Forever and Forever (Historical Proper Romance) by Josi S. Kilpack

own ambitions to talk with a young man in his final days.
    “I might go on ahead,” Molly said, causing both Fanny and Mr. Longfellow to look at her. “With Mr. Longfellow to accompany you, Fanny, I could see that the rest of the tea is ready when you return. I am quite famished today—perhaps from all the walking.”
    “Of course,” Mr. Longfellow said before Fanny could answer, bold again. “Tell your father and brother that we will be but twenty minutes behind you.”
    “I shall,” she said. As she increased her pace she turned back long enough to catch Fanny’s eye and flash a mischievous grin.
    There was no remedy for the situation Molly had created. Fanny could not beg out of Mr. Longfellow’s company, but found that she did not want to now that she had an opportunity to talk with him alone.
    Mr. Longfellow asked what she thought of Zurich, and she expressed the same feeling she had told Molly earlier regarding how she missed Interlaken.
    “Yes, I have felt the same nostalgia for that place,” Mr. Longfellow agreed. He was walking with his hands clasped behind his back, holding the notebook. “It was like heaven on earth. I will forever remember Interlaken with great fondness.”
    “But it is not your favorite place in Europe,” Fanny said, glad to know they shared such a liking for Interlaken. “Do you not like Italy best?”
    “I adore Italy to be sure, especially Florence,” he said with a nod, then glanced at her. “But Interlaken awakened me in ways that Italy never did.”
    He couldn’t mean that Fanny had awakened him. It was far too brazen a comment for a man of such humble nature. She kept her gaze straight ahead, embarrassed to have considered such an interpretation of his words.
    “I look forward to seeing Germany,” she said. “Father says we will spend several weeks there before we go on to Paris.”
    “Yes, I told him of Basel, and he was quite eager to visit. You will enjoy Germany, Miss Fanny. It is a great place for art, and the food is incomparable, to say nothing of the people. They are among the best I have ever met. I have a good many friends in Germany.”
    “It is lucky for us to have a guide such as yourself,” she said, feeling her cheeks warm at her own boldness. She only meant what she said—as a man who spoke German fluently he would be an asset—but she could feel the potential interpretation of her own words, and it made her feel awkward.
    “I am pleased to be included,” Mr. Longfellow said. “Your father is generous to cover some of my expenses in return.”
    Why did she feel a stab of disappointment at the reminder of their different situations? “He is a very generous man.”
    They reached the market, and Mr. Longfellow helped in the transaction with the German-speaking clerk. Watching him interact with a stranger, speaking words she did not understand, showed his skill. He was confident and laughed at something the clerk said.
    Fanny knew humor was especially hard to grasp within language. She had been in Europe for a year, and other than a few key phrases, mostly regarding directions or greetings, she had learned very little of the languages she’d encountered. The French she had learned as a child had come back enough to make her feel a bit confident, but her ability was not such that she ever took charge of a conversation.
    Mr. Longfellow finished the transaction and took the paper-wrapped parcel of cheeses.
    “Danke,” Mr. Longfellow said—one of the few German words Fanny understood. What would it be like to converse easily in a language so different than the one you were taught from birth?
    Mr. Longfellow held the door of the shop for Fanny, and they continued their journey back to the Appletons’ rooms. Mr. Longfellow was staying at another inn that he said was not very comfortable.
    “What is your favorite language to speak, Mr. Longfellow?” Fanny asked when the silence between them felt too long.
    “Ah, that is a difficult question to