Chapter 22
Daniel
“Uncle Daniel!” A small voice carries on the wind in our direction, and it makes me snap my head around. Henry bolts across the garden, heading straight for us. He holds a pencil in one hand, and the other hand out for balance as he sprints. “Ms. Sofia!” he shouts with no signs of slowing.
He practically skips and flies across the grounds. He”s so excited to see her.
Fuck.
I did not need him out here right now. Having Henry see Helena like this is only going to raise questions that I don’t want to answer. I don’t need him wondering where she’s been because I don’t want to have to lie. As far as Henry knows, she’s been called away from work on urgent family business.
Helena hastily wipes the tears from her face. She shifts so that her ankles are crossed demurely beside her, but she looks really uncomfortable. She pulls down the hem of the oversized sweater as Henry comes closer.
Clearly, she doesn’t want Henry to see this any more than I do, but it’s too late now.
Behind him is his tutor, and she’s shouting Henry’s name. She’s tucked his books under her arm, but she still can’t keep up with him. Her round, mature face is painted with a look of horror. She’s a kind woman, but Henry is slippery, and she’s never quite learned how to reel him in. I feel like the job is aging her prematurely.
She hadn’t wanted to come with us at first. Not to somewhere so remote. But I’m paying her more than enough to make it worth her while.
When Henry is close enough, he launches himself toward me. I catch him and give him a big hug, but I’m almost knocked backward from the impact. He cuts it short and turns his focus to Helena.
“Ms. Sofia! Are you okay? Everybody at school is talking about you so much!” He quickly gives her an affectionate hug as well.
Helena glances at me. She doesn’t know what I’ve said to cover up her sudden disappearance, and she doesn’t want to put a foot wrong.
“One of the kids said that you died… and another one said that you decided that you hated us, so you moved back where you came from.” Henry has no malice when he speaks. He obviously doesn’t buy the rumors. He just wants to know why she’s been absent. “I said that was wrong, that you didn’t hate us. I was so, so, so worried you might be sick or something!”
“We don’t gossip, Henry,” I say simply, and he stops talking.
“Sorry,” he mumbles and blinks at Sofia expectantly.
I answer for her. “She’s not staying here long. She is still having to deal with her family emergency, but she had to come back for a little to pick up some things from home. Isn’t that right, Sofia?”
Thankfully, Henry doesn”t question why she’s sitting in his garden.
She smiles tightly and swallows hard. She knows better than to involve him in this. She’s not willing to use him as a pawn to help her escape.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Colombo.” Carolina breathes heavily as she tries to catch her breath. “Young Master Henry saw the two of you walking out from the window and came right outside. I tried to stop him, but he ducked out from under my arm.”
I give Henry a look, and he smiles bashfully. Normally, that smile is enough to get him out of trouble, but I don’t want Helena to see that I’m so easily manipulated.
“I just missed you two is all,” Henry offers by way of explanation. The kid knows how to lay on a heavy guilt trip. His large, sad eyes always cut me to my core.
“I saw you just last night when I tucked you in bed!” I protest, and he sighs.
“I know. But I mean, Ms. Sofia… I haven’t seen her in days.” Henry sighs dramatically.
“You’ve seen them now, Henry. You’ve said hello, and now it is time to return to your lessons,” Carolina says and holds her hand out for Henry. She nods toward the manor, but Henry doesn’t budge.
“I don’t wanna,” Henry protests.
“I don’t believe I was asking,” Carolina says firmly.
They lock eyes and engage in a silent battle of wills. Just as I’m about to step in and resolve the matter, Helena speaks. She pats Henry on the knee and smiles brightly.
“I missed you, too, Henry. I didn’t mean to just disappear on you all like that. I’m hoping things will resolve themselves quickly. Maybe if I have some time later, I can help you study before I go back to my family. Would you like that?”
“But do you know things that aren’t music?” Henry asked innocently. “I’m working on algebra… I don’t like it much, but Ms. Carolina says that I need it for when I get to High School. I’m not real tall, you know, so I figure that I’m going to need to be pretty smart and stuff.”
Helena smiles and nods. “Being tall doesn’t matter, but you’ve still got plenty of time to grow anyway. Don’t worry about it too much.”
Henry shrugs and reluctantly starts to walk back toward his tutor. “Can’t I just have, like, a little bit more time to stay and play? I worked hard all morning with no break or anything.”
Helena glances to me and shrugs one shoulder. I take that to mean that she’s going to behave herself if I agree to this insane ask.
“Fine,” I say. “But only for a moment before you go back to your lesson.”
Carolina sighs and takes our spot on the concrete bench as we leave, taking a much-needed moment to catch her breath.
“Didn’t I see a tree house out this way?” Helena asks Henry. I don’t know how she caught sight of the thing in the dark when she was running from me.
“Yeah!” Henry exclaims. “Uncle Daniel built it for me.”
Helena glances at me. I shrug modestly. It was part of the transition: country kids need a treehouse.
“We don’t have a yard in New York, so he’s never going to have the chance to have one there. I figured since we were going to be staying here a while, he might as well get outside and do kid stuff,” I offer up as an answer.
Helena actually looks impressed. “Well, alright then Henry—show me the way up.”
To her credit, she doesn’t limp once as she races him to the tree. I know that her ankle is still hurting her. I had felt how swollen it was just moments ago. I saw the discoloration of her skin earlier. I guess she wants to spare Henry that truth, too.
It”s incredible how good she is with children, especially given everything I”ve read onher. She and Henry are developing a special bond. Perhaps teaching was her true calling in another life. She”s a strong woman dealing with grief, but she has to put on a brave face in front of her students.
I can hear Henry telling her some elaborate story about the evils of advanced math as he shows her the way up into the treehouse. Then he begins rambling about the various spaceship models he”s made to hang from the ceiling of his bedroom at home.
Helena seems determined to go along with whatever he suggests. When they finally come down again, my world seems to slow. Henry is squealing with laughter, and Helena flashes a real smile in his direction as they run back to the main house. It feels surreal. It feels good.
I follow at a much slower pace.
I watch them play as they sit on the porch waiting for me to catch up to them. Helena’s doing well. She’s keeping within my sight, and I don’t think that it has anything to do with Henry. It’s like she’s trying to prove herself to me.
I’ll be sure to reward her later.
Carolina has moved back into the dining room. She watches Henry return with grass-stained knees and sighs heavily. “Now that you’ve had a break, are you ready to return to your lessons?” she asks.
Henry heaves a long-suffering sigh and starts to drag his feet in the direction of the stairs.
“Come back soon, okay, Ms. Sofia? I wanna hang out again and play some more, so you gotta!” Henry nods with finality. It’s all rather charming. I could have stood there and watched the pair of them for longer than I care to admit.
Helena smiles and nods at Henry, though we both know she may not be able to keep her word. Every time I think I’m closer to figuring out what I’m going to do, I learn something new about her.
I place my hand on her lower back when we step back outside. I’m running out of time and there are things that I’m going to have to look into. Namely, I need to finish tracking down that murdering brother of hers.
Before we make it to the annex, Michael finds me.
“Sir.” He nods at me in greeting, and then once to Helena out of habit. Then he jerks his head in the direction of the offices. Whatever it is we need to discuss must be important.
I gesture for one of my men to come forward.
“Escort her back to her room, and make sure she hasn’t gotten a taste for the outdoors.”
Helena rolls her eyes and goes with the guard.
“Of course, sir, right away,” the guard answers, and he falls into step beside Helena to guide her back to her room.
Once she’s out of my sight, I turn to Michael and follow him back to the house.
“What’s so urgent?” I ask.
“We have an update, boss. And it’s big.”