Johan was distracted all during the lunch meeting with David and the rest of the Sewing Circle. They talked about the price hike and Johan did argue that they might as well increase the price. Sarah and David were opposed. In Sarah's case, because she was starting to feel it was a bit immoral to overcharge like that. David, because he wanted the competition to wait as long as they could manage, in order to get Higgins established as the name in sewing machines. The twins didn't care.
Finally, David gave in and Sarah, pouting, was outvoted.
David noticed that every time the door to the kitchen opened, Johan would look over at it. The third time Johan looked over he kept looking, and David followed his gaze to a plump woman who looked to be about David's mom's age. Which, it seemed to David, a good enough age for a guy Johan's age to look at. David was amused, but let it pass for now. He wished Johan luck.
Darlene went back out to the lunchroom to start clearing out the steam table. She was pretty engrossed on pulling the hot pans out without burning herself.
"Can I help you with that?" a voice asked and she jerked up.
"Oh! Ah, no. That's all right. It's my job, after all. How did your meeting go?"
"Well enough. The Sewing Circle will not oppose Herr Schmidt's price increase."
That was interesting. When this man decided something like that, he could persuade the kids.
"So, how often do you have these meetings?" Darlene asked. Maybe she'd cook something special for him and those kids.
"Every few weeks, or every month. It depends on how the businesses are going. HSMC, once a month, but OPM requires more meetings. And the others, well, it depends on if they need Master David's guidance."
"That means you'll be back, then?" Darlene hoped so. This was the first time in over two years that she'd seen someone who interested her as this man did.
"I'll be back, yes."
"Who does Johan keep looking at in the lunch meetings?" Sarah Wendell asked a month later. "And why is he coming to school so often?"
"Her name is Darlene Myers. I asked one of the cafeteria workers. Her husband and son, and her house, were left up-time. She worked in the power plant," David said.
"What is someone with that sort of knowledge doing on a serving line?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know and it bothers me. Especially if Johan is interested in her." David considered. "I think I should have her checked out. Which is inconvenient as all gitout, because guess who I would normally have check her out."
"Johan. Yes, probably not a good idea this time," Sarah said. "I'll ask around."
"Thanks. I'll have Leonhard look into it from the down-timer side."
"Do you realize how silly we sound? A couple of kids looking into the background of someone Johan Kipper is interested in."
David nodded agreement, but he didn't agree, not really. He wished he'd been able to do it with some of the jerks his mom had dated up-time, and Johan was rich now. Also, in David's opinion, Johan tended to look at up-timers through rose-colored glasses.
Judy the Younger's report on Darlene Myers was pretty detailed. Born 1967, married, one child. Both left up-time, worked in the power plant and kept working there after the Ring of Fire because they needed her. But she hadn't talked to anyone about her problems; she had just worked and worked. She had trained down-timers to do her job, then quit. Which struck Judy as pretty crazy. The other stuff that Judy had learned from Darlene's brother, Allen, was that she had had a very hard time dealing with the loss of Jack and little Johnny, her up-time family, but wouldn't talk about it.
Sarah sort of agreed with Judy's assessment, but thought that Darlene's self-treatment might be the right thing for her. Just be around people, not heavy equipment, for a while.
Leonhard told David that the down-timers she worked with found her pleasant, if a bit reserved. They had been surprised when she quit at the power plant and went to work at the elementary school. They were more surprised when she said that working with all the younger children was too much. It reminded her of her lost son. So she had transferred to the high school.
"So she was hit pretty hard by the Ring of Fire," David said. It wasn't an uncommon story. The Ring of Fire had hit a lot of people hard, and sometimes the ones that it hit hardest were least willing to talk about it.
Darlene found herself talking about Jack to Johan and he told her things about his life as a boy in the Netherlands, and later as a mercenary. Somehow, they had become each other's friendly ear. So Darlene was shocked and very upset when Johan told her that he was going off to Amsterdam.
"Amsterdam? Amsterdam is under siege, and the Netherlands are a war zone. Why did that idiot David have to go and buy a bunch of guilders, anyway?"
"Master David had his reasons," Johan insisted irritatingly, but wouldn't tell her the reasons. Darlene found Johan's devotion to the kid endearing, irritating, infuriating, insane, and a little creepy-all at once. She knew why Johan felt that way; he had told her about how David treated him and how Delia Higgins had given him a share in the sewing machine company, and how David included him in OPM and the other deals he made. She knew that they had made him rich, but the way he doted on David was just wrong. And now the idiot boy was dragging him off to Amsterdam in the middle of a war. Johan had seen enough war to last a dozen lifetimes. And he didn't need to see any more, in Darlene's opinion. Not that she had any call to complain. They were barely dating yet.
"I have a letter for you, Ms. Myers," Trent Partow said.
"For me?"
"Yep. It's from Johan. It came in the pouch."
"What pouch?"
"The mission to Amsterdam is quasi-official. It doesn't exactly have diplomatic status, but they got the Cardinal-Infante's permission and the permission of the government before they left, so they have their own sealed pouches for private correspondence back here to Grantville."
"You mean Johan is like some sort of diplomat?"
"Sort of." Trent shrugged. "Brent and I are inventors. David's a mogul. Sarah's an economist. It's the Ring of Fire."
"And I am serving in a high school lunchroom."
"I know, ma'am, and, honestly, that seems a little weird. Especially considering how much you know about electronics."
Darlene had no idea what to say to that. But, thankfully, Trent didn't push it. He just gave her the letter and a wave then went on his way.
It was later that afternoon when she finally got a chance to sit down and read the letter. Johan Kipper's handwriting was better than she expected, but the down-time education system, without even typewriters, was very much about good penmanship.
Dearest Darlene,
I may be overstepping my place with that greeting and if it gives offense I apologize most profoundly. But I miss you even more than I thought I would and the shield of paper the letter provides give me courage to say what I have wanted to say since I met you. So:
My dearest Darlene,
We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday and have yet to meet the Cardinal-Infante. But I did get to see the estate where I was born, since it is outside the city proper. It has brought back memories. Some good, but more bad. We were not well treated, though not so harshly as in some places. But I remember my sister who was, she insisted, in love with the burgher's son. Never mind. The pain of those days is old, and both my sister and her child are dust. And the burgher's son, as well. Which is a good thing, else I would be tempted to foolishness.
I always resented the way they treated us, but assumed that was because they weren't real nobles just burghers with a lot of money. Then I met real nobles in the army and they were no better. It wasn't till the Ring of Fire that I found people who seemed to me worthy of loyalty. I know that you find the way I feel about young Master David and the rest confusing, but coming back here has brought it into focus. David is what the burgher and his family should have been, but weren't. We are here not just to make money, but to save the guilder and so save the Netherlands and perhaps the rest of Europe. It's worth doing and I am pleased to be a part of it.