author's note: I just wanted to dedicate this chapter, especially, to my dear Markaleen Tonight, we're seeing Annie together, for the first time live in over seven years of friendship, and I cannot believe this day has finally come. I could write a novel about how much you mean to me, but I'll cry trying and I can't let myself get to that point yet. Just know, you hold a very special place in my heart, and I am so insanely thrilled to have this adventure with you, amongst all the many others. I love you, I am grateful for you, and I can't wait to both see this story through and watch our favorite show tonight


The following morning, Oliver decided to take matters into his own hands regarding the Darlene situation. It had been too stressful a trip up to that point, and having watched Grace be so ill the night before, even after a relatively light dinner, he came to the conclusion she needn't be included on any discussion he was to have with the woman. No; breakfast had to be on him and him alone. As a couple, they were a team, sure, but he was the one responsible for protecting the family. If Darlene was to be difficult, it was his cross to bear. Grace needed rest and relaxation and, above all, peace, not only for her own wellbeing, but that of the baby's, too. They'd suffered too much to get to this point; he wouldn't let an ounce of it be tainted by old flames coming out of the woodwork with questionable motives.

"Oh, dear me," Darlene started as Oliver showed at the breakfast table alone. "Is Mrs. Warbucks alright? She did look pale yesterday, I suppose international travel isn't for everyone, is it?"

He set his jaw, already annoyed with the conversation although it'd barely started. "I told Grace to sleep in, as a matter of fact," he replied. "She needs not be here. As a matter of fact, I don't intend on staying long myself."

Darlene raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Grace and I have decided that we will discuss this matter once we return home to New York," he said firmly. "This trip has had too much drama surrounding it since the beginning. The girls, well, the older two, they snuck the littlest one onto the ship. She gained a concussion from that, so we've spent a good deal of time nursing her back to health, not to mention having to discipline Annie and Hannah. They were fighting, the girls, and the stress got the best of Grace and me both. We're only just getting over our stubbornness, and I don't intend on allowing that to continue any longer. When we get back, we'll set up phone calls to talk about this. Until then, I think it's best we part ways. I apologize, but that means I won't be extending an invitation to the knighting."

At once, the woman set her lips together, infuriation clear across her face. "Marlene deserves to be there," she said tightly. "She is the next generation of Warbucks. She has gone so long without a father figure, and now, because of some stress, you are denying her of her birth-given right?"

He sighed. "I don't know for sure she's a Warbucks," he said. "I can't just be naïve about this, surely you understand. Grace and I nearly lost Annie due to similar circumstances, and I refuse to make the same mistakes."

"Don't know for sure?" Darlene scoffed. "It's in her eyes, Oliver. She's the spitting image of yourself. That wife of yours is too firmly engrained in your head, it's absurd, really. Marlene has looked like you since the day she was born. You even saw it, when I first introduced the two of you. The way you stared at her, Oliver, that's not the way you look at someone who's a stranger—or, any other kind of family, for that matter. She is your flesh and blood. She is your child. Perhaps I saved you the responsibility up to now, but you know about her today, and you have the choice to do the right thing. Don't be ridiculous, she deserves this, and you know that."

"As true as that may be," he kept his voice even. "I still cannot invite her to the knighting. There's been enough upheaval recently as-is. That same friend of Annie's who got injured on this trip, she had to move in with us because of the death of her parents. Her second set of parents. As a former orphan herself, it's been traumatic for Annie. Losing her biological set, that's one thing to come to terms with. But, to think the same tragedy can happen twice? She's been traumatized, all the girls have. Everything has been too jumbled lately, and I will not confuse her more until we have confirmation. There'll be other events for Marlene to attend, should this turn out the way you are saying it will. In regards to this one, you must understand my need to put my family first."

Darlene's eyes grew cold, scathing. "She is your family, Oliver. Your daughter."

"And I vowed myself to Grace and Annie long before this was ever a concern," he shook his head, stepping back from the table. It truly was absurd: he hadn't even had the chance to sit down, and as it seemed, the likelihood of the conversation turning civil was slim to none. Darlene had been strongheaded back when he knew her prior, but this was an entirely different beast. He couldn't get her to listen to reason, and it was infuriating, far more so than it was when even Grace got something into her head she wouldn't let go of. Coming to breakfast, he'd been prepared to at least sit through the meal; now, he was desperate to get away. "I will contact you once we return to New York. Until then, please, Darlene, let's put this all to rest. Surely, Marlene would understand. Annie's supposedly her sister, is she not? She wouldn't want to put unnecessary stress on her sibling, I'm sure."

"And I'm sure you don't know what you are doing," Darlene rose to her feet, stomping close to Oliver and getting in almost uncomfortably close to his face. "This is not the end of this, and if you think I am waiting for your precious little vacation to end, you are horribly mistaken. I will be consulting my lawyers."

"Go ahead," Oliver said strongly. "I'll do the same."

She scoffed. "You know, after that tragedy with your brother, I'd think you'd be a little more sensitive to how precious life is. We don't know what'll happen tomorrow. What if, God forbid, something should go wrong on the ship going home? Wouldn't you want to know your daughter just in case?"

He set his jaw. "What in God's name would possess you to speak that into existence?"

"It's a fact of life, Oliver. Unexpected things happen every single day, the only thing that's ever truly promised to us is this current moment." She sighed, dramatically. "Fine. Go back to your wife and your first daughter. I'll just tell Marlene we have to wait. After thirty long years, I suppose a few more weeks can't do much harm."

He scoffed. "I'll speak to you once I'm back home," he said. "And, I mean it. Please, put this to rest."

