Chapter Text
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.--Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Charlie takes in the large wood-paneled waiting room with the view of downtown Boston dwarfed beneath them. The people swarming below look like ants from this height. He smiles a bit, but wraps his arms around himself, clutching his own elbows. The feeling of the suede elbow patches on his jacket calm him, reminding himself that he belongs. He is a professor and he is here to provide expert testimony. His confident side causes him to laugh a bit–why is he feeling out of place around old money? He went to Oxford and Harvard–he’s been around older money!
The receptionist walks up to Charlie. “Dr. Spring? Mr. Nelson is ready for you.”
“Oh great.” Charlie grabs his leather messenger bag and smiles warmly at the receptionist as he gets up from the brown leather couch. “Thank you so much.”
Charlie enters the room and sees the most attractive man he’s ever seen in his life. He’s about his age, with warm brown eyes, dark blond hair, and muscles that fill out his navy blue suit quite nicely. He has the sweetest smattering of freckles over his nose and cheeks, with a lopsided smile that makes Charlie swoon. He’s about three inches taller than Charlie’s six-foot-one frame.
“Hi,” Charlie breathes.
"Hi,” Mr. Nelson responds equally breathily. As Charlie starts to lose his sense of professionalism, he notices Mr. Nelson rubs the back of his neck nervously before his eyes harden and his face turns stern. He’s still attractive, but very serious. They shake hands and Charlie feels like his heart is going to explode.
“Have a seat, Dr. Spring. I’m Nicholas Nelson, and this is my assistant, Imogen Heaney, she’ll be taking notes on our meeting if that’s alright.”
Charlie hadn’t even noticed Imogen in the room. She’s pretty, also about his age, with brown hair and large, expressive blue eyes. Charlie nods at her kindly before turning back to Nicholas.
“Please, call me Charlie.” He offers.
Nicholas and Imogen nod.
“You may call me Gen,” Imogen offers.
“And Nicholas is fine.” Gen turns to Nicholas with wide, confused eyes. Charlie doesn’t know what that look is about.
Nicholas clears his throat. “I hope you don’t mind if we get right down to business. Our case is about an ancient Greek vase and whether or not our client is the rightful owner of the vase.”
“Oh, provenance, yes,” Charlie interjects conversationally.
“Uh, yes. The vase was found in an attic in France, and my client believes they’re the rightful owner as their grandfather was a Jewish art dealer before World War II, when the Nazis looted his collection. But, the owner of the house in France believes they should have the vase, no matter the history.”
“Hmmm, these are tricky cases,” Charlie offers.
“Yes,” Nicholas says, “But that’s for our office to work out. From you, we need testimony to help the jury understand some of the specifics of the case.”
“Okay, I’ve never been an expert witness before, but this seems like a really interesting experience. I will need to do a bit of research myself, and I’ll need time for that.”
“Of course.” Nicholas and Charlie discuss some of the details of the case and Gen provides Charlie with copies of photographs and ledgers from the client’s grandfather’s files.
“Good thing I can read French,” Charlie quips.
Nicholas smiles and responds in perfect French, “Parlez-vous français, Charlie?”
Charlie gulps. That was hot. “No, just read French. No speaking. Need to be able to read French and German to be an art historian.”
Once all of the details of the work Charlie would need to do for the case were determined, Gen asked Charlie if they could do the background information today. “We’ll need to explain to the jury how you’re qualified to be an expert.”
“That makes sense, what do you need to know?”
Nicholas begins, “The history of your schooling and work history. I know we have it in you C.V., but we’ll need to have it on the record for the trial.”
“Okay, well I studied Classics at Oxford. Originally, I mostly studied historical texts, but eventually I fell in love with art. I did research on homosexuality as seen through the visual culture of ancient Athens. I graduated in 2010. Then I moved to the States to study the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard. My advisor was Nathan Ajayi, and my dissertation was on homoeroticism in red-figure vases at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. I received my PhD from Harvard in 2017, then spent two years at the Met in New York as an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow. Then Higgs College hired me as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Classics and Art History with an appointment as an adjunct curator at the Higgs College Kempner-Younge Museum. I’ve been at Higgs since August 2019. I teach classes on Classical Art and Women and Gender Studies and mostly I consult with the museum when they’re considering a purchase related to ancient Western art–Roman, Estruscan, Greek, et cetera.”
“And what do those consultations involve?” Nicholas asks.
“Some provenance work—though usually a dealer or auction house is eager to show off a good purchase history, but mostly I help the museum make a case for how the purchase fits into the collection, makes it stronger. It’s a small collection, so we don’t need twenty red-figure Athenian vases, but a black-figure vase would bring something new, but related, to what we do have.”
“I see. And do you have any ties to France?”
“Nope, I’m British, my father is half-Spanish, and my grandparents live in Spain. No France, though. No conflict of interest likely.”
They go over a few more details, and then Charlie gets up to leave.
“Please check in with the receptionist as you leave, Charlie. She will bring you to our payroll office to get you set up for the payment for all your time. We truly appreciate your help on this case,” Gen explains.
As Charlie starts to close the door he overhears Gen hiss, “NICHOLAS?! What was THAT?”
Nicholas responds, “He’s much younger than I thought he would be. Does he own a suit?” And Charlie clicks the door shut.
What is that supposed to mean? Charlie wonders, feeling like he was just summarily judged.