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Chapter 41: Paying Back What's Owed

Somehow Scout and George got through the next few days. There were last minute details of Sunil and Alfred's trip to be seen to. The whole village knew of their impending trip to Euro Disney, and everyone was at the port to see them off. The boys assumed they'd be traveling by car to London to take the regular ferry like most people, but George thought it would be more fun for them to go "top shelf", all the way, so he'd hired a private yacht to take them to France, then a private car to the park itself, so it was a real send off, streamers and everything. 

The local paper reported on it, of course, which was fine with George and Scout, and made it into even more of an event, but what they hadn't been expecting was for the London Times to send a reporter down to cover the whole thing. A couple of TV shows even came, and they didn't want to tell the boys not to talk to anyone, though of course they would've done anything George told them to. He, however, didn't want to diminish their joy, so he let them have their moment of fame, and as a result, the whole thing turned into a bit of a circus, and George could tell that, between the publicity and the strange events at the house, Scout was very nervous indeed.

They had managed to live for most of the previous year off the radar and out of the spotlight, even though George Wilder had spent most of his young life as one of the most sought after and famous young men in the world, and to be suddenly thrust back into all of it was a little disconcerting, even for George himself. For Scout, who was used to being well-known in academic and high-society circles, to suddenly be tabloid fodder was completely alien.

"Oh my god!" George heard as he entered the lounge the evening after they saw the boys off to France for their Euro Disney adventure. He quickened his step, afraid that something else strange had happened, possibly involving the baby.

"What? Dear god, what now?" he asked, pushing open the door and looking around. He saw Scout sitting on the couch, holding Alis on her lap, watching TV, the dogs sitting all around her.

"We're on TV!" Scout announced, eyes wide, gesturing with one hand. "Apparently I'm not up to your usual standards, George." The screen showed George and Scout, holding Alis, waving to Sunil and Alfred as the yacht cast off from Point Rosen, arm in arm, smiling.

George turned up the volume in time to hear the host of the show finish what she was saying, about Scout's wardrobe, and how it was never going to land her and George on the "Best Dressed Couple" list, where George had spent most of the last few years with his first wife. Pictures started flashing on the screen of George and Tessa, looking very well-dressed indeed, in various glamorous places all over the world.

George silently clicked the TV off and tossed the remote on the couch, taking a seat next to Scout and reaching for the baby, who cooed happily at him.

"What made you look at that crap in the first place?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I thought it might be fun to see what they had to say about Sunil and Alfred," she explained.

"Well, we're going to be going to London next month when I start filming and recording, and there are going to be paps and fans and all that garbage all over, so you're going to have to learn to just ignore it, understand?" he said, looking at her sternly. "That part of my life is over, and it never meant anything to begin with."

Scout covered his hand with hers. "I don't think we can keep saying that," she said. "Something's got to be done, George. The bad things that have been happening, pretty much since I arrived here, haven't stopped. I mean, if anything, they're escalating. She's getting stronger. She's playing with us." 

George took a deep breath, but Scout covered his mouth with her slim finger.

"You know I'm right, you know I am," she admonished. "And we can't get away from her. Wherever you go, she's right there. She could hurt Alis anytime she wants." She took her finger away. "You think about that, George." She leaned in and kissed him.