Gerry knew it was the height of folly to accept the invitation. She was fairly sure he hadn’t initially planned to make it, but to say something else entirely. But she was also sure she wanted very much to continue talking to Mr. Thorne and, for once, to see him outside of the shop.
After she agreed to his invitation, he looked stunned. “Really?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Lovely,” he said. “Well, then, perhaps I’d…perhaps I’d better return home and tell Mary so we can prepare places for you both. Would that suit?I can send round our carriage for you.”
Her smile widened. “That would suit admirably, Mr. Thorne. But please don’t worry about the carriage. Pip and I can walk.”
He glanced over her shoulder at where Pip was talking to other customers and nodded. “Yes, of course. Whatever you’d like. Well then, I shan’t keep you from your customers. Would you like a note sent to your house letting them know of your plans?”
“No, no,” she said hastily. Then she smiled. “Please don’t bother. I can send it.”
He returned her smile. “Very good. We’ll expect you then.” He bowed and left, taking his spell bag with him.
Then Gerry came back down to earth. “Right,” she said to herself. She turned to find Pip, but he was already approaching her, looking amused.
“That seemed like a pleasant conversation.”
She knew she had to be blushing and was grateful that Pip was the only one seeing it. “It was. He…er…invited us to join his family for lunch.”
Pip raised an eyebrow. “That sounds delightful. I assume we’re going?”
“Oh, yes.”
Pip gave a small smile. “And what are we telling Charles?”
“That we are dining with friends,” she said firmly. “I shall write the note, so you don’t have to worry about it. And we’re not lying,” she added. “But…I will have to figure out what I’m going to tell him and I’d like more time to do that.”
“Of course.”
He walked away because he was tactful like that. Gerry wrote a note to Charles and found an errand boy in the village to take it for her. Then she spent the rest of her morning trying to not think about lunch with Mr. Thorne and his family. She was not in the least bit successful.
Finally, it was time to close the shop for lunch. Pip offered his arm and they walked to the Thornes’ house. Gerry had never been before. It turned out to be a house about the size of Charles’s or a little smaller. There was no garden, which made her curious. Pip had told her how much the Thorne children had loved Charles’s garden. She wondered if Mr. Thorne would have one designed for his siblings now that he was in charge of the house. She gave in to a brief flight of fancy, imagining what she would put in a garden if she were mistress of the house, and then quickly realized what she was thinking and directed her thoughts elsewhere.
As soon as they entered the house, they were greeted with chatter, questions, and enthusiasm. Apparently, the children were delighted to have them both as visitors. Gerry noticed that Levinia and Elias were particularly keen to talk to Pip, and that the latter was remarkably shy around him. Mrs. Thorne came forward and welcomed Gerry and Pip inside, looking just as pleased as her children.
“When Basil told us that he’d invited you to lunch,” she said, “I could hardly believe it! I’m so pleased. It is nice to see him making friends, you know.” She gave Gerry a knowing smile.
Gerry heartily wished that her complexion was not quite so inclined to blushing.
Mr. Thorne walked into the room and smiled at the sight of her, as if he couldn’t believe she’d really come.
Mrs. Thorne said, “Ah, there you are, Basil. Would you like us to leave the sitting room for you and your guests? Or you could go into the study if you’d like more privacy, like you did with Laury. Lunch won’t be for another half hour or so.”
To her surprise, Mr. Thorne looked alarmed at this suggestion. But he said, “Of course, Mary. We can go into the study. Thank you.”
Then Pip said, “Actually, I would be delighted to join you in the sitting room now, if that would be all right.”
“That will be lovely,” Mrs. Thorne said, and turned to lead the way.
Pip gave her a winning smile. As he passed Gerry, he leaned over and, in a barely audible whisper, said, “Positively glowing.”
The rest of the family followed Pip out of the room. Mr. Thorne looked a bit bewildered for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and said, “So, the study?”
“By all means.”
He offered her his arm and they walked down the hall to a pair of doors. He seemed to hesitate and then opened the doors and stood back, gesturing for her to go first. She walked into the room and he followed. She noticed that he did not close the door and she was, once again, grateful for his consideration.
Gerry stood for a moment and glanced around. There was a strange sort of stillness in the air. The room appeared lived in, but she noticed the piles of documents on the desk were stacked with meticulous neatness. And then she noticed that Mr. Thorne was still standing behind her. He seemed tense. Not only tense, but as if he was holding his breath.
“Is everything all right?” she said gently.
He gave a stiff nod. “Of course.” Then he gave her a small smile. “I’m still…getting used to this room, you see. It was my father’s.”
