Unshed tears made James’s eyes shine like beautiful glass. “That’s a lovely thing to say.” He tilted his head to the side and looked down at the table, clearly contemplating something. “My theory about Li, for what it’s worth, is that he’s more concerned with your welfare than his own. Which is the highest form of love, isn’t it? He’d rather have you safe and happy than selfishly take you for himself, knowing it would make your life hard.”
I thought about this for a moment. Was it possible James was correct? And if so, what did that mean?
“Anyway, we agreed to be friends for your sake,” James said.
“I’m pleased. I’ll need all the friends I can get when I show up at home with two little boys.”
“I can’t say I’m not worried they will make your life difficult and steal your youth.”
“It will all be fine,” I said.
“And look at what you’re doing for me. Taking on a hundred-and-seventy-pound man in need of a home.”
I laughed at his self-mocking expression. “I’ll have my family to help with the children, whatever is decided about the boys. As far as you go, helping a friend doesn’t make me a candidate for sainthood. God wants me to use whatever privilege I have for good. Anyway, I’m never alone, because I’m a Barnes. You’ll see once we’re home.”
James spread butter on a chunk of warm bread. “I can’t live off the mercy of my friends forever, but I’m truly grateful.”
“Someday you’ll be a famous editor and I’ll be pleased to think I had a small part in it. Now, if only your perfect match would fall out of the sky,” I said.
“Yes, where is she?” He grinned, but his eyes were dull. His future weighed heavily upon him.
I reached for his hand. “Dear James, you will find the girl of your dreams soon enough. I’ve a feeling she’s waiting somewhere, wondering where you are. Until then, you shall become a Barnes, and let us look after you.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Hopefully you won’t live to regret joining my family,” I said, giving his hand one last squeeze.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Li approaching. His scent, permanently tattooed into my consciousness, reached me before he did. I could see right away that he carried a tense energy with him. His cheeks were flushed and his jaw clenched. I’d noticed how tightly people held their mouths now that I’d been studying with Basset. Since I’d conquered breathing, he was on me about my tight jaw.
“Li, there you are,” I said, with more gaiety than I felt. My stomach fluttered with nerves once more.
“Good evening.” Li sat in the chair next to me and unbuttoned his jacket. He wore a fine heather-gray suit that made his dark eyes seem even brighter than usual. How I longed to trace my finger along the edge of his jawline. Just once. That’s all I asked. To know, finally, what his taut skin felt like under the pads of my fingers.
He looked at me and then James. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, quite right,” James said. “We were discussing my future as a Barnes.”
Li chuckled as he placed his napkin over his lap. “You’ll be a blessed man to have them take you into the fold.” He glanced at me. “I know I have been.”
Henri brought us plates of fresh oysters on the half shell. After he left, I turned to Li. “Please, tell me what you found out at the embassy,” I said. “I can’t wait another moment.”
“We have a lot of information to tell you.” Li dug an oyster from its shell and popped it into his mouth, then chased it with a sip of white wine. He wiped his upper lip with the crisp white napkin. “Unfortunately, what we found out was not entirely encouraging.” He looked straight into my eyes.
I braced myself for bad news. “Go ahead.”
“There are thousands of orphans, casualties of the war,” Li said. “France has set up a foster system to deal with the influx of those who have no parents as well as children who have lost fathers in the war, leaving their mothers without the means to support them. These children are sent to families who can teach them to farm or run other enterprises. Not adopted, mind you, but simply taken in, both as servants and members of the family. It’s unclear if we can take them out of the country in the same kind of arrangement. There’s a shortage of servants in France, and the children are used to fill the gap. Thus, we may run into some resistance.”
“People see them as laborers and servants?” I asked, immediately angered. “They’re children.”
Li nodded. “In fact, the man at the embassy told me the boys were probably taken in by the fight group under false circumstances. As in, they told the boys they would be sent far away to perform hard labor if they did not come and fight for money. The boys, not knowing any better, went with the men.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. “We can’t take them home? We have to leave them with the monsters who make them fight each other?”
“Not necessarily,” Li said. “When your father comes, he can make a case for fostering them. Although it’s unusual that the boys would be taken out of the country, it is possible for it to be done.”
“They’re living on the streets. No one wants them.” I looked down at the plate of ice, seeing it melt in the warm summer air.
“It’s not true that no one wants them,” Li said. “There are many families who would want to foster two boys who could be trained to help on a farm, for example.”
How could this be? Such a ridiculous, unforgiving law, set up to give people free labor. Were most of them interested in children only to use on farms or as domestics? Or, worse, were they sent to cruel and abusive homes? The only way I knew with certainty that they would be well-cared for was to take them home to my family. I fervently wished for my father and his soothing voice here, assuring me that everything would be fine.
“Whatever is the case, we will take them home with us,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Papa will arrange it somehow.”
“He has the means,” Li said. “And perhaps some influence. We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, the embassy advised that we keep it quiet that we have two children living with us. Ones we essentially found on the streets.”
“We can’t give up.” I thumped my fist on top of the table. “There will be a way to give them the future all children deserve.” Despite my feisty statement, I’d deflated from the inside out, wishing I could curl into a ball in bed at home in Emerson Pass and forget I had promised the boys a safe future. Was this all a ridiculous notion? Had I gone too far, thinking I had the kind of influence over the world that Papa did? He was a man. A rich man. One who could make things work the way he wanted. Even with him on my side, which I wasn’t even sure he would be, I didn’t have the kind of influence he had. What if I let everyone down with my impulsive, emotional decisions? I’d made a promise to the boys that I would get them off the streets, but what if I’d made their lives worse? Should I have let well enough alone?
“Fiona, you’ve set it all in motion,” Li said. “Now is not the time for doubt.”
“True enough,” James said. “We’re in it now, and we’ll see it all the way through.”
“We’ll triumph in the end,” Li said.