“Well…” Sophie sat on the bed. “This was printed just before midnight. There were copies at City Hall and the guildhalls well before sunrise. When I woke up, I was told I had caused quite a stir.”
“How so?”
“Look at the bottom of the front page. Halloo!” Sophie said as Darjeeling nuzzled her.
I glanced at the newspaper and saw the headline, “REVENGE FOR MOTHER’S DEATH?” “Not very subtle, are they?” I said.
“At least it was accurate,” Sophie said as I sat down next to her. “I hardly need to say that everyone involved in this is furious. The guilds are screaming over the bad publicity. They wanted heads to roll at the Courant.”
“Starting with yours?”
“Of course. Alcroft only got them to calm down by agreeing to take me off the local beat for a bit.” Sophie scowled. “I was furious. I wish you had been there to curse for me.”
“So do I. It would have been quite amusing, if nothing else.” I grinned.
“Alcroft did extract a concession.” Sophie pulled a train ticket from her handbag. “I’m being sent to the Velessan Isles.”
My jaw dropped. “Cogs and gears.”
“On the record, I’m going there to cover the opening of the rail line from their perspective. Off the record...I’ll also be looking into the latest news about the succession dispute. King Montano is almost ninety, after all.”
“But how long will you be gone?” I held my breath.
Sophie lowered her head. “At least two weeks. Maybe three. Enough time for this to blow over, I hope.”
I nodded and bit my lip. “There’s only one ticket in your bag, I take it.”
“That’s all they were willing to spare. If I could have brought you with me, I would do so in a heartbeat.”
“Oh, Sophie…” I slipped my hand into hers. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you as well.” I could see a tear in Sophie’s eye. “I’ll write you every day. I’ll even phone if I can. Just wait for me, Tabitha? Please?”
I didn’t need words to answer her. I took her by the shoulders and kissed her, over and over. After the last kiss, I stroked her hair. “Send the cab away,” I said.
“Tabitha!” Sophie smiled.
“I don’t want to wait three weeks. The Velessan Express isn’t leaving any time soon, is it?”
Sophie glanced past my shoulder at my alarm clock. “In about thirty minutes,” she said.
My cursing would have roused the dead just long enough for them to cover their ears. “That was quite impressive,” Sophie said when I had finished.
“No. This is.” I stood up, drew Sophie to me, and kissed her as if there would be no tomorrow. “I’ll wait for you, Sophie,” I said as we pulled apart. “You can count on it. When you return, we’ll have a night to remember.”
Sophie smiled. “And perhaps a morning as well, my dearest.”
“Many mornings.” I kissed her again. “Go. Don’t miss your train.”
We said our goodbyes, and Sophie hurried out the door. I ran to the window, threw it open and peered down. I saw the cab waiting, and Sophie running towards it. I leaned out and waved, shouting her name.
Sophie looked up and smiled. “Check the envelope!” she shouted. She blew me a kiss, and I did the same as she boarded the cab. She opened the window and waved as the cab pulled away. As I waved back, I could feel my heart going with her.
I walked over to the bed, fighting a sudden surge of emptiness, and picked up the envelope that had held the newspaper. I upended it, and the remaining contents slid onto the bedsheet. Darjeeling poked her nose at a small lumpy package wrapped in plain paper. I opened it and found several fresh apple slices. “She remembered you, my sweet,” I said as I gave one to Darjeeling.
There was also a smaller envelope with my name written on it. I opened it carefully and gasped at what I saw inside - one hundred crowns, along with a note. I took the letter out and started to read.
Dearest Tabitha,
If our conversation went as I expected, this should come as a surprise to you. I will have mentioned Alcroft’s concession from the guilds and city officials...but I will have conveniently forgotten about the bonus he gave me as a concession. This part of it is for you. It will hopefully cover what you spent on Whitlock’s ill-fated commission. I suspect that had I tried handing this to you, you might have refused it, and I wanted to be sure that wasn’t a choice.
