Outside of the closed doors leading to the massive banquet hall, I handed Elena her bouquet and she took it with shaking hands. I placed my own over hers in the moment she reached for them and whispered. "You're going to do wonderfully. And then it's happily ever after."

She smiled at me and gave a nod before turning back to face the doors. Her father sauntered over, looping his arm through hers, and whispered something in her ear. She didn't respond but rested her head gently on his shoulder before the muffled music began. I took a breath and a peek over my shoulder at Ada. She was standing straight, bouquet held rigidly in her white knuckled grasp. Nothing could sober you up faster than marching down a long aisle in front of hundreds of people.

Ada and I went first, making our way to the front and standing off to the side as everyone stood to welcome the bride. I couldn't help but smile as those elegant double doors swung open and a proud Mr. Edward Langley stepped into the hall with his stunning daughter on his arm. She had been beautiful in the dressing room but here, the smile on her face when her eyes met that of her beloved, she was the most gorgeous bride I had ever seen. I felt eyes on me all of a sudden and I turned to see Alexander watching me, a smile on his face. I turned away but he kept watching. I wished he wouldn't.

Mr. Harrison was near to tears by the time he accepted Elena's hand from her father and the ceremony was underway. It went smoothly, both of them fighting to maintain their composure as they professed their love for one another in front of their friends and families and made their vows to feel the same way forever. Before I knew it, I was waiting as Ada took the arm of one of Mr. Harrison's business school friends and I stepped forward to meet Alexander.

As the best man and the maid of honor, it was expected that we walk the length of this hall arm in arm, smiling happily for the two people in our lives who had just pledged themselves to one another. Though it was just a part of the ceremony, my heart still nearly leapt from my chest when Alexander's arm made contact with my own. I gripped him loosely as we stepped off of the dais, making our way toward the back of the room.

"You look beautiful," he told me, smiling as he did. "I didn't have the chance to tell you earlier."

"Thank you," I answered, fighting to keep my voice steady. "You look handsome yourself."

"Charlotte, I'd like to speak with you. Before the morning. I-it's important."

We had reached the end of the hall. I separated myself from him the moment we could no longer be seen, sliding away from the doors and away from him.

"Of course," I told him quickly, striding to Ada and placing my hands firmly on her shoulders. "Definitely. But, if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure this one is sobered up for the reception."

I did not give him the chance to respond, choosing instead to push Ada forward, down the hall back toward the dressing room.

"Hey! Let go of me! Where are we going? Charlotte!" Ada was hissing as I dragged her, by the elbow, back down the hall. Eventually, she dug in her heels and came to a stop, yanking her arm free and staring at me. "What's gotten into you, Lottie? Where are you trying to take me? You know damn well I'm back within my right mind."

The effect of her words were diminished by the way she swayed a bit on her feet as she spoke. I raised a brow.

"I've had enough to drink, sure, but I'm still perfectly in control of myself," she relented, blowing a loose strand of hair from her face and meeting my gaze. "Now, what's this about? Why are you yankin' me down the hall like some sort of misbehavin' tike?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Ada. I just... I was worried that you were still a little too... well, I was worried that you might make a scene."

"We were already out of the ceremony. And everybody's gonna be drinking at the bar or talking in the parlor while the servants flip that ballroom for the reception. No one's gonna notice what I'm doing in all that hubbub."

"You're right," I sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Charlotte! Ada!"

We turned to see Jake making his way through the now busy hall toward us. I saw Alexander behind him, chatting happily with some gentlemen near the same age as him. He laughed and clapped one of them on the back as I looked away from him and back to a much more stern faced Jake.

"You're a mess, Ada," Jake growled when he approached, looking out from under the rim of his signature cowboy hat at his cousin. "Out there stumblin' drunk at your friend's own wedding. What were you thinking?"

