“Have you been on one of these, Henry?” Dimity asked.
“I have not, no,” Henry said, studying every inch of the contraption. “It is my fondest wish to do so.”
“Well, then.” Dimity got off. “Ella, you and Elliot show him how it is done.”
“Oh, we have no wish to intrude on your… ah, activities,” Iris said, coming up with nothing else.
“No intrusion at all. In fact, I shall enjoy your company.” Dimity then put her hand through Iris’s arm. “There are just the three of us here. Forrest got the velocipede two weeks ago, and I said I wanted to ride it, so Ella decided today would be that day.”
Iris had never had a friend who she could walk with arm in arm. Her sister and mother once, but that was before she wed. She’d made no friends during the years she’d been married.
“Henry has done nothing like this before,” Iris said as nerves leapt into her throat watching her son straddle the velocipede.
“Ella will ensure he is all right. Plus, he cannot fall far to the ground.”
Henry listened as Ella instructed him, and Henry nodded. Iris held her breath as he started moving.
“Well, he’s picked it up a great deal easier than I did,” Dimity said.
“He has not had many friends or, in fact, fun in his life,” Iris said. “What I mean is, he’s an only child, and we lived a great distance from anyone else.”
“We shall have to see about changing that. I did not have a great deal of fun in my life either before I married Gabe. He and his family then set about ensuring I did just that.”
“I just told Henry we were making it a daily mission to laugh and have fun.”
“What a wonderful mission. And today you are succeeding,” Dimity said. “It is hard to let go of the past sometimes.” She patted her hand. “But the way to start is small steps, Iris.”
She nodded. “Yes, it is time.”
It was an oddly intimate conversation to have with a woman she did not know well, and yet it felt surprisingly comfortable, Iris thought.
She’d come to London expecting to step out into society and show her son some sights he’d read about in books. She’d only attended one event but felt like she’d made friends, and now it seemed her son would too.
Iris swallowed down the lump in her throat as she heard Henry laugh.
“Gabe always says to me that change is hard, but to overcome it, you must face it,” Dimity said. “He is a very smart man, my husband, but don’t tell him I said that.”
“I promise to not mention it,” Iris said solemnly.
“Perhaps we shall walk to the sweet shop after this and get some more peppermint sticks. I have just run out. Something sweet is good for all situations, don’t you think?” Dimity said.
“Lord Montgomery introduced my son to those.”
“Yes, I had heard they were a favorite of his. He is also the cause of quite a bit of gossip at the moment.”
Surely not because of her?
“Oh?” Iris said.
“Phillipa and Lady Blake saw him without his hair dressed in its usual hideous style. Plus, he was scowling instead of simpering. Then Lady Cagney observed him saving a young boy who was hanging from a window. She even said he appeared quite manly. As you can imagine, it has sent some of society all atwitter,” Dimity added.
“The boy and Lord Montgomery are unhurt, I hope?” Iris did not like the sudden sharp jab in her side at the thought of Theo in pain.
“Yes. Apparently, he simply put the boy back on his feet and left, scowling. As you can imagine, Lady Cagney has told everyone, and the ears she couldn’t reach others have.”
“Yes, I should imagine it would be a shock considering how he regularly conducts himself,” Iris said.
“Appearances are not always what they seem, Iris,” Dimity said.
