Tea

Mary's dress is white lace, just like the one in Lily's portrait. He's moved it from Colin's room to the library, to the place over the fire where her eyes can watch him watching them.

Colin has grown four inches in ten months. Archibald is a tall man under his hunch, and Colin is beginning to favor him. This no longer fills him with despair.

"Come sit with us," Mary calls to him, smiling, from the round table where the children take tea.

He smiles from the shadows of his desk, preferring to watch them a moment more.


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