I also suspect you feel that I have taken your heart with me to the Velessan Isles. I know that you have mine. Please take good care of it until I return, as I will with yours.
Until I see you again,
Yours,
Sophie
P.S. Do give my love to Darjeeling, would you?
I wiped away a tear before I folded Sophie’s letter back up and returned it to its envelope. I communicated her postscript to Darjeeling while scratching her between her ears, after which I took a quick and much-needed shower.
The crowns went in my boot, as it was the safest place for them until the bank opened on Monday. The apple slices went in the icebox. I left the newspaper on the table near my bed for later, though I suspected that I’d be reading part of another copy over breakfast and lunch.
I hid Sophie’s letter in the bottom drawer of my bureau, underneath my socks and unmentionables. I wanted it to be somewhere safe but easy to find, as I already planned on rereading it over and over.
With that done, I threw on my flat cap and scooped up Darjeeling. I hadn’t been to Henry’s Crossing since Friday afternoon. I had no desire to keep any clients who needed me waiting, and the same applied to my stomach, which was crying out for a bacon butty and a pot of Travers’ Rise And Shine.
It would be a long wait, but I knew Sophie would return to Copper Cove, and to my arms. Until then, there was work to be done. I set off for the tea room with a jaunty step and a smile on my face.
>>>*<<<
Thank you very much for reading this tale of Copper Cove! We would be most grateful were you to leave a review to encourage your fellow readers to take a chance and purchase this story, and to encourage the author to write more tales of Tabitha and Sophie.
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Other works by Robert Dahlen
The Monkey Queen series:
Of Introductions And Abductions
The Brigadoon Boondoggle
Under The Stars Of Faerie
A Tiding Of Magpies
Redblade
The Crown Of Kylthena
The Peavley Manor series:
Book Fair Frenzy (Or, Macalley Turns The Page)
The Thorn Harbour Road Rally (Or, Macalley Takes The Wheel)
Acknowledgments
Thanks first and foremost to Shei Darksbane, for designing a cover, taking care of the formatting, and just being awesome. She was my first sounding board when the early idea for these characters came about, and her encouragement was much needed. She is awesome. Go buy her books.
Thanks to Amber Goss for her feedback and support. I think that brings the “cheesy fries I owe her” count up to 9.
Special thanks to Jocelynne Simone, Madame Askew herself, for (deep breath): Advising me on my earlier Peavley Manor stories, encouraging me to write more steampunk, promoting my writing, helping me with this book, introducing me to many awesome people, and providing support, kindness and tea. I am grateful to Jocelynne, and lucky to know her.
Thanks as well to all the wonderful people I’ve met through Madame Askew: The Grand Arbiter, the Lemon Pirate, Glenda Feraud, Meesh Feraud, Lisa and Jeffrey Vaca, Drake and McTrowell, that splendid woman who sold me the “Fear My Pen” button whose name I never did catch, and anyone I might have missed. I look forward to meeting all of you again soon!
Hat tips for inspiration to Phil and
Kaja Foglio, Ru Xu, Professor Elemental, Hayao Miyazaki, and some names you might have noticed in the text of this book.
Thanks again to Kate Danley, who always knows the right thing to say at the right time.
And thanks to you for reading! I’m grateful for all of you, I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope you’ll stick around for more.
About the Author
Fantasy and steampunk novelist, unrepentant wisecracker, level 2 steampunk, nerd music buff and penguin aficionado, Robert Dahlen lives in northern California with numerous penguins, various electronic devices stuffed with e-books and works in progress, shelves filled with books, graphic novels, and Disney Infinity and other figures, and two very nice hats. He's been having fun telling stories since March 2013, and he looks forward to doing so for years to come. He is hopefully writing another story as you read this, and he thanks you for reading this. (And he pronounces his last name “duh-LANE”, as in “the rain in Spain falls mainly on Dahlen”, which is a popular drinking song at the Crabby Kraken.)
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