The next morning they were both pleasantly exhausted, but not too exhausted to enjoy each other again before getting up to go to Mr. Simcoe's home. They were due there by noon.They made it to Mr. Simcoe's just before their appointment, they would have been late if Angie hadn't put a stop to Roderick's roaming hands. When they knocked the butler announced them to Mr Simcoe in his study. "Good afternoon, I hope you are enjoying married life?" Angie blushed, a very becoming pink, before she could catch herself. "Come have a seat, I'm sure you're both curious about why I summoned you." Once they were seated and they both had their drinks Mr Simcoe continued, "Lady Angelica, when your father was alive he taught you how to decode, I know because he told me. I have a document here that is very important, it could mean the death of many if in the wrong hands, Whitehall needs you, dear, we need you to decode this document for me so we can get our people out of France safely. Will you help?" B
"No!!!" came a blood curdling shriek and grunts. Angelica ran to her father's lifeless body, she shoved his killer out of her way as she flung herself onto the alleyways ground next to her father. "Papa, no, papa. Please don't die!" Angelica cried in despair."What do we have here? The tuff has a sweet daisy? Let's have a taste of her sweet nectar." Angelica heard a rough voice say from behind her. She remembered her little sister at the mouth of the alley and grew cold. No! Not Michelle too! Angelica stood, spinning on her heels, ready to spring to her baby sister's defense only to realize too late that her sister wasn't visible in the gloom.She stood facing three men, all three have large square builds, they started advancing on her. "No," she whispered, shaking her head and taking a step back for every step they took toward her. She turned and ran as fast as her legs would take her. "Help!!" she screamed, stumbling over items she couldn't and didn't want to see. The tallest of the
Angelica heard a young girl scream and came alive. She looked over to see her little sister, that's always been more like a daughter to her, scrambling toward her. Angelica knew these monsters would hurt Michelle worse than anything they've ever been able to do to her. She bucked and twisted until an arm broke free, she ripped out the gag. "Run Michelle! Get help! Run babygirl!" was all she was able to get out before she felt a singing blow to her mouth.Roderick had just left Whites when he saw a little girl barreling full tilt from an alley screaming for help at the top of her lungs. She had tears streaming down her pale face, Roderick picked up his pace heading toward the panic child. "What is it child?" Roderick asked. she could only point toward alley gasping for breath, she grabbed his hand and started pulling with an urgency Roderick hadn't expected from one so young. He rushed with the child, he stopped when she did, but she kept pointing down the alley."Angie help" Michelle
"Little girl, I found your Angie. I'm bringing her to you." Roderick laid Angie's unconscious body at Michelle's feet. "I'll be right back, there's someone else laying on the ground.""That's Papa. they killed him, is Angie dead too?" Came the child's anxious and sad reply."How old are you?" Roderick asked in a gruff voice."Six, please help my sister. Why isn't she moving?" She was crying in ernst now. "She's asleep. I'll be right back, I'm going to get the watch over here. Stay right here with your Angie." "Oh please come back. my name is Michelle McAllister, my papa, he worked for the war department. His name was Roger McAllister. Please go to 43 Shea Street and ask for Mr Simcoe. Tell him that my papa is dead and that Angie is hurt, he'll take care of it all." She begged."How do you know this?" He was perplexed."Papa made us remember what to say in case he's killed." She replied in a soft voice. She looked at her sister then at Roderick was such old eyes that Roderick was sh
"What are you doing in Town? I thought you were at Carlisle Estate helping our mother take care of father." "She has Babs and Lily to help her. Little Michelle is in the nursery with Brianna and Bradley, you're Miss Angie is being cared for by Miss Marsh and Ann. She's being treated like a queen, is there anything else you'd like to know?""Don't give me cheek you young pup! I've been in town taking care of business on behalf of the McAllister sisters and they have now become my official wards by the war department." He roughly raped his hands through his dreadfully the shoveled black hair. "What am I to do? I don't need this right now." Came his desperate plea.Darren slapped Roderick on the back and sat in a chair across from his brother with his feet spread and his elbows on his knees mimicking Roderick's newest posture. With a cognac hanging from his hand between his knees Roderick took a long drink of his cognac and sighed at the welcoming burn. "You'll think of something, Mich
"I may have had something to do with that. Father was asking who the new child in the nursery was and all the commotion all night that kept waking him. I didn't want to tell him, but you can't lie to Father, he can smell one from a mile off, so I told him everything. I'm sorry." he raised pleading eyes up to Roderick, begging for forgiveness. Roderick's side and shook his head at his naive sibling"I don't blame you for your honesty the father, for I could never lie to him myself." can embrace Darren and slapped his back to reassure him. "There's nothing to forgive. Come, let's sit and have a toast to my upcoming wedding. I might as well accept the inevitable and wed the chit." They went back to the respective seats and shared a toast. they spent the rest of the afternoon drinking companionably and catching up with one another.************************************************************Angie didn't want to remember the events of the night before, all she wanted to do was curl up int
"Who's Roderick? Do I know him?" Angelica asked not sure to whom this Roderick person was."Oh, dear, of course you're not going to know to whom I speak of. Roderick is the man who brought you and your young sister here to me. He's the one that came to your assistance last eve. You'll be seeing him soon enough. He's a very good man with a very good heart. Ah, Ann, please take sweet Michelle down to the kitchen for one of Cook's apricot treats." Once Michelle was gone, Lady Arlene approached Angie's bed and sat on the edge facing Angie. "Now that we are alone and you are breaking your fast we can speak openly, for you see, we have a very serious matter that we must speak of." Lady Arlene took a deep bracing breath then continued in a steady reasonable voice. "Because of the incident from last Eve you must marry, dear." She paused to let this bit of news to sink into Angie's numb mind, she continued only after Angie's eyes widen and shock. "Yes, my dear, has the only way to save your re
"Well? Did she agree to wet the boy?" Lord Max demanded of his wife as soon as she entered his bed chamber. he was sitting up in bed with a pile of pillows fluffed behind his back. "She didn't agree nor disagree. She said she needed time to think about it, I told her to take her time and it was fine for her to spend some time with Roderick so she can get to know him. I tried to reassure her, but I'm not sure if I did a very good job of it or not. She's scared and doesn't know where to turn or who to trust. She went through every woman's worst nightmare and she's trying to be strong for her little sister. From what I saw I'd say she's more of a mom to that child than a sister. She feels compelled to protect the child." lady Arlene crawled into bed next to her husband and curled up to his warmth. "Good morning to you too husband." She gently reprimanded him and kissed his whispered cheek. His smile took about 10 years off of his face and made him look just as handsome as he was when th