Alfred considered saying that he liked her, too, but was concerned that might only serve to brand him as on the side of the enemy in her mind, not to make Caroline any more palatable. He could have pointed out the simple fact that living where she did might get uncomfortable if she and Caroline couldn't see eye to eye, but he wasn't sure that was the right tactic either.

After a moment, he crossed his arms. "I thought when I came back to England after being shipwrecked and lost so long that I'd stay in our old house, where my mother lived. Only I couldn't, because she'd died while I was away and they'd sold the house and I had to stay with Evander instead," he said thoughtfully. "And I hated it. It didn't really have anything to do with the house. It's a fine house. You know. You live there."

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

She couldn't put a finger on where Uncle Alfred was going with his tangent. If he'd given the same speech a year and a half ago when she'd first gone to live with Uncle Evander, it would have made more sense. "My parents are already dead and I don't mind living with Uncle Evander. I like the house," she replied, not sure what he intended her to say to that.

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Alfred frowned slightly at her remarks, but continued on undetered.

"It's a very good house," he allowed. "But I didn't like it, because I only wanted my house. The old house was gone and Evander's house was fine, but I'd spent so long attached to that one house, that one idea of what things ought to be like. I didn't like that I had to change when I didn't want to."

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Charity took deep breaths, trying to keep her face from completely crumbling from frustration. She was starting to understand now, only she didn't want to, because Uncle Alfred was trying to tell her that the only reason she disliked Miss Delaney was because she was a new addition to her life. Uncle Evander had been a new addition at one point, and Uncle Alfred, too, but she'd never disliked them.

"Did you ever think you were burdening him? Did he think of you as a burden?" she asked quietly, and then, "Did you ever worry one day he would tell you to leave, and then you wouldn't have anywhere to go because they'd sold your Mama's house?"

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The following 1 user Likes Charity Lloyd's post:1 user Likes Charity Lloyd's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

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This was perhaps where the metaphor fell apart, because Alfred didn't have to worry about not having anywhere to go even if Evander had rejected him. He was a grown man with (some) life skills, though, and Charity didn't have that level of certainty about her ability to make her own way in the world. The feeling, though, he could empathize with.

"Well, I am a burden," he joked with a lopsided grin. "But in a way. I worried maybe there wasn't a place for me anymore."

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Charity gave a solemn nod, too caught up in her own melancholy to manage a smile.

"I'm a burden, too, you see," she explained, nodding in understanding, "and there won't be a place for me. I know you're about to tell me I'm wrong, but you're my family—you wouldn't tell me even if I was right."

Charity gave a little shrug. There was nothing he could say to sway her; she'd already decided she would belong to the Darrows no longer than it took for Uncle Evander to welcome his first child. Then she'd be sent away—oh, or maybe she'd run off. The life of a runaway seemed more adventurous than the life of a unwanted orphan. She knew—she'd read plenty of books about orphans and all the terrible things they went through.

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"Oh, no," Alfred agreed with another smile in response to her comment that he wouldn't tell her the truth if she was getting edged out. Honestly, it wasn't even possible in a family so large as theirs — he could envision no world at all in which Uncle H didn't offer to adopt her at the drop of a hat should the situation present itself. But if she felt it was likely, whether she was right or not wasn't really the point.

"But I'll tell you a secret," he continued conspiratorially. "It doesn't actually matter."

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The following 1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post:1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post
   Charity Lloyd

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Uncle Alfred was not responding the way she'd thought he would. She thought he would disagree with her, tell her she was wrong. She thought he would try to comfort her, to which she'd push him away and change the subject back to swimming, but he was agreeing with her in a way, and she wasn't sure how to feel—or even what she was feeling at all. Confusion. Alarm. Fear. Curiosity.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her frown slipping away as she was momentarily distracted from her sadness.

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Alfred put his hands in his pockets and shrugged as if to say well, you know.

"People make their own spots in the world," he explained. "Wherever you are is where there's a place for you. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way when things are changing, and that's ok," he said with another small smile. "But eventually you start feeling better, and look around and realize you're in just the right place after all."

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Her frown returned, only this time it less from being sad and more from being unimpressed.

"But what if I just don't belong? What if—what if Miss Delaney wants to take my bedroom and make it into a nursery, and I have to live in the attic because all of their other children will get the other bedroom? I can't belong in an attic. I hate dust," she complained with a very vocal huff. "Or do you mean to say I'll find my place up there, with all the dust mites and the mice and the ghouls? Do you even think we could fit a bed in the attic?"

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Alfred laughed. "I don't think she'll send you to live in the attic," he pointed out diplomatically. "But if she does, then I'll tie a rope from the window to one of the trees and you'll be able to jump out and fly straight down to the ground. And I'll teach you how to climb up onto the roof to see the stars better, and Evander will worry himself sick about it," he joked. "Now come on. You won't learn to swim just standing here, will you?"

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The following 1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post:1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post
   Charity Lloyd

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

A smile crept onto Charity's face, and then she let out a giggle at the image of Uncle Evander yelling at her from the front yard to get off the roof. Maybe living in an attic wouldn't be terrible—or maybe she should see if Uncle Alfred would teach her to get onto the roof anyways. She liked looking at the stars.

"Alright," she conceded, reaching out to grab his hand, "but if we don't see at least one fish I'm going to be mad."

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