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Thankfully, Henry doesn't question why she’s sitting in his garden.
She smiles tightly and swallows hard. She knows better than to involve him in this. She’s not willing to use him as a pawn to help her escape.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Colombo.” Carolina breathes heavily as she tries to catch her breath. “Young Master Henry saw the two of you walking out from the window and came right outside. I tried to stop him, but he ducked out from under my arm.”
I give Henry a look, and he smiles bashfully. Normally, that smile is enough to get him out of trouble, but I don’t want Helena to see that I’m so easily manipulated.
“I just missed you two is all,” Henry offers by way of explanation. The kid knows how to lay on a heavy guilt trip. His large, sad eyes always cut me to my core.
“I saw you just last night when I tucked you in bed!” I protest, and he sighs.
“I know. But I mean, Ms. Sofia… I haven’t seen her indays.” Henry sighs dramatically.
“You’ve seen them now, Henry. You’ve saidhello,and now it is time to return to your lessons,” Carolina says and holds her hand out for Henry. She nods toward the manor, but Henry doesn’t budge.
“I don’t wanna,” Henry protests.
“I don’t believe I was asking,” Carolina says firmly.
They lock eyes and engage in a silent battle of wills. Just as I’m about to step in and resolve the matter, Helena speaks. She pats Henry on the knee and smiles brightly.
“I missed you, too, Henry. I didn’t mean to just disappear on you all like that. I’m hoping things will resolve themselves quickly. Maybe if I have some time later, I can help you study before I go back to my family. Would you like that?”
“But do you know things that aren’t music?” Henry asked innocently. “I’m working on algebra… I don’t like it much, but Ms. Carolina says that I need it for when I get to High School. I’m not real tall, you know, so I figure that I’m going to need to be pretty smart and stuff.”
Helena smiles and nods. “Being tall doesn’t matter, but you’ve still got plenty of time to grow anyway. Don’t worry about it too much.”
Henry shrugs and reluctantly starts to walk back toward his tutor. “Can’t I just have, like, a little bit more time to stay and play? I worked hard all morning with no break or anything.”
Helena glances to me and shrugs one shoulder. I take that to mean that she’s going to behave herself if I agree to thisinsaneask.
“Fine,” I say. “But only for a moment before you go back to your lesson.”
Carolina sighs and takes our spot on the concrete bench as we leave, taking a much-needed moment to catch her breath.
“Didn’t I see a tree house out this way?” Helena asks Henry. I don’t know how she caught sight of the thing in the dark when she was running from me.
“Yeah!” Henry exclaims. “Uncle Daniel built it for me.”
Helena glances at me. I shrug modestly. It was part of the transition: country kids need a treehouse.
“We don’t have a yard in New York, so he’s never going to have the chance to have one there. I figured since we were going to be staying here a while, he might as well get outside and do kid stuff,” I offer up as an answer.
Helena actually looks impressed. “Well, alright then Henry—show me the way up.”
To her credit, she doesn’t limp once as she races him to the tree. I know that her ankle is still hurting her. I had felt how swollen it was just moments ago. I saw the discoloration of her skin earlier. I guess she wants to spare Henry that truth, too.
It's incredible how good she is with children, especially given everything I've read onher. She and Henry are developing a special bond. Perhaps teaching was her true calling in another life. She's a strong woman dealing with grief, but she has to put on a brave face in front of her students.
I can hear Henry telling her some elaborate story about the evils of advanced math as he shows her the way up into the treehouse. Then he begins rambling about the various spaceship models he's made to hang from the ceiling of his bedroom at home.
Helena seems determined to go along with whatever he suggests. When they finally come down again, my world seems to slow. Henry is squealing with laughter, and Helena flashes a real smile in his direction as they run back to the main house. It feels surreal. It feels good.
I follow at a much slower pace.
I watch them play as they sit on the porch waiting for me to catch up to them. Helena’s doing well. She’s keeping within my sight, and I don’t think that it has anything to do with Henry. It’s like she’s trying to prove herself to me.
I’ll be sure to reward her later.
