“You’re Cousin Charlotte.”
She lifted her veil off her face. “That’s right. What a wonderful memory you have.”
“My mother died,” he said somberly.
She nodded. “Yes, I know. I am very sorry.”
“That’s what everybody says.”
Charlotte lowered herself to his eye level, sitting on her heels. “But even though she is gone, you are not alone.”
“I know. I still have Father.”
“Yes, and there are others, too, who love you.”
“Do you mean Bea?”
Charlotte swallowed. “Bea?”
He shrugged and said matter-of-factly, “Mummy lives in heaven now.”
“That’s right. What a smart little boy you are.”
“I am not little.”
“All right, Edmund. You are very big. And far too wise.”
“Haven’t you any children?”
“I ... not at present, no.”
“You’re crying.”
“Am I?”
“Father cries sometimes. I do too.”
“Of course you do.”
She smiled at the boy through her tears and allowed herself to reach out and briefly touch his head. Then she retrieved her hand and stepped back.
She watched as Edmund walked through the doorway she had just exited—then realized he was heading directly toward his father and Bea. Charlotte quickly stepped behind the door. Out of sight but not out of earshot.
“Cousin Charlotte is here, Father,” she heard Edmund say.
“Charlotte? Where?”
“Oh ... I don’t see her anymore.”
“What did she say to you?” Charles asked.
She could not make out Edmund’s reply.
Charlotte risked a glance back into the room and saw Charles bent over Edmund, his hand lying on his son’s head, much as hers had done. When she saw Charles look abruptly in her direction, she instinctively ducked from view. Moving quickly to the temporary “coatroom” to retrieve her wrap, she stepped behind the oriental screen flanked by potted palms that served to conceal the untidy pile of coats from view. It concealed her as well.
Hearing footsteps nearby, she peeked from between the slats in the screen. From her hiding place, she watched Charles stride quickly into the passage and look in both directions. How foolish she felt behind the screen. Should she step out and offer her condolences?
But then Beatrice appeared beside him and took his arm. “Do not trouble yourself, Charles. I suppose she had the right to come and pay her respects, but I do wish she might have stayed away and not sullied the day for you. At least she had the decency to be unobtrusive. Though I wonder what she was thinking, speaking to Edmund?”