"You could tell?" Ada asked, astonished,

"Of course I could tell! I know you better than anyone else out there. I hope you did a good enough job to fool Mrs. Langley, at least," Jake scolded. Ada just rolled her eyes and looked away as his eyes met mine. "Everything's arranged for tomorrow. I had hoped that Ada would have informed you as much before now but, given how drunk she is-"

"She told me," I assured him. "And I just want to say again how much I appreciate everything you're doing."

He gave a nod and moved on from my gratitude. "Alexander is all packed. We all are. We board at nine in the morning. I imagine he'll want you there."

I nodded back. "Okay. Ada, when you board, don't forget to-"

"I know, I know. Sign your name in the ship log," she finished for me, rolling her eyes again.

"And don't-"

"Don't let Alexander see it! I know!"

"Do you really think the captain of the ship is on Keene's payroll?" Jake asked, disbelieving.

"How else could the man afford such fine Keene label clothing on a ship captain's salary? And Harold saw him coming from the Keene house late that night, remember? I told you-"

"That's another thing. Harold. Charlotte, I don't like-"

"There you all are!"

Jake was interrupted by a beaming Elena who had noticed her friends standing off to the side, deep in conversation with one another and none of her guests. She had made it clear, long before the wedding, just how important it was to her that we socialized, and she hadn't meant with each other. She gave us a look of silent, smiling admonishment, and we dutifully dispersed. Ada started for the bar but Jake redirected her, not so subtly, to a conversation he was having with a group of unmarried young women. Ada was rolling her eyes so often I was worried she was going to give herself a headache.

Trying to steer clear of Alexander and Mr. Harrison and their group of boisterous old school friends, I found the group farthest from it. A few older gentlemen stood nearby with their wives, having a sip of brandy and discussing the latest of the wool trade. As I had some insight into this particular venture given it was a matter that my employer and I had just discussed last week, I jumped right into their conversation, ignoring the scandalized expression of their wives in favor of the impressed expressions of the men. We engaged in a chat about the market's vulnerability and I spoke eloquently on the impact of the seasons on various fabrics for a good half an hour before their wives tired of it and broke from the conversation, wandering off in search of livelier entertainment.

"Miss Porter, you do seem to have quite the aptitude for business," one of the gentlemen, a Mr. Seymour Hopkins, said after a while. "My secretary is leaving soon for her maternity and, if you're interested-"

"Sincerest apologies, Seymour, but Miss Porter is spoken for, I'm afraid," I turned to see Mr. Edward Langley addressing the men with a wide grin. "She will be assisting me in my investments while my son is off-continent."

"Ah, a lucky man you are, Edward," Seymour winked and took his leave with his companion, off to find their wives. He looked back over his shoulder once before he disappeared and called out. "If he's ever foolish enough to be rid of you, dear."

I chuckled and called back. "I'll keep you in mind, Mr. Hopkins."

His laugh boomed back to us and then faded as they made their way into the crowd. I turned, smiling, back to Mr. Langley, only to find that his own smile had faltered.

"May I speak to you for a moment?" He asked. "In private?"

I nodded and followed the senior Mr. Langley out of the ballroom and into an empty hallway. He waited as a servant rushed by towards the kitchens before speaking to me.

"You should know I've spoken with my son," he began. I steeled myself. I had been expecting this. "He came to me shortly after he agreed to go to America. He asked me to ensure that you were provided for. I agreed, of course, given the fact that you and I had already spoken of this. But he's been making arrangements of his own. He wants you to live here while he's gone."

"Here?" I gasped, incredulous.

"He's even arranged for my wife to stay at his manor in London under the guise of redecorating to keep her busy because he knows how the two of you do not get along. He knows that I will treat you kindly in our business together but I think it's more than that. He wants me to... look after you. He seems to be concerned for your safety. Miss Porter, you told me that my son was in danger. But, are you?"

