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“How do you know so much about medicine?”

“It is not so much medicine but natural remedies that are tried and true. My father used to apply both types of medicine. He would say that if mother nature can give us the fix we need, why use leeches or bleed the body.”

“I’m afraid your father was one of a kind. Most doctors are not open to other remedies.”

“I would rather use honey to stave off infection or make a ginger and turmeric tea for pain than other more…violent methods.”

“I admire you, Elena. The people at Markham’s estate will be lucky to have you look after them.”

“I have a hard time talking to our house servants, let alone the locals. Perhaps in time when I learn more English I may be in a position to help them.”

“Then we will work on your English today, but we will make it fun.”

They went to the museum first, and Elena found herself impressed with the building and the quiet peace of the rooms and exhibits as they passed through. Lucinda would translate the information in French and then point out an object and repeat it in English. They finally made the room that held Elgin’s marbles. There was a bench there, and they both took the opportunity to rest and study the marble outlines of men on horseback, the figures of men and women with no arms or heads. Some of the men did not even have clothes on. Elena found the proportions of the statues quite realistic.

Lucinda patted the small swell of her stomach. “When I first came to London, it was overwhelming. I had spent most of my life within the closed walls of a finishing school. I knew nothing about the outside world. How it worked. I was so naïve. Thankfully, my husband’s mother and sister took charge and helped me navigate.”

“I hope that Tomas’s mother and sister can help me as well. I got to spend such a short time together before we had to come back here that I fear we will have to start all over again.”

“You have been through so much, and yet you remain so fiercely defiant.”

Elena beamed under the praise. “You learn to take every day as it comes. If I constantly lamented the past, I would be a crying mess. Now I get to look forward to a new life with a man I love and a babe.”

“Do you ever think you will return to Spain?”

“No. I miss it. I do. The heat, the food, the people, but there is nothing left there for me. My family is here now. And I am not keen to get back on a ship in this lifetime or the next. We got caught in a huge storm on the way here and one of the masts broke. I have never been so terrified. I ended up helping the ship’s doctor with the crew’s injuries. I think my sailing days are done.”

“We are so similar. I have no family left so now Tony’s family is my family. It took me a while to understand what it was to be part of it, not an outsider looking in but being an integral part of it. It feels good. I hope you will feel this too.”

“I didn’t realize that you had no family when you met Tony. I hope that Tomas’s family will accept me enough to feel that I am on the inside of it too.”

Lucinda hugged her and then took her by the shoulders. “I do not know about you, but I am in need of a refreshing ice.”

Elena nodded, and her whole body was like a cloud, light and happy. They giggled all the way down the stairs and back out to their carriage. By the time they were outside the Pot and Pineapple and a waiter came to take their order, she could not stop smiling. She hoped she had found a friend.

“Elena, I would like to write to you when you return, and we have returned from our travels. I will write to you in French of course.”

“Oh, I don’t read French. I have just picked it up over the time the war was on. So please write to me in English as it will help me learn it as well.”

“Of course. It is set then. I will write to you in English, and you will write back to me in…French?”

“English. I intend to be a good student and learn it quickly.”

“Excellent. It will be so exciting to have a friend outside the family.”

And there it was. She was a friend, and Lucinda was her friend.

“Ah, here we are. You had the lemon and I had the pineapple,” Lucinda passed over the bowls and then paid the waiter.

Elena’s first spoonful was unlike anything she had ever had. It was cold but melted on the tongue. It was slightly sour but also sweet in a perfect blend. “We call this helado in Spain, but I have never had one. It is incredible. No wonder you were craving it.”

“I do not understand why, but when I crave something it plays on my mind until I get it. What does that mean?”

“It means you are pregnant,” Elena said with a laugh. “It is totally normal. Some women crave sweet, others sour, and others salty foods. Your body knows what it wants and is skilled at telling you. My advice would be to go with it, make your body a happy place for your baby.”

“I will tell Tony that I must have what I crave. Doctors’ orders,” she said with a wink as she scooped another spoonful of pineapple ice into her mouth.

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