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I should have known it would be all about duty. “Of course. I’ll get the car pulled around.”
I quickly found my father and told him of the situation. He wasn’t happy to be dragged out of the dinner but he knew he had to. I returned to the party and found Theo and his parents talking in a corner of the ballroom.
“Is everything okay?” Theo asked.
“My mother was a little under the weather,” I said.
“Oh no,” Dana gasped. “I’m sorry.”
“She’s fine. They’ve gone home for the night.”
The three of them exchanged a look, then Theo grinned. “Then we can go.”
“Oh, I can’t,” I said. “My mom wanted me to stay until a more appropriate hour.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “No one is going to know we’re gone.”
“We’ll go back to our house,” Philip said. “You’ll stay for a while and then get home at the right time.”
“I think an evening by the fireplace, accompanied by a glass of wine and good conversation is exactly the right way to end this evening,” Dana said, smiling.
Although I initially hesitated, I nodded. “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”
We got to their house and went to the living room. Philip turned on the fireplace while Theo poured everyone a glass of wine.
“Kick off your heels,” Dana said. “Get comfy.”
She did exactly that. Theo and Philip took off their jackets, removed their bowties, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of their shirts.
I followed suit, slipping off my high heels, and sat down on the couch. As Theo handed me a glass of wine, I felt a pang of guilt. I had promised my mother I would stay. Yet here I was being very informal and drinking.
“Did you spend the bulk of your childhood in Norway?” Dana asked.
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “We have a few residences, so it wasn’t like we were in the same place all the time.”
“The residence we stayed at was amazing,” Theo said.
“It’s my favorite home,” I said, smiling. “Do you guys move around a lot?”
The three of them laughed. I didn’t get it.
“Sorry,” Theo said. “We have a few houses, but we’re not big on moving around.”
“Too many kids,” Dana said. “Packing up six kids and trying to move from house to house would have been torture.”
“Six kids,” I said, laughing. “That must have been a very busy household.”
“Loud,” Theo said.
“It was loud, busy, and chaotic,” Dana said, nodding.
“How many nannies did you have?” I asked.
“None,” Philip answered.
“We had part-time nannies after Archie was born,” Dana said. “Only because Roman and Theo were so busy with their activities. I just hated dragging the babies around.”
“Mom got Americanized,” Theo teased. “She believed in hands-on child rearing.”
