Chapter Twenty-Four
~May 20~
Charles had thought his cousin’s idea to hold a dinner party to see how Elizabeth got along with his watchmaking colleagues was a good one… Until he realized it would involve telling his mother. He couldn’t very well have a dinner party without her. But how he was going to tell her, and why, was not going to be easy.
He’d thought about it for two nights in a row, practically unable to sleep. He’d spent countless hours in his room, pacing back and forth, going over all the different ways he might tell her and preparing counter-arguments to her possible responses.
“Charles, out with it!” his mother said, barging into his room.
He stopped short, staring at her. “Out with what?”
“Whatever it is that has you pacing,” she said in a most exasperated voice. “You