I considered him for a moment, deciding how truthful I wanted to be with Edward Langley. He had trusted me, had given me a chance from the very moment we'd met. He deserved the truth. I wouldn't put anymore unwitting families in danger. I nodded and he sighed.

"The same man who is after your son is after me as well," I confessed. "But you know that I have a plan to be rid of him, to see him face justice. I can't do that if I'm staying here with you."

He nodded, thinking. "I understand that. I know that you have to do what you have to do but, remember, Nathaniel and Elena don't know what we're up to. If they should come to call-"

"They'll be expecting me to be here," I finished the thought for him, muttering a curse under my breath. I realized what I had done the moment the word was out of my mouth but Edward Langley, surprisingly, only smiled. "I can stay here, then. Sometimes. And sometimes I'll stay... elsewhere. You'll write to me if you know of Mr. Harrison and Elena's arrival beforehand?"

"I will. I'll send it with Fiona."

I nodded.

"We should get back out there," he said then. "Before anyone notices we're gone."

I agreed and we grabbed some nearby bottles of wine from a servant rushing by and reentered the ballroom, passing it off with those near us that Mr. Langley had gone to get some finer bottles of wine and had requested my assistance in doing so. The ladies nearest the door were so pleased by the arrival of fresh bottles that they hardly saw fit to gossip about the appearance of them. I dropped off the bottles and made my way back into the crowd.

I mingled, at Elena's request, for the rest of the evening and, when we all headed outside to cheer for the happy newlyweds as they sped off toward home in their carriage, I slumped down on the stone steps outside of the Langley manor as everyone else filed away, either to their own carriages and the ride home or back inside for more boozy celebration. I slid my feet from my heels and groaned at the aching in them. I stretched out my toes and froze when I heard a chuckle from behind me.

"I've never envied that of women," the familiar voice said. "Those shoes look dreadful."

I turned to see a smiling Alexander. He held two glasses in his hands, both full of wine of the deepest crimson I had ever seen. He took a seat and held a glass out to me. I raised a brow.

"I thought you didn't care for unmarried women drinking in public," I said in reference to something Elena had told me long ago.

Alexander chuckled.

"It's a wedding. And besides," he began, peering around us to find that no one else was around, "it's not so public out here."

I took the glass and sipped, looking around as I did. He was right. We were the only ones who had remained outside with nothing around us but cold stone steps and moonlight.

"Charlotte-" he began at the same time that I said "We don't-"

We fell into uncomfortable laughter and I motioned for him to go on.

"I don't want you to think that my leaving has anything to do with... well, us. I mean, with what's between us. Or, I mean-"

"I know."

He smiled. I knew him well enough, by now, to know that he had more to say so I waited for him to determine how to do so.

"It isn't easy, leaving you here like this," he told me finally.

"Your father has graciously allowed me to manage his account while you're away. With the assistance of himself and Mr. Harrison, of course. He's even offered me a room in his own home but I expect you already know about that," I told him and watched as the corners of his lips pulled into that intoxicating smirk that I had grown overly fond of. "I'm well provided for here."

"You could come with us."

At that, my eyes snapped to his. I started, cautiously. "Alexander-"

"Ada doesn't want to go. She keeps saying she's homesick but I think she has reservations about leaving London too. I'm not even convinced that Jake wants to go, not truly, just that he feels that he has a duty too. And he feels that I have a duty to as well. But you could come along, finally see all of those places that we all talk about, meet some of the men who-"

"Alexander," I stopped him with a laugh. "Can you honestly see me in America? Parading around the Wild West with the three of you?"

I raised a brow and he chuckled. "I think you're the sort of woman who can do just about anything she sets her mind to, Charlotte."

I couldn't help but smile at the sentiment. I had been doing my best to keep Alexander at arms length these past few months, maintaining our focus on business and business only, infusing as much professionalism as I could back into our working relationship. But I couldn't deny that I had missed this easy banter, our conversations which made me feel more comfortably myself than anyone else ever had. But, perhaps, that was the problem.

