Empires Fall (MidKnight Blue Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  He noticed she looked uneasy for a minute, but then she smiled and he figured he had imagined it.

  When they reached the Debenshire home, Midnight was surprised at the size of it. By her standards, it was a mansion, but Rick said it was nothing compared to Joe’s and that was obviously what he judged a mansion to be. Rick’s home was, however, a very charming looking three-story Victorian-style home, painted an elegant pearlized cream and accented with hunter green and sea foam green. The house was set back from the street, with a low elegant white rod iron fence around the beautifully landscaped front yard. Midnight stood looking up at the house, her eyes on the second story balcony.

  “Hey,” Rick said, coming to stand right behind her, his arms going around her waist.

  She leaned back against him, her eyes still on the house.

  “This is absolutely beautiful,” Midnight said her voice awestruck.

  She felt Rick shrug behind her.

  “It’s home,” he said in her ear.

  “You should see my ‘home’ sometime. You won’t be so nonchalant about yours anymore.” There was no anger in her voice, but he knew what she was talking about.

  One late night she had told him about where she and Thomas had grown up. She said it was basically a shack with three bedrooms. The walls were paper thin, so she and Thomas could always hear when Jack and Carrie were going at it, whether it be sex or fights. Half the time there was no electricity because Jack wouldn’t have worked enough that month to pay the bill. Food was scarce, but she made a point of getting some for her and Thomas, she never was sure how Jack and Carrie ate.

  It had made Rick ill to think of all the rough times she’d been through when he had everything in the world he could want, and took it all for granted. Now standing in front of his family home, he was determined that his family was going to accept Midnight and make her feel welcome and loved. He had heard the skeptical tone in his mother’s voice when he had told her that he was bringing Midnight home with him, and that he was in love with her.

  Of course, he couldn’t really blame his mum. He had been “in love” so many times before, but it had never felt like this. Most of the time he had been just said it so he could put his mother’s worry to rest. Annabelle Debenshire despaired that her only son would never settle down and start a family.

  Once inside the house, Rick found the note that his mother had left. It said, “Small emergency at Deborah’s, be home soon as possible, not to worry. Love, Mum.”

  “Guess we’re on our own for a while,” Rick said, looking at Midnight. She was looking around the kitchen, wide-eyed.

  The interior of the house was very elegant, but cozy, with lots of wood furniture and throws over chairs and couches. The kitchen was decorated in antique blue and cream, and Midnight found it hard to believe that anyone actually cooked in this kitchen.

  “Does your mom cook?” Midnight asked, looking over at Rick who was leaning against the refrigerator watching her.

  “My mum?” Rick said, rolling his eyes. “Lord yes! And you’re in a whole lot of trouble when she sees you.”

  “Why?”

  “’Cause she’s gonna feed you like you’ve never been fed before. I can just hear her now complaining over how thin you are. My poor sisters had to fight her off constantly.”

  “What happened to you then?” Midnight said, walking over to him, and sticking her finger into his ribs. Rick laughed.

  “I was too fast for her, besides I’ve been out from under her roof for a year …”

  “No you were thin when you got to America, I know …”

  “You do, ’ey?” Rick asked, holding her against him.

  “Oh yeah, I checked you out that first night.”

  “You did, huh?” he said, smiling down at her.

  “Oh yeah …” she said, her voice trailing off seductively.

  “Then why didn’t you do anything about it?” he teased.

  “You were Joe’s best friend, what was I supposed to do?”

  “Jump me on sight.”

  “Oh that would have gone over well.” She laughed.

  “That’s what I wanted to do to you,” he said, his voice low.

  “Is it now?” she said, pulling back to look up at him. “And why is that?”

  “Because,” he said, leaning down to kiss her, “you are the most incredible woman I have ever met, and I wanted you the minute I laid eyes on you.”

  “I see …” she said, laughing.

  They kissed for a few minutes leaning against the refrigerator. Then Rick showed her around the house. Midnight’s first impression of the house as being cozy and warm was only further justified upon closer inspection. Rick’s mother seemed to like the Victorian colors of deep greens, rich mauves, deep burgundies, and pale peaches.

