Chapter 6: A Place to Belong
BERTINE entered the restaurant again and called out to the proprietress.
“There are two children outside waiting for their mother. I know them and it’s dangerous at this time of night, so I wondered if I might take them home with me if it wouldn’t cause their mother any trouble.”
“Oh, dear. Please wait a moment. Isabella! Your children are here.”
The woman who responded to the name seemed to be around twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She rushed out the door.
“I don’t mind watching over them until you finish your work,” Bertine said. “I believe my house is near yours.”
“Mama, this is the candy ma’am we told you about! She lives in Grandpa Enrique’s old house!”
“O-Oh. That house? Thank you very much for giving my children those candies. David, how many times have I told you that you can’t come to the restaurant?”
The boy named David looked troubled and his little sister, no more than three years old, was already nodding off sleepily.
“I realize you must be worried as this is our first meeting,” Bertine said, “but I really don’t think it wise to leave the children out here to wait for you.”
“Your house is three streets over, yes, the one with the shop on the first floor? Then perhaps I’ll accept your kind offer. I still have so much work left to do, you see. Thank you very much, miss.”
“Of course. We’ll see you soon, then.”
The young mother bowed to Bertine repeatedly as she stepped back inside the restaurant. Their duo had turned into a group of five for the walk home. Evance picked up the little girl and she fell asleep as soon as she was in his arms.
“David, will your father be returning home late as well?” Bertine asked the boy.
“No. He died in the war.”
“I see…”
The latest war had ended with the Southern Federation’s victory, but at a great cost to its people as well. Bertine’s chest ached at the thought of the countless children on both sides who had lost their fathers. Her heart grew heavier when she considered how long the young woman would be raising her children, and by herself at that.
“I was drafted in the war as well,” Evance said. “It was a horrible experience. But our victory meant the return of many of our lands from within the Empire’s grasp. These children’s father, and others too, they all fought and died for that reason.”
Evance didn’t speak again as they continued walking. Bertine almost had the sensation that his sorrow melted into the night air and drifted toward her. She remained quiet as well on the trek back.
✦ ✦ ✦
“WE’RE here, everyone. David, you must be hungry, yes?” Bertine asked.
“Ummm. I am, but I wanna eat dinner with Mama.”
“Then would you like to wait for her upstairs?”
“Yes, please.”
Bertine led the way to the second floor and stepped into the living room. After Evance gently placed the little girl on the couch, David sat down as well. In the kitchen, Bertine prepared a light repast for the boy, enough to sate him but still leave room for dinner with his mother. She spread a bit of jam on a thin slice of bread and poured fruit juice into a glass before taking it all to him.
“Thank you, Evance,” she said. “Your bedroom is on this floor, the one all the way at the end. It’s stuffed with our belongings though, so please make the best of it.”
“My lady, I’ll never forget your generosity for as long as I live…” Evance said.
“Oh, please, enough. I really haven’t done much.”
Bertine waved Evance off to his room with a rueful laugh.
✦ ✦ ✦
LATER that night, the two siblings’ mother arrived to fetch them. From the looks of her, she had rushed over to the house as soon as she could. The young mother had considerately brought an offering of sausage from the restaurant with her. Bertine suspected she had paid for the meat out of her own wages. She thanked Bertine profusely, again and again, then took her children home.
After the woman left, Bertine stared intently at the fat-soaked, paper-wrapped sausages.
“Is something the matter, my lady?” Dorothée asked.
“Hm? Oh, I’m just thinking about how she’s experienced life so much more than I have despite being younger than me. She married a man she loved and gave birth to two beautiful children. But her husband died in battle, so now she works to raise her children alone. Moreover, her conscientiousness in bringing this sausage as a thank-you speaks to her character. So I thought to myself how resilient and beautiful her soul must be. And that I need to learn from her example.”
I think your soul is just as resilient and beautiful, my lady, Dorothée thought to herself. Only she was privy to the hardships her lady had experienced, difficulties not even her father and eldest brother Geraldo were aware of. Lately, whenever she thought about them, she’d begun thinking it might not have been the worst thing to remain in this country.
✦ ✦ ✦
THE next day, Evance assiduously applied himself to various tasks around the property. He painted the walls, waxed the floors, weeded the yards, and pruned the trees.
“Would you like me to lend you some money for your travel expenses home?” Bertine offered. “I have no doubt that someday you’ll repay me when you achieve success.”
Evance declined Bertine’s offer.
“I promised my father I wouldn’t return until I made something of myself.”
It seemed he intended to settle here. She thought that with his build, he would serve well enough as their bodyguard, so Bertine allowed him to live with them. Thus, a new rhythm began in their lives.
Evance handled a variety of odd jobs around the house while disappearing at times during the day, presumably somewhere in the city. He’d told her early on in their cohabitation that he intended to learn how to build buildings in the proper style here. As for Bertine herself? Well, she devoted herself to preparing a number of products, including embroidered handkerchiefs and cloth bags, as well as handcrafted earrings.
And since that first visit, siblings David and Camilla would stay with Bertine whenever the nights became too lonely for them. Without fail, their mother would express her fervent gratitude with a little something from the restaurant. “A small token,” she would always say. Even if Bertine tried to refuse, Isabella continued gifting her faithfully.
You really don’t have to spend your hard-earned coin on me. Despite thinking this every time, Bertine found herself accepting every time. I want to help her as much as I can.
✦ ✦ ✦
ONE afternoon, someone knocked loudly on the shop’s door. Dorothée opened it. After exchanging a few words with the visitor, she turned around and called out.
“My lady, you have a guest.”
Upon hearing those words, Bertine rushed to the door. There she found a serious-looking man waiting for her. She estimated his age at approximately forty.
“Who might you be?”
“My name is José. On His Excellency, Cecilio’s orders, I’m searching for Lady Bertine du Jeanne, daughter of Marquess du Jeanne, from the Kingdom of San Luenne.”
While Dorothée watched from a distance, Bertine had a brief conversation with José. He left without entering the house. A grim expression momentarily settled on Bertine’s face after she shut the door behind him. But it vanished quickly, as if it had never been there in the first place. She set about working on the day’s embroidery.
“There’s absolutely no need to fret, Dorothée,” she said. “I told him that his master need not concern himself with us, so we should be fine.”
Dorothée decided not to pry further into the matter if her lady said it was handled.