Free Anna's Return by Sally Quilford Page B

us, but she said we could today. It was very exciting.
I’m very happy to be here.”
    “I’m glad to hear it. Whereas Anna looks as if she would
like to run away.”
    “I feel scruffy in such sumptuous surroundings,” said Anna,
trying to make light of her nerves.
    “You look lovely, like the epitome of summer,” said Janek.
    Oh dear, thought Anna, now he would think she was fishing
for compliments. “Thank you,” was all she could manage to say.
    “I thought we’d take tea up on my terrace,” said Janek. “It
has a wonderful view of the city.”
    “Brilliant!” said Nicky.
    That calmed Anna a little. At least if they were in private,
she would not be so aware of how she compared with the truly elegant ladies who
sat in the foyer, drinking tea and chatting eagerly about their Harrods
purchases.
    High tea at Carmichaels was everything it was said to be. As
Anna and Nicky looked out over London, with Janek pointing out landmarks to
them, a member of staff brought up plates full of tiny sandwiches and small
cakes. Pride of place in the middle of the table was an enormous fruit cake.
    “Can we take some back for Mama and Papa?” Nicky asked.
    “Nicky,” Anna chided gently.
    “Of course you may,” Janek interrupted. “I should have
thought to include them in the invitation. I hope you’ll forgive me, Nicky, but
I was so eager to be able to see Anna again, I completely forgot my manners.”
    The afternoon seemed to be made up of Janek addressing
comments to or about Anna through Nicky, so she followed his lead. Having Nicky
there, almost as a chaperone helped to ease some of the tension.
    “Are you very rich?” Nicky asked Janek, as they ate their
sandwiches. Anna was about to chide him again but thankfully Janek laughed.
    “I don’t do too badly. It was not always so, as Anna will
tell you. When we first met, I was a starving teenager.”
    “Yes, I remember,” Anna said. “Janek ate all my bread and
cheese. Not that I minded. He needed it more than I did.”
    “Mama says that people in Russia are very hungry,” said
Nicky. “And that Russia now owns Poland. Is that true, Mr. Dabrowski?”
    “No, Russia is merely borrowing Poland at the moment. They
will never truly own my country. We belong to ourselves.”
    “Have you been able to return?” asked Anna.
    Janek shook his head. “No, sadly if I were to go there, I
may not be allowed to leave again. I am applying for British citizenship.
Perhaps then I will have a chance to return. And you, will you go back to
Russia when the Voronins do?”
    “I don’t really know,” said Anna.
    Bored with the grown up conversation, Nicky took a sandwich
and went to look out over London.
    “They always talk of being called back,” said Anna in a
quiet voice. “I’ve worked with the Voronins for just over six years, and every
day they have the same fear. But I’ve come to believe it’s a little like a
child worrying about a monster under the bed. Or at least I did.”
    “Something has changed?” asked Janek.
    “I don’t know… it’s just that lately…” Anna paused and
checked where Nicky was. He could come to no harm on the terrace as the
railings were too high, but she did not want him to think she was criticising
his parents. “I’ve felt that something is going on,” she continued. “They’re
always eager to get me out of the way and I can’t help wondering if I’ve
displeased them. Yet Madame is as kind as she’s always been. Oh I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t be bothering you with my worries.”
    “We’re friends, Anna, and have been for a long time. You can
always come to me with your worries. You never told me why you left Silverton
Hall. Florentyna told me they were very unkind to you there.”
    Anna shook her head. “No, not really. I mean, my father
barely noticed me and my step-mother hated me but no more than she hates most
people. Mrs. Palmer – do you remember her? – and Mr. Stephens, the butler were
always kind enough.