Page 76 of Forget Me Not

“Capital.” Aldric rose. “I nominate Niles as the first seeker. I suspect he will be surprisingly good at it.”

Quiet, unobtrusive Niles—Puppy—smiled broadly. “Prepare to be amazed.”

“I am always prepared for amazement,” Digby tossed back. “It is boredom, rather, which catches me unawares.”

“For this first round,” Lucas said, “we will limit ourselves to the ground floor, servants’ areas not included. I will not endure the wrath of Mrs. Parks. She would happily skin the lot of us alive on the flimsiest of excuses.”

“An unfortunate end, to be sure,” Kes said.

Niles placed himself in a chair facing the corner of the room. He held up his pocket watch for them all to see. “I will allow a full three minutes, in deference to the vastness of your potential hiding area. Hide well, my friends.”

It was quite possibly the largest number of words Julia had ever heard him speak. She remarked on that as she and Lucas slipped from the sitting room.

“People often assume he is shy or perhaps a touch intellectually deficient. Neither is the case. As you know him better, he’ll speak to you more.”

“I like your friends, Lucas.”

“Yourfriends now as well.” He squeezed her fingers. “And your houseguests, all of whom are having a glorious time.”

“We are proving ourselves adept hosts, it would seem.” She grinned up at him as he looked from one doorway to the next, clearly unsure where he meant to hide. “We should host gatherings more often.”

He stopped his perusal and focused solely on her. “Do you mean that?”

“I would enjoy a household that is this alive on a regular basis.”

Something very like relief spread over his features. “So would I. Life is meant to be lived, and that is best accomplished surrounded by people who make that life full.”

Henri rushed past on his way into the dining room. “Do not stand about,mes amis. Time will slip away from you.”

“Find a very good hiding spot, my dear,” Lucas warned theatrically. “The Gents are cutthroat.” On that laughing declaration, he moved back in the direction of the dining room.

Julia hadn’t felt so giddy in years. Her home was filled with laughter and voices and friendship. She and Lucas were finally claiming an easier companionship than they’d found thus far. They’d also discovered they shared a mutual preference for a bustling and energetic household. That boded well.

The three minutes they’d been allotted to hide must have been nearly used up. Julia lifted her dress enough to move swiftly toward the stairs at the back of the entry hall, then pulled open the nearly hidden door of a tall coat closet, one disguised to match the wood paneling. It was sufficiently large to hide in but well disguised enough to be forgotten by those doing the seeking. Utterly perfect.

She slipped inside. The space was more than sufficient. Thank the heavens they were not undertaking the version of this juvenile game that required the seekers to hidewiththose they discovered. Even one additional person would make the space quite snug.

She pulled the door closed using the small interior ring and waited.

After a time, she could hear a voice but couldn’t sort out what was being said. It was likely Niles beginning his search. What a lark they were having. She felt like a little girl again, racing down the corridors of Lampton Park with Harriet and Charlotte, Philip and James, Stanley and Lucas. Her darling, wonderful Lucas.

She heard footsteps. A voice now and then. In the dark of the closet, she wasn’t certain how many people passed by, how many had been found, how much time had passed. But her enjoyment didn’t abate.

Even when the closet door inched open unexpectedly, she didn’t feel any disappointment. This was but the first of many games that day. The first of many gatherings of friends they would have in the years to come. This wasn’t an ending; this was a beginning.

From the other side of the doorway, Lucas grinned. “I knew you’d be in here. I ought to have claimed the spot myself.”

“Would it not be more fun to hide somewhere you aren’t likely to be found? That is how you win.”

He laughed as he glanced over his shoulder, then slipped inside. “My sweet, adorable Julia. Winning is not at all the goal here.”

“I believe the General would disagree with you.”

“The General is something of a sapskull.” Lucas pulled the door closed, casting the small space into darkness.

“This isn’t the version of hide-and-seek where we hidewiththe person we’ve found,” she reminded him.

“Oh, I fully intend to declare you found. Kes is eluding capture and will, I have no doubt, emerge conqueror.”

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