“I don’t expect you to do it, Mrs. Warner. I’m perfectly capable—”
“I’m sure you are. But I don’t allow anyone to use my laundry room but myself. Not even Mr. Warner with his work overalls.” She rubbed her chin. “But you say your wardrobe is limited?”
“All I have are the few pieces I got at a thrift store yesterday.”
“This reminds me that Mr. Spencer asked me to clear out his wife’s closet, and I haven’t been able to get to it. I’m to donate all her clothes and personal things to charity.” Her brows arched. “But you, with no worldly goods, you’re a bit like a charity.”
“I couldn’t wear his deceased wife’s clothes.”
“Goodness, I can’t imagine why not. They’re perfectly nice things. Some of them barely worn. Much better than what you’d find in a thrift store. I should think you’d be grateful to have them.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’d be grateful.” Okay, she wasn’t that sure. “But wouldn’t it upset the children? To see their mother’s clothes worn by someone else?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Surely they won’t remember her clothes. Not after all these years. The missus kept extra clothing here so she and the mister could come on holiday without packing. Come to think of it, the children rarely visited this house back then. Not before the accident.”
“But still.”
Mrs. Warner studied her more closely. “I’d wager you’re a wee bit taller than the princess. But your build is similar. The clothes she kept here were more casual types. Not like the fancy outfits she kept at the palace. I had to clean those out several years ago. They went to charity too. I just never got around to doing it here. And the mister needs the extra closet space to get a locking gun cabinet installed. He believes that firearms shouldbe safely stowed away from the children. So you’d be doing me a great kindness to take the clothes off my hands. Then I wouldn’t have to pack them all up and get them hauled to town.”
“All right. Maybe I could use a few of the pieces. Then, as a thank you, pack up the others for you. You just tell me where to find them, and I’ll work on it after the children are in bed.”
“Yes, we’ll handle that later.”
“Thank you.” Meredith smiled.
“You’re as welcome as the rain.” She began to rinse a bowl in the sink.
“You welcome rain?”
“If you’re a farmer you do. My dad was a farmer.”
“That makes sense.” Meredith lingered a moment, wanting to ask Mrs. Warner more about the deceased princess but unable to think of the right question.
“You seem to be getting on quite well with the children.”
“Mishka is easy enough. But Kat…well, I suspect you know.”
“Oh, yes, I know. But I do think you’re making a wee bit of progress with her. I can see it in her eyes when she doesn’t think you’re looking. So whatever you’re doing, keep it up. I think you’ll win her over.”
“Speaking of Kat, I promised to play some football with her this afternoon. I better get at it.”
“Mind you, listen for the dinner bell. I always give the children thirty minutes notice so they can clean up properly.” She pointed to Meredith’s aromatic T-shirt. “And I don’t doubt you’ll need that much time yourself.”
Meredith laughed. “Or more. Feel free to ring it sooner if you like. I wouldn’t mind a nice soak in the bath after all this exercise.”
“Then I’ll give you an hour’s notice.” Mrs. Warner set the clean bowl aside.
Meredith thanked her again and, although she would like to ask her a lot more questions—about the children’s parents and royalty and protocol…and so many other things—it was almost three o’clock. Her questions could wait. In the meantime, she’d have to be content with playing undercover detective, fishing out bits and pieces of information from the prince and princess as best she could.
10
Seeing that Mishka had done an adequate job straightening the playroom, Meredith asked if he’d seen his sister.
“She was just looking for you. I told her you said to meet outside at three o’clock.” He picked up the soccer ball, tossing it in the air but missing it on the way down. He frowned. “But I, uh, I didn’t tell Kat you said I can come too.”
Meredith knew why he hadn’t mentioned it. His sister would throw a fit. She thanked him for completing his slightly haphazard playroom cleanup. “I’m sure you were hurrying to put things away, but at least you got it done. That must feel good.”
“I shouldn’t have messed it up, but I was angry at Kat for ruining my spaceship. I wanted her to be blamed.”
