August 4, 1859

August 4, 1859

Dear Lucy,

Isn’t the entire thing interesting?  Now you’ve hurt my feelings.  And you should know that your grandmother always did things that she shouldn’t have been doing, like falling in love with her friend’s uncle.  That was one of her lovely quirks that we all had to live with.

I’m very happy that you haven’t lost any weight.  Now you just have to gain all of that weight back.  Well, we’ll deal with that after you tell me how things went with Duncan.  When were you going again?  And that seems like a very . . . nice old woman.  Well, I’m an old woman myself, so I’ll just call her a nice lady, how does that sound?

I think I’ll continue the story now.  After her accident, Sara had to stay at her home for many weeks.  She had twisted her wrist and broken her ankle.  Julia spent most of her time there, sometimes even staying overnight, if she ended up going home late at night.  Often times Fred would come over for dinner.  Just as often, Sara would say that she had something to do during dinner, or that she wasn’t hungry, and would go to her room.  Julia knew that her friend was lying, but she didn’t care.

Fred turned out to be all that Julia had hoped and more.  He was funny, charismatic, and had an opinion and wasn’t afraid to show it.  He could cook and clean better than anyone she had ever met.  He could fistfight like a sailor and sword fight like a gentleman.  He was everything that she had ever hoped for in a man.

One afternoon when Sara was almost healed and could walk again by herself, the two girls were in Sara’s kitchen and were preparing a fruit salad for a snack.  Sara said girlishly, “So, how do you like my uncle?  Don’t you think he’s handsome?”

“Sara!  He’s your uncle!” Julia scolded, blushing slightly.

Sara pouted.  “He’s my relative and I’ll talk of him any way I want.”  Then she smiled mischievously.  “I think he likes you.  And not just as a friend.”

Julia fumbled with her knife and pricked her thumb.  “Look what you made me do,” she muttered.  After she had stopped the bleeding she turned to her friend and said, “I think of your uncle as a man who has shown me kindness in a world full of strangers, and I’m thankful for that.  Now don’t talk any more of this, for all of our sakes.”

“Whatever you say!” Sara said in a singsong voice.  Julia just rolled her eyes, but she was glad that the conversation was over.  For the moment.

A few hours later Fred arrived for dinner.  He had made grilled chicken with some vegetables.  They couldn’t have fancy feasts in the fortress, considering how far deep inside the mountain they were.  But somehow Fred always managed to have something good.

“What happened to your finger?” he asked with concern.

Julia laughed.  “It’s nothing.  It was just an accident.  It’ll heal fast, rest assured.”

“How could I not, with such reassurances?” he said mischievously.

Julia blushed against her will.  To change the subject, she said, “That chicken looks amazing!  How do you always get such good food here?”

Fred looked around, as if he were expecting the police to jump out of nowhere and arrest him, and whispered, “I left the mountain to get it.”

Julia gasped.  Ever since there had been suspicion of a spy, no one had been allowed to leave, not even for supplies.  “How did you get out?”

He smiled, his eyes laughing.  “You know those tunnels we were going down, when Sara got injured?  If we had gone further, we would have come to the outside.  No one patrols there, so I can come and go as I please without anyone else knowing.  Not until just now, that is.”

Julia laughed.  “You’ve known about this all the time and haven’t told anyone?  What if the spy was using that to bring information to the mainlanders?”

Fred shook his head, also laughing.  “I assure you, no one else knows about those tunnels.  Do you want me to take you there someday?  It must be so boring, stuck here without anyone to talk to besides Sara.”

Julia fidgeted.  “I don’t know, it seems kind of reckless. . . .”

“Who would catch us?  Please, I insist.  I’ll bring two lanterns this time,” he insisted.

Your grandmother sighed.  “Fine, I suppose.  When will we go?”

“How about tomorrow, around one o’clock?” he suggested.

Julia bit her lip.  “Okay.  That sounds good.”

Frederick smiled brightly.  “Really?  That’s great!  Now let’s eat before the chicken gets even colder.”

I suppose that’s a good enough place to stop.  Have you gone on your picnic with Duncan yet?

Yours truly, Safiya

Author's Note

Sorry it's taken me a while to get this chapter up. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Reviews

[Bella-Marie]

I don't think it needs any critisizm at all! It's a great little chapter of Julia and Lucy and Safiya's lives. Really good work.
I like the way you've added an intruging question at the end.