“Being afraid of the water must feel kind of terrible. Is there a reason you feel that way?”
He looked up with shining eyes. “Momma’s plane went down into the water.”
“Yes, I know that. And I’m so sorry. It’s very, very sad. But what do you think your mother would say about you being afraid of water?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kat told me that your mother taught her to swim.”
His brows rose. “She did?”
“Yes, which tells me she enjoyed the water.” She watched him as Mishka took in her words. “Anyway, I was thinking it would be fun to take a day trip with you and Kat sometime. Mrs. Warner said I can use the Land Rover anytime I want. Since I’m a visitor in Austria, I wanted to see a few things, and I had hoped to do a day trip on the Danube. Have you ever done that before?”
He shook his head.
“Well, I’d love to do a river cruise, and I can just take Kat with me and leave you here with Mrs. Warner for the day, but I really wish you’d come too.”
“On a boat?” His eyes grew wide but not with excitement.
“Yes, on a boat. A big boat that’s safe, and there are life-vests to make you feel even safer. And it would be so much fun to go down the Danube River in Austria. It’s been a dream of mine.”
“On the river?”
“Of course.”
His lower lip protruded, and she knew that this wasn’t going to be easy.
“I was thinking, Mishka, that I can wait a couple weeks to take the river trip…if you agree to my idea.”
“What idea?”
“I will give you swimming lessons,” she said. “I’m a good teacher, and I know we could have you swimming in just acouple of weeks. The reward would be to go with us on the Danube River trip. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
His brow creased while he thought about her suggestion.
“You don’t want to live your whole life being afraid, Mishka. And not knowing how to swim. Wouldn’t the boys at your school tease you for that? A prince who’s afraid of water and can’t swim? We will take the swimming lessons really slow,” she promised. “And I’ll be with you every minute.” She looked intently into his troubled eyes. “Do you trust me?”
He barely nodded.
“Then, how about we just give it a try? If you really hate it, I won’t push you again.”
“Kat will tease me.”
“No, she won’t. I already told her my plan, and she promised to be nice.” Meredith wanted to add “or what” but didn’t. She’d threatened Kat a few minutes earlier that she’d no longer help her with her football or tennis skills if Kat made this difficult for her little brother. She meant to enforce it too. “Let’s go find your swimsuit, Mishka. I’m sure you must have one.”
To her relief, he didn’t protest as she led him up to his room. She talked soothingly the whole way there, telling him how much fun they would have together and how much he would love swimming when he learned how to do it properly. “You may even become a better swimmer than Kat if you work at it.” She looked at him by his bedroom door. “In fact, you have more of a swimmer’s build than she does.”
“Really?” He studied himself.
“Yes, I think so.” She smiled. “Now meet me down at the pool, and I promise we’ll take it nice and slow.”
And when he got down there, after she gave Kat another stern warning, she did take it nice and slow. They started by sitting on the side of the pool, just kicking their feet in the water. Meanwhile, Kat watched from the other end of the poolwith a slightly mischievous expression. Meredith gave her the schoolteacher glare and hoped the girl was getting the message. The farthest she got with Mishka was sitting on the pool step, waist deep in the water. Thank goodness Kat had become bored and left by then.
“You’ve done great today, Mishka,” she told him as she slipped into the water. “But I’m too hot in the sun and want to cool off a little.” She noticed he looked a little pink too. Hopefully she’d put enough sunscreen on him. “You may want to cool off too. Just pretend you’re taking a bath.” She stood up to show him the water level. “It’s probably only up to here on you.” She held her hand to her chest. “Not over your head.”
He appeared uncertain, and she didn’t push him. “Mrs. Warner told me that the reason there’s a pool here is because your mother loved to swim. Did you know that?” When he shook his head, she continued. “I guess your grandmother had it installed for her. According to Mrs. Warner, your mother practically lived in the pool whenever they visited here in the summer.” She continued to chatter at him, just rambling, and to her pleased surprise, he lowered himself into the pool and stood in the water with a somewhat frightened expression. She went over and kneeled beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “That’s great, Mishka. I’m so impressed. Does the water feel good?”
“It felt cold at first. But it’s okay now.”
