Chapter 42

MAY 2ND

M onday, mid-morning, Annice made it back to Whitby and to the house about twenty minutes before Ruth knocked. It had been a rush. Tea with Harriet had turned into a long conversation that Annice was still thinking about. From there, they'd gone on to supper with a handful of other people. It had been a long day, full of many things, and dragging herself out of bed had been hard this morning.

But needs must, and she'd let matters drag out in Whitby too long. She wanted to talk to Ruth first, about what she had in mind. Then they could go along for tea with Aunt Sarah and whoever else, and talk the rest of it out. Griffin would be busy all day and then some. He didn't expect her back until mid-evening.

Ruth knocked, then opened the door to find Annice at the downstairs table. "There ye are." Ruth looked not frazzled, exactly, but definitely worn down. "And what have you been doing, then? You look..." Ruth took a step back, considering, before she poured herself some tea from the pot. "You look happy."

"I am happy." Annice couldn't help twisting the ring on her finger, it wasn't as if she'd taken it off. She looked forward to eventually cutting that gorgeous sea-storm of a sapphire, when she felt she could do it justice. But she liked having something that slid smoothly around on her finger, sturdy and even. She took a breath and let it out. "Look, I've got some things to sort out, but I think you'll like what I have in mind. And then we can tell your mam."

Ruth pulled out the chair and sat down, elbows on the table. "And what's that, then?"

"First, um." Annice couldn't help blushing. "I'm engaged. To Griffin. And he's got to be in Trellech, for more than a few reasons. He didn't rush me and we're expecting a longer engagement, time to make sure of it."

"And where are you staying in Trellech, then? That inn?" Ruth had cocked her head now, as if evaluating how good the haul on one of the fishing boats was, calculating a dozen things by eye and practice.

"His flat. Little house. I don't know what you call it. Used to be stables, entirely redone. He's got an upstairs, but he doesn't use that much. I can put a workroom there." She blushed more. She could feel the heat of it. "His bedroom. Ours, I guess, now. Still getting used to that."

"And he can keep that sort of thing up? Not be scrabbling to keep you both together, body and soul?" Ruth still sounded cautious. "Fancy men like that, they don't always..." Her voice trailed off.

Annice held out the ring. "He gave me this. I'm learning to cut other stones, not just carve jet, I can sign a proper apprenticeship contract when I'm ready. Free and clear, whatever happens with us, though I'm hoping there's a lot of us to be going on with. Griffin gave me a stone to set when I'm ready. Sapphire, as blue as the sea here, just the right colour." Annice swallowed. "He thinks about things. How to make them work. How to make that sort of life something I could cope with, bit by bit. But I, I love him."

Had she said that to him, directly? She'd have to make sure to do so when she got home. Not that Annice would swear to what she'd said in the throes of delight or the sated aftermath. She certainly felt it, even if Griffin had been kind enough not to press her until she was ready. Ruth was watching her. "You're not just swept off your feet? Though, how would he'd do that?" It had a dismissive edge to it.

"Don't you go getting any wrong ideas, Ruth. We're having a grand time in the bedroom, thank you. Nothing wrong with the relevant bits of him, and so long as you don't make him stand up, it's fine." She could feel her cheeks heating up again. "Much more than fine."

"Eh." That was a little snort, half amused, half dubious. "And he's got reasonable prospects?"

The way Ruth put that made Annice start laughing and laughing. She had to put down her mug of tea, her hands flat on the table, and then she kept laughing until she could barely breathe. "Not a problem. Let me, um. It's a very Trellech thing?"

Ruth looked even more dubious now, peering down her nose the way Aunt Sarah did when she'd decided something was suspicious.

Annice gathered her thoughts. "He's been working for the Courts in Trellech for ages. Um. 1900, something like that. Long apprenticeship, he's a solicitor too, but mostly he works on the magic of the Courts, keeping things running. There's maybe twenty people like him? Or there should be closer to thirty. Steady work, excellent salary. And he's - well. Up at the top of that. The kind of thing that means I need to learn how to eat with fancy forks and knives and make intelligent comments about the wine, at least one or two. And he's set up an appointment for me for frocks with a dressmaker, one of the ones with a shop along the high street."

"Frocks, is it? For fancy things?" Ruth was definitely dubious. "Not going to get too posh to come see us?"

"That's the thing, Ruth." Annice took a breath. "If I'm not going to be here, there's the house here. I wasn't sure I wanted to share. That's complicated. But would you and Sam come live here? Keep the place going. I'd probably want to move some of the workshop, but not yet."

"And what'd we pay you?"

That was something Annice had chewed on this morning. And some of Saturday, too. It seemed kind not to charge any rent, but there was upkeep on the place to consider, and the long-term. "Here's the deal. Very reasonable rent, and if you or Sam want to do the upkeep yourself, we can talk about that as things come up, in exchange for the rent. But it's just you and Sam and whatever kids you have. Not three cousins and an uncle and whoever's got kicked out of their other place to live. Not for long, anyway. I want - " She let out a breath. "I want to know the place is loved and taken care of. That. Not overcrowded and chipped and cracking."

