An exclamation from Roland drew Toby’s attention. Once again, the children were absorbed with what they could see outside. Helga was nodding in the middle of the rear-facing seat, while Bruno was stretched out on the floor and quietly snoring.
Toby gazed at the boys, currently seated on either side of Helga, Bryce to Toby’s right and Roland opposite, and reviewed how the pair had behaved that morning. Both had woken bright and eager, sloughing off any sadness lingering from the previous day. When they’d left the room and joined Diana and Evelyn, the boys had readily claimed their sister’s hands, and the three had gone ahead, leaving Toby to offer Diana his arm and follow with her.
She still snared his attention in a way he was determined to ignore, an endeavor that wasn’t helped by having to play at being a married couple.
Throughout breakfast, he and she had remained alert, ready to step in to cover any slip the children made, but as matters had transpired, they’d had no reason to exercise their obfuscatory skills. All three children had performed in their new roles without missing a single beat.
Indeed, they’d thrown themselves into the charade with such dedication that he had to wonder if, for them, the roles were an escape from their sadder reality, namely that their family had reduced to just the three of them.
Regardless, whenever they were in public, without hesitation, all three referred to Diana as Mama and to him as Papa.
And whenever they did, he felt an odd little tug in his chest.
With his gaze resting assessingly on Roland, currently pointing out some water birds on the lake, Toby felt certain that, behind his calm and orderly façade, the older boy was grappling with the emotional ramifications of parting from his father. While Bryce and Evelyn had embraced the journey and their charade with trusting abandon, Roland, being older, had noted and understood more; it would take time for him to work out how best to go on.
Toby was aware of an impulse to reach out and help, but he didn’t think direct intervention would work. Not at this time. He could, however, ensure that Roland didn’t dwell on events he couldn’t change.
With a “Hmm,” Toby sat straighter. Both sound and action drew the children’s expectant gazes, and he smiled. “I suspect we ought to decide what route we would be taking if we truly were on a family holiday, sightseeing through the Alps.”
The boys shifted to face him.
Roland said, “You mentioned Salzburg before.”
Toby nodded. “But do we want to go there directly or via Innsbruck? Or do we want to go farther afield first, before turning back to Salzburg?”
Roland frowned. “The Alps are big.”
“How big?” Bryce asked.
Hiding a grin, Toby settled to give them a short geography lesson.
Seated once again beside Toby with Evelyn on her other side, Diana watched with very real approval as he set himself to divert the boys’ and even Evelyn’s thoughts to a subject outside themselves. When it came to the children, he was proving to be surprisingly thoughtful and insightful.
Although still highly conscious of his physical presence, to her relief, she’d discovered that focusing on the demands of their charade and viewing her inevitable reactions as understandable outcomes of that helped to dampen her irritation, allowing her to feel more in control, at least of herself.
Perhaps not in complete control but not helplessly swept along, either.
She accepted that their charade was not so much a social necessity as an essential shield, one that would deflect attention and thus protect them on their journey, which, in truth, was a flight to safety while being pursued by dangerous people. She hadn’t forgotten the Prussians and what they’d done to Herschel. No matter that she now knew that the man had betrayed her father and her, that had been a brutal way to die.
She was recalled to the present by a question from Bryce about what Alpine towns she’d visited. She smiled and replied and continued to contribute to the ongoing fabrication of their family’s holiday route.
Even Helga was drawn into the game, which lasted until after they’d left the waters of the Worthersee behind.
Eventually, with their putative holiday fully planned, Roland sat back, looked at Toby, and without any hint of his recent reserve, asked, “What’s our next stop?”
Diana smiled, satisfied that she and Toby had succeeded in focusing the children’s thoughts on the unfolding adventure, thus keeping them from brooding about the recent past.
“Villach.” Toby grinned. “We’ll stop there for lunch.”
* * *
As the coachrolled into the village of Villach, Toby caught the children’s gazes. “Remember, we’re on our way to Salzburg.”
He hadn’t explained that they were actually heading south into Italy and not north into the Austrian Alps, but the children had embraced their fictional holiday and seemed content to leave the getting-to-England planning to him.
The three nodded as if sealing a pact.
“Salzburg,” Evelyn said, rolling the name over her tongue.
