He signed but stopped. He tried again and stopped.
“What is it?” she asked.
He signed slowly, “May I hold your hand?” He blushed but didn’t gaze away from her face.
She was about to sayyeswhen Dobkins searched over her shoulder.
“Is something the matter?” the captain asked.
“I thought I saw a man following us, and when I stared at him, he quickly turned around that corner.” She pointed at the street.
“I’ll check,” the captain said.
“It might be nothing.” Dobkins didn’t sound convinced.
“Stay here.” The captain strode towards the corner.
Samuel gripped her hand tightly. His chest rose and fell quickly. Tension caused his neck muscles to stand out.
She held his hand in both of hers. “It may be nothing. Don’t worry. And no one would ever recognise you.”
“I’m worried.”
“So am I, but whatever happens, you have us now. We won’t let anyone hurt you. Stay optimistic.”
He shifted his weight as if ready to bolt away.
When the captain walked back to them at a rather slow gait, Samuel released a breath.
“I didn’t see anyone.” Captain Jackson kept searching the street.
“I was mistaken then.” Dobkins gazed around, too. “I’m too jittery.”
“No, you have sharp eyes.” The captain tipped his hat at her, and she smiled.
Vivienne exchanged a glance with Samuel. Captain Jackson paying a compliment to Dobkins? Interesting.
“Perhaps it was a footpad who changed his mind.” The captain clapped Samuel’s shoulder. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.”
The deep affection the captain showed for Samuel was touching.
As they resumed walking towards the park, Vivienne wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck. A chilly wind blew from the north, carrying the promise of snow. Dark brown and red leaves littered the path in the park, and the trees swayed their skeletal branches towards the grey sky.
Samuel stopped in the middle of the gravel path and tilted his head towards the golden-brown canopy of an oak tree.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she said.
He seized a red leaf floating towards the ground. “I feel like I’m inside a painting I’ve looked at for a long time. I have loved autumn when the leaves turned red and float to the ground. I looked outside and wanted to be part of it.”
“Part of it?”
He released the leaf. “Being a beautiful leaf, floating in a golden world. It’s silly, isn’t it?”
“No.” She held his hand again. “I understand you. You were locked in a small world and that leaf was outside your small world, freely flowing.”
She and Samuel sat on a bench in a quiet corner surrounded by evergreen bushes that protected them from the wind. The captain and Dobkins were busy feeding pieces of leftover vegetables to the geese at the Boating Lake.
Not far from them, a woman played with a toddler and a large, colourful ball. The child’s arms weren’t long enough toembrace the ball fully, so he fell and rolled with it, laughing. The mother scooped him up and scattered kisses on his chubby cheeks.
