“You might as well have,” answered Seraphine sharply.
Armin didn’t hesitate. He waded into the water too, not bothering to roll up his pants. He only stopped to kick his shoes and socks off. “Girls.” He came up alongside them in the water, towering over them. “There’s no need to fight like this. Let’s all calm down.”
Seraphine rounded on Armin. “Calm down? I’m not going to calm down.”
“Seraphine—”
“It was just water,” insisted Lily.
“I don’t have to calm down,” Seraphine shouted. “I don’t have to do what you say, because you’re not our real father and you never will be.”
Katie didn’t take off her shoes. She didn’t take off her socks. She went into the water and reached them in four long steps.
Armin was frozen, looking down at Seraphine, and the girl was shaking, her expression flinging back and forth between anger and hurt and fear.
“Seraphine, I understand how you feel.” She reached out a hand to the girl, who crossed her arms over her chest. “I understand.” Katie kept her hand extended until Seraphine relented, putting her little hand in Katie’s. “But the way you spoke to Prince Armin was unkind. Please apologize to him.”
Seraphine looked down at her own feet in the water. “I’m sorry.” She flicked her eyes to the side, next. “I’m sorry to you too, Lily.”
“It’s all right,” Lily huffed.
Seraphine waited, eyes on the little waves.
“I accept your apology,” Armin said stiffly. There was another beat during which Katie thought things might turn around, but Armin didn’t smile. “Let’s all come out of the water.”
A black cloud seemed to hover over them as they made their way back to the villa, which had lost some of its shine. Or maybe it was just the mood that had been dampened, along with their clothes. A cloud passed over the sun as they went in the back door, and Katie missed the heat and brightness.
“Girls, let’s go change. Put on swimsuits if you want to play in the water any more this afternoon.” She took them to their room, but neither one wanted to go back to the lake. They settled on comfortable sundresses, and then Lily found a bookshelf stuffed with books about horses. In fifteen minutes, they were both lying across one of the beds, picture books open on the bedspreads.
All was quiet and calm.
Katie went back out into the hall to find Armin.
He was in his own room, sitting in an elegant chair, bent forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
She tapped her knuckles softly on the doorframe, and when he looked up at her, Katie saw him—Armin the man, not Armin the prince.
“I handled it all wrong,” he said, his voice ringing with disappointment. He looked out the window. “Maybe I should let you handle those kinds of things in the future.”
It was as much of an invitation as anything else. Katie stepped into the room, coming level with his chair.
“The first thing you should know, Prince Armin, is that the girls are calm and happy right now. They’re reading in their room.” She gave him a little smile. “You must have chosen that room on purpose. They’ve already found the books.”
He laughed, a short burst. “I had a selection brought up while we were traveling.”
“See? You do get it right.”
Armin frowned. “Not nearly enough.”
Katie took a deep breath. “When I was in college, I was a nanny for two children.”
He looked at her, crooking one eyebrow. “I know that.”
“Yes, but what you don’t know is that those children had just lost their mother three months before I took the job.”
“Ah.” Armin’s eyes were glued to her.
“They’d lash out sometimes. It would seem…unrelated to anything that was happening in the moment. It would seem to come from nowhere. Screaming fits. Tears. Accusations.” Katie shook her head, her heart still aching for those children. “But it wasn’t about me. Just like Seraphine’s comment earlier wasn’t about you.”