Page 95 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
Willie tried to hide her happiness, but failed spectacularly. She burst into tears.
We moved to various sofas and chairs to talk. I poured tea while the professor served the cake. It was to magic that the conversation turned. It began with Cyclops asking after their traveling companions, Dr. and Mrs. Seaford.
“They’re both well,” India said. “He was very interested to learn that your mother was a silver magician, Sylvia.”
I glanced at Gabe. Clearly his letters had kept his parents informed of events here in London. “She was, although I didn’t know it until after she died.”
Gabe took my hand in his and offered me an encouraging smile.
“Gabriel—Dr. Seaford, that is—was adopted by a silver magician,” India went on.
“He was?” Gabe asked. “I didn’t know that. His name wasn’t in the magician files. Marianne Folgate was the only one.”
“Gabriel asked us to leave it out to maintain privacy. His adopted father had no natural children, so we assumed silver magic no longer existed. Perhaps you’re distantly related to him, Sylvia, but as far as we know, he had no other family except his adopted son. We’re sorry there are no family members for you to connect with.”
“It’s quite all right,” I said. “I’ve recently discovered aunts and cousins on my father’s side that I never knew existed.” I looked to Gabe, not wanting to mention my father’s name to them. I didn’t want his parents to regard me with disappointment, perhaps even dislike.
India allayed my fears, however. She leaned forward and touched my knee. “Melville Hendry is your father, isn’t he? When Gabe wrote to us about your paper magic, Matt and I considered the possibility that you’re Hendry’s daughter. We didn’t know for sure, of course. We’ve been on a ship for several days without any news, but rest assured, it doesn’t matter to us.”
“Don’t let Willie try to tell you otherwise,” Matt said wryly.
Willie sank into a chair. “He’s dead anyway,” she muttered.
India and Matt offered me their condolences. It seemed strange to receive them. I’d never come to terms with having a father, so losing Melville so soon after meeting him didn’t feel as painful as it should.
“We met your mother, Sylvia,” Matt went on. “Marianne was a strong, capable woman. We both liked her.”
To think they’d met her all those years ago, and now here I was, seated in the library they funded, their son’s hand warming mine. My mother hadn’t liked men. She’d feared them and raised me to fear them too, except for James. Yet, I think she would have liked that I’d found my soulmate in the son of the couple who’d helped free magicians from persecution. Like my mother, India seemed to have a strength about her that wasn’t obvious at first glance, and Matt was clearly in love with his wife. Anyone who saw the way he looked at her could see it.
Matt and India wanted to know everything that had happened since the last telegram they’d received before boarding the ship to come home, so I left Gabe, Alex, Willie and Cyclops to talk to them. I smiled at Professor Nash as I passed him chatting to Huon, Petra and Oscar. Daisy had been cornered by the Bailey sisters, so I climbed the spiral staircase to the mezzanine level alone. I ran my fingers across the spines of the books shelved alongside the narrow mezzanine walkway, then looked out onto Crooked Lane through the large arched window. Dusk had settled over the city while we were talking. We all ought to be going our separate ways, but no one seemed to want to leave.
I stood in the wider section of the mezzanine, the window and cozy armchair behind me, and surveyed the scene below. I breathed in deeply, drawing the scent of old books and paper into my lungs. A wave of contentment washed over me. It was the paper, calling to my magic, telling me I was exactly where I should be, where I belonged.
Contentment turned to happiness when Gabe’s arms circled my waist from behind. “Is it overwhelming?” he asked.
I leaned into him. The scent of him replaced the paper, but it was no less fulfilling. “Not at all. I like your circus.”
His soft laughter ruffled my hair.
Matt’s explanation about a man named Ponzi drifted up to us. The term sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until he told Alex, Daisy and Oscar about an article in theBoston Globethat mentioned the complete collapse of the investment scheme that I recalled Hope, Lady Coyle, had told us her son had invested everything in it. They would be ruined now, even more than they already were.
I pushed thoughts of Valentine and his mother from my mind. I didn’t want to think about them at this moment. I wanted to enjoy it.
“They’re talking about you,” Gabe said, nodding at Cyclops and Professor Nash.
Thanks to our vantage point, Cyclops’s voice drifted up to us, but I doubted they were aware I was listening in. “She doesn’t need a father. She already has a man in her life who thinks of her as a daughter.”
Professor Nash lowered his teacup to his saucer. “Yes, I do think of her like that. It’s perceptive of you to notice that I’m a father figure to her.”
“I meantI’ma father figure for Sylvia.”
“I think you’ll find that she seesmethat way. Sorry, Cyclops.”
“You’re very important to her, of course, but I already have three daughters, so I’m an expert at being a father to girls.”
Ella, who’d been passing, stopped to scold Cyclops. “The fact you just called your three grown daughters girls, not women, proves you don’t have a clue what makes us tick.”
Cyclops pouted. “Lulu’s still a girl.”
