Edward hesitated. Then he nodded.
They set off into the crowd with Oliver between them and his small hand now clasped in Sophia’s. Lady Brimsey walked with Mrs. Palmer a few paces behind, the two women falling into easy conversation. Edward felt superfluous.
“There.” Sophia pointed toward a striped booth where a crowd had gathered. “The Punch and Judy show. Oliver, have you ever seen one?”
Oliver shook his head, his eyes already wide with curiosity.
“Then we should remedy that immediately.”
They found a spot near the front, Oliver bouncing on his toes to see over the heads of the children before him. Edward positioned himself behind the boy, ready to catch him if he stumbled.
The show began. Brightly painted puppets popped up from behind the booth, squawking and squeaking and hitting each other with alarming enthusiasm. The crowd roared with laughter. Oliver shrieked with delight and clapped his hands as Mr. Punch walloped a constable with his stick.
Edward frowned. “This seems rather violent for children.”
“It’s Punch and Judy.” Sophia’s lips twitched. “Violence is rather the point.”
“But surely there are more educational forms of entertainment.”
“Look at his face.”
Edward looked. Oliver was laughing so hard his whole body shook, his small face alight with pure, uncomplicated joy. It was the happiest Edward had ever seen him.
He said nothing more about educational entertainment.
When the show ended, Oliver tugged them toward a stall selling wooden toys. Spinning tops, carved animals, and tiny soldiers lined the shelves. Oliver examined each one with the seriousness of a general inspecting his troops.
“This one.” He held up a carved horse with its mane flowing and its legs poised mid-gallop. “Please, Uncle Edward?”
The pleading undid him. Edward paid the vendor without haggling, then watched Oliver clutch the horse to his chest as though it were made of gold.
“What will you name him?” Sophia asked.
Oliver considered this with great solemnity. “Thunder.”
“An excellent name for a horse.”
They wandered on. A vendor with a wooden contraption stood at the edge of the path, dipping a wire loop into soapy waterand blowing streams of iridescent bubbles into the air. Children chased them, laughing, popping them with eager fingers.
Oliver stopped dead. His mouth fell open.
“Would you like to try?” The vendor grinned and offered a smaller loop.
Oliver looked up at Edward, asking permission with his eyes.
“Go on.” Edward’s voice came out gruffer than he intended.
The vendor showed Oliver how to dip and blow. The first attempt produced nothing. The second, a single wobbly bubble that popped almost instantly. But the third sent a cascade of shimmering spheres floating into the afternoon sky, and Oliver’s face split into a grin so wide it seemed to encompass his entire being.
Sophia laughed. The sound wrapped around Edward like a warm blanket, unexpected and disarming. He watched her instead of Oliver, watching the way her eyes crinkled at the corners, and the way she pressed her hand to her chest in delight.
She caught him staring. Their eyes held for a moment too long.
Edward looked away first.
“Sweets!” Oliver pointed toward a stall where a woman sold candied apples, honeyed nuts, and small cakes dusted with sugar. “Please? You said later, and it is later now.”
Edward couldn’t argue with the logic. He purchased honeyed nuts for Oliver, who immediately got them everywhere, and then turned to Lady Brimsey.
