Kaatjie was going to get in so much trouble for this. She had spent days agonizing over the location for her meeting with her father, only to settle on The Three Broomsticks because it was public and inside and felt less fancy than the teashop. She snuck out of the house when Cousin Adriana was having a tantrum, and was significantly early to the meeting time. She ordered an English Breakfast tea. If the bartender thought it was odd for a reasonably-well-off child to be sitting alone at The Three Broomsticks, she didn't say anything.

In the most recent letter, she told her father that you'll know me when you see me. Kaat had to hope that was true — her whole life, she'd looked like a slightly paler shadow of her mother, so much so that sometimes she thought it haunted her uncle. She had to rely on that, for her father to believe who she was — but she would certainly know him when he came in.

She watched the front door, sipped her tea, crossed her legs at the ankles. She was nearly shaking with excitement. But what if he didn't like her?