“I wondered if I might be bothering you by staying up so late. I can go to bed now if that’s what you prefer.”
“You should stay up as long as you want to,” he said. “Do you feel like going to bed?”
“Not really,” she admitted.
“Then come to the kitchen.”
“The kitchen? What will we do there?”
“My nurse used to make me warm milk when I was a child and couldn’t sleep,” he said. “It always helped me to relax, to settle my thoughts. Maybe it would be helpful to you as well.”
“You really don’t have to make me anything.”
“Don’t be silly.” He took her hand and drew her into the kitchen. She frowned, but she allowed herself to be led.
The kitchen was empty. It took him several moments to get the lanterns lit, and he was a little embarrassed by his own ineptitude. But Madeleine said nothing. She found a stool and sank onto it to wait while he found his way around the unfamiliar space.
He had been in the kitchen before, of course, but he had never actually prepared food. When he’d been here in the past, it had always been to steal a treat from the cooks, who had liked to indulge him as a child. That had been a very long time ago. He wasn’t sure where to find anything.
He located the milk quickly—that much was easy—but then he came to a standstill. He wasn’t sure what needed to be done next. How did one heat milk? Should he put it in the kettle? He started to reach for it.
“What are you doing?” Madeleine asked.
Unsure of what to say, he held up the kettle and showed her.
“Are we having tea?”
“Did you want tea?”
“I don’t mind. But what are you doing with the milk?”
“I was going to put it in the kettle.”
She smiled. “You want to heat that up in a saucepan,” she explained.
“A what?”
“You’ve never been in a kitchen before, have you?”
“I’ve beeninone.”
“You know what I mean.”
He did. “I’ve never cooked anything before.”
“Maybe you’d better let me help.”
“Maybe,” he conceded.
She found what he guessed must be a saucepan and held it up. “This is what we need,” she explained.
“You’ve done this before?”
“Well, a few times, yes.”
“At your uncle’s?”
“No,” she said quietly. “Before. Sometimes, when my sisters couldn’t sleep…”
