"Yes, Monsieur O'Malley, these are my children." Duchess was accustomed to shocked stares when people realized that she had three children, but usually it was because she was so young, with no wedding band adorning her left hand. She suspected, though, that this O'Malley character's reaction had more to do with her having children at all. The dramatic difference between the way he looked at her now and the way he had flirtatiously gazed into her eyes mere moments ago was almost comical. Almost.

"Oh." He faltered for just a moment. "How sweet."

"Do you really have a magic carpet?" Toulouse asked skeptically.

"And are we really going to ride it?" Marie practically squealed.

Duchess sighed. This man had failed to sweep her off her feet but had inadvertently swept up the children in his ridiculousness. And now she would have to be the one to fix this mess. "Marie -"

"Mama, do I have sparkling sapphire eyes, too?" Marie looked at her hopefully.

O'Malley rubbed at the back of his neck. "Oooh, did I say that?"

"Yes. Right off your cuff." Duchess had meant to make that sound more biting, but she heard an undercurrent of sadness creep into her tone and could only hope he hadn't noticed it. The last thing she wanted was for this philanderer to think she was disappointed about any of this.

"And you said we were going to ride on your magic carpet," Toulouse reminded him.

"Well, uh, now - you see, what I meant was, uh -"

"No poetry to cover this situation, Monsieur O'Malley?"

At Duchess' remark, he at least had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. But he immediately shook that off and said, "Well, see, what I had in mind was something a little more private, like, uh -"

"A magic carpet built for two?" Duchess finished.

"I wouldn't take up much room," Marie said plaintively.

Duchess smiled humorlessly at her daughter's innocent observation. But this man was clearly not going to help her and she was tired of him wasting her time. "I understand perfectly, Monsieur O'Malley." Sweeping past him, she motioned for her children to follow her. "Come along, darlings."

They were nearly at the road when Duchess noticed Toulouse was not with her. She looked back to see him talking indistinctly to O'Malley. He had his little fists up and was pretending to punch at the man, and O'Malley was laughing and showing him to hold his fists higher. Duchess would have smiled were she not so upset with the man. "Toulouse," she called out. "Come along, dear."

Her son's shoulders drooped but he obediently ran to her. O'Malley called out after him, "See you around, kid!"

As if he had any intention of ever seeing them again. Duchess bit her tongue in irritation and continued to walk toward the road. She faltered when she actually reached it, not wanting to go in the wrong direction and have to deal with O'Malley's snide comments. But just before she had to make a decision, her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey! Hey, hold up there!"

She and the children turned to see O'Malley jogging toward them. When he reached them, she arched an eyebrow and asked tartly, "Yes, Monsieur O'Malley?"

He glanced at her warily but turned his attention to the children and smiled. "Now look, kids. If I said magic carpet, magic carpet it's gonna be."

"Oh boy!" Toulouse was practically jumping up and down. "We're gonna fly after all!"

Duchess's eyebrow shot up even higher. "Another flight into fantasy, Monsieur O'Malley?"

He looked at her guiltily, but squared his shoulders and said, "No. But I am gonna walk with you until I can get you a ride to Paris." He stepped onto the road and motioned toward the left. "Come on. Paris is this way."

ooooo

As much as Duchess had tried to hide it, Thomas could see how relieved she was when he'd announced he was accompanying them. He'd felt awful when he realized what a scoundrel he was, just letting a girl like that off on her own, not even knowing where she was going. So what if she had kids? Sure, his hopes of spending a romantic night with a beautiful woman just went out the window. But he wasn't heartless.

As they walked along the road, the kids chattering about a frog they saw or fighting who got to lead the way at the front of the group, Thomas couldn't help but notice how pensive Duchess was. She kept an eye on her kids, scolding them gently if made too much mischief, but otherwise she seemed entirely lost in thought.

"So," he began, careful to keep as casual an air as possible, "What's a girl like you doing way out here?"

Duchess cast a worried glance at her children before replying softly, "I'm not sure." Taken aback, Thomas was about to question further when she continued, "The last thing any of us remember is sitting together at home. In Paris . . . Wait, what day is it?" she asked sharply.

"Tuesday. The sixteenth."

Thomas watched her face carefully as she thought. "It was just last night, then," she mused.

His alarm growing, Thomas nonetheless kept up his usual mask of indifference. Whatever the hell was going on here, Duchess was obviously determined to keep the kids from realizing there was anything to worry about, and he would follow her lead. He made sure the three were still preoccupied with Follow-the-Leader. "Sounds like you came here by car," he mentioned lightly. "We're a good sixty miles from Paris."

Duchess' eyes widened, but before she could say anything, Thomas held a hand up to motion her to quiet. There was a rumbling sound coming from behind them. He grinned. "Speaking of cars . . ."