Chapter 18
CHAPTER
NEW YORK CITY
Danielle was not all right.
The thought ran circles in Elsa’s mind, even as she handed Mr. Miller dissection tools in the ornithology lab at the American Museum of Natural History. She did her job fine, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her friends.
Yesterday, she had spent the morning at the museum assisting a researcher, so after arriving at Elmhurst after lunch, she’d worked late to tag and catalog another hundred birds.
Luke and Tom had stayed, too, so they could give her a ride back to the city.
Before they left the estate at dusk, they’d checked on the Petrovics.
Danielle had not been willing to see anyone, not even Barney. In itself, that would not have been cause for concern. What alarmed Elsa was the moaning and banging coming from inside her room.
“That’s the rocking chair you hear hitting the wall, not her head, thank goodness,” Tatiana had explained.
“Mr. Field hasn’t given us permission to stay.
She didn’t take the news well, but her moans have quieted, and she’s replaced them with talking to herself, which is a good sign.
It means she’s trying to use her logic to help her emotions understand, as her tutor taught her to do.
Still, such a difficult transition is a great deal for her to process.
” She spared only a few more moments with her visitors before begging leave to try again to console her daughter.
From the looks of her, she’d been trying for some time.
As much as Elsa wished she could help, she hadn’t been able to.
During the ride back to Manhattan, she and Luke and Tom had put their heads together on what, if anything, they could possibly do for these vulnerable people Birdie had so wanted to take care of.
Aside from building a new cottage when the time was right, and apart from finding the aviary before time ran out, all they could do was pray.
And so they had, right there on Eighty-First Street, where Luke idled along the curb in front of the Beresford.
The prayer was brief but sincere. Elsa had asked God for solutions to become clear.
But remembering what Tatiana had said about God’s presence in times of pain, she asked Him to be with the Petrovics, too.
Elsa still didn’t have all the answers, but she was trying to trust the One who did.
“Miss Reisner,” Mr. Miller prompted, and she handed him the scalpel.
Absently, she watched him work, her mind turning over the words Tatiana had left with her. “All her life, I’ve tried to protect my daughter from things that upset her. But I can’t protect her from change forever. Since we can’t avoid it, I’ve got to find a way to help her overcome it instead.”
Elsa had carried that truth home with her and pondered it still.
Change was inevitable, and even Jesus had said we’d have trouble in this world.
She could not avoid it in her own life, either, as her weak leg reminded her every day.
She couldn’t avoid it. But what would it look like to overcome it?
That was another riddle she still hadn’t solved.
At last, the dissection ended. After cleaning the tools and storing them in the proper trays, Elsa returned to her own office.
To her surprise, Luke was already there, a paper cone in his hand. She was even more surprised by how glad she was to see him. She’d seen him last night, after all.
A small smile hooked into his cheek. “I found this little guy rolling around in the truck this morning.” He handed her the cone.
Elsa peeked inside and found an indigo bunting. “Thank you for bringing him.”
“Did you decide whether you’re going back to Elmhurst tomorrow?”
She brushed a cat hair from her sleeve. “Yes, but not until after dinner, since this week is so busy here at the museum. I’ve convinced Ivy to go with me.”
“Just the two of you?”
“Yes. She’s been dying to see the place, and my work was so interrupted yesterday that I decided to return in the evening.
I assume the family won’t be there then.
Mr. Spalding gave me a key before he left yesterday.
We’re going to make a night of it and sleep there.
We’ll bring our own sleeping bags and pillows, of course.
I’ll be able to get more done early in the morning, too, before any relatives come back. ”
Luke folded his arms, feet planted wide. “Elsa, are you serious?”
“It will be a grand adventure! Ivy gets to take some time off during the week since she’s worked a few weekends with special events.”
“It’s in the middle of nowhere with no telephone service and no electricity.”
“That’s the adventure part. Ivy can’t wait to pretend she’s living in a historical era before all of that had even been invented.” She leaned against her desk. If she had more than one chair in her office, she’d sit and invite him to do the same.
“How will you get there?”
“Train.”
“So you won’t even have an auto there. You’ll be stranded with no way of communicating with the outside world.”
“Exciting, right?” She couldn’t help but laugh at the bewildered expression on his face.
“And you’re determined to do this?”
“All joking aside, yes, I am. Mr. Chapman is putting the pressure on to finish up out there, and I’m almost done. Besides, Ivy and I can look for the aviary while we’re there, too.”
Luke raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m going with you. Camping. I’ll bring Barney.”
Elsa returned his determined gaze. “If you thought my plan was inappropriate before, you’ve just made it ten times more so.”
“We won’t be sleeping in the same room. In that house, we might not even be in the same county.
But in all seriousness, I don’t want you two there alone.
You and Ivy can still have your roommate bonding time.
I won’t interfere with that. But I want to be there in case you need a hand with something or in case anyone decides to come harass you again.
Besides, I have more work to do there, too, and, frankly, not enough time to do it, especially since I want to use the weekends to reconstruct the Petrovic cottage.
I’ll bring Tom, if he’s game. We’ll keep to ourselves unless you need us. ”
Elsa checked her watch. “I’m so sorry, but I have a meeting with my boss. Walk with me that direction?” She led him out of her office.
“I’ll drive. We’ll pick you up outside the Beresford. All right?” He nudged her with his elbow.
