“You don’t want to miss your lunch.”
“I’m a reporter. I eat whenever I have time. Come, child. Where are we going?”
Aleida frowned at the slip of paper. “It’s in Willesden, on the Bakerloo Line.”
“Off we go.” Louisa strode up Whitehall toward Trafalgar Square. “I’ve missed you at the Hart and Swan. You can still come when Collie’s not there, you know.”
Aleida cringed. Louisa didn’t know they were no longer together.
“Would you look at that bomb damage?” Louisa gawked at rubble outside a government building. “That was a whopper of an air raid on Saturday.”
“It was.” How could she tell Louisa she’d never return to the pub? How she missed the distraction and the company? How horrendous the last ten evenings had been?
Her empty flat, maddeningly quiet and lonesome. She couldn’t even turn on the wireless, for fear of hearing Hugh’s voice. All she could do was read, counting pages. Counting and counting and not reading. The counting that usually relaxed her made her more anxious. And the more anxious she grew, the more she counted.
She couldn’t break free. If she’d never been more in control, why did she feel as if she were spiraling into chaos?
Louisa stepped around two workmen clearing rubble. “How long will Collie be in Scotland?”
“Scotland?”
Louisa’s eyebrows lifted. “He’s been in Scotland almost two weeks. Well, Norway for some of it.”
Aleida gasped. “Norway? But it’s occupied by the Germans.”
“Didn’t you hear his report on the Lofoten Islands Raid?”
She’d read about the raid in theTimes. Although not a single Allied soldier had been hurt, it was dangerous. What was Hugh doing there?
“You didn’t know he’s in Scotland?” Louisa stopped in her tracks. “What’s going on?”
“We had an argument.” Aleida kept walking. “I told him I no longer care to see him.”
“Was it because you’re playing Nancy Drew?”
“Pardon?”
Louisa grunted. “American books about a girl detective. Was it about you following Randolph? If so, you ought to be angry at me too.”
Aleida’s chin tightened. “You didn’t order me to give up my son. Hugh did.”
“He did?” Louisa’s voice rose.
With a roll of her shoulders, Aleida adjusted her words. “He said at some point, I might want to consider letting him go. He said I have no proof, that everything depends on Theo’s memory.”
“Sounds more like a suggestion than an order.”
Aleida allowed a quick nod. “How could he even suggest such a thing? Theo’s my son. He’s my very heart.”
“Hmm,” Louisa said. “So, you dumped Collie for making a suggestion?”
All the frustration of that day roiled inside her. “He doesn’t care about Theo. He’s just like Sebastiaan.”
Before them, Nelson’s Column ascended to the cloudy sky, and the ladies descended into the Tube. Although disapproval radiated from Louisa, she stayed by Aleida’s side.
When they reached the platform for the Bakerloo Line, Louisa turned that probing gaze to her. “You said Collie doesn’t care about Theo. Is that true? Hasn’t he helped you search?”
Aleida’s mouth contorted. He had indeed helped. She could still see his look of joy when they’d left the Warwick home, the look that had compelled her to kiss him. All that joy for a boy he’d never even met.
