“You are too. Everyone knows it.”
“No arguing at the table,” Meredith told them sternly. “Tell me about your island house. Where is that?”
“Near Crete,” Mishka told her. “It’s beautiful there.”
“How do you know?” Kat challenged. “You haven’t been there since…well, not in years. Besides, you would hate it, George.” She turned to Meredith. “He is such a baby. He’s afraid of water.”
“No, I’m not,” he protested. “I just don’t like it.”
“You don’t know how to swim,” she taunted, “because you’re afraid of water. And you know it.”
“And you’re afraid of flying, and you know it,” he shot back. After a couple minutes of arguing, Meredith used a fork to ring on her glass.
“Do you realize you are both giving me a stomachache?” She frowned. “What an unpleasant way to act. Especially when someone is trying to digest her food. Do you carry on like this back in your homeland where people call you a princess and prince?” She looked from one to the other. “I would think you’d be disrespected by your countrymen if you did.”
“Grandmama always makes us mind our manners,” Mishka confessed.
“And Papa too.” Kat actually seemed a tiny bit contrite.
“Well, just because they aren’t here doesn’t give you an excuse to act like barbarians, does it? I’m not surprised you scared your other nannies or governesses away. It’s a good thing I’m not a wimp.” She scowled then smiled at Kat. “And just so you know, I don’t scare off that easily. So you’re stuck with me for the time being.”
“Good.” Mishka grinned as he forked into his meat. “I like you.”
Kat just rolled her eyes and let out a long, exasperated sigh that Meredith felt fairly certain would not be tolerated at Queen Katerina’s royal table, but she had no intention of pointing this out at the moment. After all, as Dad liked to say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And hopefully she would last more than one day here.
7
After dinner, Meredith asked if the children would take her on a tour of the grounds. “The gardens look so pretty, and I noticed you have a swimming pool as well as a pond out there.”
Katerina still seemed to be studying Meredith with a dubious expression, but she agreed to take her outside. Perhaps with a diabolical plan to take her into the woods and leave her there?
“Great. You too, Mishka?”
“Let Kat take you if she wants to,” he said abruptly. “I have something to attend to inside.”
Meredith wanted to ask him what he had to “attend to” but thought better of it. For the most part, she trusted the boy. He seemed inclined to please her. But she was surprised he was excusing himself from the grounds tour. Perhaps it was because Kat had agreed so readily. “Okay then.” She smiled at him. “I’ll see you later. Maybe we can play a game or something.”
He brightened. “Okay.”
Kat was already heading out the French doors from the dining room, probably impatient to get this tour done with. Orperhaps she was eager to drown the nanny in one of the water features.
“My baby brother doesn’t like to go outside,” Kat said in a rather calm way as they walked through the garden, pausing by the pond.
“That’s too bad. It’s lovely out here. Especially this time of day.” She looked at the pond. “Any fish in there?”
“Yes. Not koi. Not anymore. Raccoons kept taking them, and Papa got fed up. So we have just regular goldfish now. But they’re getting big.” She knelt by a metal bucket, opening it to scoop out a handful of what looked like fish food. Piece by piece she dropped it in, watching as fish bobbed up to eat. And even calling some by name. It was the first tender thing Meredith had witnessed in this girl. And it gave her hope.
“They’re pretty,” Meredith commented. “They seem to know you.”
“Yeah. I guess.” Kat tossed the remnants of food into the pond then stood.
“I’m not surprised your family likes to come here for summer holiday.” Meredith looked around. “It’s so peaceful and beautiful.”
“It’s different than our island house. I guess it’s okay.”
“Is the reason Mishka didn’t come out here because of the pond? And the swimming pool? Is he really afraid of water?”
“Terrified.”
