The Ondine Collection

by Ebony McKenna

  For a moment Ondine wondered what it would be like having an older brother. Except it wouldn’t really be like having an older brother, because Thomas would be much too polite to boss her around like a real older brother would.

  “Yer Da’s main concern is that all of this will give you and Cybelle ideas,” Shambles added. “He thinks it will set a bad example, but Thomas isnae gonna stoat the ba’ ”. Your ma had an answer for that too – she said, ‘How can it be a bad example if they’re married?’ She said it was only natural that married people should live together. It was either that or Margi and Thomas elope and live somewhere else, and then we’d be short one barmaid slash kitchen hand slash laundry girl. We’d have to bring in more outside help, and that would mean paying proper wages.”[24]

  They thought about this for a little while, until Cybelle said, “Don’t you think it’s strange? Da couldn’t wait for us to grow up so we’d be able to help out more. But now that we are older he’s treating us like babies.”

  “I know. It’s driving me crazy. Was he always like this or am I just noticing it more?” Ondine asked the darkness.

  Shambles piped up, “Dads are the same the world over. When their babies grow up and start getting interested in other people, they realize every other randy lad out there is just like they used to be. It’s the circle of life.”

  Ondine didn’t see it like that. “I think that’s what they call hypocrisy. Da just wants it all his own way.”

  “Then you should let him think he’s getting it,” Shambles muttered.

  Despite the late hour, Ondine couldn’t stop her mind from racing. Injustice did that to a girl.

  “Good on Ma for standing up for Margi,” Cybelle said. “By the time they get round to me, it will be much easier, and when it’s your turn, Ondi, they’ll be so worn down they won’t protest.”

  That caught Ondine by surprise. “What do you mean? What’s going on with you?”

  “Oh, um, you know, I was just talking hypothetically. Goodnight.” And with that, the middle daughter rolled over to face the wall and pretended to sleep. Except she wasn’t asleep because Ondine didn’t hear any snoring.

  “She’s a dark horse, that one,” Shambles said, having a chuckle. The giggly movement of his body tickled Ondine’s neck. Margi had kept a big secret, and she’d kept it very well. Maybe Belle had a secret too. And what about Ondine’s turn? Who would she fall in love with? she wondered. For some reason, Lord Vincent’s handsome face popped into her mind.

  The search for answers about her sisters’ secrets kept Ondine awake for another few minutes, before she succumbed to a mixture of fatigue and the soporific effect of Shambles’s warm, furry body against her and she fell asleep.

  WHEN THE SUN CAME UP, there was little time to think about personal matters, as the Duke’s impending doom sat heavily with Ondine and Shambles. Josef was at his overprotective fatherly best, refusing Ondine permission to attend the grand opening of the pedestrian overpass at the station.

  “I need to know what happens, so I can see whether our warning helped the Duke. I mean, what’s the point of us spending all those hours worried about him if we can’t see the outcome for ourselves?” Ondine protested as she returned to the kitchen from the dining room. They were in the midst of the breakfast service for the hotel’s guests, so they worked and talked at the same time. Something they were very good at.

  Da was having none of it. “One, it’s potentially dangerous. Two, you have a job to do. Look at all those dishes by the sink – they’ll not clean themselves.”

  Nothing could be further from the truth, Ondine thought, as her hands clenched into angry fists at her sides. The bit about ditching work, that is. The rest of it was true. Dishes never cleaned themselves.

  More plates of bacon, sausages, eggs and toast were ready, so Ondine took those out to a table. When she came back, her dad still looked cross.

  “Let her go, Da,” Cybelle interjected. “You go with Ondi if you’re that worried about her safety. I’ll stay and help Chef with food prep for the lunch crowds.”

  Chef, who had a real name but nobody used it, was the only true employee at the hotel. As such he was the only one who could be fired. He was tall yet light on his feet as he moved about the kitchen cooking meals and stirring sauces. He wore the same bleached-white uniform every day, although he would need a new one soon judging by the way his potbelly strained against the buttons. Under his white hat flecks of jet-black hair poked out, contrasting sharply with his pale skin.[25] All the while the family argued (although they’d deny it was an argument, they’d say it was just debating things, long and heartily, and a bit loudly), Chef stayed out of the line of fire and kept right on cooking.

