Here it is, my fellow readers - the beginning of the next book in the second Drachma trilogy - Shepperton's Sacrifice, Heir of Drachma, Book Three. In this we find a strange collage of folks, thrown together across centuries and many miles having to deal with new threats that are common to them all. Enjoy!
Heir of Drachma
Book Three
Shepperton’s Sacrifice
Chapter One
The interior room was now quiet, young Angelica having finished nursing. Diane was simply exhausted and was taking a few moments to lie down in the extra bed. All of the well-wishers had left the people inside to take care of things. Alexandra crept quietly out of the room and found Charlie Stephens sitting down in the dining room, sipping something that smelled of cloves and lemon grass.
“What be ye drinkin’, Charlie?”
“This? It’s something soothing the cook concocted. She said it’s a tea, made from some of the herbs around here, with some spices thrown in. Want some?”
“Oh, aw’right,” she said as she sidled up to the chair next to Charlie.
“Ophelia, could you make up another cup of this magic juice for this young princess?” he said toward the kitchen. “Thanks so much.”
In a few minutes, Ophelia brought another tumbler of tea like Charlie’s, and set it down next to Charlie. Alex sipped some, and declared, “this be wonderful, thank ye Ophelia!”
They sat, side by side, drinking their herb tea, and not saying much. Then Alex reached across to Charlie’s arm and held it as if she was connecting with his very soul. “Tell me, Charlie, about yer special report about children who’d been hurt. Can ye tell me about the children in that time o’ yours? Were there special ones… ones that ye can remember t’ this day? Was there one who turned yer heart about?”
Charlie at first just stared at this six-year-old beside him. Who is she, really, and how does she even know this? How can Alex even understand? But as he thought back, he could see another six-year-old. There again, she was at his side, holding his arm in the same way. This young one had been so abused, and even carried deformities from some of her abuse. And yet, this one had trusted him implicitly.
“Well, to tell you the honest truth,” Charlie began, “there was one so special, so intense that I couldn’t sleep thinking about her. She was about your age when I knew her. She had been taken away from her parents after years of physical abuse so severe that she had deformities of her limbs from prior broken bones which had never been set. Anyway, her mother and stepfather were now in prison, and the girl was put in the same home that Amanda came from – the Sisters of the Poor. I do remember her to this day, and how she came up me, and she held me, as you are doing, and then she said, “Mister Charlie, you gonna adopt me?” “Well, I never thought about it,” I said. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and she handed it to me. I unfolded the paper and noticed on it a picture of a heart. Then she turned, but as she walked away, she said that the drawing was so I would remember her, and to keep it. Well, I went ahead and did my report, and told that story. I later found out that she had died sometime after her mother had gotten out of jail. I didn’t find out why she died, but the circumstances were certainly suspicious.”
“What was her name? D’ye remember?”
“It was Francine. And it’s a name that has stayed with me, and she stayed with me in my dreams, for the longest time. I just could not get her out of my mind. Eventually, I developed a thick, hard callus around my temperament, and lived within that shell. That was until I began investigating the disappearance of Judy Morrison, and Marilyn insinuated herself into my life. She found how to crack that shell, and gradually I became more human again. And you know what? I hadn’t thought about Francine until just now… And you just touched that part of my heart which I had buried.”
“Well, Master Charlie, I want you to come wi’ me. I’ve got somethin’ fer ye.” She took his hand, and together they walked back to Alex’s room. Inside, she went to her bedside, and took out a small packet. “Now, I must ask ye, d’ye remember what ye did with that pi’ture of a heart that she gave ye years ago?”
“To be honest, I really don’t what happened to that.”
“Now, I’ll tell ye. Amanda gave me this the other night. She said t’ give it t’ye when the time be right.” Alex pulled out a small folded piece of paper, which she handed to a startled Charlie.
Charlie opened up the piece of paper, and found a picture of a heart, which was instantly and achingly familiar.
“Amanda said it was from Francine, an’ ye should know that ‘er whole name is Francine Swinney. An’ her stepfather was named LeGace. An’ that ye’d know when the time would be right.”
