In The Name Of Love

Chapter 16

All the way down to the orphanage there were crowds lining the streets. I sat opposite Mircea and Elisabeta just watching and taking it all in. Mircea looked more comfortable with it than he had two days ago when we arrived, but there was still a little stiffness in his shoulders. He didn't particularly like being the centre of attention, but I could see the love he had for his country and his people in his eyes.

There was a car before and behind us, Dorina and Dragomir were in the car in front to make sure everything was in good order when we arrived just a few moments behind them. They were with a couple of guards. The car behind us had some guards in it too, but it kind of felt like the car was there to make a symmetrical convoy and little more.

We pulled up to a stop in a side street that was filled with as many people as they could have possibly crammed down there whilst leaving just enough room for the cars. I honestly thought that people were going to get run over even though we'd dropped our speed considerably, but Nicu seemed to have super skills at getting though tight spaces and we managed to pull up to the orphanage doors without any incidents.

Even though it was a side street it was still pretty nice since it was one of the newly built areas. There was a lot of glass, a wide door and foyer, bright colours and it looked pretty cheery. There were some kids outside to greet us ranging from about three to late teens, all in smart clothes. All the girls were in skirts or dresses and the boys were in trousers. There weren't many shirts or blouses on show amongst the little kids, but the older ones were really well turned out. The little ones just looked adorable.

Nicu opened the door and Elisabeta stepped out and there was a huge cheer and a lot of people called out to her. She smiled and waved and walked over to some of the people in the crowd, shook their hands and spoke with them. When Mircea stepped out there were more cheers he waved smoothly this time and then helped me out of the car even though I didn't need help, but I was playing at being a lady so I took his hand and let him put it around his arm.

"Wave," he murmured to me. "Smile."

I did as I was told and walked with him over to the other side of the waiting crowd. He shook people's hands, greeted them and smiled a lot. Then I began to pick out the word 'princess' being called. I felt a twisting in my gut and I think my smile dropped. Princess. I wasn't a princess. I was a farmer. A student. A farmer's daughter.

"Wyn, this gentleman would like to shake your hand," Mircea said.

My eyes left the baying crowd and snapped around to him, wide with surprise. "What?"

He smiled. "He'd like to shake your hand. If that's ok."

I turned a smile on, but I was hardly breathing. The gentleman was a really old man with shaking hands and gnarled fingers, but his smile was youthful and his eyes sparkling. As soon as I saw him my smile turned genuine and I felt warmth spring up within me. I shook his hand and he kissed it, tears welling up in his eyes. I had no idea why they were there and for a horrible moment I thought I'd done something terribly wrong, but there was still joy in his eyes. I had no idea why he'd get so happy just by shaking my hand, but I smiled and was then called on by other people to shake hands with. I shook the hands of everyone Mircea stopped to talk to and a few more.

Slowly we made it to the doors where some of the kids were waiting. We shook their hands too and then Carol, who was sporting a rather fetching camera, discretely took photos of the action as it unfolded. Then we were put into a rehearsed tableau with the kids and a couple members of staff. Carol took the first photo and then the waiting press were allowed to take a few.

Then we went into the foyer which was lined with about eighty kids who all began to sing in perfect harmony with one another. The whole entourage were moved to tears by it, but I had no idea what was going on apart from beautiful singing. And then the song captured me completely and there was such weight to the foreign words, weight and emotion and it felt like oppression's shackles were bring lifted and I got all teary too. Some of the kids got teary eyed as they sung and to one side one of the staff was quietly weeping.