  The house was very warm and cozy, yet at the same time, Midnight could tell that Rick’s parents definitely had money. There were numbers of antiques, and expensive-looking crystal and china in the formal dining room. Confirming that Rick, too, came from money, only made Midnight more apprehensive about meeting his family.

  After showing Midnight around the house, they settled on the couch in the family room. Rick sat with his back to the corner of the couch, with one foot on the floor and the other up on the couch. Midnight sat between his legs, leaning against him, her head resting on his chest. It had been two hours since they had arrived and Midnight was starting to feel a headache coming on, and her head was getting congested. She sniffled, and Rick looked down at her immediately concerned.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Midnight replied, reaching up to rub her temples, “I think I might be getting a cold though.” She sniffled again.

  “Oh boy,” Rick said, touching her forehead, “you do feel a little warm. Let me see what my mum has here for a cold.”

  Moving carefully, Rick got up and Midnight rested her head on the arm of the couch, looking around the room again. It was very homey. It was what she would have liked her home to have been like. There were all kinds of pictures on the walls, pictures of Rick when he was younger, pictures of his four sisters, family pictures, pictures of Rick playing soccer, pictures of his sisters dressed in their Sunday best.

  It was nice; it was family. Something that Midnight knew very little about. It scared her in a way. They were a family, and here she was some homeless waif trying to gain their acceptance. She was just sure they wouldn’t like her, but she loved Rick, and for him she would try this. But she knew they held all the cards, and she held none, save Rick’s love for her. Rick came back a few minutes later, and gave her some pills to take. She took them obediently, and they settled back on the couch.

  “Baby, maybe you should go lay down,” Rick said, worried about her. She wasn’t one to get sick easily.

  “No, I’m okay … I’ll just lay here, okay?” she said softly.

  “But, Night …”

  “Rick, I don’t want to lie in some strange bed alone and I don’t think your mom would like it too much if she came home and we’re in bed together, okay?”

  He could hear genuine concern in her voice, as well as a touch of anger. Rick knew she was not happy to be placed in the position of having to gain acceptance from anyone. He knew how hard this was going to be for her, he only hoped his family would make it easier.

  “Okay, baby, okay … just lay here.”

  Midnight rested in his arms, the pills eventually taking effect and making her sleepy again. She fell asleep, with Rick’s arms around her, one hand stroking her hair. Rick was sitting back against the corner of the couch again. She was turned toward him, her head resting against his shoulder, one small hand curled around a handful of his shirt. Rick’s head was bent so that his lips rested against her forehead.

  Anabelle Debenshire’s first impression of her son and Midnight was the obvious tenderness between them. When she entered the family room, she saw her son with his head resting against a young woman’s copper-blond head. Careful
not to make a sound lest she disturb the tender moment, Anabelle stepped closer. She could see that the young woman was asleep, and Rick was holding her close soothingly stroking her hair. Anabelle couldn’t help but see the affection he held for her. Loathe to disturb them, but knowing that watching them too long without their knowledge would constitute an invasion of privacy, Anabelle stepped closer, and whispered, “Richard.”

  Rick looked around and smiled up at his mother.

  “Mum, hi,” Rick whispered.

  He looked down at Midnight then, smiling. “She wasn’t feeling well …”

  “No?” Anabelle said, concerned. She moved around to look at the young woman. “My, she is lovely, isn’t she?” Anabelle said, taking in the small features, free from makeup or anything artificial.

  “Yes,” Rick said, looking down at Midnight again tenderly, “she is.”

  As if she knew she was being discussed, Midnight stirred. Before even opening her eyes, she reached up, almost childlike in her gestures, and rubbed at her eyes. Then opening them, she stared up at Anabelle Debenshire, her golden-green eyes wide with surprise.

  “Hi,” she managed, her voice sounding small and timid.

  “Hello there,” Anabelle countered with a warm smile. “Richard tells me you’re not feeling well.”

  As if to prove it Midnight sniffed, sounding even more congested after her sleep. She nodded in response.

