Chapter Eight—Enter the Redferns
The Victoria was quite the ship, Una thought. Her stateroom was the most luxurious room she had ever slept in, with pink satin sheets and little lace pillows. How much Rilla would have loved to see all of this—but then, she probably had when she and Ken had gone to Europe.
"Suppose I should stretch out my lazy bones and go to breakfast," she thought to herself. "No sense in lying abed all morning, even if I am supposed to be a lady of leisure." Going over to the armoire, she took out one of her favorite new dresses. It was a soft blue with small white flowers sprinkled over it, which set off her dark hair and blue eyes.
The dining salon was fairly empty, but Una didn't mind. She really hadn't gotten to know any of the other passengers very well in the three days she'd been on board, but after years of always having her family around, the solitude was nice. "However, if I did meet anyone, I'd hope it would be that couple I saw last night. They seemed so much in love, like they'd never had a care in the world. Someone said that he's a writer, or something…he looks more like an explorer."
"Who are you?" a little voice asked. Una looked down to see a little tawny-haired girl with slanting dark eyes looking up at her curiously. Una felt a sense of kinship with her, as if they were the same kind of people.
"My name's Una Meredith," she said, smiling. "What's yours?"
"I'm Cecilia, but everyone calls me Cecy," the tawny-haired child said with an air of distinction. She looked to be about six, with a dainty green polka-dotted dress and green ribbons in her hair.
"Cecilia…that was my mother's name," Una said softly. "I've always loved it."
"It was my Aunt Cissy's name. She died before I existed, and she wasn't really truly my aunt, but I don't have any really truly aunts, so Mummy says I can count her."
"Well, I suppose you can," Una said with an air of comradeship. "I know that I count a lot of folks as family who aren't truly related to me."
"You understand, then," Cecy said in a relieved tone of voice. "We can be friends then. Shall we go exploring?"
Una gave a rueful glance at her partially eaten breakfast, but cheerfully acquiesced. It was a wonderful day to explore the ship, sunny and bright with only a few puffy white clouds, which Cecy was sure were the sheep in Heaven.
"You see," she explained seriously, while Una struggled to keep a straight face, "if there were ninety and nine sheep that stayed in the fold, they would have to be somewhere. Why not in Heaven?"
The morning passed swiftly, and the two, lifelong friends by this point, headed in to have lunch. Upon entering, Cecy immediately went over to the couple Una had admired the night before.
"Mummy, Dad, this is Una. We went 'sploring together this morning."
"Oh, so that's where you were," the dark-haired woman said. "I was wondering, but didn't think you could get too far." She turned and smiled at Una. "I'm Valancy Redfern, and this is my husband Barney. I hope Cecy hasn't been too much of a bother for you. She's rather headstrong at times…I'm not sure where she gets it from."
The tawny-haired man—Barney—made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a snort.
"Oh, no, Mrs. Redfern, Cecilia was no trouble at all. I have a plethora of nieces and nephews back home, and it was nice to have her company," Una said sincerely.
"Do please call me Valancy…and what did Cecy say your name is?" Valancy Redfern asked. Una thought that they must be about the same age, although Valancy had an air of poise that she felt was lacking in herself.
"I'm Una Meredith, from Glen St. Mary's in Prince Edward Island."
"I thought you must be Canadian, too, the way you talk. We're from Ontario—spend our time between Muskoka and Toronto. Barney's father's in the patent medicine business, so we try and spend time with him so he can watch Cecy grow up. But I'd say that our true home would be in Muskoka…at our Blue Castle." Valancy smiled a secret smile as she said those words.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Una said sincerely. Something about Valancy gave Una the impression that they could be good friends. She sat down next to her at the table; Valancy's husband—Barney—and Cecy having gone off in pursuit of new adventures.
"Now tell me, where are you headed? Barney and I were noticing you last night…you seemed so by yourself, but as if you were on the journey of a lifetime."
"I was noticing the two of you last night," Una laughed. "You looked so…so in love, like you didn't have a care in the world." Valancy's eyes twinkled, but she let Una continue. "My trip…well, you guessed about right. It is the trip of my life. You see, in my father's will he left me a sum of money, with its express use being a trip to Europe. I'd never dreamed of going, and I'm so excited."
"You'll simply have to let us show you around London," Valancy told her. "Barney writes—under an assumed name—and we're meeting with his publisher in England." She began to tell Una of all the things that she'd seen on previous visits. Una found herself being drawn out of her shell without trying
"You know," Valancy said, looking appraisingly at Una, "I think we could be good friends. We should be friends. I haven't had a girl friend in years, not since Cissy…the one we named Cecy after."
"I'd like that," Una said shyly. She'd never made friends easily. Most of her close relationships were people in the clan. But something about Valancy drew her to her.