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56: Unexpected Surprises
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2021-01-17 14:31:16Related chapters
World of Tomorrow 57: Realizations
The train had long since reached speed and the cityscape faded into rolling landscape. Evelyn leaned against Andrew with her feet tucked under her watching the greenery through the wide window as he read through the Times she’d bought to sneak onto the train.“What’s happening in the world?” she asked to re-engage him.“Some not so good things I’m afraid,” he replied with a sigh, but nuzzled a kiss into her hair. “A journalist in Europe reported Germany is aligning along the Polish border with a significant number of armed troops supported by hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles and field guns. And in Philadelphia, an amateur golfer is being held for involuntary manslaughter. Apparently, after he hit his ball into a sand trap, he swung his niblick wide in a fit of temper and it slipped his grip, striking a nearby caddie in the temple. The caddie died a couple hours later in the hospital of deep cerebral lacerations.”“Oh my word. Maybe I don’t want to know after all.”“I’m happy to tell
Last Updated : 2021-01-18World of Tomorrow 58: Understanding
Andrew knew. He knew the instant she’d asked him about Justin’s motivations for marrying her best friend what Evelyn had been thinking. Not that he blamed her—in her position, he’d have thought the same thing. Long before now, in fact. With their meal finished and the dining car growing crowded and noisy, they took their leave, drifted silently through a quiet, nearly empty lounge car, then through the corridor of the first sleeper car before crossing into their own. There was no sense denying—either to himself, or to her assuming she’d press, which she wouldn’t—that he’d thought it. In fact, he’d thought she might be carrying his child two months ago, after that ridiculous row with his mother when he’d almost lost her. When she’d fainted and spent the night in the hospital. The mere notion had made him giddy, had made him feel like more of a man than he’d ever b
Last Updated : 2021-01-19World of Tomorrow 59: Gala
“Who are we looking for tonight?” Evelyn asked, lounging in the luxurious bath as Andrew stood at the sink, shaving in the mirror. They’d arrived at the Ambassador earlier that afternoon after successfully avoiding society journalists by assuming casual disguises as they departed the train. His had included the entirely uncharacteristic facial hair he was presently in the process of removing, a light cashmere jersey, blue jeans and pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses they’d picked up Chicago. In her humble opinion, it had done little to make him less noticeable—by her estimation, that and his dark hair left to dry without pomade gave him a certain rugged attraction that upped his masculine appeal. By the same token, he’d scarcely been able to keep his eyes or hands off her, wearing her own blue jeans, a dusky blue shirt with a navy chiffon scarf wrapped over her hair and tucked into the neck of her blouse, and her own chunky sunglasses that completely overpowered her face. While he agreed it
Last Updated : 2021-01-20World of Tomorrow 60: Ebbs and Flows
Through the heavy haze of sleep, Evelyn dragged herself to the surface, coming aware in lazy pieces. The whisper soft caress over her hip sent a delicious shiver racing across her skin despite the surrounding warmth. Detecting she was awake, Andrew nuzzled the back of her neck, curling himself closer against her. It was better this time—the argument they’d had. She’d seen how hard he worked to keep from lashing out and she was grateful. It had made it easier to see her own mistakes and apologize for them. To say nothing of how nice it had been to find her forgiveness in the strength of his arms, tucked against his gorgeous body as the dark closed around them and the steady reassuring rise and fall of his chest lulled her to sleep. Warm. The bed’s so warm, she thought, turning into his embrace as he adjusted around her. Their legs tangled together and she pressed little kisses along his collarbones, receiving a contented sigh in return. Of the few people she knew, only he generated bo
Last Updated : 2021-01-21World of Tomorrow 61: Feast of Colored Light and Shadow
The evening calls with Andrew’s adopted children that became a nightly occurrence after the September third start of the new war in Europe greatly lifted Evelyn’s spirits. So did the regular communications they received from the New York branch of the Trust, predominantly filtering through Justin and Lily.Unfortunately, the latter especially didn’t have the same positive effect on Andrew. While he was happy to speak to Sarah and Peter, to learn about their new experiences attending school instead of studying with a governess, his conversations with Justin Mitchell consistently led to increased personal stresses for him.“Andrew.” Evelyn stared across the breakfast table at the front and last page of the first section of the New York Times that his nose was buried in, listening to him grumbling in curses to himself. She let him continue a few more seconds, then repeated louder, and with an edge in her voice, “Andrew.”Flipping the paper down so he could just see her over it, he barked
Last Updated : 2021-01-22World of Tomorrow 62: Intrepid
Lifting away the drawing room’s sheers, Evelyn looked out over the Ambassador’s wide lawns and gardens visible from their upper story hotel suite. Behind her, Andrew answered the door, standing aside so that room service could deliver their breakfast. Outside, the wind whipped across the open spaces in waves, flattening the grass and sending leaves and debris flying like shrapnel. Overhead, the sky roiled with dark threatening thunderheads. “Is it always like this in autumn?” Evelyn asked as Andrew joined her at the window, then slid a large warm hand around her narrow waist. “Yesterday, it was so bright it was almost hot. Today, the weather turns on a dime. Same thing last week. It’s like spring in New York, though at least it’s not snow.” “Sir?” Releasing her, Andrew took the offered tab from their delivery person and signed it, then handed the young man a cash tip. “Thank you.”
