“I’m still Trudi, Jack. And I’ll always be Trudi. To you, at any rate.”
“But you—”
“Yes, I know. But I spent the last several years in Grantville. The difference in our rank doesn’t really bother me. The bigger issue is the difference in our bank accounts. How are you going to deal with that?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am probably the poorest of the Barbies. I had the least to invest from the beginning, and haven’t been able to afford to get in on all the deals. But BarbieCo was sort of my idea, so I got a bigger share than the money I had would have justified. When the empire bought BarbieCo . . . what it amounts to is, I’m now as rich as Judy Wendell was before the BarbieCo deal. How are you going to deal with that?”
Jack just looked blank.
“I mean, how are you going to deal with me being richer than you?”
“It doesn’t bother me.”
“Really? Vienna doesn’t need seven imperial banks. Susan is probably going to be staying in Vienna with Moses. So that means if I’m going to set up a bank, I’m going to have to do it somewhere else. Maybe back in Grantville, maybe Magdeburg, Venice, or Amsterdam I’m not sure where yet, but not Vienna. That would mean you’d have to move. How would you feel following me around?”
That was something Jack hadn’t thought about. He looked around, and as he did he saw a man and something about the man caught his attention. He’d seen him before recently. “I wouldn’t mind. I know a law professor who would be better qualified to manage the legal requirements of SFIC and the new principality than I am. You’d give me a job, wouldn’t you?” He asked trying to sound winsome. “After I finished my law studies?”
They turned and headed for the open-air refreshment area at the side of the skating rink. As they did, Jack saw that same man again. He shifted Trudi in his arms, and the man turned away. When he turned, Jack saw a patch on the back right shoulder of his cloak. That was it. He had seen the man earlier that morning across the street from the Fortney house. For that matter, he had seen him before that, but he wasn’t sure where.
It wasn’t that patched cloaks were unusual. Patches were the rule, not the exception, all over Europe. This one was a faded red, and Jack remembered it. He seated Trudi and kissed her gloved hand. “I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” She nodded and he walked over to Felix, one of the guardsmen, and quietly pointed the man out. “Let me know what you find out, Felix? Something about him bothers me.”
“He’s a mercenary, Herr Pfeifer,” Felix said. “I know the look.”
“But who’s he working for and what’s his interest in Princess Trudi?”
“I’ll find out,” the guardsman told him. Then Jack went back to Trudi.
“What was that about?” Trudi asked.
“Maybe nothing.” Jack said. “I saw a man that I recognized. He’s been hanging around and I don’t know why. Likely he has a perfectly legitimate reason and it’s all just a coincidence.”
Trudi pulled out her compact and examined her makeup while she said, “Where is he?”
Jack told her and she adjusted the mirror so she could see the man. One thing Jack really liked about Her Serene Highness was how quick on the uptake she was.
“Yes. I think I’ve seen him around too. Three days ago when I was at the beauty shop, he was across the street. I remember the patch on his jacket.”
“Well, Felix knows about him now. We should get a report.”
“Good enough. What were we talking about before you went all paranoid?”
“Susan Logsden and Moses Abrabanel.”
“He finally introduced her to his baby daughter and his family, you know.”
“No, I didn’t. How did it go?”
“Quite well. You know that each of us gets to set the rules for how our families handle differences in rank. Not completely. Susan can’t make Moses an imperial prince by marrying him, but any kids they have will be imperial princesses or princes, and if she adopts his little girl, she will become one, too.
“Apparently, when Moses’ mother found that out, she suddenly decided that, gentile or not, it was time for Moses to get married again. The thing is, Susan isn’t used to being on that side of the social equation. She was looked down on in Grantville, even after she got rich, because of her mother.” Trudi giggled. “Having people thinking of her as Her Serene Highness is freaking her out a bit, but I think she likes it. But you know that wasn’t what we were talking about. We were talking about the fact that I will be moving after the wedding. The only question is where will I go.”