Page 33 of Ordered Home for the Holidays
“Will you let me get to know you, Nell?” He asked. “Truly, not just as one society idiot to another?”
She giggled, the weight of the worry she felt lightening somewhat. “Will you do something for me, Nick?”
“What would you have of me, Nell?”
“Meet me in the alley.”
Chapter Nine
He shouldn’t; he should tell her goodnight and leave her be. But he was going to be damned if he wasn’t going to meet her exactly where she asked.
“I’ll be right there,” he said to the wall, turning and heading towards the rear of the garden. It took him almost too long to find the gate, which had been buried under ages of rose vines, and then longer to fight the vines away from the hinges enough that he could actually get the door open.
He squeezed through the door and stepped into the alley, nearly missing Nell standing in the shadows in her dark coat and dress.
“Hello Nell,” he felt his cheeks heat. There was no way that his being with her in the dark of the alley with no chaperone was in any way appropriate.
“Hello Nick.” She tilted her head to look up at him. How had he never noticed the gold sparks in her eyes? “This is probably wrong of me.”
“If a tree falls and no one’s about, does it make a sound?” He asked. “If there’s no one about to see us, is it really inappropriate?”
She giggled, trying to cover the sound with her hand. “Technically correct.”
“Which is the best kind of correct.” He replied, trying to sound as affected as his father always had.
Which seemed to crack something in Nell, because she giggled again, bent forward at the waist and tried to stifle the laughter. “You sound like Timmy.”
“Who?”
“He wanted to be an academic, but he couldn’t get through the doors to the college.” She sobered, sorrow passing through her eyes. “He died in the war.”
“I am sorry, Nell.” He reached for her hand without meaning to.
She shook her head. “I carry them all here,” she laid the hand he wasn’t holding over her heart. “And I do what I do now for them, so no one else loses a loved one to despair.”
“Who holds you, Nell?” He hadn’t meant to ask that, but since the words were already out there. “If you hold them, who holds you?”
“I can stand for them, Nick.” She looked up at him. “No one can ever know that it’s me now and not Papa. It would damage my parents’ reputation, and they have perilously little of that now. Well, Papa doesn’t care much, but Mama just wants friends.”
“My mother will ensure she has a social circle.” Nick said, squeezing her hand. “You needn’t worry about that.”
“Nick, you can’t want to wed me.” She sighed, looking up at him. “I’m no one you should want.”
“Nell, are you familiar with the theory of twinned souls?” He looked up and away from her. If he concentrated much longer on the gold sparks in her eyes, he was going to kiss her.
“No?”
“The subcontinent says that each person has their own twinned soul.” He said, looking up at the gently falling snow. “Someone they recognize without knowing how or why.”
“What?”
“I think you are my twinned soul, Nell.” He looked back down at her. “I’m far more comfortable with you than I should be, given the duration of our acquaintance.”
“I should go,” Nell said, but she didn’t pull away from him. “You should go to bed, and so should I.”
“Before you go, Nell, can I ask you something?” He stopped himself from kissing her again.
“What is it, Nick?”
