She tipped her head, imagining the scene. “So it would be difficult for anyone not local to get onto the island, not unless the locals approved of them.” When he nodded, she said, “It sounds like the perfect bolt-hole.” And it was clearly one he’d used before.
“For us—all of us—I think it will be.” Briefly, he met her gaze. “We can stay there for a week or longer if need be. Long enough for the Prussians and the Austrians both to give up hunting for us in Italy and head farther west in hopes of picking up our trail.”
She definitely approved of that plan. “Letting all those searching for us pass us by sounds an excellent idea.”
His lips twitched, and he inclined his head. “So I think. Constantly fleeing danger with a bevy of children is much harder than fleeing alone.”
She felt certain he’d had years of doing the latter; the current situation had to be something quite novel for him.
As they neared the edge of the park and, between them, gathered the children to cross the street to the hotel, she was conscious of welling gratitude. Thank God it had been Toby Cynster with all his many and varied and, in some cases, unexpected talents whom Winchelsea had sent to retrieve the dispatches. Had it been any other man…
She honestly couldn’t imagine being there, in that moment, with the evening sun sinking in golden splendor behind the buildings—and the children happy and healthy and all but carefree, clustering about her—and feeling as calm and collected as she presently did had it not been Toby with her.
As they ushered their tribe—their family—across the road and into the cool of the hotel’s foyer, she glanced sidelong at him, one swift but comprehensive glance, and felt justified in concluding that he and she were settling into a working relationship—a partnership, in truth—and finding their way steadily forward, navigating into these islands of calm that effectively kept the chaos of their violent pursuers distant and at bay.
* * *
Diana was further reassured—hadher confidence in Toby further bolstered—when no pursuers arrived overnight to disturb their newfound peace.
After she, Toby, and Helga supervised over the breakfast table, they farewelled the owners, collected their luggage, and walked around the corner to the stable. Henry and the cart were waiting. In short order, they piled in, and soon, they were rolling at a decent pace out of Cantu.
Diana had, again, claimed the seat beside Toby.
As the last of the village’s houses fell behind and the countryside opened up before them, he smiled and said, “I think we can feel confident that we’ve successfully evaded our pursuers. Now all we have to do is reach our temporary sanctuary.”
The children heard him and scrambled up behind the bench seat.
“Where is it?” Roland asked. “Our temporary sanctuary?”
Evelyn wrinkled her nose. “What’s a ‘sanctuary’?”
Toby grinned and explained.
Diana and Helga exchanged amused looks as the children’s questions continued, increasingly focused not on where the place was or what it was called but on what entertainments they would find there.
Toby’s answers teased and fed their eagerness to get to the place.
What impressed Diana more was that Roland as well as Bryce was now entirely at ease in Toby’s company, behaving with him much as they would a favorite uncle.
From the little Toby had let fall of his life, she’d gathered that “favorite uncle” was a role he had significant experience in playing, and as the next hour rolled on, that experience certainly showed.
They were a rollicking little band who stopped on the crest of a hill to drink from the waterskins they’d refilled at Cantu and let Bruno—and the children—have a run.
As she leant against the cart’s rear board and watched the children and dog play, Diana remarked, “Bruno has been an exceptionally good dog through all our travails. He didn’t even bark at Bergamo station and give us away.”
Standing beside her, Toby admitted, “I was more than a little worried that he would, but Roland assured me Bruno only barks at other dogs or nasty men.”
She laughed. “As far as I know, that’s true.”
Watching the dog, now bounding between the boys, Toby observed, “Bruno’s devoted to the children and they to him. To them, he’s a piece of normalcy in an otherwise continually altering world.”
Softly, she murmured, “Amen.”
Soon after, it was time to go on, and she offered her place on the bench seat to Roland and Bryce. Evelyn professed not to be interested, as she had to put Rupert the Bear down for his nap.
Smiling, Diana took Toby’s hand and climbed up and stepped around the end of the bench seat, into the back of the cart. She settled in one corner. Helga was comfortably ensconced in the other corner, behind Toby, and Evelyn quickly created a nest of bags for herself and Rupert between the comforting figures of Diana and the maid.
Toby set Henry walking, then trotting again.
