Vivian cleared her throat and abandoned the topic. “There’s plenty to keep us occupied whether he does or not. Our little friend here spends a great deal of his time unsettled. I don’t understand why, since this place is peaceful and no one believes he’s here except for me. Maybe you can figure it out. Either way, he’ll be comforted to have you in the room at night, and sometimes during the day. You’re not stuck in here by any means, but try to check in.”
“I understand. I thought I’d sleep in here, and spend some time reading aloud in here during the day. Is he restricted to this room?”
“No, but he’s timid. With you here, he might go out and about more. And he doesn’t seem to always be, ah, here.” Vivian made a broad gesture. “Visible. Around.”
“Manifested, my friend Athena would say.”
“Manifested, yes.” Vivian smiled. “And perhaps on Thursday, our small friend would loan you to me a bit. If you wouldn’t mind.”
“I’d love to help you with whatever you need,” Hanna said, and meant it.
“You’re a thoughtful young woman. Gregory’s having a party this weekend, you see. For all his business associates, the company’s board members, all the uptight men you can stuff into the house.” Vivian’s nose wrinkled. “I’m used to them, of course. My Henry used to throw these parties all the time. I’d put them together for him. I would have done for Gregory, but I just don’t have the energy I used to, and it’s good for him to find his own way.”
A business party. Bet I’m not invited. I don’t think I’m sorry about that. Though… I’ve always wondered what they’re like.Years of nannying for well-to-do people, and she’d spent these shindigs either upstairs, occupying children, or out of the house on a paid excursion to keep her away from the guests. She hadn’t had an excuse to dress up and feel beautiful in an extravagant way since her senior prom.Where my date refused to dance with me because his friends had decided it wasn’t cool or manly. Nothing like wearing a gorgeous dress to spend your night holding up a wall.
“It sounds like quite an event. You’re going to look beautiful at it, I’ll bet,” she said aloud.
Vivian grinned, an expression that deepened her laugh lines and made them lovelier still. The face of a woman who smiled often. “I’m going to do my best. I used to give all those boys hell, let me tell you.”
“You still will, you know.”
Now, Vivian laughed. “You. I like you, Hanna, and you’re right. I sure will. But this party has made me nostalgic about all parties I’ve been to. I’ve saved all my dresses, over the years. One of the maids is going to get them out for me and hang them up in one of the spare rooms so I can look at them and reminisce a while. I was hoping you might join me.”
“That would be absolutely amazing. I’d love to, and I’d love to hear all the stories that go with them.”
“Thursday after lunch, then. We’ll walk among the gowns and talk about all the hearts I’ve broken. There’s this blue one–”
“Vivian?” Laura stuck her head around the door. “There you are. Time for your exercises, now. Sorry, Hanna, I have to steal Vivian.”
“She’s a terrible killjoy,” Vivian said, with a twinkle in her eyes that put the lie to the statement.
“I’m a big old bag of no fun,” Laura confirmed, as she took hold of the wheelchair’s handles. “That’s why I’m still single. No nice ladies would put up with me. Come on, trouble.”
“I’ll see you at supper, Hanna,” Vivian said. She lifted a hand to wave as she disappeared around the corner.
“See you then!” Hanna called.
And then she was alone. Or mostly alone.
With a gusty exhalation, she plopped down onto her bed. They’d replaced the mattress recently, she could tell, and had to resist the siren song of fluffy pillow top and supportive foam beneath it. All the travel and excitement had stolen the last bits of her energy, but she’d kept on through sheer will and momentum. Now? She’d made the mistake of stopping. Like a shark, she should have kept moving if she didn’t want to die into a state of oblivious naptime.
“I should have asked Vivian more questions about you,” she said to the room. “I don’t know when you came from. Did you live here with your parents? What era did you live in? I’ve got so many questions about you, my friend, and I don’t know how to get any answers. I don’t even know your name.”
Quiet. A breathless quiet, full of hesitation. Hanna sighed. “You still don’t know what to make of me, do you? That’s all right. One day soon, you’ll believe I’m here to help you. Hmm. I should call Athena. Or text her. Let her know how it’s going. Tell her about you, ask for advice.”
Instead, she yawned and melted the rest of the way onto the bed. Her feet dangled off to keep her shoes from the bed cover. “Maybe in a minute. I’d love to stretch out for a second. Traveling is nerve-wracking, don’t you think? A new place, new people, wondering what the future holds…”
Another yawn. Her eyes didn’t want to stay open, so she allowed them to close. Consciousness flickered like lights in a thunderstorm.
Nervous. The worst day in a string of terrible days, terrible weeks, terrible months. Crying. Crying because he couldn’t stop. Because he couldn’t forget his mother’s tears as she knelt in front of him at the train station to straighten his coat. Because there’d only been five others against the wall, trembling, faces sticky with dirt and soot and tears, when the sour-faced woman in the fur puckered her face as though she’d encountered a foul smell, stepped up, sighed, and said, “I’ll take that one.”
Crying because he’d been afraid she would choose him, and afraid she wouldn’t choose him, too. Because he didn’t know what would happen if no one chose him, where he would go. She stays silent the entire drive in her fancy car. Fancier then he’d ever seen. An expensive car for a woman who looks angry and displeased with everything around her, even that fancy car. He wonders if she will ever speak to him. If she never spoke, what would life be like at her home? A new place. New people. Wondering what the future holds, and afraid to find out. All he wants to do is go home again.
A long drive to the house. People in front of it, standing and waiting for the car to pull in. A younger woman dressed in drab, proper attire for a house servant. When his car door opens, she smiles, a smile all the way to the depths of her eyes, and takes his hand to help him out of the vehicle. “Welcome, young master. Welcome to Greenhill Hall. Let’s see who you are, shall we? Does this say Herbert? No? Eugene? Aloysius? No?”
She reaches for him, takes hold of the tag that dangles from his shabby coat, misreads his name over and over until he is laughing despite himself. Then the sour lady barks a command, and neither of them has laughter. He has tears to keep him company as he follows the friendly one up to the room on the right of the stairs.
Not in all his days would he forget her kindness. The tag was a talisman of that kindness, one he tucked away safe to treasure in darker times. And there were many darker times…