“I accept your apology.” She was still staring straight ahead.
He bit back the words “how magnanimous of you.” Now was not the time to antagonize her further.
“Are you all right, Samantha?”
She looked at him briefly, then away again. “Of course.”
“If something was bothering you, you know you can talk to me.”
Her laugh was high pitched and off. “I have plenty of people I can talk to, but I assure you, I have no need.”
“Still, the offer is there.”
“Why are you angry at Aunty Sam, Uncle Warwick?”
“I’m not. We’re talking, Merry.”
“Mummy says it’s in the way you say things that makes the difference,” Kat added.
“Smart woman, your mother,” Samantha added.
Warwick ignored that comment and navigated them into the park, feeling once more like a cat with his hair brushed the wrong way.
It was busy, so he spent the first few minutes maneuvering them around carriages and horses.
“Who is Hera?” Warwick asked.
The older generation in their family liked to fire questions at the children to test their intelligence as his siblings had once done to him and the twins.
“The queen goddess of Olympus,” Merry shrieked.
“Hera was both sister and wife to Zeus,” Kat added. “I’m not sure how that is possible, Uncle Warwick.”
“Say goddess in French,” Samantha said quickly.
Kat pronounced the word perfectly.
“Where do dogs come from?” Warwick asked.
“A rare and extinct species of wolf,” Merry said.
“The old woman in that carriage”—Kat pointed to a barouche lumbering toward them—“just said that man was driving too fast, and if he did not slow, her heart would give out. Then he said ‘chance would be a fine thing,’” Kat added.
Warwick looked at the carriage that was still some distance away. If her hearing was normal, Kat would not have overheard the conversation. He had, because he had one of his earplugs out to ensure he was alert to any danger.
“It’s rude to listen to other people’s conversations,” Merry said.
They knew that some of the children, if not all, would have their heightened senses in some form or other, but it was only recently they’d started to show in the younger ones.
“Does the noise hurt your ears, Kat?” He looked down at the little girl.
“Sometimes. But I just stick my fingers in them when it’s really loud.”
He would talk to James and Eden about getting her some earplugs. He met Samantha’s sapphire blue eyes, and understanding passed between them, then she was looking forward once more.
“Hello!” Merry called as the carriage Kat had been listening to pulled alongside. “I like your dog.”
The large brown beast they knew as Walter was seated, looking regal next to the crotchety Duchess of Yardly.
