"I haven't seen Harry all day," Celine said, her voice artificially bright. She looked back at Ines with wide, innocent eyes. "Where is he? I was hoping to see him in his little walking coat."
Ines understood the deflection. She allowed it, though she filed the information about the bruise away in her mind to discuss with Rowan later. She smiled warmly at the mention of her young son.
"He's with Edith in the nursery," Ines replied, smoothing her green skirts as they resumed their walk toward the bowling green. "She is reading him a very long, very loud story about farm animals. That's how I have time to do things that I want to do. If I brought him down here, he would undoubtedly try to put the wooden bowling balls into his mouth, or throw them at my aunt's dog."
Celine let out a real, soft laugh this time. The terrible tension in her narrow shoulders relaxed just a fraction.