"I know that you might need some time," he said then, interrupting my thoughts, and I could tell, from the look on his face, that whatever he was about to say was the true reason he had tracked me down out here, "away from me, I mean, and from whatever this is," he gestured between us, "but I'm hoping that, when I return, maybe we can talk about it."

I sighed. I hadn't hoped to do this. Especially not here, not now. I had hoped that I could avoid this conversation in the excitement of the wedding and the early departure but he had sought me out.

"It's not about the time, Alexander," I told him. I stared at the wine, swirling it in the glass in my hand. I couldn't look at him. Not for this. "It isn't about needing time, or space, or whatever else. It's that it can't happen. Even if we were to talk about it. That would only make it hurt worse. You know how these things go. Just tonight, we celebrated two of our friends promising their lives to one another, getting married, and it's been amazing but it was possible because they're the same. It was acceptable because of who they are, because of their names. My name is... it's nothing. I mean, to them at least."

I expected anger or perhaps even tears, at least an expression of hurt. Instead, he turned his gaze away from me, out to the vast yard before us. He took a sip of his wine and sat in silence for some time.

"Some day, Charlotte, you'll finally understand that I care about as much about what they say as you do," he told me then, standing from where he had been sitting at my side and giving a few swipes of his hand against his trousers to rid himself of the dirt gathered there. "When that day comes, I'll be waiting."

With that, he was gone, turned on his heel and headed back for the house, leaving me alone in the cold winter evening to consider what he had said. I was only alone for a moment, though, before another voice spoke up from behind me.

"It's killing him, Charlotte."

I didn't turn around. I knew Jake's voice without looking. I sighed and stood.

"It actually will if he stays," I said.

"Charlotte-"

I stopped. I looked up at Jake. He had that look in his eyes that I had come to know very well over the past few months, the look which told me that he was about to attempt the same conversation he had tried to have with me for months now, the same one I always shut down.

"Don't, Jake," I said, just as I always did but, this time, there was a bit more emotion in it than I intended. "Don't tell me things I cannot have. It's cruel."

Then I simply walked past him, leaving him out on those cold stone steps and making my way back inside to the guests who were so far into their cups they didn't even notice me. I saw Alexander in the corner, talking to his mother and father, saying goodbye if the way his mother was hugging him was any indication.

"Are you ready?" Ada asked. I nodded and followed her out through the back door where Harold was waiting. He gave me a nod as we climbed into the carriage and he drove off toward the Langley manor. Given the thickness of our gowns and the height of our hair, there really wasn't enough room in the carriage for anything but myself and Ada. Harold would come back for Alexander and Jake but it was unsuitable for the brother of the bride to leave before the last guest had stumbled out into their carriage for the evening ride home.

We didn't speak at all through the journey, not even when we made our way inside and up the stairs. We communicated solely in grunts and gestures as we helped extricate one another from the complicated laces and corsets. Finally, when I was redressed into a far more suitable, comfortable gown, I began to pack, pulling the small leather bag from my closet and placing what few items I owned into it, the few things I had left here when I'd moved home with my family. Ada joined me without a word, grabbing a few knick knacks from my shelves and wrapping them carefully in a scarf Victoria had recently made me now that she was practicing her knitting skills before the baby arrived.

The first actual word we said to each other since getting into the carriage was goodnight. We didn't seem capable of saying anything else as Ada made her way out of my room, closing the door tightly behind her. I sighed when she was gone and looked around the room that I had occupied for months. It was back to the way it looked on that first day, when I stepped across that threshold with nothing but a few dresses and myself. I sat down on the bed and ran the familiar quilt through my fingers. Alexander had made me promise to stay in the manor tonight so that I would not miss seeing them off in the morning. Taking a shaky breath, I laid myself down and forced my eyes closed, praying sleep would come.

Before I knew it, someone was prodding me lightly in the shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Maggie sitting on the corner of my bed. She smiled down at me but there was something very sorrowful in her eyes.