Ruth considered. "Mam's not going to like it."

"Aunt Sarah's not getting the offer. If you don't want it on those terms, I'll find someone else. It's why I wanted to tell you now, so you could figure out what to say later."

"Huh." Ruth swirled the tea in her mug around a couple of times. "What's the place you're in like?"

"Old stables, like I said. All bare floors, no rugs. It's hard with the chair, I guess. But they're heated. There's magic for you. Sensible sort of magic, I think. And lots of hot water. There's a fireplace, and a bit of a garden. If we wanted somewhere else, we could look for it. It's stairs that are a trick. He made it over when he came back after the War. Got help buying it from his Dad, but I guess it wasn't much to start. Not fancy, but practical? Except for the things like the heat."

"Heat's fancy, plenty of days," Ruth agreed. "And there's other people there, not just him?"

Annice bobbed her head. "He found me a talisman maker. Which is the other thing I should tell you. That first?"

"You seem t'be having a lot." Ruth spread her hands out. "That."

"One of the reasons he wanted me to meet her is we'd found those stones. Three of them. She's told me what they do. If you agree, and Aunt Sarah, we could set them up again."

"Huh. What do they do?" Ruth was leaning forward.

"Protection. That bit, maybe I should explain to her, too, at the same time. It's got a bit of an edge."

Ruth waved a hand again. "Right. People?"

"I swear, Griffin knows near everyone in Trellech. Or it seems like it. People at the Courts and the Ministry, but also the theatre and a lovely apothecary, well, three different ones. And his parish church, and he even knows the Bishop. To talk to. We're having supper with him next week. But just - people. Interesting people. They're being kind to me, explaining things. Asking questions, not the nasty sort."

"La! A bishop." Ruth snorted. "Well. All right. We going down to Mam now, or in a bit? She's expecting us for half three."

"If you've got the time, thought we could go through things here. I need to hunt out some of the jet we have here for a project. And you might want a look at the bedrooms and all. Pack up some things to take back with me." Griffin had promised to send someone along to help with a trunk. She wasn't worried about getting it to Trellech.

They turned up down at Aunt Sarah's promptly on time, to the expected amount of chaos. Five minutes later, though, Aunt Sarah had shooed everyone else out of the kitchen. They had tea, and Annice had charged ahead with explaining what she was and wasn't offering. Aunt Sarah's lips got tighter and tighter, but finally she nodded. "Not going to budge ye."

"No." Annice said. "I want to help, but I want to know who's living there, and that the place is kept up well. And I'll come visit, too. We can sort out a regular schedule, if you like." She added, a little less aggressively. "If any of the younger ones want to learn something other than fish, Griffin knows people. Grocers, shops, things like that, as well as crafting. If someone shows promise, wants to learn, that's a way we can help." Like as not, if something happened that needed money, she was pretty sure she and Griffin would help with that too, but not on the regular. That was destructive to family, too. Griffin had seen plenty of that.

"Huh." Aunt Sarah set it aside for the moment. "And the other thing?"

"The stones. I know what they do now." She hadn't brought them with her - they still needed more charging. It wasn't the sort of thing that could be done fast. Especially when she was learning so many other things and using her magic in different ways than she was used to. "But they were meant to keep people safe. I think, um." She swallowed. "We're fairly sure the uncles, that - it's part of why the boat went down. Because the uncles were good sometimes, good to the people around them. And not so much others."

Aunt Sarah sucked in a breath but said nothing.

"So if you didn't want the stones back, I'd understand. They won't work in other places. Needs to be one in my house, one here, one down at Robin Hood Bay. Keeps a stretch of the shore safer, keeps people in the harbour and the houses safer. Bit of blessing, bit of magic to ease things. Not pinching so many pennies."

"Well. I'll think on it." Aunt Sarah looked out, her eyes unfocused, in the direction of the sea. "Sea's a harsh judge. And I can't say as you're wrong about how they were going. Someone was going to be hurt, sooner than later, and probably not them. The protection, is that more for them as can't help themselves? The little ones, and all?"

Annice nodded. "People who didn't get a choice." That had been a fascinating line of discussion with Niobe. The construction of the thing was rather deliberate. More protection for people who didn't have a choice about being there, who didn't have an option to get away. Then more blessings for people who were doing their part to keep things good. It wasn't an antagonistic stone, as Niobe had put it, it was just dividing the world into people who got its blessings and people who didn't. Adding, perhaps, a tiny press of the thumb weighted against people who would make trouble.

Aunt Sarah nodded. "Bring them back, then. Though maybe I won't explain all of that to the menfolk. Not right away. It's my job to keep the house running and the children well."

"Soon as they're ready. A fortnight, maybe. I'll send a note and let you know." Now she took a breath. "Now, catch me up on everything I've missed? How's Fred doing?" The chatter from that got easier, rolling out and filling space and time, until Annice needed to get back to meet whoever was carting the trunk. All in all, it was a fine day, setting things up well for a better future.