Page 4 of Nineteen Eighty

“Oz is fine. He’s with his grandmother today,” Catherine said, but was already angling her body away, eyes searching the crowd for someone else to make small talk with.

Someone who wasn’t as weird and damaged as Elizabeth.

Augustus clapped Connor on the back, and then, in a move awkward for both of them, pulled him in for a quick half-embrace.

“I’m proud of you,” Augustus said. He kept one eye on Anasofiya, who ran and played nearby with Oz and Amelia. He presumed it was some version of tag, as she bobbed and weaved through the flower-laden gazebo, red hair flying, all legs. “You have a bright future ahead.”

“Thanks, Augustus.” Connor dropped his eyes to his feet. “I appreciate you coming today.”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t have missed it.” Augustus cleared his throat. “You’re like a brother to me.” More so than my own, at times.

Connor flushed.

“In every way. Sometimes I’m proud. Sometimes you annoy me…”

They laughed together.

“Any plans for the summer?”

Connor looked past him, and Augustus knew who he was searching for. He’d seen his baby sister wandering around, looking for places to hide in plain sight. He also knew how it pained her to do it, on Connor’s special day.

“Not really.”

Augustus nodded slowly. He slipped an envelope into Connor’s suit jacket and clapped his hand over the spot. “Take Elizabeth somewhere. Not to Baton Rouge, or Destin, I mean somewhere away. Far from here. Europe. Africa.”

Connor started to reach for the envelope, but Augustus stopped him. “It’s money. My gift to you, and an investment in your future. That will pay for at least the summer away, anywhere you want to go.”

“But—”

“You want to marry my sister,” Augustus said. “But she won’t make it through a day like today. You know that. Take her somewhere… inspiring. I don’t have ideas, Connor, this isn’t my area of expertise. Last time I tried to take a woman somewhere…” He cleared his throat again. “Anyway, your family will get over it. Mine will get over it. But Lizzy wouldn’t get over a big wedding. Take her somewhere and marry her, where it’s just the two of you.”

Connor exhaled through a small gap in his lips. “Wow. Thanks, Aggie, I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s not about what we say, Connor,” Augustus said, clapping him on the back once more. “It’s about what we do.” As he walked away, he added, “Congratulations again, brother.”

Colleen slipped her arm through Augustus’ as they watched their children play in the garden. She remembered a time, not so long ago, when the two of them had played like this. Augustus lost his playfulness by the time his age entered double digits, but when he was young, his imagination was bigger than all of them.

“Ana is getting so tall.”

He nodded. “And Amelia. Where do you think she gets that white hair from, anyway?”

“There’s a few of us still. Luther is one. But if you look at old photos, it’s a trait from long ago that didn’t make it into the present day for some reason. We think Ashley’s hair might stay that color, too, but we won’t know for sure until he’s a little older.”

“Redheads aren’t that common either, I suppose,” he replied, nodding at Ana. “Mama said you might be moving back this summer.”

“We’re seriously considering it,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she smiled at Amelia. “Do you like Ana’s Montessori?”

“Very much. More importantly, she does. Every night when I come home, she has a thousand stories to tell me.”

“Has she made many friends? You said before you were worried she preferred being alone.”

Augustus waved enthusiastically at his daughter, who was hanging half upside down from the side of the gazebo as if swinging from a tall building. “She prefers to hang out with Nicolas and Oz. Elizabeth tried arranging playdates with some of the mothers of other young girls in her class, but it didn’t work out.”

“Well, she’ll have Amelia soon, too, if everything comes together.” Colleen looked up at him. “She looks like you, you know. I know you think she resembles Ekatherina, and I see it, in some ways, but mostly I see you. And Dad.”

Augustus twisted his mouth and looked away, into the crowd of partygoers. “Have you talked to Charles?”

“He didn’t come today?”