Charlie was stunned into silence. In his hands was the drawing of a heart that Francine had given him years ago, with the purpose of always remembering her. But ironically, it seemed that he had to hide the drawing away, and to seek shelter from the knowledge of what happened to Francine. But now with his emotional self, tenderized by Marilyn and by Falma, he was now stabbed in the very heart by this young girl from another time and place.
“Tell me,” he was able to finally say, “is this going to part of my decision that I must make?”
“I canna’ say. Fer that be yer decision t’make, and I’m not able search yer heart. But what I am able t’ tell ye is that Francine was able, an’ from the first, she was able t’ see ye’d be the one.”
“The one?”
“Aye, the one to make the right decision.”
“And just how does my decision even involve a six-year-old, from centuries in the future, who died a horrible death, and had been abused beyond belief?”
“Alonza Chaves an’ Christine Lewinsky,” was what she said.
“Lonnie? And Chris Lewinsky? How could you even know of them? And I have no way of getting in touch with them. They’re many thousands of miles and five hundred years in the future!”
“Oh, Charlie, tha’ sounds like the Charlie you lef’ behind – not the one I know here an’ now. What I can tell ye is to talk to Tom. I do know if anyone can he’p ye, it’s ‘im.”
Charlie looked down, closed his eyes and eventually said, “I suppose you’re right.”
Alex looked up at Charlie and said, “if it he’ps, I do know ye’ll make the right decision, ‘cause this heart’s the right one. It’s the one ye brought t’ this castle wi’ ye.” She reached up and took his hand again. “Now, come back wi’ me an’ talk wi’ Lady Judy. Fer she has somethin’ impo’tant t’ talk t’ ye about.”
“Important, eh? It seems that everything here is important.”
“Only if it affects ye – eh?”
“No. It seems whatever I do, it’s important to someone else – not me. At least that’s the way it feels to me. Just think about it. Before I came here, it seemed important that I was given the medicine, the picture, and the broach – though I have no idea who for. And since I got here, I’ve helped Wheezer, back at Shepperton. And now Judy Morrison here. Though I’m simply the one carrying out the task, and it could be anyone. And now you’ve given me this heart – and it’s related to something I’ve done in my past, and something I’ve got to decide, in the future…”
“’At’s right. Ye have t’ decide, but this time it be yer decision.” She said this with a tighter squeeze of his hand and a radiant smile.
They arrived back at Judy’s room, and quietly went in. Judy smiled at the two of them as they came in. Diane was asleep in the other bed as was Angelica in her crib.
“And so, you’ve found my hero, eh? Well, come on over here. You can sit at the edge of the bed. By now you know I don’t bite.” Judy patted the edge of her bed, and Charlie came over, timidly, and sat down. This was as close as he ever came to saving anyone’s life, now twice, and he knew that he really didn’t have any input, but was simply following his instincts and directions, but it seems that he was being regarded as a hero, which made him quite uncomfortable.
“Look, Judy, I’m really no hero. I just happened to follow the directions given me, and previously I was just following my gut instincts. And now I’m suddenly the “hero.”
“Have you met Falma?” Judy asked, knowing full well that he had, and that Falma had had a significant impact on his being here. “Now, there was your real hero. And he was a truly humble man who also felt that he was just following his instructions. Let me tell you the story of Falma and my ride across this island.”
Charlie knew that he was about to get the story of Judy’s adventure of four years ago, with every word and person being precious. So, he pulled out his little notebook and settled in. Judy told him of how, following Josh’s funeral, after getting in that snowstorm and car wreck four years ago and wandering on foot in the snow in the mountainous wilds of Shepperton, she was found by an older man, “riding as if a knight alone” who introduced himself as Falma. And together they set off on a journey across Shepperton Island, punctuated by her meeting Drachma, who turned out to be a mysterious fountain of information. She went on about her capture by thugs, who were working for Councilor Reordan, the killing and injuring of her guards (but not Falma, who seemed protected somehow, and fearlessly continued to protect Judy).
Then it was Drachma and his men who came in the night to save Judy, Falma and their injured guard, Cairn. And next, how they were sent on their way to Shepperton Castle in a cold, muddy and rainy entourage, which seemed to sap any of the energy she had left. That is, until she got off her horse, and saw none other than Bob Gilsen, who welcomed her with open arms and a warm embrace. “And that,” she said, “was how I got from our time and place to Shepperton.”