Last Updated : 2021-01-23World of Tomorrow 63: Reactions 2
Why did everything have to take so infernally long? Andrew moaned internally, watching from the back of the cab as it waited at a stop while traffic through the intersection ahead flowed perpendicular to their return path to the Ambassador. On the floorboard, his toe tapped out a frantic rhythm, the unconscious manifestation of the swirling anxiety and frenetic state of his mind.When they’d been here in the spring and Evelyn had been accosted by the man looking for Charlotte, he’d explained what he knew of the events surrounding his father’s death. How the police had never solved the crime. How Russell had claimed the murderer was gone by the time they reached the bungalow. How he swore he’d never known of a mistress kept by his father.Yet the Piersons were certain James the senior had carried on an extramarital affair. And the desperate stranger looking for Charlotte had implied it. Even Montero had told him there were things about his family that Andrew didn’t want to know.Was thi
Last Updated : 2021-01-24World of Tomorrow 64: Next Adventure
“Andrew, please, will you stop treating me as if I’m made of glass?” Evelyn made a grab for her travel case only to miss with his artful dodge.“I won’t. Not for one minute. You spent three days in the hospital and every single one of them was an absolute hell for me,” he retorted, setting her bag by the front door with his.Trailing along behind him, she perched her sunglasses on the top of her head. “That was last week—.”Pivoting, he fixed her with an angry glower that silenced her. “Darling, I don’t care when it was. You were in a terrific amount of pain, running a fever and whatever is causing it confounds the doctors. That says nothing of the fact that it’s getting worse.”“It’s not—”“It is!” he snapped, taking the few steps between them in two long strides so he could stand over her and stare down his narrow nose. “And don’t you dare attempt to tell me otherwise. What helps is keeping your exertions and stresses to a minimum, which is exactly what I’m going to do.” He took her
Last Updated : 2021-01-25
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World of Tomorrow 139: Epilogue
“Stop, Peter!” Sarah exclaimed, whirling to face behind her. She shot her brother an angry glare. “Peter, for pity’s sake, don’t throw dirt clods at your sister,” Andrew called over his shoulder, shifting his swaddled, sleeping son from his right shoulder to his left as they walked the long, tree-lined drive that led to the James’ estate, perched with its back on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Gulls rode the ocean updrafts in the afternoon sun above the glistening water, occasionally diving when something of interest caught their eye. On the opposite side of the tree-lined drive, his wife’s tiny orchard of glossy-leaved oranges in full bloom left a sweet scent drifting over the drive on the warm, salty breeze off the sea. Not far away, Evelyn's gated garden was growing lush with upright stalks of corn, twined in the loving arms of pole beans with the wide leaves of squash spreading in a carpet at their feet along the ground in one row. In another, her tomatoes were already d
World of Tomorrow 138: Sound and Fury
“M-ma-ma.” The stuttering word was an alarming half-sob and half-gurgle from the wounded Becky. “M-ma-m-ma.” Dear God! Whoever it was had shot her! That poor, helpless girl! Why!? She wasn’t a threat! And there was absolutely nothing here of any value! Evelyn’s heart leapt to her throat and hammered painfully. But she stayed close to the wall, inching forward on tiptoe to clutch at Andrew’s jacket. She pointed to the floor where their shadows fell long across it from the single overhead lamp in the middle of the room. If they drew too close to the door, their shadows would be visible to the intruder in the darkened hall leading to the bedrooms. She pointed to the window, and Andrew jerked his chin towards it in acknowledgement. Escape. They had to escape. Outside, on the sidewalk, they could summon the patrolling police officer. They could summon help. Men trained for this. Men with other guns. They had to move fast. Miranda’s daughter needed them. Even above the scuffling noises fr
World of Tomorrow 137: Miranda's Story
Andrew rose slowly to his feet, an antagonized muscle twitching along his clean-shaven jaw. His expression looked like a bomb about to explode. Evelyn drew a sudden breath, one hand clapping over her mouth. She stared, in turns, first at Will, then at Miranda, and her mind whirled. What was it Alexander Lowell had said the day that Detective Kelly had attempted to arrest her? The same day he’d later resigned from the police department. Something about the detective being fed what he needed to lay an accusation upon Evelyn. The question of ‘why’ anyone cared about a lowly former secretary enough to attempt to kill her, let alone invest the effort in framing her was growing more convoluted by the minute. But it was clear it was centered here, with the account belonging to Glorietta Moreno and her rights as an heir to it. “It’s a stretch,” Andrew said softly, nodding towards Miranda, “but I can see why your mother might have had Russell’s name on that account. N
World of Tomorrow 136: Doors
