to remain here," she said solemnly. "And I already know everybody around here, so what more could I possibly need?"
Neville could not or would not argue with that. She was glad for it, because she had no wish to defend her to choice to someone who might be wishing she had chosen him instead. Perhaps he was coming to see it would only have satisfied his pride and not his actual desires. Henry's desires were much more in tune with hers. He would not speak of needing connections. He had some, she was sure, but he made no point of it.
"Where will you live?" he asked.
"We have not got a house yet, so if you know of one you must not hesitate to tell me," she said, although she had no particular wish to become Neville's close neighbour. She had no particular aversion to it either, however, and Henry was a friend of his. Although it might well be that after marrying they would get another set of friends, as had happened to those friends of hers who had married, and they would not see much of Neville anyhow.
"I have no idea of your wishes."
"They are quite simple. It must be a comfortable house and large enough for a family."
Having ridden around the neighbourhood very often lately, she knew all such houses by sight, but she knew of none that would be vacated in the near future. She had some time still, of course, because Henry was not back and they only had table cloths so far and no table. Henry, a house and furniture had to be got first, in that order.
She did not know where he was now, but his last letter had said he was on his way to northern Italy. After the north of Italy, which held rather more attractions than the south, it was back to Gibraltar. He had not said how many towns they would visit in the north, or where the north began precisely, because most of his letter was devoted to describing what he had done so far. Little space remained for his plans. Julia was consequently not very sure when to imagine him at sea again.
Her father had not involved himself in all the shopping, except by paying the bills and warning his two younger daughters that some money had to be saved first before they could marry, but he had made some financial arrangements. She knew how much money she was to have on her marriage, but it mattered very little if Henry had so much -- and everyone always said he did. It would be more than enough for them.
Chapter Fourteen
Henry's last letter had mentioned going home in about a week. If the mail was not exceptionally fast, he should be home very soon. Julia was very excited. The fifteen weeks had at times seemed to pass very quickly, but there had always been dull, rainy days that had never seemed to end at all. All of the shopping that could have been done without Henry had been done and so she had not had much more to do in the last fortnight than to go around the neighbourhood with her father to look at houses. It more or less amounted to visiting many men in offices and far fewer houses, but Julia had already passed most of the houses during the research for the book. They did not yet see any available ones that she particularly liked, of which she despaired a little.
It was just a few days into the new year when the Thompsons returned. It was cold and there was snow on the ground, and thus Julia did not find out until the following morning when Henry came to breakfast. Mr Graham had doubted, but eventually he had decided that Henry must wait for Julia to appear. The only experience he had with returns himself was going up to his wife's room directly, but he had to remind himself that the young couple were not yet married, however much their eagerness to see each other might be the same.
Instead, Mr Graham examined the small gifts Henry had brought for his new brothers and sisters. "Also from my sister," Henry had hastened to say.
"That is very kind," said Mr Graham. "They will be very pleased to find you thought of them. Did you not bring anything for Julia?" He counted five gifts.
"That is not something I could bring."
"Oh," he said invitingly, but there was no further elaboration and when Julia came downstairs he knew he was not going to be enlightened any further in the foreseeable future.
Julia found she was still quite fond of him and although she tried for her father's sake to be very proper, she sat very close to Henry. It was too much to eat breakfast at the same time, however. Her father prompted her every few minutes, but she did not hear him. "I am very glad you are back," she said again. "My mother and I did a lot of shopping and working to keep me busy, but..."
"You could nevertheless not stop thinking about evil Italian women."
"I did think of them once or twice," Julia blushed. "I hope you did not meet any."
"My father did," Henry said very seriously. "Although I suppose she was not truly evil, but rather agreeable."
Julia was intrigued. "What did she do to him?"
"I do not know the particulars. Perhaps it is enough to know she may come to England?"
"She may? Whatever for?"
"To become my stepmother or something like it, if she still feels like it."
"Something like it is not very respectable," said Mr Graham.
Henry looked mortified to have given a wrong impression. "Oh, I do not mean that, sir! My father would never stoop to that. I simply meant that she might not be my stepmother because I might no longer live at home."
"And is she Italian?" Julia inquired. Did Italians speak English? How did one speak to an Italian stepmother?
"No, she is German. It makes very little sense."
"What does Cassy think?"
"Cassy would rather have a German stepmother than nobody at all. I am merely glad she has no children. But that was all we met in the way of evil women, really. We were too busy looking at the sights."
"It all sounded very interesting from what you wrote," Julia said a little enviously.
"After we have finished our book we shall go too," he revealed. "I met many people who insisted that I come back with my wife."