  A soft chuckle sounded on Ondine’s shoulder. It came from Shambles. He must be enjoying himself, she thought, a little puzzled. Maybe Shambles liked a bit of argy-bargy?

  Ondine cajoled her father again. At times she felt like exploding with frustration. “Please let me go, Da.”

  “We both know someone out there . . .” her father pointed in the direction of the train station, as if they didn’t know where it was “. . . wants to kill the Duke. It’s dangerous. What kind of father would I be if I exposed my daughter to that kind of peril? The safest thing for us to do is to stay here.”

  Was he being deliberately daft? If Ondine’s eyes could roll any further into her head, she’d be looking into her brain. As much as she tried to keep a cool head, her pulse skipped up a notch and her clenched fists wanted to pummel something. “You’ve got it all wrong, Da. Nobody’s going to be interested in us. We’ll stay out of the way. I want to see the people who planned this get caught. I want to see them hauled away, and when that happens, it might be nice if the Duke perhaps caught sight of us and acknowledged our help.”

  “You mean if Lord Vincent caught sight of you,” Josef countered.

  “You’re impossible!” Ondine clenched her fists in impotent fury. Up until this point, she hadn’t even thought of Vincent. Well, not much anyway, and what chance he’d even be there? Pretty slim, she suspected.

  “It’s a fiddler’s biddin’ then,” Shambles said behind her ear, which didn’t help at all.[26]

  “I thought you’d have a bit more natural curiosity about you.” Ondine tried one more time to bend her father’s will to her own. “We spent all that time last night warning him, and now you’re not even interested to see how it turns out? What if by being there, we can stop it somehow? There could even be a reward in it for you.”

  “Aye, and then yer arse’ll fall awf!” Shambles said, rumbling with laughter.[27]

  A terse silence filled the kitchen, broken only by the sound of Chef cracking eggs into the poaching pan.

  Her father practically glowered at her. “You’re that keen, aren’t you? Fine, we’ll go, but we’re not staying more than half an hour. Then it’s straight back to work for you.”

  Tension fell away from Ondine’s shoulders, making her feel taller and lighter. “Thank you, Da.” She kissed him firmly on the cheek, and then gave him a huge hug, nearly knocking Shambles off her shoulder in the process. A broad smile split her face. “This is going to be so exciting!”

  Chapter Five

  A huge crowd gathered that morning at the railway station, bringing a carnival atmosphere to something that was normally, well, pedestrian. The smell of fried onions and sausages at the fund-raising stalls filled the air, making Ondine’s stomach rumble.

  Buskers entertained the crowds and played violins and accordions. Women dressed as fairies did a roaring trade painting children’s faces in lurid colours.

  “I’m off to get me some sausage.” Shambles leapt from Ondine’s shoulder and disappeared into the milling crowd in a blur of black.

  “No, Shambles, wait!”

  Too late, the ferret was gone. Damn that impetuous bampot, she thought, borrowing one of his words to suit her means.

  “Right then, let’s get a good position so we can see the
Duke cut the ribbon,” Da said, holding Ondine by the hand. This only served to take her further from where she last saw Shambles.

  “Hang on, Da, Shambles has run off. I need to find him,” she said, trying to tamp down the rising sense of panic in her gut.

  “He’ll be fine. Come on.” Squeezing through the crowd, Da found them a good vantage spot, where they could see the Duke standing at the podium, a pair of scissors in his hands. Standing beside him was a woman of indeterminate age. She had that caught- in-a-wind-tunnel look about her, with arched eyebrows that looked like they were trying to run away from her. Sunlight sparkled off the tiara that sat on her blonde head. Under her arm, she held a furry white dog.

  “Is that the Duchess?” Ondine asked.

  Da laughed out loud. “She wishes! No love, that’s the Infanta, the Duke’s oldest sister.”

  “She looks so fancy!” Ondine saw more sparkles of sunlight – even the little dog had jewels in its collar. The thought of the small animal having such a fancy collar made her wonder about Shambles, and whether he might look quite handsome with sparkles around his neck.

