The Duke's Daughter (Editing)

Chapter Three

 “Is Megan Upchurch here?” The woman asked pompously with a noticeable rich English accent, “I must speak to her at once.”

 Still in much shock with seeing a woman with such grandeur, I debated whether I should tell her if Megan was in jail or not. “Um…she’s not…here right now.” 

 “Such a shame,” said the woman as she and the man entered, “Is Lenora or Jerrold Upchurch available?”

“It’s Lenny, I don’t go by Lenora.” I closed the door, “How can I help you?”

“Hmm, I should’ve known you were Lenora,” said she, examining me, “You have Richard’s face. Doesn’t she, Frank?”

 “Yes, madam,” answered the man.

 “Who is Richard?” I asked dumbfounded. All sorts of questions started running through my brain. What was the woman doing here? Did Megan do something else that we didn’t know about?

 “You don’t know who Richard Percy is? Your own father? That is absolutely absurd! Richard has certainly gotten himself in a mess.” said the woman horrified.

 “I’m sorry, but Meg-…my mother…always called him Rick Upchurch. And I do hate to ask this again, but what can I help you with? I have to get to school.”

 “Ah, I see, well, seeing that you don’t recognize me, I’m your Aunt Henrietta Scott, Lady of Sheffield. And this here, is Frank Taylor, your father’s valet. And we’re here to take you, your brother, and your…mother to Northumberland.”

 Valet? Lady of what? Northumberland? This cannot be happening. “Frank, darling, why don’t you help the girl get her things situated, I’ll wait in the cabby. Now child, where is your brother? We must be going, really,” Said my aunt.

 “But why do we have to go to, uh, Northumland? Is my father alright?” I couldn’t believe how my life was turning upside.

 “It’s Northumberland, and no. He’s in fact very sick and he would like to see you all before…well before there’s no time left. Now, dear, where is the rest of your family?” Aunt Henrietta walked around our small home searching for Jerry and Megan. And telling from her face, she was not very impressed with our smelly furniture.

 “Jerry’s at work and Megan…is—“

 “Out of the city,” We all turned around to see Jerry at the door, “Didn’t mean to startle anyone. I was just checking to see if Lenny was off to school. And you are?”

 “Aunt Henrietta,” I responded for her.

He smirked, “Didn’t know Megan had a sister.”

 “Quite the opposite, I’m your father’s sister,” said Henrietta aghast. Jerry eyes widened, “Now children, I’ll tell you more about it on the way to Northumberland. Come on! Get ready, we do not have enough time to be dilly dallying!”

 Jerry must’ve been paralyzed with shock, because he stood there until I dragged him about the stairs as Frank followed us. “Can I be of any assistance?” Frank asked.

 “Well, seeing as my brother, here, is a little dazed maybe you could help him.” I advised. I ran quickly to my room and packed my old suitcase. We’ve moved so many times it almost felt like a routine; not to mention I wasn’t an elite young woman so my closet wasn’t filled with a galore of clothing. There wasn’t much as far as possessions that I really wanted to take with me. Perhaps my diary, there was never a day I would fail to write. I quickly put my diary in the suitcase. I scanned my room once more and found another possession I could never leave without. My father’s wedding gift to Megan, a diamond ring. It wasn’t anything grand, it was actually quite simple; a gold band with a diamond stud in the middle. After Father left, Megan didn’t want anything to do with it. I suppose the shiny object intrigued me as a child so I took it from her drawer, and it was never to be seen by her again.

I looked down at the ring and examined it when I found the words Forever and Always –Rick. If only Father had been here forever and always, maybe Megan would never be a drunken wench. Maybe Jerry could go to Harvard just like Father. Maybe I wouldn’t feel like a burden. And maybe just maybe, Father wouldn’t be on his deathbed. Giving a sigh, I put the ring on my left ring finger, got hold of my suitcase and run quickly down the stairs.

I found Jerry and Frank waiting for me, “Ah there you are I’ll take your suitcase, madam.” Frank took hold of both of our things and walked out the door.

“Well, let us go out into this world, shall we, my lady?” Jerry tried cheekily in an English accent and took hold of my arm.     

“Are we really going?” I asked letting go of his grip.

“Of course we are! Dad needs us.”

“But what about Megan?”

Jerry looked at me, dumbfounded, “Since when do you care about Megan? She’ll always need us, Lenny. Who else is going to take care of her? I say, we do something that will make us both happy and that’s to see Dad before it’s too late.”

“She’ll kill us when she gets out of jail, you know.” I mumbled.

“Well, then she’ll go to jail again now, won’t she?” He laughed and offered his arm to me one more. I look at this God forsaken home one more time before taking my brother’s arm and walking in to the cold winter air.

We saw Frank standing near a cab waving at us. “But what if they find out that Megan is in jail and that we lied to them?” I asked.

“Then we’ll figure something out, but for now don’t worry. And don’t act so suspicious or they’ll ask questions and we both know how you are at lying.”

Frank opened the door for the both of us and we slid in next to Aunt Henrietta. “Drive on, driver! We don’t have much time before the boat leaves!” said Henrietta impatiently.

“So what does Dad have that’s making him so sick?” Jerry asked.

“He has a fever. Richard never did well with fevers, even when he was a child. I suppose this one has gotten him good this time.”

“Hopefully, we’ll make it in time.”

“I’m sure, we will. But don’t expect to talk to him, he’s so weak there’s not a peep that comes out of him.”

“Then how did you know that he wanted to see us before...you know…” I asked.

“He told us that when he came back from America, he wrote a few letters just in case anything happened to him and to open them,” replied Henrietta, “When his fever became very serious, he told us to open the first letter and in it he wrote that he wanted to see…you people. And I shall be frank; I highly encouraged Mama and Papa not to bring any of you home. I’m mean, really, you won’t understand this nasty mess my brother has left us all.”

“Nasty mess?” Jerry asked, even more intrigued than ever.

“Hasn’t your mother even told you not to ask so many questions?”

“Alas, no ma’am, my mother had other things to worry about.”

“Insufferable children,” said Henrietta as we enter into the dock.