Chapter 16: News from London

The answer began arriving from an unexpected direction.

Frank Churchill.

A letter arrived at Randalls announcing that Frank had been delayed once again.

The news disappointed everyone except Mr. Knightley.

He seemed almost pleased.

“A surprise,” Emma remarked during a visit.

“Not particularly,” Mr. Knightley replied.

“You expected it?”

“I expected something.”

Emma rolled her eyes.

“You are impossible.”

“And Frank Churchill is predictable.”

Mrs. Weston defended her stepson immediately.

“He has responsibilities.”

“He always has responsibilities,” said Mr. Knightley.

“That does not make them false.”

The discussion continued politely.

But Emma noticed something strange.

Jane Fairfax grew pale whenever Frank Churchill's name appeared.

Very pale.

At first Emma assumed she was tired.

Then she began noticing other things.

Jane avoided speaking about Frank.

Frank avoided speaking about Jane.

Yet somehow both seemed unusually aware of each other.

The mystery surrounding them deepened.

Emma discussed her observations with Mrs. Weston.

“You suspect something?” Mrs. Weston asked.

“Perhaps.”

“What?”

“I do not know.”

For once Emma was telling the truth.

The situation confused her.

She had once imagined a possible connection between Frank and herself.

Not a serious one.

Only a pleasant possibility.

Now that possibility seemed increasingly unlikely.

And strangely, the realization did not upset her.

Not at all.

That discovery felt important.

Because if she truly cared for Frank, his attention elsewhere should have hurt.

Instead she felt only curiosity.

Another piece of the puzzle settled into place.

She did not love Frank Churchill.

She never had.

The certainty brought unexpected relief.

Unfortunately, it left only one certainty behind.

George Knightley.

Everything returned to him.

Every thought.

Every fear.

Every hope.

One evening Emma sat alone in her room watching the sunset.

The sky glowed gold above Highbury.

The village looked peaceful.

Yet change was coming.

Emma could feel it.

Frank Churchill's strange behavior.

Jane Fairfax's secrets.

Harriet's hopes.

Her own heart.

All of them were moving toward something inevitable.

For months Emma had believed herself an observer of other people's stories.

Now she understood she was standing in the center of one.

And very soon, she suspected, the truth would become impossible to avoid.