All of You (A Carrington Family Novel Book 2) by Sarah Monzon

Author:Sarah Monzon [Monzon, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Radiant Publications
Published: 2017-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

England, 1944

Alice huddled next to Rose, two bodies in a long line of people. Another example that marked her life from then to now. At White Oak she spent her time at her leisure…well, as long as her leisure fell under the parameters of her father’s expectations. She never stood in lines, however. Instead she raced her horse across the foothills or snuck off the plantation’s property to fly in Jimmy’s biplane. That was then. She scanned the row of people pressed against the stone building, the overhang keeping the afternoon rain from soaking them to the bone. This was now. Lines to collect ration cards. Lines to buy groceries. Lines to post letters, like the one she currently stood in.

A niggle of annoyance prickled her skin. Did her father even read the letters she posted to him? His face, mottled with anger, spittle flying from the corners of his mouth as he proclaimed he’d no longer have a daughter if she followed through with her plan, entered her mind. She pushed it away, attempted to replace the memory with the man she remembered as a girl. The one who sat her upon his lap in his big leather office chair and read aloud to her from the newspaper. That man still had to be there somewhere. That tender heart. No matter how much his words had stung, she wouldn’t give up on him.

“Any big plans with Thomas since you have the whole day off?” she asked Rose as the line moved forward a few steps before stopping again.

Rose pulled up the collar of her dress as a breeze blew a spray of rain to dampen them. “He’s planned a picnic along the Thames river.”

“A picnic in this weather?” Not exactly ideal. Picnics should be enjoyed in full sunshine on a grassy slope with wildflowers scenting the air and songbirds serenading.

Rose shrugged. “You take the opportunities given to you. If we always waited for perfection, we’d miss out on so much. Don’t you think?”

Alice opened her mouth to respond but was drowned out by the honking of cars on the street. A man raced in front of traffic, one hand holding his hat atop his head, the other keeping his jacket closed at his breast.

“Isn’t that Henry?” Rose asked, her voice incredulous.

Why was Henry Caldwell dashing across the busy street toward them?

He bounded to a stop, chest heaving from exertion but his smile wide and eyes bright.

“Good heavens, Henry. You could have been killed.” Alice didn’t know if she should check to make sure he was all right or shake some sense into him.

“Afternoon, ladies.” He grabbed their arms and pulled them toward the road, mindless of the approaching electric streetcar.

“Henry, what are you—”

“Where are we—”

Alice and Rose spoke at the same time, their sentences cut off by the blast of the trolley horn. Their feet picked up pace and matched Henry’s urgency. They didn’t stop on the other side but were escorted under the shadow of the grotesque gargoyles and into the brick building.

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