Eleven Summers Ago
Eight weeks of freedom.
Soon. Very soon.
The carriage ride from the train station was excruciating, yet Harrison didn’t dare speak. He tried to hold still and not give his mother any reason to shout at him—or worse, confine him to his room. A summer away from his family depended on his good behavior.
The early June Rhode Island air wafted through the carriage windows as they rode, carrying the familiar smells of salt and sand. Flowers and sea grass. The ache behind his eyes began to recede, anticipation building like a crescendo in his veins. This was what he lived for, what kept him sane the rest of the year, these few weeks he spent outside of tutors and classes. Where there were no responsibilities and he could slip away, unnoticed, to see the other children. Swimming, sailing, riding . . . Newport was paradise compared to the grim confines of New York City.
As they turned along Bellevue Avenue, they passed the Websters’ new cottage. Mother sniffed and fanned herself. “That family is obscene. Look at them flaunting themselves.”
Harrison disagreed. The structure, completed just this year, looked like a castle, with its stone columns and massive iron gate. It had been named Chateau de Falaise, or Cliff Castle, because it overlooked the Cliff Walk. He couldn’t wait to see the inside. There were probably all kinds of hiding places and secret rooms. Maddie would show them to him.
He tapped his fingers on his knee, wishing he could jump out of the conveyance right there. The Websters were their neighbors in the city, and their only daughter, Maddie, was his good friend. He hadn’t seen her since she’d shown up at his house late one night in April, throwing pebbles at his window until he came out and talked to her.
There were lots of children hanging about in the Newport summers, but Maddie was his favorite. He didn’t know why, exactly, except that she liked all the same things he did. Plus, she never backed down from a challenge and competed as fiercely as anyone else. Even though she was younger than the group of boys Harrison had befriended, they were all fairly terrified of her.
Harrison wasn’t afraid of her, though. He thought she was the bravest, smartest and surest child he’d ever met. She listened to him, even when he complained about his family, and invited him to dinners with her parents, which sounded as if it would be awful but never was.
With Maddie around, the loneliness retreated. He felt accepted and understood. Normal. Happy.
One more turn and the carriage arrived at the Archer cottage. Harrison waited as patiently as possible while his mother descended, then he started to exit. Thomas pushed him back onto the seat. “Wait your turn, maggot,” his older brother snapped, and stepped down.
The rudeness didn’t bother Harrison, not today. He was about to escape anyone with the surname of Archer for eight weeks. They would see one another at the occasional dinner, when their mother wasn’t busy with her social engagements. Otherwise, he and Maddie would explore and run and swim until they were exhausted.
His feet crunched on the gravel as he walked toward the house. No one looked at him or offered a comment. His family went inside while the staff busied themselves with the bags, and Harrison glanced over his shoulder. He could be at Maddie’s new house in less than ten minutes, if he ran.
He was sprinting before his brain arrived at the decision.
His summer traveling suit chafed as he sprinted, but he didn’t stop. If Maddie was already down at the water, he would look ridiculous wearing a light wool suit. But it was too late.
The massive gates were open, the drive lined with carriages. Was Mrs. Webster entertaining? Hoping to go unnoticed, he slipped around the side of the house and around the back to peek. The view took his breath away. Blue as far as the eye could see, whitecaps flashing as the waves rolled toward shore. Sky that reached for miles, with clouds like cotton in the air. He stood and took it in, frozen.
“There you are!”
Blinking, he found her. Maddie. She was grinning from beneath a straw bonnet, the yellow ribbon tied under her chin. Freckles dotted her nose, proof that she’d already spent a fair amount of time outside. The restlessness in him quieted as he watched her approach, like a curtain coming down at the end of a play. Her presence meant he could finally relax. Finally breathe.
As if they’d seen each other yesterday, she grabbed his arm. “Come on. Mama is hosting a garden party and there is a cake with white icing that I have been dying to try.”
He allowed her to tug him across the lawn toward a row of hedges. “She let you attend a garden party?”
“Of course not. I am supposed to be inside with the dancing instructor. So we must steal the cake.”
