A Secret Ambition

IX

Lily craved just a trickle of Jackie's confidence.

"But surely it has not always been so simple for you," Lily fished. "Did you ever make any mistakes? Even silly ones?"

Jackie's green eyes widened as she gushed, "Oh, yes. Do not remind Papa of them, please. I never thought I would hear the end of it from several of the men at the publishing house." She rolled her eyes at the memory. "The first time Papa ever let me at the printing press I accidentally wound up printing a run of books backwards," she confessed sheepishly. "Papa was not exactly pleased."

Lily clapped her hand over her mouth in shock as Jackie continued.

"In my defence, they were not entirely wasted. They made excellent kindling the following winter."

Lily stifled a laugh as Jackie smiled.

"It is alright. You can laugh. I felt like a right and utter fool and don't you think that those men did not make me feel it every time Papa was not near."

"I am sorry for that," Lily said once she had composed herself. "For your mistake, and for what followed after."

Jackie shook her head. "I learned from it. That is all you can do when you make a mistake. That, and learn to stand your ground when a man thinks he can call you an 'idiot' and get away with it."

"I feel I have much to learn from you, Jackie. How is it that I am your elder?"

"Barely my elder." Jackie's brows furrowed as she put and arm around Lily. "We both learned how to boil water last night," she reminded Lily with a grin. "I do not pretend to be an expert on anything except for giving back as good as I get to men who think I don't belong. Besides, come the Season, it is I who will be learning from you. I am only grateful that I am to debut alongside you."

"It will be nice to have one another," Lily agreed.

"Yes," confirmed Jackie, "that is one reason. The other is that who on earth would be looking at me when Lily Beresford is in the ballroom. I shall be a perfect wallflower and return to work in the autumn."

***

"Lily! In here now!" Callan barked. The door to his office was open, and so his voice could be heard. Callan had taken to calling Lily by her first name. He had not asked permission, but it had come naturally to him. It felt rather impersonal to be calling someone 'Miss Bennett' after he had gone to the effort of saving her from her own fiery mess.

It had been a week since the fire, and the smell of smoke was only just starting to dissipate. It was a wonder that none of them had caught their deaths from having the windows open continuously in late January. In the end, all that had been destroyed was one of the armchairs, the other having only been damaged a little. The integrity of the floor seemed strong enough, though the smoke staining on the walls and ceiling warranted fresh wallpaper when Callan had the time and money to commit to it.

Lily bounded into his office like an obedient puppy, and he could see through the glass wall that she had immediately abandoned her task. She had been charged with organising Callan's chaos. It was an impossible task, really. One that she was meant to fail at.

Callan had not been optimistic when Lily had returned the day after the fire. He had not exactly been a personable employer, but then he'd never possessed a warm reputation. But he had assumed that Lily was a little too delicate to possess any sort of determination. He had set her up to fail, essentially, just so that he would have an excuse to be rid of her.

Not that Lily setting his building on fire was not already excuse enough.

But Lily had returned with a quiet sort of dedication. He was not heartless in the way that he could see Lily was embarrassed by her mistake, and he was not too unfeeling not to recognise when someone was making a considered effort.