“Danielle—” she began.
“It’s all right,” Luke assured her. “It’s a fair question. It happened during the war. A wounded French soldier thought I was his enemy and struck at me with the only weapon he had left—a knife.”
Elsa covered her mouth, a knot pulling tight in her chest.
“He was angry at you? He tried to kill you?” Danielle asked.
“He was afraid. He thought I was trying to kill him, and he defended himself. He was confused.”
The girl stared openly at him then. “Confused,” she murmured, almost as if to herself. “You weren’t trying to kill him. You were not his enemy. What did you do next?”
“I took his knife away, and then I put him in the ambulance and brought him to the hospital so he could get the care he needed.”
Danielle studied the grooves in his face, unflinching. When she reached up toward him, he crouched. With the frankness only a child could get away with, she touched each scar in turn. “He thought you were a hawk. And he was only one chickadee with no one to help him. He didn’t know you were a chickadee, too, and that’s why you came in the first place. You came to band together. That’s a metaphor, what I said.” A rare smile flickered.
“That’s right,” Luke said. “I did.”
When a crow cawed from a branch overhead, Danielle patted Luke’s shoulder. “Good chickadee—that’s the same metaphor.” She rubbed Barney’s head. “Good dog—that is not a metaphor because he is really a dog.” She even waved to Elsa. With that, she called to George and walked the opposite direction, the crow flying along with her.
Astonished, Elsa watched them go. “Danielle is so smart,” she murmured. “I’m smitten.”
“I can see why. I’m glad I got to meet her. And her crow.”Luke cracked a smile and picked up the slicker off the bench. “Shall we?”
“Let’s do it.” This time, Elsa insisted on simply leaning on Luke’s arm as she limped to the truck, the extra time to rest having made it possible to walk without as much pain. Before she could work out how to handle the running board and climb up inside, Luke’s hands came around her waist, and he lifted her up. After closing the door, he let Barney into the side of the delivery truck, tossing the slicker in, too.
Once they were driving, she said, “That was so good of you to answer her questions and let her touch your face. Did it bother you?”
“No, I’m only bothered when I think other people are. She didn’t balk.”
“No, she didn’t.” Elsa shook her head, still marveling over their exchange, and over the implications of Luke’s story in particular. “The soldier struck your face three times, and still you didn’t turn away from him. I find that amazing.”
“I don’t turn away from someone I care about, and I don’t turn away from a fight. In this situation, it happened to be both.” He looked her over before fixing his eyes on the narrow avenue again. “You don’t have a change of clothes back at the mansion, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Then you’ll need to borrow some. Even if you take the next train back to the city, that’s too long for you to be in wet clothes. What about Danielle’s mother?”
“I’m sure she’d loan me something. I’m not ready to quit here for the day yet, and I confess that being dry would be far more comfortable than my current state.” The sun had helped to dry her hair, but her dress still stuck to her skin.
Elsa directed him to the gardener’s cottage, then combed her fingers through her hair. The finger waves she’d so carefully arrangedthis morning had disappeared, and now her natural, wild-child curls were taking over as they dried. She pursed her lips, chagrined at her disrepair.
Luke glanced at her hair and smiled. “I like it,” he said. “A lot. Unless it’s in architecture, perfection makes me nervous.”
She laughed, genuinely amused that the standard she strived in vain to achieve was the thing he preferred to avoid. “Then you’ll feel perfectly at ease around me.”
“More and more,” he said, then slowed the truck to a stop outside Tatiana’s cottage.
The gardener must have heard them coming because she was out on the porch before Luke had even come around to Elsa’s side of the vehicle and helped her down.
“Why, Elsa!” Tatiana exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you were caught in that storm. You’ll catch your death of cold!”
“That is the general consensus.” Smiling, Elsa introduced Luke and Barney to Tatiana and mentioned they’d just met with Danielle and George, as well.
“You simply must come in and trade those wet things for something dry. That is, if you don’t mind wearing an old woman’s practical clothing. In this case, it isn’t style that matters.”
Elsa agreed. “I’d be most grateful to borrow something, if you can spare it.”
“Of course. Come in, come in, all three of you. Now, I wasn’t expecting company, but you remember what I said last time you were here, don’t you?”