  “Well, we’ll have to do something about that,” Anabelle said. She looked at her son then. “Richard, why don’t you take …?”

  “Midnight,” Rick supplied.

  “Ah, yes, Midnight, intriguing name that. Anyway, take Miss Midnight down to that second bedroom and I’ll make up some tea and bring her something to take for that cold. Go on with you then,” she said, shooing her son down the hall.

  Rick stood, and picked Midnight up in his arms.

  “I can still walk you know,” Midnight said, looking at him with an arched eyebrow.

  “I know, but this is faster,” Rick said, laughing at the face she made.

  A little while later, after Anabelle had fussed over her and made her take the medicine she brought for her, Midnight fell asleep again. Rick and his mother sat in the kitchen talking.

  “So how are you, young man?” Anabelle asked, looking at her son with a critical eye.

  “Fine, good as new,” Rick responded, knowing that his mother had been almost sick with worry when he’d been shot.

  “I see. Is that what you say, or is that what the doctors say?”

  “The doctors released me, Mum, I’m fine, really.”

  “This new career of yours may be the end of me,” Anabelle said, clutching at her chest dramatically. Rick laughed.

  “Where’s dad?” Rick asked then.

  “Oh he’s with Deborah, one of the girls got hurt. Little Susan. She hurt her arm, broke it I think. Poor child.”

  “So how is Deborah, and … Wilson … is it?” Rick asked trying to remember his sister’s husband’s name.

  “Richard Debenshire, you know very well it is, and don’t you start going on about that rubbish again, you know that your sister’s perfectly happy with him.”

  “No, way, Mum, he’s too stuffy, even for Deborah.”

  “Well, you must see your sister dear, she has changed a great deal since you left, she’s quite the lady of the house now.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet,” Rick said, distain coloring his voice, “but is she happy?”

  “Richard …” Anabelle’s voice warned.

  Rick had been against Deborah’s marriage to Wilson Endicott from the beginning. Wilson was the kind of man that Rick despised, an over-groomed, over-stuffed pompous ass with ‘breeding’ to the eyeteeth, but not a warm bone in his body. But Deborah had set her cap for him, and had eventually won his hand in marriage, much to Rick’s dismay. He never knew what his sister saw in the man, but if she was indeed happy, then he couldn’t fault her.

  “Now what about you, Richard?” Anabelle asked, narrowing her eyes at her son.

  “Me?” Rick asked blankly, trying to postpone the talk he knew was about to occur.

  “Yes, you,” Anabelle said, knowing her son’s tactics. “How serious are you about this young lady?” she asked, gesturing the direction of the room in which Midnight slept.

  “Very,” Rick answered simply.

  He saw the look of skepticism on his mother’s face instantly.

  “Mum, I love her …” he said, trying to come up with the words to explain.

  “Richard … ” His mother’s voice was patient and gentle. “You’ve been in love before, or so you’ve said … What makes this any different. Is it?”

  “Oh, God, Mum, yes,” Rick said, his eyes shining in the soft light of the kitchen. “Midnight is not like any other woman I’ve ever met. She’s as tough as nails, but then gives people everything. She gives everything of herself, and she doesn’t ask for anything back. You’ve got to see it to believe it, Mum. This woman, this tiny woman leads some of the fiercest looking people I’ve ever met, and she does it without taking anything away from them. And believe me those people will follow her anywhere. They’ll give up their lives for her, it’s absolutely incredible.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t even believe what he was saying.

  “People like that have very high highs, but they also have very dismal lows, Richard,” Anabelle cautioned.

  “Oh, don’t I know, when she lost a member of her unit, I thought it would kill her. But it didn’t, she went on. In fact, she helped a lot of other people through it. She has so much strength in her spirit, being near her makes you feel like you can take on the whole world. But when she was vulnerable … the only thing I could think of was protecting her. I’ve never felt that way about any woman.”