"They're getting ready to head to the dock," she told me, placing a hand on my leg though, whether it was to comfort me or steady herself, I wasn't sure. I could not mistake the moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes when she spoke the next part. "I thought you might want to go with them."

I nodded and sat up.

"Thank you, Maggie."

She stood and made her way to the door. She paused there for a moment as if she had something to say, but then just walked on out of the room, leaving me alone once more. I dressed as quickly as I could, gathered the things that Ada and I had packed the night before, and made my way out of my room and down the stairs. Jake and Alexander were standing, fully dressed for travel, right in front of the door, heads bent together in conversation of their plans. Ada turned to look at me as I descended the stairs and the sorrow in her eyes was not so well hidden as Maggie's. I could tell she was fighting every moment to avoid tears.

"Charlotte, there you are," Alexander said after a moment, smiling over to me as I set my things down at the foot of the stairs to pull on the gloves that Bernard had given me. "Wonderful. We can get going, then. Our things are already packed in the carriage my father let us borrow last night so that we can ride with Harold. We'll be waiting when you're ready. Bernard, would you mind carrying Miss Porter's things out for her?"

"Not at all, sir," Bernard answered with a smile and Alexander, Jake, and Ada all turned to leave the house, making their way down the walk to the waiting carriages.

Bernard bent to gather my bag and I spoke quietly to him, "You'll watch the mail?"

He stood up, bag in hand, and smiled at me, "Religiously."

"Good. Start with this one," I told him, slipping a small envelope from my sleeves into his hand. He nodded and slid it into his pocket, smiling sadly up at me. I smiled back and gave him an appreciative pat on the arm before walking on to the awaiting carriage, the dutiful butler at my back.

Once everything was in order, Harold drove us on toward the docks. Ada chose to stare solemnly out the window while Jake and Alexander spoke seriously about the journey. I listened with a smile, nodding along at the appropriate times and doing my best to quell the strange queasiness developing in the pit of my stomach.

Finally, we arrived. Ada, with a humph of anger, stomped immediately onto the boat without looking back. Jake assisted Harold in unpacking all of their bags, handing me my own to take with me, of course. Alexander and I lingered near the carriage. It had come time to say a few very simple words that we each dreaded. He cleared his throat and reached back into his pocket before pulling out an odd, slim box. He handed it to me. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I took it. I slid the lid open and my jaw dropped in surprise.

I reached inside and pulled out the shiny thin strand, letting it dangle in the air in front of me, glinting back the ocean waves in the morning sun. I just blinked at it in absolute shock.

"Do you like it?" Alexander asked.

"I-how... you remembered."

He smiled as I clasped the small turquoise turtle in my palm. Before, I had been fine, resolute in my determination to see this through, not to shed any tears at our parting. I had promised myself that I wouldn't. But I had never expected this. For him to remember this necklace, something that someone had mentioned I had liked so offhand and so long ago, it broke something within me that I had managed to keep together until now. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes a moment later.

"Of course I remembered," he told me then with a smile so wonderfully him that I nearly wanted to call the whole plan off that moment if it meant he might stay here with me. "Charlotte, I'll always remember."

I smiled through the gathered moisture in the corners of my eyes as Jake called out to us, "Are you ready, Alex?"

Alexander nodded and turned. He looked back to me and seemed to be debating on the best way to say goodbye. After a moment, he reached over and gave my arm a gentle squeeze that sent my heart straight into my throat, and then he turned and joined Jake who was making his way onto the ship. He gave a little wave before disappearing into the hull and I waved back even though I knew he could no longer see me.

"What now?" Harold's voice asked from just over my shoulder. I could feel him standing behind me as I gripped that little turquoise turtle in my fist so tightly that the edges cut into the skin of my palm.

"Now," I answered him as the crew of the ship began untying the ropes, "we begin."