Marina came in to see the child, looking half-asleep. She hugged a teddy bear in her arms with Prince William curled up at her feet.
Marina sat in the chair next to Lilly’s bed. “I like your teddy bear,” she said. “Does he have a name?”
Lilly froze for a moment before shaking her head and putting the bear down on the bed. “Don’t tell Father,” she said. “He does not like it when I play with toys.”
I will have to have more talks with Evan about his ideas on child-rearing. Either he has no clue, or his abrupt manner has led to grave misunderstandings between himself and his daughter.“Well, I certainly do not mind,” she said. “I think you should play with toys as much as you want to.”
“Really?” Her voice was so small, but full of hope at the same time. It made Lilly’s heart twist.
“Really,” Marina said. “Why don’t you hold Mr. Bear in your lap while we work on lessons today?”
Lilly made a face. “I don’t want to do lessons!”
“I know. But let’s see if we can make it fun, shall we? You do not even have to get out of bed.” Marina looked at the books stacked neatly on the nightstand and picked one up. “I shall read to you for a while. Would you like that?”
Lilly’s expression brightened. “Yes, please.”
“Excellent.” Marina smiled at her charge before she started to read the book aloud. Lilly happily listened as Marina readthrough a couple of pages of the story. However, when Marina asked her to read the next page, her smile faltered.
“I can’t.” Lilly bit her lip and hugged her teddy bear closer to her chest.
“I’ll be right here to help you,” Marina said. “Just try your best. That is all I can ask for.”
Frowning, the little girl took the book from Marina and looked at the page. She tried to read. “T-the pir, um …”
“Pirate,” Marina said gently.
“The pirate ship … set sah … sa-i …”
“Set sail,” Marina said.
Suddenly, Lilly threw the book across the room. “No!” She shouted. “No! I can’t!”
Marina startled but managed to keep her emotions controlled. “You were doing so well,” she said, rising to pick up the book. “Next time you get frustrated, try not to throw the book.”
The little girl glared at her. “I can’t! I can’t do it!”
“Not yet,” Marina said, smiling pleasantly. “But you can do it with practice. Start again, pointing to every word you read. I’llhelp you, and after you read a paragraph, we can go for a walk together!”
The lessons with Lilly were painstaking. It did not matter the subject: reading, writing, and arithmetic were all challenging for her, and she grew frustrated easily. Marina stayed kind and let Lilly take frequent breaks to play with toys and Prince William, but it was difficult to keep her patience infinite.
Even though the twins had also struggled with lessons, Marina found out that they were more likely to learn how to read if it meant they could read ‘forbidden literature’ from their father’s library. Marina had told them about the scandalous books in question in hushed, teasing tones, and their interest had been piqued. The literature in question was actually assigned reading, and not at all scandalous, but by the time they figured that out, they knew how to read better than most other kids their age.
The twins had also appreciated the fine art of writing insults in pretty handwriting. Marina staged a competition for them: whoever could write the most creative insult in the neatest handwriting would get an extra scone during afternoon tea. The twins wrote pages and pages of insults to obtain the daily prize of an extra scone and bragging rights.
But Lilly did not try to derail lessons out of mischief. She just got frustrated and impatient with herself, which led to throwing books, yelling, and even crying. “I can’t do it!” she shouted after a few minutes of trying and failing to spell some simple words. “Too stupid.”
“You arenotstupid,” Marina said archly. “You are simply learning. Everyone struggles with reading at first. Even your father did when he was your age.”
Lilly let out a disbelieving groan.
“How about we take a break?” Marina suggested. “You can play with your toys for a few minutes.”
Instead of playing with Mr. Bear, Lilly had trudged to the bed, flopped face down into the pillows, and let out a muffled scream. Marina secretly wished she could do the same.
In the afternoon, Marina traded places with the nanny and governess, who would come in to supervise Lilly as she had tea and worked on her embroidery sampler. Marina felt exhausted, almost as exhausted as she had felt at the wedding. As she went to her bedroom to rest, she tried to remain hopeful.
It’s only the first day. Of course, a troubled child is not a model student, and she does not have to be. I simply have to rise to the occasion, and I will.
