Page 43 of A Family Of His Own
Alarm flared in Evelyn’s face. She stared at Toby for a second—as if confirming he was speaking the truth—then she launched herself at Diana and clung like a limpet. “Don’t lose me!”
Don’t leave me!
Diana heard the unuttered echo in Evelyn’s panicked tone and clutched the little girl to her.
At the impact of the small body, so urgently trusting, pressed against her, at the tightness of Evelyn’s hold about her neck, Diana felt some emotion she’d never encountered before rise inside her.
Smiling even though Evelyn couldn’t see, Diana pressed a kiss to her curls. “Don’t worry, my darling. We won’t.”
We won’t lose you. We won’t leave you.
She meant both and cuddled the little girl close.
Toby reached across and, for a moment, let his hand rest on Evelyn’s head, a voiceless confirmation of Diana’s reassurance.
Managing children when they were wholly your responsibility was, he was discovering, rather more involved than when one was merely an uncle and only temporarily in charge, if that. To his mind, Diana had managed this situation well. As well as anyone could.
Lifting his hand from Evelyn’s head, he rose and turned to the boys. He gestured at the door to their room. “Let’s go and get ready for dinner.”
The pair went very willingly. Both, it seemed, were thinking of the recent happening.
Toby was glad they’d participated in the incident and witnessed the last moments, because they, too, needed to understand the potential dangers they might encounter during this trip. It hadn’t occurred to him before, but almost certainly, all three children would have led very sheltered lives.
He—and Diana, too—should have warned the trio earlier against any approach by strangers or about approaching strangers themselves, but he and she had been so caught up in arranging and managing their day-to-day movements and otherwise focusing on presenting themselves as a family that the point simply hadn’t had time to surface in their minds.
Despite the minor panic Evelyn had unwittingly caused, the exercise had been useful, revealing a vulnerability in his and Diana’s planning they hadn’t appreciated was there, allowing them the chance to address it before anything more serious occurred.
As he joined the boys in changing their clothes, washing their faces, and combing their hair, he mentally prodded at the unexpected depth of responsibility he felt toward the Fellows children. In searching for Evelyn, his focus had been sharp and clear. He’d been intent on finding and reclaiming her, not Rupert the Bear.
He’d recognized the threat to the dispatches and their unconventional repository, but they’d been relegated very definitely to secondary status.
The shift in his priorities surprised him. He hadn’t thought that anything would ever be powerful enough to trump his determination to complete a mission but, apparently, the responsibility for children was.
Once they were all ready, they gathered in the corridor and set out for the dining room downstairs. He wasn’t surprised that the children were quieter than usual, almost subdued. They were very much on their best behavior, and given that the concierge proved to also be presiding in the dining room as the maître d’hôtel, that was no bad thing.
When the man found himself facing their party, his features tightened, and he glanced toward a table tucked away in a rear corner. Before he could speak, Toby caught the man’s eye and held his gaze for a fraught moment—it was early, and there were as yet few other diners in the room—and with no further resistance, they were shown to a large table in a prime position overlooking the piazza.
The children quickly took their seats, and the distraction of people and horses in the square drew them out of the funk into which they’d sunk. Soon, Roland and Bryce were pointing out and passing judgment on various horses crossing before the hotel.
Toby exchanged a more-relaxed glance with Diana. Although the children’s quieter versions were easier to manage, he preferred their normal, more gregarious selves.
Despite a generalized nervousness over which utensils to use when, with Toby and Diana’s help, the children managed well. The waiters clearly did not share the maître d’hôtel’s opinion and were supportive and encouraging, and by the time the meal ended, the children were entirely confident and calm again.
On rising from the table, they headed for the archway leading to the foyer. Of necessity, they had to pass the maître d’hôtel’s station, set up just inside and to the right of the doorway.
Roland and Bryce, absorbed with some discussion, walked past without even noticing the dark look the maître d’hôtel bent on them.
Evelyn, however, saw that look. She’d been following her brothers, with Toby and Diana close behind, and instead of going straight ahead, Evelyn deviated to fetch up before the maître d’hôtel’s wooden lectern.
Unsure what to do—whether to intervene—Toby and Diana halted.
Evelyn waited for a moment, but when the man didn’t look at her but kept his gaze on his paperwork, she boldly said, “I know you know I’m here. I just wanted to tell you that not all children are bad.”
Startled, the maître d’hôtel looked at her, and earnestly, she continued, “My brothers and I would never do anything to hurt your nice restaurant. Or anything in the hotel.” She tipped her head, studying the now-astonished man. “I just wanted you to know that not all children are heathens.”
Toby looked at Diana and mouthed,Heathens?
She whispered back, “Helga lectures them not to be heathens.”