“I have to admit,” said Charlie, “that is quite a story. Now just a couple of things I want to get straight.” He flipped through his pages and found a spot where he needed the correct spelling, another where he needed clarification, and a couple more where he had her expand her story, filling in details. “Well, that should be it for now, and I thank you, m’lady, he said with a wink.”
“Now, I do think that’s enough about me, Charlie. And as I’ve got you here, I need something from you – the truth.”
“The truth? You’re asking me, a reporter, and therefore a known liar, for the truth!”
Judy nodded, and then she said, “in all sincerity, I need to know about you, and also about Marilyn…”
“Marilyn…” the word caught in his throat. “Well, if I’m going to be telling the truth, then I’m going to have to go back a ways.”
“You go ahead, I’ve got time, and I know you do, too.”
“Okay, Judy, you do have the right to know.” He put his notebook away in his jacket pocket and shifted his weight a little. “Well, let me take you back a bit. Dr. Gilsen had disappeared, and you had also gone, and here it was, my responsibility as the ace reported for WIOX to bring the news that mattered most. So, I sought out Marilyn Gilsen, seeking to uncover a case of missing persons, lust, deception and the like, and worthy of the National Enquirer or late-night TV. But Marilyn turned out to be a nut that wouldn’t crack, despite the fact that she already had hospital security, the local police and me after her. And I found myself quietly falling down her rabbit hole and dragging the police down with me.
“And so, as I was trying to sort this all out, I get multiple visits from Carlo Vincente, formerly of Shepperton, who also speaks with Marilyn, in a startling, inexplicable way, which was recorded by the police, of all people, so there is now a permanent record of a conversation between a twentieth century woman, and the ghost of a man from the fifteenth century. Then, as I’m still sorting things out, it gets weirder. This guy, Mr. Vincente, shows up in my house in the middle of the night, and my house was locked, and he tells me that his lord, the earl of Shepperton, is now a patient in the ICU of Memorial Hospital, and it’s somehow important that I go see him there in ICU. I should have known right there that anything from Shepperton is deemed inexplicably important.
“Anyway, we do go the ICU, and he takes me up there, knowing some sort of back way up there. Well, here he is, the earl of Shepperton, lying in ICU with the ventilator whooshing, and the IVs beeping. And you know what Carlo tells the earl? He kneels down getting close to his ear and tells him that he’s got someone who’ll take care of him, along with Marilyn Gilsen, as he recovers. Then he just walks out of the ICU, where a young girl takes his hand and leaves with him, leaving behind the scent of the forest in springtime.”
“It sounds almost like you were in someone’s dream,” said Judy, smiling at him.
“Yeah, except that the experience was shared with Marilyn, whom I went to see the next morning. She was waiting for me, and over coffee, we began what developed into an extraordinary and powerful friendship. I told her what I saw, and she, in turn, told me of Carlo Vincente, his doings, and how her husband’s disappearance played into the happenings in Shepperton, and then he sealed the deal by giving her a small box…”
“With the drachma inside, on a deep blue velvet cloth.” Judy finished the sentence for him.
“Wait! So, you know about the silver coin?”
“Oh, yes. I was the first one in our time to have it. And it went from me to Bob, and then to Janie…”
“And then to Carlo Vincente, and lastly to Marilyn, where it stayed for four years,” added Charlie. “Marilyn said that it was a memento, indicating that Bob was still alive, and doing well. There’s more to the tale of the drachma, though, and I’ll get to that.”
“Hmm, it seems as if this little coin had a mind of its own. But that its significance for a single person had not been made clear until Marilyn got it.”
“That’s right, Judy. Anyway, I took some kind of a notion to put all this stuff on TV, and I did an hour special. And let me tell you the buzz from the crowd watching was amazing. It seemed that I really piqued their interest with this special. But all that did provide me an avenue to do my job, as assigned by Carlo Vincente. You see, Earl Crabtree took a personal interest, and actually took on the financial responsibility to provide for the earl, as he recovered from his severe pulmonary infection. That way I could keep the information vultures at bay, and Marilyn could take care of the earl’s other needs, such as food and clothing. And I think it was actually Marilyn who was principally responsible for the earl falling in love with one of his nurses, Carol, and their eventual marriage.”