  Another chuckle from her father. “Fancy is one way to put it. A bit overdone perhaps. She might have been Duchess if her little brother wasn’t born.”

  The crowd milled about them and someone stepped on Ondine’s foot. A ripple of worry rippled through her. Shambles could easily be trampled in the crush.

  “Da, we need to find Shambles.”

  “He’ll be wherever the food is. Now hush, let’s listen to what the Duke –”

  Shots rang out. Real gunshots that were so loud you’d swear someone had smacked you on the inside of your head with a brick.

  People screamed.

  “Get down!” Da yelled. With a jolt he pulled Ondine to the ground, shielding her body with his.

  Confusion and turmoil took hold. Everyone around them crouched down, huddling in fear. Noise and screaming filled the sky. Police officers blew their whistles. From a gap under her father’s arm, Ondine saw a man running away down the street.

  People say that when a big, scary event happens, it takes place in slow motion. In this case, nothing could be further from the truth as it all took place at lightning speed. The police closed in, chased down the culprit for half a block, and then tackled him into submission.

  “They got him!” Ondine said with relief.

  The Duke must have taken their warning seriously. He must have organized more police. Ready to pounce at the slightest provocation.

  For the next few minutes everyone stayed low to the ground as the police rounded up another two suspects. With her heartbeat hammering in her ears, Ondine heard her father say something. She couldn’t make out the exact words because her ears were still ringing from the gunshots.

  “I said, ‘They’ve given the all-clear,’” Josef said even louder this time.

  But still nobody moved. Well, why would they? Only moments ago shots had rung out above their heads. From their crouched position, Ondine looked around to where the Duke was, to see if the show would go on. The Infanta remained huddled behind a chair. The Duke was on his feet, looking perplexed. In his hand was his traditional three-cornered hat, only now it had a bullet-sized hole through the top of it.

  “Ohmygosh! They nearly killed him,” Ondine said, her heart still beating far too quickly.

  Josef wrapped his arms around her and held her close, kissing the top of her head. “Now do you see why I didn’t want you to come here? If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

  “Thanks, Da.” She wanted to say, “You worry too much,” but in the present circumstances, his worries were perfectly justified.

  “I love you so much, my darling girl. And I know you’re all grown up now, but I can’t help it. To me, you’ll always be my baby and that’s just how it is.”

  “It’s OK.” Ondine returned the hug, not caring that he’d called her a baby. At this moment, she’d forgive him just about anything. Trembles rippled through her body as she let the shock take hold. “I love you too, Da.”

  So much remained unsaid as they embraced. Ondine nearly suffocated in the crushing hug but she didn’t care. As a father, he suffocated her in so many ways but right now she wasn’t complaining.

  To their surprise, the Duke indicated he’d carry on with the ceremony. The mere fact that he was bodily unharmed brought many more people to their feet. The cheers ringing in Ondine’s ears told her they’d done the right thing. They’d warned the Duke, he’d organized police protection and the crowd had witnessed a nasty scare rather than an assassination.

  “Right then,” the Duke called out, gathering his composure and dusting himself off. He picked up the enormous ceremonial scissors and held the blades apart. “I declare this new pedestrian access open.”

  What an amazing man. Ondine marvelled at how quickly he’d recovered his senses. By now she and Josef were on their feet too. The Infanta, however, kept her distance from the podium.

  With a gracious nod, the Duke cut the ribbon and the two halves of fabric fluttered to the ground. People applauded, probably with gladness but also a great deal of relief. A group of schoolchildren cheered and raced on to the overpass. They reached the highest point and threw coloured streamers into the crowd.

  The Duke acknowledged the gathering. “Thank you, everyone, for coming. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a drink!”

  The crowd laughed and cheered again, and Ondine could only marvel once more at how well he’d recovered. His poise in the face of such danger seriously impressed her, and she couldn’t stop smiling. If she’d been the one in the firing line, she would have been a gibbering mess like the Infanta. But that Duke, wow, what composure!

