Before The Beginning

Chapter 43: The End and Epilogue

Begin!

~Beatrice's POV

We were sent pictures of Quinten and Karrie's triplets; which I kept in my office. I was so happy for my friends that I wanted to keep this precious memento close. (I put them near my pictures of Violet.) I even called Lemony to tell him the news, and keep him up to date on Violet. (He liked knowing how much his goddaughter was growing up.) Ike and Josie kept in contact with us regularly. Hector wasn't able to keep in contact as easily with his lack of a phone now, but we talked via letters whenever we were able. He was busy more often now, being the only handyman for an entire village, and because of some big personal project he was working on, so after a while we slowed our communication to a stop. Karrie and I talked whenever we could, and on a few occasions she'd bring her kids over to play with Violet.

Jacqueline was doing a great job at keeping Mr. Poe in line for us. We were much better off with her in that office managing the place like a real volunteer. But that's not to say that Arthur wasn't still the same as before, he just had a better teacher now.

I heard the sugar bowl was being moved around a lot. I also got some disturbing news from the Duchess that said we'd lost contact with the island growing the apples. She'd sent scouts to find out what happened, but they never came back... I never found out what happened to that place, but I fear the apples may have been grown in vain if they couldn't be shipped out to the masses. That meant we had to rely on the sugar. I'm told the bowl was being kept by the current Madame Lulu at Caligari Carnival, and would be moved to a special hiding place before being taken to the headquarters. (At least according to my last given report.)

But there were some positives to be had. Violet was now a year old and was walking on her own at last. Which made Bertrand worried about her being in his work studio. He couldn't stop her though; she had developed a little attachment to watching her father work with tools and machines. I convinced Bertie to promise to teach her about them once she's old enough to understand. She might even make a living out of it someday. And on days when Bertie and I both had to work, we hired a very nice gentleman from Dark Avenue named Jerome Squalor to babysit her.

Violet also enjoyed playing with my new pet bats that Bertie had bought for me as an early first year wedding anniversary present. I ensured my girls wouldn't bite her too. I loved being a mother, but I had sorely missed having bats around the house, so I was particularly happy about this gift. Violet loved them too, but I couldn't help thinking that it might be because she longed for more "permanent" companionship. Sure, she loved playing with the triplets on their rare visits, and while their visits were even less frequent she loved playing with Fiona too whenever Sammie dropped by.

Simply put: Duncan, Quigley, and Isadora had each other. Fiona had her big brother Fernald. And Violet, I could tell, felt a little left out being an only child. I shared this concern with Bertrand to get his thoughts.

"I think she gets lonely. She'd love to have a younger sibling and maybe we should give her one."

"Well, I'm not against the idea, but you do remember our deal, right? If we have another kid, we said we'd retire."

"So we'll retire then," I said bluntly.

"But Bea... we'll have to cease contact..."

My eyes widened. "What?"

Bertrand showed me the most recent telegram from the headquarters and I frowned at the new development...

Attention all volunteers,

Due to the recent up-rise in crime rates, the Duchess of Winnipeg informs volunteers with families that if you are considering retirement for the sake of personal reasons you are strongly advised to cease non-vital contact with other volunteers. Our enemies get bolder every day and we've had cases of calls getting tapped, and telegrams and letters being intercepted. You will not be forced to do this, but it is strongly encouraged.