“Did you say Carol – an ICU nurse, from Scotland? She actually met her man, then. Oh, that’s so good to hear, and now she’s married to the earl! I tell you, he could never find a better companion. And Earl Crabtree too, I would assume he wanted to keep things very hush-hush, and not advertise any of his contributions.”
“Oh, I would have to agree with you there, on both counts. And Earl did, in fact keep things very quiet, indeed. He somehow felt obligated, though specifically how and to whom, he wouldn’t say. He didn’t even let Janie know.”
“Wow, that kind of a secret would be hard to keep. What an extraordinary man he is!”
“He is, indeed. So, let me fill you in on what did happen, five hundred years in the future. Wow, if that doesn’t seem a strange thing to say. And why am I telling you all this?”
Judy chuckled, and just shook her head.
Alex, who had been listening to it all, answered Charlie’s rhetorical question. “It’s ‘cause ye have a decision t’ make, an’ ye know Lady Judy shall know if ye speak the truth.”
Charlie looked about him, swallowed and closed his eyes before resuming.
“Well, let me begin with Marilyn and me. Now, I fell in love with her, and I’m not ashamed to say it. She, however, still had her drachma, and it kept her married to Bob. So, our “love affair” remained thoroughly Platonic, despite the fact that we got to know each other in the same way I suppose that a married couple does. Here I am, never having been married, spouting off about it. And my friendship with the earl of Shepperton did grow, and he became a person I could just stop by to bounce things off, with or without Marilyn. Now Carol could see things from Marilyn’s perspective, yet she could not understand how I was able to stand it. And to be perfectly honest about it, I never did get the gumption to ask Marilyn for her hand.
“Now, as all this had been slowly percolating, suddenly we get your Mr. Falma in the picture. After Marilyn met Falma and listened to what he had to say she found that she had the box, but not her drachma. This shook Marilyn to the core, and she saw it as a sign that things with Bob weren’t right. Falma confirmed that Dr. Bob may well be in trouble but did not indicate what sort of trouble. And he further invited Marilyn to come across this fold in time, and that he’d be there to accompany her. And one day, driving toward the city, I noticed that Marilyn’s mood seemed extremely distant, and I pulled over to one of the city parks, and we talked, she cried, and then she got out of the car, and went toward an old white-haired man sitting on a bench. Then he got up and they walked into the woods. All this time, I couldn’t get my seatbelt unfastened, and they disappeared into the woods. When I finally got my seatbelt unfastened, I tried to reach them, but to no avail. What I found was my hanky with the drachma in it, on a branch, just where they disappeared into the woods.”
By now Charlie had a very attentive little gathering, including Diane, Alexandra and Judy, who hung on his words. Charlie went on, and told them of Janie’s dreadful illness, Chris’s attentiveness, the role of the earl and Carol, but also told them of Amanda, as well as Lonnie. He told them honestly of how Lonnie and Amanda had seemed to tag-team him into his new role as ambassador, to be sent into this new/old world, equipped with the drawing of Shepperton Castle, the medicines for Judy, and finally the mysterious broach.
He also described how, what started off as an innocent dinner date with Lonnie, rapidly escalated into something indescribable, with some pints of Carlisle’s Brew, some fortune cookies, obviously affected by Drachma’s magic, and the effects of Amanda’s illness. And then the finality of it all, with the death of Janie, and her final kiss. Outside, Falma was waiting for him, as he turned his car keys over to Lonnie and strode off with Falma toward Shepperton and the fifteenth century.
“An’ ye canna’ tell me, now, Charlie that ye don’ love Lonnie,” said Alex. “Fer I heard it from Amanda, an’ I can see it in yer eyes.”
“Well, the last thing Carol said to me, in a whisper, as I was leaving their house for the last time, was that I had to beware, because three women loved me, and one little girl. I wasn’t sure it was true, but now I guess it sort of makes sense, each in her own way.”
“And now you’re going to add a fourth,” said Judy, smiling in a way that cut straight through to his folded heart.
“But what truly gets to me is the love of little Amanda, but also Francine. There seems to be nothing I can do for them all.”
“Ah, but Charlie there shall be,” Alex’s pronouncement hit its mark with the force of an arrow.
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