  There was little time to think further about this, because at that moment Da spotted Lord Vincent standing near his father’s entourage.

  Josef grabbed his daughter’s hand. “Time we got back.” Without further explanation, he led her down the road towards their hotel.

  Ondine stole a glance over her shoulder for Shambles and thought, I hope he’s all right. In the next glance she saw the Duke and (oh goody!) Lord Vincent, following them to the pub. Something jumped in her chest, as if her heart suddenly had to beat double time to keep up with rapidly unfolding events.

  “Hey, Da, when the Duke said he needed a drink, he was serious. They’re right behind us.”

  “In that case, we’d better get straight back to the bar so they can have that drink.”

  “But where is Shambles? He won’t know where we are if we run off and leave him,” Ondine said, trying to hide the panic in her voice. How would one little ferret cope in such chaos? All on his own?

  “I wouldn’t worry about Shambles, he knows he’s on to a good thing with you. He’ll find his way home.”

  “But, Da, he could get trampled to death. Or worse. Someone could steal him!” A fluttering sense of panic took hold of Ondine. Wrenching her arm free, she turned away from Josef and scanned the streets for any sign of black fur.

  “For goodness’ sake! He’s just a ferret. If he doesn’t come home, I’ll get you another one. Now hurry up before we’re overrun by the mob.” His firm hand gripped Ondine’s upper arm, dragging her at a fast clip towards the pub’s front door. They hardly ever entered by the main door. In this case her father made an exception, lest the patrons get into the pub before they did.

  “But he’s not just a ferret, Da, he’s a real man! He’s only in ferret form because Old Col turned him into one!” Ondine yelped as they stumbled across the threshold. “He needs me or he won’t survive!”

  “He’s a what?” Josef’s eyes grew into golf balls. If golf balls were lined with red squiggles from stress.

  There was no moisture in her throat when she swallowed. Oh dear. Now she’d blown it. And she had his full attention so there was no getting out of it. A pulse trembled at her neck as Josef stared her down. The secret was out and she had nobody to blame but herself. Her sisters knew how
to keep secrets; why couldn’t she?

  “Oh good, you’re back,” Ma said from the doorway, breaking the tableau.

  A sigh of relief escaped Ondine’s lips and she felt her shoulders sag. God bless Ma’s incredible sense of timing!

  “No, dear, you’re not interrupting me this time,” Da said sternly.

  Caught in the spotlight of her father’s stare, Ondine felt her tongue turn to sandpaper. A squeak came out instead of words.

  “Well, she’d better be quick,” Ma said, looking out through the large front windows. “Is that the Duke of Brugel heading this way, with about two hundred followers?” She turned and headed towards the kitchen. “Chef! Cybelle! Margi! Thomas! All hands on deck – the whole city’s coming for lunch.”

  “I thought that ferret was a ferret, pure and simple,” the head of the de Groot household said. Only moments earlier he’d been cuddling Ondine and telling her how much he loved her. Now he looked like he could happily have her sectioned.[28]

  “I’m sorry, Da. Shambles was a man once, and Old Col turned him into a ferret because he got drunk at her debutante ball.”

  “And what? You forgot to tell me?”

  A confusing sickness took hold of Ondine, spreading out from her heart and filling her body, right down to her boots. Before she could respond, they heard multiple footsteps on the path outside.

  Time was against them and Da had to let the situation drop so he could make ready with the beer. Any relief Ondine could have felt from her reprieve was quickly replaced by concern for Shambles. Then her concern for Shambles was quickly replaced by excitement at the appearance of the Duke of Brugel and his son Lord Vincent in the hotel’s doorway.

  Something light and fizzy stirred inside Ondine. Just from looking at Vincent. Because he was so very lovely to look at.

  No time to gaze, they had work to do. To help with the crowd, Margi, Thomas and Josef all tended bar, and Ondine felt seriously impressed at how well they worked together. Like they’d been doing it for years. She had to hand it to Margi, the older girl had held her ground – as had Thomas from the looks of things. But as much as Ondine thought she should be worrying about her sister and her prospective brother-in-law, she couldn’t keep her mind from straying to thoughts of Shambles, and where he could be.