“You folks just planning on waiting?” their cabbie asked, his dark eyes studying Andrew and Will in the rearview mirror, despite that Evelyn was seated between them. “Meter’s running. Makes no never mind to me if you do, but I’ll have to circle the block or the flatfoots will cite me.” “How long do we have to decide?” Andrew asked, reluctant to have the cab move on the off chance that they might miss Miranda's departure for work during the process. “’Nother minute or two at most.” “Thank you.” He shifted slightly on the cab’s rear seat so he could better see his companions. “I know we’re early, but if she’s keeping business hours, I’d have expected she’d have to allow time to travel to a workplace. You’re certain this is the building, Will?” “It’s the place,” he replied definitively. “I can go in and wait. Tail her to wherever she’s going, then come get you.” “Is it possible she recognized you yesterday?” Evelyn asked, peering through the murk
World of Tomorrow 135: Plan of Attack
The dancing had worked like a charm. For a couple of hours. Andrew had managed to get just shy of another couple hours on top of that, burning time off the afternoon by alternating between listening to the orchestra rehearse, dancing, and finally, by slipping a bribe to the broadcasting staff to show Evelyn their equipment set-up and to take their sweet time about it. After that, she’d become too fretful to do much beyond distractedly, which had quickly spoiled the ballroom option for both of them. They’d retired to their drawing room, taken afternoon tea, then Evelyn’s pacing had begun again in earnest. He had to admit, watching her as she combed through her drying hair at the dressing table, it might be time to worry about Will a little. It was going on eight o’clock. Late by any business standard, but certainly well past the time when most diners catering to the kind of clients they’d seen at the DeBaliviere Diner and Waffle House would be visiting
World of Tomorrow 134: As Luck Would Have It
Wednesday morning in St. Louis dawned dark and gloomy and only marginally better than it had been upon their arrival early afternoon on Monday. When Evelyn emerged from the bedroom into the drawing room where he and the constantly-moving Will waited, Andrew flicked the newspaper he’d been reading down and smiled. They’d all slept poorly—again. They’d all woken late—again—and after their enjoyable brunch yesterday, both men were eager to see what other offerings were available in the East Lounge’s dining area. “Well?” she asked, her red-tinged and particle-irritated eyes roving the drawing room’s lush furnishings, immediately spotting the unmistakable coating of fine black powder and ash. “Are we trapped inside again today? It seems faintly better.” Will snorted. “By comparison to yesterday, being buried in black sand would seem better.” Andrew chuckled, setting aside the St. Louis Star-Times he’d been reading. He rifled through a stack of newspapers o
World of Tomorrow 133: Black Tuesday
The hotel’s ballroom was a gently baroque style. Its elegant space was replete with all manner of luxuries one would expect of a high-profile hotel, no matter where one might visit in the world—custom paneled with artfully etched-mirror and plaster walls, gold-leafed accents and intricate crown moldings. Above the near-magical dancefloor, which was lit from below, hung in the decorative ceiling, a ponderous crystal chandelier lit the warm wooden dancefloor beneath it. Along the periphery, undulating balconies supported by Corinthian pilasters gave an air of classicism to the space, but one not overly staid. These generous galleries provided seating for those who had only come for a meal, to watch the dancing or to listen to the orchestra. They’d dressed for a late dinner, but though the orchestra played, their music broadcast exactly as Evelyn had always dreamed of experiencing, she and Andrew hadn’t danced. In fact, they hadn’t stayed much longer than
World of Tomorrow 132: Miserable Monday
“The Coronado was built, and I believe is now run, by Preston Bradshaw,” Andrew advised more than an hour later as their cab pulled away from the curb at the train depot. “He graduated from Columbia with my brother, Russell. The two were quite good friends as I recall. My father introduced him to Stanford White in New York City where he worked before returning to St. Louis. He’s responsible for the monumental hotels on Lindell Boulevard. The Melbourne and the Coronado at midtown and the theatre district. And opposite, near the Central West end, the Chase and the Forest Park hotels were also his commissions.” “Did you know him?” Evelyn asked, closing her burning eyes and resting her head against his shoulder. “Is that why we’re staying at the Coronado?” She left unspoken the reminder that the Coronado Hotel, in particular the hotel’s famed Caprice Club, was where they’d found Charlotte to serve Andrew’s divorce paperwork after their tip-off from the Princes in Los Angeles.
World of Tomorrow 131: Arrival
The following morning Evelyn woke alone. She could tell by the way his belongings were packed that Andrew had already risen. If she was any guess, he was taking advantage of the train’s onboard barber, which meant she had time to bathe and dress without his typical morning enthusiasm for both processes. Selecting a warm dress from her traveling case, she draped her clothing over the empty towel rack in the bathroom and rooted through her toiletries for her toothbrush and toothpowder. When she was done, she hung a fresh towel on the rack nearest the shower beside the still-damp one Andrew had used and stepped under the spray. The warm shower felt delightful and soothed the telltale soreness from her bedroom exertions with her husband the night before. Once she’d washed, she stood with the warm spray draining off of her and for the first time since they’d come, wondered what they were going to do in St. Louis. They had only the name of a diner and a hotel off t
