𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 - 𝑓. ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠

016. BRONTE & THE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE

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BRONTE & THE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE ☂︎︎

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CHARLOTTE ELAINE BEAUMONT now commonly referred to as Miss. B, was running late to her first class of the day all because she had spilled her mug of decaf coffee and refused to begin the school day without one.

James Brooke merely laughed at her scurry.

"I told you to be careful." he chuckled, organizing papers on the desk of his office.

She rolled her eyes playfully, the steaming liquid now carefully falling into a new mug. Her hair, no longer curled but pressed straight and pinned up, swayed behind her back, a single strand in the front of her face. She wiped the condensation off on her black dotted dress, taking a long sip of her coffee. "This is what happens when I wake up late."

"Yeah." James sighed with a smile, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "And now I've got to drive you."

"Enough with the scolding." she sought, clutching the tote bag of notebooks and graded papers.

James smirked, taking the keys out of his pocket and pushing open the door. "Right. Bet your students will do that for me."

Charlotte laughed, waving goodbye to James' sister, Shelly, who sat at the reception area of the inn where both siblings worked and lived. The familiar scent of passion fruit clouded the lobby she'd called home for the past five months ever since she'd miraculously stumbled into James Brooke upon her arrival in Dallas. Hateful stares and odd looks; James' kindness that night had saved her and continued to save her seeing as he had offered her refuge in the inn run by him and his sister.

Room 12 at the Daisy was her home.

Thoughts of her other life came and went but the unnecessary confusion it caused her made her actively avoid the situation.

It was much easier that way.

But James drove, Charlotte in the passenger seat as she pushed down memories of someone much smaller in the seat beside her. The radio hummed and pops of color blurred past as they came to the more run down part of town. A tattered fence along the premise and a large sign with the words "Magnolia School for the Colored".

James rolled to a stop in front of the staircases leading up to the school building. Students flooded the entryway, Black and Latino children of all ages who Charlotte and James stared at in seriousness. The tension of the political situation at the time was clearly visible from where they sat. He looked at her firmly. "You're the smartest woman I know." he said, nodding to the dirt-stained windows in front of them. "You do those kids right."

She nodded sympathetically. "It's both an honor and a pleasure."

Her hand pushed open the car door as she waved farewell to James. "Go get 'em, Miss. Beaumont."

She smiled, closing the door on one to open another door to a classroom of children technically much older than her.

---

Five Hargreeves was thoroughly annoyed but relieved with Elliot.

The pictures and newspapers that lay before him were useful. It allowed him some advantage in finding his family. While he was equally concerned for all his siblings, his main concern lay in his sister and more specifically in Charlotte.

The time period... he felt a bit guilty for sending them back so far.

The conversation with Diego was useless as he expected. One sibling in a mental asylum, the rest he wasn't sure and sadly, he didn't know them well enough to have an idea of where they could be. But he did know Charlotte Beaumont and what he did know was that she was smart.