Page 42 of Emma & Edmund

"I've been hiding in the woods my entire life," He corrected but chuckled good-naturedly all the same.

"Exactly. What gentleman should be denied the joys of London?"

"Is it truly as great a place as you claim?" Edmund sounded more amused than curious, finishing his drink.

"You will soon see for yourself. Once the curse is broken, you'll have to visit immediately."

At her words, Edmund hummed despondently. "Even then, I suppose I still will be a gentleman stuck in the woods, even if no longer in hiding."

"Nonsense! The loyalty of your staff brought them out here, they will be more than happy to return with you."

"Perhaps you're right." Emma could hear the lilt in his voice that came with a smile that only tilted one corner of his lips. She should have paused to wonder when she had become so familiar with his intonations, but there was no care to be found for the fact.

"Of course, I am. And we can discuss how right I am over another drink," Emma took both empty cups by the handle, "Charlie said he would treat us," she nodded to their previous admirers, still crowded around the bar.

"All right," Edmund acquiesced with a chuckle, watching her push away from the table, chair scraping on the floor. "But be careful.”

When she returned with a fresh round, after a clapping on the back by an ever drunker, ever apologetic Charlie, it was more than easy to fall back into friendly, boisterous conversation.

"You didnot! A whole oak? It was just a sapling, wasn't it?" Emma nearly dropped her cup as Edmund finished a story.

"It was one hundred years old, at least. And I was just a boy then, could probably do far more now!"

The drink went down easily, and a new cup seemed to appear almost the moment hers became empty.

"Don't tell me you fell for that," Edmund scoffed when Emma told of one of her first admirers.

"Not for long! My heart turned cold when I overheard him saying the same thing to Sophia Hawthorne not two weeks later. In the park, of all places!"

"Oh, is that so much worse than an empty staircase?"

"Infinitely. No one overheard us, did they?"

"Not that you know of," Edmund said seriously, leaning in over the table. "For all you're aware, there was another girl just out of sight, realizing he had told her the same thing at another party not two weeks before."

"Oh, stop it!"

When their cups ran dry once more, Emma stood for another. But when she stumbled to her feet, she could have gasped at how empty the room was. Less than half of the night's patrons remained, and many looked half asleep in their chairs. The table of gentlemen was deserted, along with most of those who attached themselves to the bar.

"It cannot possibly be that late, can it?" At her dumbfounded words, Edmund stood, offering her his hand.

"Come, we better get moving. Anthony could burst through the door at any moment."

"But what if we miss her?" Emma said, even as she complied, frantically looking from one corner to the next, as if the fortune teller would simply appear out of thin air.

"I think we may already have."

There was no sadness, no remorse in his tone, but it was made up for aplenty in Emma's gut. Casting a farewell wave to Rose, Emma followed Edmund into the dark, silent street.

As they retraced their steps out of town, ever-worsening thoughts swirled through Emma's mirky mind.

What if the woman had come and Emma, so wrapped up in conversation as they were, had missed her? She was the lookout, after all. But try as she might to search her memory, there was no flash of a burgundy scarf, no jangle of beads. No woman other than herself and Rose at all, even. But perhaps the woman was just as disguised as herself?

Or, far more likely, she realized, she was never going to come. It was all a joke, a fool and her borrowed money easily parted. Annie was probably having a good laugh somewhere with a pocketful of Edmund's coin, calling them for the fools they were.

"I'm sorry," Emma mumbled as they reached the edge of the forest where just hours ago, the threshold marked their entrance to temporary fake lives. She had no notion of the night turning into such a lovely time, only to be capped by such disappointment.

"Whatever for?" Edmund offered his hand to help her over a particularly high rock blocking the path, his mask pocketed the moment they achieved seclusion.

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