Elsa looped her hand through it. “If you’re sure.” The more she thought about it, the better his plan sounded.
“I am. Lean on me.”
She looked up at Luke, softening at his earnest expression. “Is that a metaphor?”
One eyebrow lifted. “I suppose it is. It’s also literal. When we walk together, I can tell you’re trying not to press down on me, Elsa. But it’s no burden to support you. I’m here because I want you to lean on me. Literally, metaphorically, consistently, perpetually. Also, voluntarily.”
Releasing a sigh, she allowed herself to transfer more of her weight to him. “I volunteer.”
Elsa was still smiling when she knocked on the doorway to Mr. Chapman’s office.
“Miss Reisner.” He beckoned her inside. “Sit. Tell me how your work is coming along. Anything new to report?”
She eased into the chair and gave brief reports on the various projects he had her working on, from dissection assistance to skinning and stuffing birds to research assistance to processing the new inventory from Elmhurst. “I have an idea for something new,” she added after all of that, surprising even herself.
“Because you don’t have enough to do already?” he teased but bade her to continue.
She shared with him her experience last week as an informal birding guide in Central Park.
“I fail to see how this is relevant to the museum.”
“Mr. Griscom wrote that article about bird-watching in Central Park, and it has clearly generated interest. Offering guided walks through the park is a service the museum could provide. I believe it could earn even more appreciation and drive foot traffic across the street to our museum so they could keep learning. Our location right by the park makes it a perfect setup.”
“And am I to assume that you would be willing to be this bird guide yourself?”
Elsa’s heart leapt at the opening. “Why, yes! I’d love to! If—”
“You.” He interrupted her with a pointed look at where her skirt sloped over her leg brace.
Her mouth went dry. He didn’t believe she could do it.
“Good heavens.” Mr. Chapman closed the book on his desk and pushed it to the side. “You’ve become quite fanciful lately. If this is due to the goings-on at Elmhurst, the sooner you finish, the better.”
The “goings-on at Elmhurst,” as he put it, had breathed new life into a passion that had gone stagnant.
At least, the episodes that involved people.
The note-taking and record-making, whether here or there, fed her almost-compulsive drive for perfection.
Bird-watching—and bird-teaching—shifted her focus onto that which couldn’t and shouldn’t be contained or controlled.
Living birds inspired and delighted her again, as they had when she was a bedridden child.
“As I’ve told you before, I’ll be finishing this week.
And then I’ll be back here full-time once again.
” Months and years stretched out ahead of Elsa.
The vision played across her mind like a moving picture.
She saw herself flaying skin away from flesh, cutting bones and wings, and cleaning blood off feathers with a fingernail file.
She saw herself arranging and rearranging inventory and hunched over notebooks.
It didn’t bring her half the joy she experienced watching birds with Tatiana and Danielle at Elmhurst or with Luke in Central Park.
Finding Zeus had been more thrilling than stumbling upon the Spix’s macaw in Birdie’s dressing room.
And leading the small band of people on an impromptu bird walk through the park had brought her more exhilaration than she’d known in any other aspect of her work.
“Your finishing at Elmhurst is what concerns me most.” Leaning forward, he tented his hands over the open textbook splayed on his desk. “I’m not paying you to hunt down a manuscript that doesn’t belong to you.”
She blinked. “You mean the aviary?”
“Yes, I mean the aviary. When you’re at Elmhurst, you’re to be working for the museum. We are not paying you to do anything else. We certainly aren’t paying you to make new friends or pick up lost causes.”
Heat flared up her neck. Did the lost cause refer to the aviary or to her new friends? “Where is this coming from?”
“Dr. Hugh Geoffrey was here first thing this morning. He tells me you are spending an inordinate amount of time with the gardener and her daughter. Worse, he says you’re meddling in the family’s affairs by looking for an item that belongs to someone else.”
“I’ve been looking for field notebooks and keeping my eyes open for the aviary at the same time, as requested by Mr. Spalding.” She didn’t need to mention the treasure hunt she planned for tomorrow evening since that would be on her own time.
“Dr. Geoffrey is concerned that if you find it, you’ll keep it for yourself. I assured him that I know your character, and you would never do such a thing.”
“Of course I wouldn’t.” She exhaled. “Thank you for that trust.”
Mr. Chapman grunted. “I do not believe you would steal an object, Miss Reisner. But I take the theft of time just as seriously. You know how swamped we are here. You’ve been going to Elmhurst for three weeks now. You’re done.”
Elsa’s heart dropped. “Sir, with all due respect, I have worked on that project on my own time to try to speed up my progress. I certainly haven’t stolen time from the museum for personal pursuits. As far as I’ve come, I still have birds there. I need more time.”
“I need you here. We have a full slate of researchers scheduled for tomorrow, and you need to bring them whichever specimens they request.”
“Then let me have Friday at Elmhurst,” she said. If they went Thursday night, and slept over, she should be able to finish, as long as the relatives let her concentrate. Whatever she didn’t get to, she could tag over the weekend at home, cramped though that would be.
“As I said, I need you in your position here. If you must return to Elmhurst, do so on your own time. You will be here by nine o’clock Friday morning, and you will have the last of the Hudson Collection with you by then. I tell you, Miss Reisner, you’re done with Elmhurst, for good.”