Sally's Secret

Chapter 1

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward sat back on her couch and lifted a china cup to her lips for a short sip of tea. "Perfect as always, Parker."

"Will you be needing anything else, milady?" the Cockney-accented driver asked.

The table held a small spread of biscuits, crumpets, and cucumber sandwiches—more than she would ever eat. Her mobile phone chimed,but as it was not the compact connected to International Rescue's comms systems, she deemed it unimportant and waved Parker off. "I'm fine for now. Go put your feet up."

Parker grinned. "Yes, milady."

When Penelope looked down at her phone, she almost called Parker back, but the fact Mrs. Tracy had used a private phone line and not the normal IR comms made her hesitate. Best see what this was about first. She hit the connect button and saw the Tracy matriarch's holo-projection hover over the small screen.

Penelope smiled at her. "Mrs. Tracy, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The old woman's voice was upbeat despite being timbered with advanced age. "I need a favour on the Q.T." She winked, which was a little comical with the number of wrinkles around her eyes.

"Of course. What do you need?"

Mrs. Tracy shot a covert look right and left. "We should discuss it in person. When is a good time for you, dear?"

Penelope's first inclination was to drop everything and have Parker fly her in FAB 1 out to Tracy Island. The matriarch's health was declining more than anyone seemed ready to admit and she shouldn't have to travel unnecessarily. But if she wanted this kept secret from her grandsons, then meeting on Tracy Island was probably out. "I'm free right now. Shall I have Parker come fetch you then?"

"Oh, I think asking one of the boys to drop me off for tea and some girl-talk wouldn't arouse too much suspicion. International Rescue is slightly" her holo-projection illustrated the minuteness of this word with a thumb and forefinger nearly touching, "less busy at the moment. Would half an hour from now work okay?"

"Perfect. I'll see you then." She alerted Parker to add a little to the spread he'd already prepared, so it was fit for a guest. On the way back, she pressed the proper buttons so that one of the Thunderbirds could land on her manor's circular driveway without setting off one of Parker's new security alarms.

No longer the excitable puppy he once was, Sherbert the pug slept in a sunny bay window as was his usual for an afternoon at home. He didn't need to be awake for a visit from Mrs. Tracy, so Penelope left him sleeping.

****

Sally Tracy set the phone aside and heaved a deep sigh. She should have done this years ago, but had never been ready for the change. Leaving things as they were, even when she knew deep in her heart it wasn't ideal, had always just felt easier. It had indeed been better not to look for new house staff immediately after the tragic death of their last cook and housekeeper, Kyrano. Jeff couldn't bring himself to think of hiring anyone else with the wound so fresh. How might it have looked to Kayo? Her father was not some robot who could be replaced like a mechanical gizmo Brains put together. Kyrano had always been family. So family, specifically Sally herself, had taken over most of Kyrano's previous tasks. It was supposed to be temporary, a stopgap measure to give them all some time to heal. But then Jeff's accident happened and made another household change unthinkable.

Mentally, Sally knew she would always be loved as Grandma, for who she was and how much she'd contributed to International Rescue, both in occasional dispatching to free up John, and in mentoring all the youngsters, but there was a niggling little part of her brain that always insisted that cooking and laundry and cleaning were how she made herself not merely loved, but useful to the family.