The Lost Princess [Hamliza Anastasia AU]

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Tailor's Assistant

Thursday, March 10, 1927. Raritan, New Jersey. 

The bakery door opened with a soft jingle, and John stepped inside, followed by the others. The small shop was warm and cozy by design, with pale yellow wallpaper, and soft lighting. There were glass cases with mouth watering pastries, and on the counter, several glass jars of candy.

Behind the counter was a young woman around their age. She was in a pale pink dress and had on light makeup, but what really shocked John was her hair. It was cropped to her ears in a style he'd never seen a girl wear before. He knew the style now was shorter hair, most women wore theirs to their shoulders or above, but he didn't realize it had gotten so extreme.

Noticing them, the counter girl pushed her hair back behind her ears and gave a dazzling smile. "Welcome, how can I help you today?" She asked, voice softly accented.

"Hmm?" Alex eyed the pastry case. "What do you guys want?"

John stepped forward to take a look, but before he could do more than glance at the rows of doughnuts, cupcakes, brownies, and other desserts he didn't know the names of, the door opened again and everybody turned to look. 

A young man a couple of years older than Eliza came in and made his way over to the counter. He held out a handful of flowers to the counter girl, leaning up against it with what seemed to be an attempt at casual grace, but really just looked cheap. "Listen, Anne, I'm really sorry about cheating on you with Millie. I didn't realize you wanted us to be exclusive. I've broken up with her, and I'd like you to be my girlfriend."

Anne, the counter girl, glared at him venomously. "Millie! I broke up because you cheated on me with Mary! God, do you really think I'll get back together with you?"

He gave a winning smile and leaned on the counter. "Of course. You said you were in love with me."

She wrinkled her nose. "Well, that was a mistake. I won't go out with you again. You have your claws into half the girls in this town. Get out of my family's shop, Hercules Mulligan!"

Hercules sighed. "Fine," He started to leave, but stopped when he saw Beth, who had been standing next to Alex and watching the exchange. A smile returned to his face. 

"Well, I haven't seen you around before," He said, holding out a hand. "My name's Hercules. Sorry if I gave a bit of a bad impression there. Anne and I have a long history."

Anne made a small noise of disgust and tapped John on the shoulder. "I can't watch this," she murmured, too quietly for Hercules to hear. "I'll be in the back if you need me," Picking up the flowers by their stems as if they were discarded garbage someone had left there, she unlocked what John assumed was the kitchen door and stepped inside. 

"I'm Beth," Beth told Hercules, shaking his hand. "And yes, we just got in. You don't happen to know where the nearest hotel is, do you?"

He thought for a minute, then replied. "I don't, sorry. I have a place you can stay though, if you want?"

"No, I think it's fine," Alex snapped. He had sidled closer to Beth, and was now glaring at Hercules as if he was Commissioner Howe. Relax a little, John thought, he hasn't done anything to us yet. 

Apparently not noticing Alex's cold gaze, Hercules laughed. "That did come out kind of bad, didn't it, considering what you just heard. I work for the tailor a few doors down. There's an empty apartment above his shop, and you could stay there if you want to. It's supposed to be for the tailor or his assistant, but we both have other places to sleep."

John had known Alex for five years now. He knew what his friend was going to do, sometimes before he himself had made up his mind. Alex was about to refuse this nice offer, and John wasn't going to let him. 

"That would be great," he said, stepping in front of his friend.  "We can go now, since I don't think Anne is too keen on having you hang around. We'll find something to eat later."

---

The wooden stairs at the back of the tailor's shop squeaked as John ascended them. He sincerely hoped no one had to leave for the bathroom during the night, because the noise of them going down the stairs would wake everyone up. 

"Welcome to the tiny apartment of your dreams," Hercules said dramatically from two steps up , swinging open the door and stepping inside. 

John followed him in. There was a small kitchenette with a stove, sink, and an ice box, a table with two chairs, and a small living room that barely fit the couch, radio, and bookshelf that were kept there, and two doors that presumably lead to the bedrooms. 

"So," Hercules said when they had all filed in, "How did you get through the border?"

John nearly stopped breathing. Not now. Not when they were this close to Philadelphia. Being caught in New Jersey wasn't as bad as being caught in New York, but it wouldn't exactly be a walk in the park either. 

"Calm down," he said, noting their shocked expressions. "I'm not going to report you to the authorities or anything-not that I would need to, anyone can tell by your accents. I'm just genuinely curious. We get immigrants from New York through here all the time, both legal and not, and not many people mind. "

Alex nodded knowingly. "Everything is legal in Jersey." 

Hercules laughed. "I've heard it said. It's not entirely true, but King William is pretty lax. We're even allowed to criticize him, as long as nobody calls for a rebellion. Then again, he lets anyone who wants one have a gun, so I can't see how he would stop them if they tried," He laughed at this too, but was met with blank stares from the four of them. Alex and John had sat down on the couch, Eliza and Aaron had chosen the table, and then there was Hercules, who sat cross legged on the floor and looked very comfortable there. 

Realizing his mistake, he grinned sheepishly at them. "A little too close to home for you all, I guess. But seriously, how did you escape? I hear George Fredrick closed the border. "

"We got out on the last train," John replied. "They tried to check our papers at Penn Station, and we didn't have the right ones, so we did a little disappearing act," He left out that he was the one who had gotten them the wrong passports. His own guilt over it was enough, John didn't need anyone else rubbing it in his face

"We jumped off the train and walked here," Beth continued the story, standing. "Speaking of that, do you have any bandages or alcohol anywhere? Aaron scraped his knee, and I've got this cut on my forehead. Aaron shook his head and muttered that he was fine, but she ignored him. 

Herc shook his head. "I do have alcohol, but not the kind you're looking for, I think. Now, if you don't mind telling me, why did you want to leave? Have you just had enough of the government, or was there some specific reason for getting out now? Did the four of you commit a crime? I love heist stories!"

Alex and Beth exchanged glances, probably trying to decide if they should tell the secret or not. John felt kind of bad for convincing Beth that she was Elizabeth, but the prospect of the reward was enough to cancel out most of his inhibitions. 

Beth clasped her hands together and pursed her lips, sending subliminal No signals to Alex. It was probably a good choice. Hercules seemed like he had good intentions, but he might say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get her assassinated. That wasn't as much of a danger in Philadelphia, because there were so many former New York nobles that the city did a good job of protecting them, but here, anything could happen.   

"Oh!" Hercules exclaimed out of the blue, clapping his hands. "Sorry if I flirted with you or anything earlier. I had no idea."

Beth looked at him, utter confusion on her face. John felt the same. What the heck was he talking about?

"Oh, sorry," He continued as if he was making sense. "Is it supposed to be a secret? I assumed they would know, since you escaped together."

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked, eyebrows drawn together. 

"That you two are together, of course," Hercules explained, pointing a finger between Alex and Eliza. "From the way you too act around each other, it's blatantly obvious. "