Her employer knelt beside her, embracing her and the terrified child. ‘Allan, Missy can stay below-stairs for a few days with you,’ Grace said in a quiet voice. ‘You know, until you understand that she will never leave you. I have work for her upstairs. That is all.’
‘She can’t leave me,’ he said more quietly, as he clung to Anna.
‘Don’t worry, Allan. My business above-stairs with Missy will keep.’ She smiled at them both. ‘Allan, Missy will chop and dice with you. When the day is nearly done, she will walk you upstairs, and you can see what we do there. It’s not so far away. Agreed?’
Anna felt her own load lighten as the little boy relaxed in her arms. He nodded finally.
‘Agreed,’ came his soft reply.
‘Very well,’ Grace said. ‘When Chef gives you both leave this afternoon, I will see you upstairs.’
So it went, requiring only one day of slicing, dicing, peeling and chopping, as Allan accustomed himself to his new surroundings. That first afternoon when Pierre declared Allan and Pru free from work, Allan looked towards the stairs.
‘Are we going up there now, Missy?’ he asked.
Anna listened for fear, but heard none. There was only a momentary hesitancy when he looked back at Pru, his lifeline. She gave him a thumbs-up.
Anna had her own encouragement. ‘Allan, there are men above-stairs who probably know your father.’
‘Do they have sons, too?’
‘I imagine they do, and they surely miss them as much as your father misses you.’
‘That’s a lot.’
‘I do not doubt you are right.’
Grace turned from the front desk to greet them both, giving Allan a hug, then sitting him on a chair. ‘These are heroes like your father,’ she told him, as he eyed the officers. ‘We take care of them here. Watch us.’
Anna watched, too. She smiled to herself as her employer turned her cheek for what Captain Beattie had already told her was the obligatory kiss from each officer. Grace listened to their woes, assigned them rooms, watched as they signed the ledger, and handed out room keys.
When she was not busy, Grace explained her duties to Anna, after a glance at Allan, who rested now, his eyes drooping. ‘A few hours below-stairs with Pru, compared to boredom here, might convince your shadow that the kitchen is more fun.’
Allan was a quick learner. The next morning, he announced to Anna that he preferred to chop and dice. She could go upstairs.
‘Are you certain?’ Anna asked.
He nodded and motioned her closer. ‘I fall asleep up there. Besides, I know where you are.’
Anna smiled all the way upstairs. ‘You were right, Grace,’ she said.
Grace’s gaze seemed to see through the back wall. ‘I had a little boy once, who preferred chopping and dicing.’
Dare I ask?Anna thought. She put her hand on Grace’s arm.
‘He went to sea and died at Camperdown,’ her employer told her. ‘I miss him to this very day.’ She gestured around her, the graceful movement taking in the lobby with officers and luggage. ‘When I say this is our war, I mean it. Your captain will be pleased at his son’s resilience.’
My captain?Anna thought.Surely not.
Days passed, then one week and another. Anna continued to watch Grace conversing with the naval officers, wishing she had that same ease of manner.
She decided that Navy men were a breed apart, men used to command and obedience. If there was a tender side to them, she wondered when it might show, until that first time she watched a lady waiting for a husband long at sea.
The lady had come to the Drake looking as shy and ill at ease as Anna knew she had felt that first time, that frantic time, here alone after her eviction.
‘She’s waiting for her husband,’ Grace confided. ‘They’ll stay on my third floor. She said they’ve been married a mere month, and he’s headed back to sea immediately. They won’t need any room service.’
Anna didn’t try to hide her smile. She looked up after many minutes, when the door opened and a lieutenant came in. He scanned the room, then his eyes riveted on his wife.
