Page 2 of Hearts of Briarwall

“Andrew,” Lydia answered.

“Andrew is forbidding you from sitting in Parliament?” Florrie looked to Violet, who was laughing, then back to Lydia. “This is a scheme of yours I’ve not yet heard. Though I wouldn’t put it past you. You do realize, don’t you, that you’ll need to go a little further above your brother to reach this new goal of yours?” She sipped her tea, eyes sparkling.

“Parliament isnota goal of mine,” Lydia stated. “Only thevote. If I’m important enough to govern my home, then—”

“—you’re important enough to have a say in how you’re governed,” they completed for her in unison.

She narrowed her eyes but continued. “I was merely lounging upside down on the settee, and Violet warned that Andrew would forbid me from reading if he found me in that pose, and I told her he would sooner have me never sit again. That isall.”

“Oh, well, that clears up everything.” Florrie gave Lydia a charming half-smile, mischief in her blue eyes. “Are you certain you don’t want to run for Parliament? Papa would finance your campaign, I’m certain of it.”

Lydia shook her head at her friend. “Your papa would tell us to settle down and then offer to send us to Paris for a fitting at Worth’s.”

Florrie’s eyes grew wide, a look Lydia had seen a thousand times. “Oh, let’s tell him! IadoreParis!”

“Tell whom what?”

All three girls turned as a petite, walnut-haired beauty entered the room.

Florrie leaned forward in her chair. “Papa is sending us to Paris because Andrew is forbidding Lydia from running for Parliament and sitting upside down.” She tilted her head at the dog. “Or was it reading books?” Nibs tilted his head in return.

Lydia answered, “Sitting,” as Violet said, “Reading books.”

Ruby Burke stared, eyes round. “So, we are going to ... Paris?”

Lydia bit her cheeks as Florrie nodded enthusiastically and Violet soberly shook her head. A rush of affection for these delightful girls coursed through her veins.

Ruby took a breath, settling her shoulders. “Shall I go back out and come in again?”

Violet folded her arms. “I believe that would be wise, yes.”

Ruby turned without another word and left the room, her heels clicking on the parquet floor in the corridor.

The three remaining girls looked to each other, quickly composing themselves.

In another moment, Ruby reappeared in the doorway. Lydia, Violet, and Florrie stood.

“Ruby,” they said together, “you’re here!”

The customary clasping of hands and kissing of cheeks were exchanged, the door was shut, and tea was poured. Violet took up a notebook and a pencil as Lydia stood.

“Ladies,” Lydia began, “welcome to the eighty-and-ninth weekly meeting of ‘The Wendy League.’ Do you swear to secrecy and silence?”

“We do,” the other girls answered.

“Florrie, will you lead us in the motto?”

Florrie stood, bouncing Nibs in her arms. After an eyebrow lift from Violet, she set the dog down and straightened her shoulders. “Like Wendy Darling at the nursery window, we seize the opportunity to fly.”

The others stood and, chins lifted, repeated the motto. “We seize the opportunity to fly.”

Just as it had for almost two years, warmth washed over Lydia at speaking those words. And just as they had for almost two years—ever since they’d attended the magical playPeter Panby J.M. Barrie at the Duke of York’s Theatre together—the four girls grinned at one another.

They were notThe Wordsworth Ladies, the name she’d used to convince Andrew to allow them to hold their official meetings in this seldom-used morning room. They wereThe Wendy League.

And while the odd novel was mentioned, and book titles were tossed about for the ruse, more important things were discussed. Courage, aspirations, community, womanhood, and ... men. It could not be denied that while Peter Pan refused to grow up, the boys who had caught the eyes of the Wendy League certainly had.

Long ago, the girls had decided that Wendy’s brush with the boy who could fly changed her forever, for the better. She must’ve sought out adventure after soaring in the skies, must’ve been fearless after facing pirates, and must have had a better understanding of boys after finding homes for the Lost Boys.

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