They stopped behind the hedges and Maddie pointed. “Look at it. Tell me you don’t want a piece.”
Harrison peered through the branches and leaves and looked toward the dessert table. A three-tiered cake with strawberries on top lorded over the other desserts, its white icing gleaming in the sunlight. Two footmen hovered nearby, while tables of guests chatted under the enormous tent. Big silk hats layered with chiffon and ostrich feathers dotted the landscape.
The cake looked delicious and he was starving. He liked this idea. “I’ll wait until the footmen are called away,” he declared. “Then I will rush out there and take it.”
“I have a better plan. I will create a diversion during which you’ll steal the cake.”
“You can’t be seen out there. Your mother will be furious.”
“She won’t even notice. She’s sitting on the opposite end of the lawn with her closest friends. They haven’t stopped talking for five minutes.”
“We still have to get the cake into the house, though.”
“I have it all planned out. You are going to bring the cake behind those hedges.” She pointed to bushes near the dessert table. “Then we’ll put your coat in front as we carry it inside.”
“Where we’ll be discovered before we can eat it.”
“Wrong. I have the perfect hiding place. No one will find us.”
He trusted her. Maddie thought everything through down to the tiniest detail. “What is your diversion?”
“I will walk to the left of the two footmen at the table and then pretend to trip and fall—”
“And get hurt?” He imagined her with scraped palms and raw knees. “No. Untie your bonnet strings and then ‘lose’ your bonnet in the wind on the near side of the dessert table. The wind is blowing away from us, so it should carry your bonnet right past them and into the grass. They won’t be able to resist helping.”
“And when their backs are turned, you’ll grab the cake.”
“Yes. I’ll come from the front, so the guests can’t see what I am doing.”
Two minutes later their plan was under way. Harrison waited until the footmen were chasing the bonnet before he hurried toward the dessert table. The cake was lighter than it looked and he carried it carefully, keeping his back to the crowd, until he was behind the hedges.
Placing the plate on the ground, he took off his coat. Maddie appeared, her breath labored from the chase. “Hurry. Give me your coat.”
She used the garment to shield the cake, sort of like a Spanish matador with a bull, as they awkwardly walked to a side door. They made it inside without incident, but he knew this was only the beginning. A legion of staff was required to maintain a house this size, and there were always people about in the daytime. “Where now?” he asked.
“At the end of the back hall is a staircase to the lower level. Follow me.”
The inside of the chateau was equally as grand as the outside. It was like a cathedral, with stone arches and buttresses, balconies and tapestries. But Harrison was too focused on not dropping the cake to get a decent look around. At thirteen, his limbs felt awkward and he found himself tripping all the time.
She will kill me if I lose this cake.
He gripped the plate tighter and concentrated on keeping it steady while she held open a door. “Down the stairs. Hurry.”
“Miss Madeline,” a deep voice called in the distance. Likely the dance instructor searching for his pupil.
“Go, go, go,” Maddie urged in a whisper.
He ducked through the doorway and went down the stairs. Maddie was right behind him, closing the door softly, then following. “Turn right,” she said.
When they reached the lower level, she led him to a large blue and orange tiled room where an indoor pool shimmered. An oasis in the summer heat. “Whoa.”
“Daddy loves to swim.” She edged around the side toward a door in the back.
“Where are we going?”
“To the changing room.” She showed him into a tiny space with hooks along the tile and a wooden bench along one side.
He set the cake down and shook out his tired arms. He’d need to build up his strength if she had any more confectionary heists planned.
Then he frowned. “I hadn’t thought to steal forks.”
She produced two forks from the pockets of her dress. “I took them just before I lost my hat.”
He grinned—his first genuine smile since seeing her in April. “You always think of everything.”
“We’d better start eating it before it melts.”
They both sat and took a bite. It was lemony and delicious, so moist it melted on his tongue. “This is good.”
“It’s better than good. Thank you for helping me steal it.” She nudged his shoulder with hers. “I’m so glad you’re finally here.”
Me too, he thought, and reached for more cake.