“Oh,” she said. It explained some of the conflicting emotions crossing his face. Although she realized she couldn’t identify all of them and, what was more, she very much wanted to. “We don’t have to sit in here if it makes you uncomfortable.”
He looked pained. “Not at all. Please.” He gestured weakly at the room, though not at any particular furniture for her to sit in.
Gerry studied the room, verifying her options. There was only one chair in front of the desk, with the worn leather seat behind it, and a lovely wide window seat by the window. Gerry moved forward, intending to take the seat in front of the desk. But then she realized he would have to take the seat behind the desk and it occurred to her that this might have been what made Mr. Thorne so uncomfortable. She glanced at the window seat and immediately dismissed it as an option as they’d have to sit too close to each for propriety. So she didn’t sit down at all and instead looked at the artwork with interest.
“Is this you?” she said, pointing to a portrait of a boy and a woman.
“Yes. And my mother.”
“She was beautiful.”
“She was,” he said, his voice soft.
She smiled at the sight of the pictures done by children, wondering idly if any of them had been done by Mr. Thorne in his youth. She almost asked, but didn’t quite dare. She started to inspect the bookshelves behind the desk and then turned back to him. “Do you mind if I look?”
“Not at all.”
She glanced over the spines, noting with interest the books on magical theory. There were a few she wanted to pick up and read, but she had a feeling Mr. Thorne was still working through his feelings on the room, so she didn’t touch the books for fear of disrupting him. She couldn’t quite resist the urge to run her hand along the edge of the shelf, however.
She had just reached the final bookcase, which was made up of a stack of barrister bookcases, when Mr. Thorne said, “How is your design work coming along? Any developments?”
She turned and smiled at him. “A few. I talked to my friend, Bertie, Lord Finlington—I think you’ve met?”
He nodded. “I like him. He is very nice.”
“Yes,” she said, pleased to hear him say so. “We were talking about some ideas I’ve been contemplating. I have nothing concrete as yet. As I told Pip, it’s more an idea of an idea.”
He smiled. “Sounds exciting.”
She laughed. “That’s exactly what Pip said. I hope it turns out.”
She paused. She wanted to tell him all about it, even though there wasn’t much to tell, but she felt nervous admitting that he had inspired the idea, especially when there was nothing substantial to show him. She much preferred the idea of having a real spell to present, rather than promising something that might never work out.
But when she turned back to continue her perusing of the bookcase, she thought she saw him tense slightly and a brief glance told her that there were portraits of the children on every shelf. She realized that whatever was on the shelves was something Mr. Thorne was not entirely ready to share. Considering the fact that he’d spent most of his life away from his family, it occurred to her he was still sorting through his own thoughts on how he fit into the family dynamic.
With this realization came the understanding that Mr. Thorne had been very vulnerable in bringing her into his study. She was so touched by the gentle show of vulnerability that she immediately turned away from the shelf and said, “As a matter of fact, you inspired the idea.”
His eyes widened. “I did?”
She nodded. “You said something the other day about how you’d like something to help you think better, or well, something along those lines.”
He smiled. “Remarkable that you remembered that.”
She couldn’t very well tell him that she remembered everything he said, so instead she said, “Well, it got me thinking. There are a number of spells that manipulate emotions and thoughts, but they’re usually used to manipulate other people: Charm Spells, Glamour Spells, Love Spells. So I thought it might be worth exploring doing something on one’s own self. Something to improve one’s mood, or perspective, or to focus the mind.” She shrugged. “I’m not at all sure if it will become anything other than an idea. But I’d like to explore it a bit and find out.”
His smile widened. “That’s truly incredible.”
She laughed. “Please don’t get too excited yet. Spell experimentation has a lot of failures. I may not find what I’m looking for.”
“Even if you don’t, I’m still impressed that my comment spurred such a thought process.” He shook his head. “You’re very creative. I don’t know how you do it.” When she opened her mouth to reiterate that it might not succeed, he stepped forward and said, “I know it’s still only a theory. Barely even that. But all the same, the way your mind works is…well, it’s astonishing.”
People had praised her for her spell designs, for her spell casting, for her abilities on the pianoforte, and for a great many other things that took time, energy, practice and study. But she didn’t think anyone had ever praised her just for thinking of something, for the way her mind worked. Gerry felt herself on extremely dangerous ground with the compliment.
She was so muddled by the line of thought that she gave Mr. Thorne her cheeriest smile and said, “Thank you! How kind of you to say! Should we go join the rest of your family now?”
She was relieved when he didn’t comment on the change in topic and he didn’t seem to mind returning to the noise and bustle of his family.