Finishing the book and finding a house could easily be combined. At long last a house near Julia's father's estate was found, but it was too small. Julia had always liked the look of it and was sorry to discover it would only accommodate a small family. Her father, however, had a good solution. An addition could be built to provide some extra rooms. This might take a while and might delay their taking possession, but there was a solution for that too: they could marry, go to Italy and come back when their house was nearly finished.
Julia liked the plan, especially because it did not put off their wedding for even longer. She did not want to say goodbye to Henry at the end of each day. It would be much more agreeable if he could stay.
He agreed. While the Thompsons were extremely hospitable, he could never stay long without feeling guilty towards Cassy, who might be expecting him back. It would be different if she no longer expected him, although she always said she did not mind it now either.
Their wedding date was set and they had decided they would live at Henry's house while their new house was not yet ready. Julia was excited, although to have to wait another month was very long. She would have waited for about half a year when she finally married and she was already beginning to sense the dangers of a very long wait. If Henry's father was at his offices and Cassy was with her friends, there was nobody to disturb Henry and Julia at his house, and this was where they had increasingly been going.
Their book was finished and had been sent to someone who would look it over. There was not much to do for them except to sit on the sofa and kiss a little -- more constructive things were done when they had company. But when Julia noted they were lying on the sofa one day she paid attention to the warning bells she had been ignoring so far.
"I feel as if this is not something that is allowed," she said tentatively. "It feels rather too good and exciting to be allowed. It feels like something handsome men would do."
"Handsome men would do it upstairs," said Henry. "And then tell their friends, neither of which I will do."
"Oh. Is that how you know?"
"Certainly. They especially like telling friends who would not do the same. But I thought you did not like excitement."
Julia still did not. She supposed that was why she felt some alarm, although it was small enough to have been ignored so far. "We are almost married. This is not as exciting as being rescued by a half-naked man to whom I was not engaged."
"What was exciting about that? Being rescued? Not being engaged? Or the half-naked man?"
"The latter, of course. Although my memory may be faulty, I remember it as rather agreeable to behold. You, naturally, not the carpenter. He was rather hairy. But you must not refresh my memory of yourself at this moment. We might be disturbed."
Henry reached for his glass and spilled it over his coat and shirt. "I cannot go around wet. I think I must change my shirt. Why do you not come and choose one for me?"
The day Julia Graham married Henry Thompson was not a day too soon, for in the preceding weeks he had suddenly developed an extreme clumsiness and often spilled drinks or food. After their marriage this became less, although Julia was most solicitous whenever it occurred. Her new husband said that handsome women were as bad as handsome men and she could not help but agree that it held true for a right combination of the two.
They lived with the Thompsons for a few weeks in preparation of their trip. Cassy loved it, although she had the prospect of the German stepmother and of Hannah, whom she had invited in case the German woman would not come after all. Mr Thompson was quite silent about the subject; Julia had only heard his children discuss it among themselves.
She loved their trip to Italy. They simply continued in the habit of writing about what they saw, which resulted in a very nice travel journal. Henry suggested they could do this more often, as it would give him something to do and when they came back they were told their first book would make them a little money. Julia, although she had loved travelling with him, came back rather exhausted and she was not sure she wanted to go away very often.
Mrs Graham soon enlightened her about the cause of her fatigue when it became no less after having been home for a week. "You are expecting a child."
"Really?" Julia was astonished. "I had completely forgotten about that. We thought about the book, our journal and about the house."
"Certain actions have certain consequences."
Julia blushed at her mother's stern tone. "I forgot about it when I noticed no difference in myself the first weeks after..." she mumbled. She had stayed away for months. It was not so strange to have stopped wondering, was it?
"Your work on the house is far from done now. You will need to set up a nursery immediately. But I am glad at least one person was sensible."
"Who?"
Mrs Graham tapped her chest modestly. "We have already been at work, of course. We suspected that with a handsome man you would at least try very often, even if you might not instantly be successful."
"Mama!" Julia was appalled and she gasped for breath.
The Thompsons continued to write occasionally, although with a handful of children they were kept rather busy with other things at first and they did not go abroad. Henry did not mind what kept him busy, as long as something did. Julia for her part was glad he built bridges on their land, even if there were only dry ditches running underneath, but she never told anybody why. It was fortunate that their children always welcomed another wooden structure too.
Cassy had got her German stepmother, even a German stepsister and later even a half-German stepsister. Henry was glad she had some company and even happier for her when she married a very superior young man who had everything except money. Julia's brothers and sisters married well and they were visited often enough to inspire a few more travel journals and guidebooks, although those took years to finish and not months.
The End
© 2008 Copyright held by the author.