From a Fire

Chapter 7

A/N: Dear readers, I haven't forgotten about this story, fear not. Been busy with life!

Chapter 7: Crazy Dinner Fun

December 20, 1927

"Baxter, can you help me with this necklace?" I ask, fiddling with the clasp of my new necklace.

"Of course, your Ladyship," Baxter replies, walking over to me. "It is very pretty."

I smile, admiring the necklace. It's a heart, with Sybil's name engraved on the backside, with a diamond and light blue sapphire, which matches my eye colour. Robert gave it to me last week, and I thought that today was the best day to wear it.

The house wasn't really a true house of mourning anymore. Lily, Lavender, and Lilac had come two months ago, and had adapted well to their new environment. The upstairs was filled with laughs as Lavender and Lilac learned where she could and couldn't go, how Mama reacted when Lily first came downstairs for dinner, the third night after she came, and how she was wearing a blue pleated skirt with a white shirt instead of a dress. Baxter told me that when Barrow had told the downstairs staff during dinner one night and they were laughing for a whole three weeks after. Henry had just returned from America, with great relief from Mary.

Edith, Bertie, and Marigold had arrived from their home at Brancaster Castle, in Northumberland. Edith was about 7 months pregnant with her first child with Bertie. It seemed that Bertie's excitement of his first child was trumped by Marigold's of having a sibling in the nursery at Brancaster.

Mr. Poluti had found out more information about why and how Paul's house was set on fire. Somebody, working under the direction of Al Capone, had done it, one of the importers had a hitman. Larry Grey, Dickie's older son, had been a suspect that Paul was researching in the bootlegging business, working for Capone. The day before the house was lit on fire Paul had found valuable information that proved to arrest Larry for alcohol importation and working with Al Capone. Even though Larry lives at Cavenham, I haven't tried to have charges pressed on him, partly because I think that he was behind the fire at Paul's. Paul worked for the government, finding information on the bootleggers. One of Al Capone's importers of alcohol had heard about Paul's work. Some of the law enforcement members are working on catching the culprit. I've been in contact with Mr. Poluti, having the police and the government look into Larry, to see if he had hired a hitman. I never once shared my suspicions with Amelia Grey, Isobel, or Lily or the other girls, only Poluti and Fegerthes, a Government detective, and Robert.

A knock on the door whips me out of my thoughts. A small head with dark hair covering their face pops in.

"Miss Lilac?" Baxter asks, walking over to the nightgown clad little figure.

Lilac runs over to me, clinging to my legs. Lavender comes in, trying to get Lilac back to the nursery, and Lily is on Lavender's heels. Lily is wearing her dinner clothes, a long silken dress that Mama insisted that she buy for Lily after the pleated skirt and shirt incident.

Lilac, the youngest at 4, has shoulder length nutty brown hair, blue eyes, and is short for her age, but then again Olivia was petite. She's really shy and according to Nanny, she hardly talks. Lavender, the middle child at 11, has a bob of light brown hair, sharp, pale blue eyes, and is tall for her age. Lavender is the most outgoing of the three sisters. Lily, the eldest at 14, has long, waist length dark brown wavy hair, brown eyes, and is petite, like her mom. Lily is shy, but can be very commanding, her ability to control a room is very impressive. Her debating skills are top notch. I love watching her in her element, arguing about something or another about her welfare or her sisters, when she talks about her parents' sacrifice when people try to pity her. Paul used to say that she could be a senator in the United States.