“A curious idyll?” He glanced askance. “I thought we were?—"
“Oh, you don’t need to worry,” she interrupted, maintaining her carefree manner. “My memoires wouldn’t mention you by name, of course.”
“Hera—”
She yelped as the kite whooshed down, nearly knocking her on her side.
“Pull!” Hurtheven commanded.
But Felicia hadn’t the strength. The kite came crashing down not five feet from where they’d been sitting. The children ran towards the heap on the ground, eyes wide with dismay. Hurtheven, of course, was immediately on his feet.
“You’ve ruined it!” Delmare yelled.
Fee’s lip quivered ominously.
“It’s not ruined,” Hurtheven consoled. “But I don’t have what I need to fix it here. Come now, Fee—no tears. Kites dive and fall and crack all the time. Failing is a necessary part of learning.”
“Sheletit fall!” Delmare complained.
“Did you not do the same the first time you held the string?” Hurtheven asked. “She is younger than you are, and not as strong.”
“Itismy fault!” Fee’s voice cracked.
“Yes,” Hera said. “But Uncle Heven will fix the kite and you will try again, and, next time, the kite will stay up even longer.”
“Will you be able to fix it?” Fee asked hopefully.
“Certainly!” he replied with confidence. “I’ll just need to build a new frame.”
“That’s like making a whole new kite!” Delmare complained.
He tousled Delmare’s hair. “The work will go faster if you help me. Would you like that?”
‘Would I?!” Delmare replied as if the question demonstrated supreme ignorance.
“Can I help too?” Fee asked hopefully.
“Yes. In fact, let’s head back to the house and start the repairs right now. Now,”—he helped Hera to her feet—“be good children and carry the kite between you, while I give Mrs. Montrose my arm.”
She sent him a disapproving scowl, while secretly loving the way he always found some excuse to touch her. She placed her hand against his sleeve as the children ran on ahead, broken kite flapping between them.
Not wanting him to pick up the conversation from where he’d left off, she searched for a distraction.
“Did you make the kite specifically for Delmare and Felicia?”
“Like myself, the kite is older than it looks...”
His sidelong wink made her smile.
“...Chev, Ash, and I were about fourteen when we first constructed the frame. We’d decided we wanted to recreate Benjamin Franklin’s key and kite experiment.”
“You flew a kite during a storm?” she asked, surprised.
“Yes, as a matter of fact. And we managed to collect a charge in a Leyden jar by following the instructions Franklin printed.” He smiled at the memory. “My godfather was furious. He said we could’ve killed ourselves.”
“Yes! If you had used only one set of twine, or if you hadn’t managed to keep the second set dry.”
“Or, if the lightning had directly hit the kite.”
