Understanding sparked in Father’s eyes. “Quite right. Luke, will you see our daughter home?”
Luke shook Father’s outstretched hand. “I will, sir. You can count on me.”
Mother looped her delicate hand through Father’s elbow. “I do believe we can.”
“I’m glad you got to meet them,” Elsa told Luke as soon as herparents had disappeared from view. “Thank you for putting up with all the questions.”
“Putting up with them?” Luke laughed, and they resumed their seat on the bench. “Other than you, it’s been a long time since anyone asked me so thoroughly about myself. It didn’t feel intrusive. It felt like they cared, about me, but also about you. They wouldn’t care who I was if not for my relationship with you.” He stretched his arm out behind her.
She smiled. “That’s true. They’ve surprised me lately. I had built them up in my mind as these formidable people who only cared about image and status. But I think I’ve gotten them all wrong. Or at least, if my perception was ever correct, it isn’t anymore. Maybe they’ve changed, or maybe I’m just now seeing them as they really are.” She told him about her father’s apology last week and about the episode at Macy’s with Mother earlier this evening.
“Are you all right?” he asked, clearly focusing on the part where she almost blacked out on the escalator.
“I feel fine right now. But sometimes I feel broken-down. And I’m not sure if anything can be done to restore me.”
His fingers brushed her shoulder. “You are precious exactly the way you are.”
She didn’t know how to respond. She ought to have taken a few moments or just resolved not to say anything at all. Instead, words escaped without her permission. “To you?”
“To me.” Luke’s smile pushed back the scar in his cheek.
Elsa took his hand, her fingertips memorizing every crease and callous. “Earlier this evening, you asked what I was looking for. Funny thing about bird-watching. Sometimes you don’t know what you want to see until it’s right in front of you. Before I met you, I wasn’t looking for you, either, Luke. But now that you’re here, being with you is always the highlight of my day.”
“Then you won’t mind if I insist on seeing you even after our work at Elmhurst is through?”
A thrill uncurled inside her. “You mean, you might run into me in the park like this?”
“I mean to be a lot more intentional than that. But only if my pursuit would be welcome.” He swallowed, and his expression showed the first glimpse of vulnerability she’d seen all evening.
Elsa squeezed his hand, when what she wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck. “You are welcome,” she told him. “And how.”
He chuckled. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Now let’s get you home.”
Leaving their bench, they walked hand in hand out of the wooded path and into the evening’s last gentle rays of liquid gold.
CHAPTER
20
TARRYTOWN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1926
Sunshine filtered through the ash tree outside the Petrovics’ cottage. A threadbare tablecloth had been thrown over the picnic table beneath it, and Elsa and Ivy distributed food from the hamper they’d packed and brought with them for a picnic dinner. Luke and Tom were there, too, along with Danielle, who was busy petting Barney and feeding him slices of turkey beneath the table. The little girl seemed much better off than when they’d tried visiting her two nights ago.
Still, the peace that hovered seemed a fragile one, apt to break with too much pressure. And the pressures upon the Petrovics were never far away.
When everyone’s plate was heaped with food, Tatiana led them in a simple grace to bless the food.
“Danielle, I have you to thank for alphabetizing all the birds in the dining hall, don’t I?” Elsa asked.
The girl nodded. “It was easy. I don’t know why you didn’t do that before.”
Elsa smiled. “Me neither. It certainly makes my job go faster.”
“Are you sure you’ll be all done after tonight?” Tatiana asked.
“Barring unforeseen interruptions, yes.” Elsa drank from a mason jar of lemonade Tatiana had provided. “It shouldn’t take long now, especially with Ivy here to tie tags on the birds’ legs and wrap them in paper cones.” Anything left unfinished would be packed up and taken home to work on there, anyway.