  Anabelle looked at her son for a long moment, surprised at his words as well as the look of utter love and devotion on his face as he spoke about Midnight. She wondered what kind of spell this woman had put on her son. She was about to comment on that when a scream pierced the silence of the house. Rick was out of his chair, and running toward the bedroom in an instant. Anabelle followed closely behind. When she got to the open doorway, she saw Rick holding Midnight against him. The girl was obviously very upset, she was shaking, her hands were clenching at Rick’s shirt.

  “Oh, God … oh God,” Midnight was saying over and over.

  “Babe, it’s okay, I’m here …” Rick said, soothingly, stroking her hair. “It’s okay.” He was rocking her back and forth. Anabelle watched, mesmerized. She had never seen this side of her son before.

  “Oh God, Rick, it was him …” Midnight was saying her voice full of anguish and fear. “Robbins!”

  Rick hugged her closer, kissing her hair, his hand running rhythmically along her back trying to soothe her. “Baby … he can’t hurt you anymore … he’s dead … he’s dead, okay?”

  “No, he was there … I saw him … Rick!” Her voice rose hysterically as the dream came back to her again.

  “Come on baby, calm down!” Rick said, his voice a raised whisper. He took her face in his hands and tilted her face up to his. “No one’s ever going to hurt you again, not while I’m alive. I’m here, baby, you’re okay, I’m here …” He kissed her forehead, then her cheeks. “It’s okay, I love you, baby, and no one is ever going to hurt you again … you trust me?”

  Midnight was clearly still rattled by the nightmare. It was obvious she was trying to regain her bearings as she nodded slowly.

  “Okay,” he said, smiling down at her. “Now I want you to lay back down here, and relax. It was only a dream, and I’m here now, okay?”

  Midnight nodded again as Rick moved to gently lay her back on the bed, still holding her. Her arm went around his waist, her head snuggled against his shoulder. Rick lay, half sitting up against the headboard. Midnight lay next to him. He looked up at his mother, realizing for the first time that she was standing in the doorway. The look in his eyes told her everything that a mot
her needed to know. Anabelle leaned against the doorjamb watching her son. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing this side of her sometimes taciturn son. After a little while, when he thought she was asleep, Rick tried to move. Midnight’s grip on his waist tightened,

  “Please …” she pleaded quietly. “Don’t leave … stay here with me.”

  Rick looked up at his mother, knowing her view of men and women “sleeping together” unmarried, especially under her roof. Anabelle looked at Rick for a long moment, then down at the young woman snuggled against him. A small smile crossed her face and she nodded to her son.

  “Okay, baby, I’ll stay,” Rick said, kissing her gently on the forehead.

  The next day Rick showed Midnight around London. They drove around the countryside, and took in some of the tourist attractions, such as the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. Midnight was still battling the cold, so they didn’t stay out too long. Just before the evening meal, Rick’s parents got an opportunity to see Midnight in her role as the Lieutenant of FORS. Just as they were sitting down to dinner, the phone rang. Anabelle answered and after a few moments held the phone out to Midnight. “It’s a Spider …” she said, her voice perplexed over such a strange name for a young man.

  Rick and Midnight looked at each other. Rick grinned and shook his head. Midnight looked almost embarrassed as she took the phone from Rick’s mother.

  “Yes?” she answered, glancing shyly at Rick’s parents, who were trying to pretend not to listen to the conversation. She listened for a few moments and slowly but surely Rick could see Lieutenant Chevalier coming out of the shy girl who had stood holding the phone a moment before. “No … No! Spider, aw geeze! No, don’t do that, no!” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “You can’t do that … no I mean, you can’t do that.” She shook her head emphatically. “Spider, listen to me … are you listening?” She was now using her ‘lieutenant voice.’ Robert and Anabelle were taken back by it, but impressed too. “Now … you can’t arrest him on vehicular … if you arrest him on vehicular, then we can’t get him for murder one … why? Because Spider, there’s this little thing called jeopardy … and it can only attach downward … Yes that’s a legal term Spider … well I know that. That’s why I have the degree in law and you don’t.” Anabelle looked at her husband, since he was a barrister, or the American equivalent of a lawyer.