Page 68 of Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match
“What?”
He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I do not know how to be a father. It’s not in any of the literature.”
“Maintain your faith in natural science. Human beings have been fathers for countless generations. And I have seen how you have searched for your lost man. He has awakened a protective instinct in you, I think.”
“That is true,” Victor replied, cheered up. “Speaking of instincts, I never told you about what happened when Will found you flat on your back in the forest.”
“He told me that he turned a bit uncivilized that day.”
“When he saw you in danger, he stepped out of his present form and became something I have never seen before. His true feelings. I saw a man violently in love.”
Angelika’s heart flipped, then sank. “But he cannot easily show me this side of himself. If he knows one emotion, it is guilt, and I don’t know why.” She had a sudden intrusive memory: dark stone, an ivy-covered building, a white porcelain cross. “What about our chapel on the hill? Get married there.”
Victor was surprised by her change of topic. “I think it is where Belladonna births her piglets.” He leaned further out the window to point halfway up the hill. “It would be a total ruin.”
“But Will could help us repair it, and you could be married at home. You’ve seen how nice his cottage is now after a bitof hard work.” Angelika was determined to make her brother happy. “I will go and assess it. If we can make it something lovely, and pay someone to be as unobtrusively religious as possible, would that be a good option?”
“It would be nice to do something so difficult at home. Thank you,” Victor said, and when they stood up, he opened his arms. That blue-moon hug was being offered, and it was wonderful. He smelled like apple and arsenic.
Above her head, he said, “Do take a glass beaker with you. You never know what you may get if you let him adjust to the idea.”
It was this thought that stuck with Angelika as she walked toward the wisps of smoke from Will’s cottage. Sometimes, a person just needed a little time. When she saw the big man in the forest watching her, she waved to him and kept on walking.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When Will answered the knock at his door, he found Angelika holding up the specimen beaker. His expression slackened with dismay. Before he could say a word, she took some flowers from behind her back, and turned it into a vase. After blowing out a long exhalation, he said, “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry he even asked you.” She dithered awkwardly. Was he still unhappy with her, after their altercation in the driveway?
“Are you sorry? I thought you would have supported it,” Will said, turning back into his cottage. From the doorway she saw him add water to his flowers. “Don’t stand out there. Come in.”
She came in, relieved by his easy aura, and stared around at his décor. There were not many more objects than last time, but somehow it was perfectly snug and comfortable. By the fire, she noticed a flat basket padded with a folded blanket, and an empty dish.
“Do you have a cat?”
“Not exactly.”
“I do not mean to intrude. But if I may offer a suggestion? One tall oriental vase in that corner, filled with peacock feathers, would make this space perfect.”
“How could you intrude into a place that is yours?” He positioned the flowers on his mantel, looking as content as she’d ever seen him. “It’s perfect now. A beaker full of larkspurs was all it wanted.”
“This cottage isn’t mine, and I will never enter without your invitation. This place is yours, for a lifetime if you want it. I have to tell people exactly what they are entitled to.”
He noticed her grimace. “What happened?”
“I accidentally dismissed Mary, instead of telling her she is a valued family member who is to live out her days with us. Typical Angelika.”
“I’m sure you will come up with an ingenious solution. That is also typical Angelika.” His bed had a compression mark on the blanket, and his cheek was creased.
“Were you lying down?”
“I am tired in the afternoons.”
“The sleepwalking?” He nodded. “I was going to see if you wanted to come for a walk with me. I have a project to assess, up on the hill. We are thinking of marrying the duchess and the bear at home. But I can go alone if you’re tired.”
“Walking alone in the forest doesn’t go very well for you.” He sat down to pull on his boots, and Angelika roamed around, admiring his belongings. The leather-bound bookInstitutiones Rei Herbariaewas still in pride of place beside his bed. She flipped it open to reread her inscription.To my love: One day I will write your true name here. With all that I am, I am always, your Angelika.
“I really can’t wait,” she said to him. He didn’t understand. “To write your name in this book.”
