Status Updates From The Unselected Journals of ...

Emma, Pierce, Islington, and Young Hawkes all at one dinner?? I AM HERE FOR IT

^“You went?”

“I did. Mostly because I expected your sanctimonious company.”

It was said without his batting an eye.

It was also said without my batting a duke.^

Oh goodness 😂

^Father always liked fall best. Mother claimed it was his natural melancholy.

I don’t agree. One doesn’t have to prefer spring to be a contented soul.^

Amen 🗣️

The kind of story that makes me burst out laughing which prompts my husband to ask if I’m ok. 😂 I love Emma!

^To compose oneself—such a strange phrase. As if one were a musical score. If I were, what would I be? Emma M. Lion in D Minor?^

^“Women wear bustles,” she snipped, as if I were a piece of thread.^

What an excellent line for a seamstress!

^“Am I correct in guessing you were the woman who nearly fell off the stage?”

“It was deliberate!”

(It wasn’t.)

(He never need know.)^

^Cousin Archibald’s leg is bothering him. He sits on the stairs in the hall and rails against humanity.

It makes me like humanity all the more.

And Cousin Archibald less.^

🫢🫢🫢

^“Sometimes Emma Lion, strange one that she is.”

“Strange!”

“It’s a compliment.”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” he insisted evenly.

“How?” I challenged.

“Strange is nice.”

“Is it?” I repeated.

Pierce gave his head a single shake. “Strange is that unexpected moment that stays with you, that makes you think about it again. Strange is memorable, and compelling.”^

Me: hmmmmmmm 🤨🤨

^What, I wondered, was the word for the eliminating of one’s aunt? I could not find it. Apparently, avunculicide—the killing of one’s uncle—is as close as one gets. Why? Are aunts not worth the bother? Are they immortal due to some bargain which should not be mentioned in polite society? Parricide is the killing of a close relative. Would that do? My question is left unanswered.^

Oh my…

Well, I’ve never heard of “bluestocking” before 🧐