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“It’s lovely to think that beauty endures,” Hanna said.
“If it was there at all.” Darlene’s tone was pure venom.
Vivian picked up her fork. “I suppose you might know a thing or two about that, wouldn’t you, Darlene?”
Hanna shoved a piece of roast into her mouth before the laugh escaped it.
No one lingered after the dessert course. Darlene disappeared, back to her troll bridge Hanna assumed, and Gregory excused himself, with an apologetic glance for Hanna, when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Can I help you upstairs, Vivian?” Hanna asked.
The older woman smiled. “That would be kind of you, but you don’t have to trouble yourself if you don’t want to.”
“I do want to.”
“Then I would be very glad for your company.”
Hanna didn’t mind more time with her new friend. Already, the woman felt like the grandmother she had never known. They shared a bond of secret knowledge and care for Gregory, and Hanna got the idea Vivian had hoped to find a daughter figure in Darlene someday, or perhaps in a woman her adopted son brought home. Neither had happened. Now, Vivian spent her days with caretakers and son in a house far away from others who understood her history and perspective, her husband gone and her life changed by the ravages of age. Hanna imagined Vivian might feel unmoored and out of place. Much like Hanna did.
One of the caretakers had already turned down Vivian’s bed and set up the array of nighttime medicines on the bedside table. Hanna pushed the wheelchair to where Vivian directed. “Laura will be along in a few minutes to help me. Thank you, Hanna.”
“Anytime.” Hanna paused as an idea hit. “Vivian? Would you mind if I showed you something?”
“Not at all.”
Hanna stepped around to the front of the chair. The tag she’d found had remained in her pocket all through dinner, since she’d stuffed it there when she changed. “I found this beneath the floor in my room. Let’s say I was guided to it.”
Vivian’s eyes widened. “By our little friend?”
“Yes. It was his, I think.” Hanna pressed the tag into Vivian’s trembling hands. “It has his name on it.”
“Stuart…” Vivian murmured. “Stuart Marsh.”
“That’s him. But I’m not sure why there’s a tag with his name on it.”
“Operation Pied Piper,” Vivian said immediately. “You probably know about it, though perhaps you didn’t know the name. It was the effort to evacuate children from the cities before they could be bombed during the war.”
“Oh!” Hanna nodded. “I did know about that. Though I’m not sure I heard it had an official name. Not a very good name, was it.”
“It didn’t have the best implications, no. It did get the basic idea right, with children following out of their homes to go elsewhere.” Vivian tapped the tag. “The children wore these. Every child had a name tag attached to them, as well as bags of necessaries. Such as gas masks.”
Hanna furrowed her brow. “I don’t like to think of a time when a gas mask is a necessary.”
“Terrifying, isn’t it? They were bundled off on trains to go live in safer places. The person who owned this house then must have taken him in.”
Hanna thought of her dreams, the stern woman who showed no sympathy and the kind, younger woman who displayed nothing but warmth. “I think they must have. Would you mind if I looked up more history about it? Do you think Gregory would mind?”
“I would love it if you did, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, either.” Vivian handed back the tag. “I’d like to know what happened to him, that he’s lingering here. It would be nice to think he stayed because he had happy memories, but I suppose that’s a bit much to hope for.”
Hanna winced. “Possibly. Let’s keep hoping, though.”
“For now, though, I think we’ll keep sleeping. You look like you could use a good rest.”
“I think I could use three good rests, then a nap to recover from them,” Hanna admitted. “Rest well, Vivian.”
“You too, dear.”
Rest sounded like heaven brought to Earth, but Hanna had one more thing to do before she could sleep. She hadn’t picked up an international SIM card for her phone yet, so she set up her laptop with Athena’s preferred video call service on it.
