Elements of Chance

Valerie looked across the table at him, at his dark eyes, the pale skin. She felt safe with Julian. He would take care of her.

“Okay,” she said.

The next day, Julian was waiting inside the front door. Together they looked outside and saw the long black limousine pulling away from the curb. Then they raced down the stairs to the bus stop on the corner. Valerie felt almost giddy with freedom as they crowded aboard the big red double-decker bus. Just sitting next to Julian on the second deck was like breaking out of prison, she decided.

Inside the light, airy reception room of the American embassy, Valerie felt almost as if she were back in California. It was so cheerful, so open, so American somehow.

“This is a first,” said the middle-level embassy employee who was sitting across the desk from them. “What we always get are calls from parents in America trying to find their missing children.”

“But you can do something, can’t you?” Julian asked. “She is an American.”

“We can advance you the money for a ticket home,” he said, turning to Valerie.

“That’s all?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“I’ll contact the State Department and make a few other calls. Anyway, I’ve got your address and phone number, Miss Hemion. I’ll call you with anything I find out.” Reaching into one of the drawers of his desk, the man handed Valerie one of his business cards. “Are you all right for money?” he asked.

“She’s fine,” Julian answered for her. “She lives with her aunt, Lady Anne Hallowell.”

The man quirked an eyebrow as he shook hands with her and Julian, then showed them out.

“Which one of your parents is related to Her Ladyship?” Julian asked as they hurried along to the bus stop.

“My mother,” Valerie mumbled, remembering what Lady Anne had told her to say if anybody ever asked.

“So, your mother is Lady Anne’s sister,” Julian continued. “Was your father rich when they got married?”

“No, he wasn’t rich,” said Valerie, thinking about what the expression on Julian’s face would be if he ever met Vicki and Al.

“The family must have been terribly upset,” he said.

Valerie was trying to find a way to change the subject when Julian said, “Oh, look. There’s our bus. We can make it if we run for it.”

They were both panting as they climbed the spiral staircase and found a couple of seats together in the rear of the second deck.

Valerie was sure Julian was going to start asking her about her mother again, but what he said was, why didn’t the two of them go to a movie some night.

“Oh, Lady Anne would never let me,” Valerie said.

“Well, doesn’t your aunt go out?” asked Julian.

“Oh, sure. All the time.”

“Well, if you waited until after she left, and you were back home before she was, how would she ever know you’d been gone?”

“I could never do that,” said Valerie, realizing that she was really shocked at Julian’s suggestion. “I can’t leave the house at night without Lady Anne’s permission.” But then, she’d cut classes this morning to go to the American embassy without telling her. When she thought about it, one was as bad as the other.

“Would you at least ask her?” Julian pleaded.

“Okay,” Valerie said. “I’ll ask her.”

12 (#ulink_f9623577-c309-5fe8-b842-127225512342)

“You’re very quiet today, dear,” said Lady Anne between sips of tea.

“I’m sorry, Your Ladyship,” Valerie murmured, as she gathered her courage to tell Lady Anne about her visit to the American embassy with Julian, to ask her if it would be all right if she went to a film with him one evening.

“You’re worried about your parents, of course,” Lady Anne mused. “Well, I’m sure Mr. Carrington will call us as soon as he hears from that public relations person at Penn International.”

“I went to the American embassy today,” Valerie blurted.

“You did what?” asked Lady Anne, horrified.

“Well, I was talking to Julian about it,” Valerie explained, “and he said I was an American citizen, and it seemed to him it would make sense if I went to the American embassy.”

“When did you go?” Lady Anne asked. “You were at the conservatory all morning, weren’t you?”

“It was all very spur-of-the-moment,” Valerie lied, her eyes averted as she concentrated on her cucumber and cream cheese sandwich. “Julian said, why didn’t we just go right then, and so we did. The man at the embassy thought it was kind of funny. He said that usually it was parents in America trying to find their kids.”

“You cut a class,” said Lady Anne, her voice like ice. “And you discussed a matter that concerns only the two of us with a stranger.”

Valerie looked imploringly at Lady Anne, trying to make her understand. “The man at the embassy said he would contact the State Department in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “He told me that they would know if my parents had applied for passports.”

“Valerie, I would like you to explain to me how you rationalize cutting a class,” said Lady Anne. “We won’t even go into what bad form it was for you to go to the American embassy without me. After all, I am responsible for you while you’re here in London.”

“I’m sorry, Lady Anne,” said Valerie, feeling the tears in her eyes. “I’m really sorry.”

“It would be best if you went to your room,” Lady Anne ordered in an awful, cold voice Valerie had never heard before.

Julian was waiting for her the next morning when Bernard dropped her off at the conservatory, and Valerie had to gather up her courage to tell him that she hadn’t asked Lady Anne if she could go out with him.

“Just do me a favor,” said Valerie, “and don’t pressure me.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and he looked so hurt that it made Valerie feel just awful.

Over the next few days, Julian was always waiting, with that same hurt look on his face, to walk her to class. Sometimes, they even held hands. After a few days, Julian seemed to realize that Valerie wasn’t going to ask Lady Anne if she could go out with him at night, so he started to push her about cutting class and just going to the little coffee bar in the next block where all the kids from the conservatory hung out.

Lady Anne didn’t even like it when Julian called her at home.

“You’re far too young for that sort of thing, dear,” Lady Anne would say vaguely.

The man from the American embassy called to report that no passport had ever been issued to Al or Vicki Hemion.

Valerie felt as if she were in limbo, right back where she started, which was nowhere. There was one lone flicker of hope, though, and that was Christmas. If she was ever going to hear from Vicki, decided Valerie, it would be at Christmas.

Bernard carried a tall, bushy tree into the drawing room, and when it was set up in front of one of the tall windows overlooking the street, Valerie helped Janet decorate it.

On Christmas morning, Valerie and Lady Anne opened presents before the roaring fireplace. Lady Anne’s special present to Valerie was genuine pearl earrings. The little package Julian had pressed into her hand just before the Christmas break was a sketch of her he had drawn, framed in silver filigree.