"I'll do my best," she sighed, reaching for a handkerchief and wiping at her face. "Trust me, it's not my first choice to be so pushy. It's just, Marlene has had to live with so much disappointment. After my husband passed… well, I'm sure you can imagine. It was hard on all of us, but her most of all. She had one father figure who never found out about her, and the one she grew up with left us so suddenly. I just want what's best for her. Isn't that every parent's goal in life?"

Now, he faltered, something that infuriated him. He had to pass it to her: she had quite the way of tugging at one's heartstrings, and he sighed, running a hand down the back of his head.

"How about we have dinner this evening?" he suggested. "Bring Marlene, I can see if Grace would allow Annie to come. Please, don't tell Annie that Marlene may be related to me. If and when we do confirm this, I want to let her know myself. But, I certainly don't want to leave off on bad footing."

Darlene's lips immediately spread into an even grin. "I would very much like that," she agreed. "Marlene, too. Oh, and do bring the other girls, won't you? They both seem very sweet. All of them, really."

Oliver gave a smile, despite himself. "I'll see you at seven, then. Have a good afternoon, Darlene."

"Have a good afternoon, Oliver," she started back towards her seat, settling down, then grabbing her tea cup. "I'll see you at seven."

He nodded slightly, turning now and making his way out of the restaurant. As he did, he suddenly realized what he'd just done, and groaned in tandem.

Grace was surely going to kill him.

"I don't understand how someone as smart as Daddy can be so gullible sometimes."

Annie scoffed in dismay as she began searching through her closet later that evening, not at all pleased to hear about the plans added to her evening calendar. Michael was supposed to be coming over for dinner, and then the four kids were supposed to be able to play card games in the hotel's recreation room. Instead, she was now having to prepare to spend time with Mrs. Lewis, who'd basically said she wasn't as good as a daughter to Oliver as this Marlene person was.

If she could have it her way, Darlene would get some very nasty food poisoning from this meal.

If she could have it her way, Darlene would be exonerated from any vicinity the Warbucks' were near.

"She's so rotten," Molly agreed, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. "I can't believe your mommy said it was okay. She must be feeling really bad if she did."

"She looked super white when I went to visit," Annie pursed her lips. "You know what? What if we just didn't go? What if we went out and Daddy couldn't find us until after?"

"Annie…" Hannah shook her head. "That sounds like a horrible idea. I don't think I even need to tell you for you to know. Go out, where?"

"To get Mom some flowers," Annie said decisively. "And if we end up at the Webbs', too, well, who can say no to that? They're our new friends, Daddy can't be mad if we want to spend time with them while he's got new friends he's spending time, with, too."

Molly stood up. "Can we go now? Before your daddy makes us go to the restaurant with him?"

"That's the spirit!" Annie stole away from the closet. "Hannah, are you in or out?"

Hannah stared at them, as though the question was idiotic. "How am I supposed to show up at dinner without you guys going, too? Should I tell Mr. Warbucks you took invisibility serum?"

Annie broke out into a wide grin. "Exactly! Come on. We'll get Mom flowers, we'll spend some time with Michael, and then we'll just… conveniently forget about Mrs. Lewis coming tonight. It'll be fine, Daddy doesn't like to yell at me much, anyways, and Mom's too sick to care if she won't even say no to Mrs. Lewis."

"This is a terrible idea," Hannah fretted again. "We don't even know this city."

"Then, no better time like the present to learn!" Annie grabbed her purse now, taking her coat, too, and looking at Molly who was shrugging into her own. "You don't feel too tired today, do you?"

"I only feel tired right after I hit my head," Molly grinned. "And I don't like Mrs. Lewis, either."

"Perfect," Annie continued beaming, and as Hannah groaned, loudly, she begrudgingly followed her friends over towards the doorway. Locking her gaze with Annie, she shook her head.

"Any punishment my parents give me for this, you're going to have to take, too," she said, firmly.

Annie only smiled wider. "I think I can live with that."

The good news, for Hannah, at least, was that where Annie lacked in her common sense, she more than made up in her sense of direction. In just days, she'd learned their area of London quite well, and she was able to direct them to the florist, then the Webbs' house with almost no issue at all. Mrs. Webb was starting on dinner just as they arrived, which gave them plenty of time to go to the park and play cricket again. For Molly's sake, she still wasn't allowed to physically be part of the game, but in Annie's case, it was a fantastic way of releasing all her pent-up anger regarding Mrs. Lewis and her father.

"I've never seen a girl so mad before," Michael noted, in slight amazement, as she hit the cricket ball into the lake near the park. For this, Annie was thankful. Anyone else, they'd be angry with her, but Michael seemed to just get her.

"I've never seen my dad so stupid before," Annie continued. "He should be taking care of Mom! That's all he should be worried about, not stupid Mrs. Lewis. You know, I bet she killed her husband or something. She has evil eyes like that."

"Annie," Hannah sighed, shaking her head. "You can't just accuse someone of murder. Especially not because of their eyes!"

"She at least poisoned him, I'd bet," Molly piped in from her spot on the cement. "Have you ever heard of ladies being called black widows? They marry guys, most of 'em with a bunch of money, and then they kill them. Poisoning is the most popular way, I think. Those are all the stories I've read, anyhow. Then, they take all their money. I bet that's what's going on with Annie's daddy. I bet Mrs. Lewis' daughter didn't even know who Mr. Warbucks was until Mrs. Lewis met him again. I bet it's all some nasty plan."

"A black widow, am I? Well, isn't that a fancy term for such a little girl to know?"

The kids all jumped now, the sudden female voice startling them half to death. Molly looked up, a lump forming in her throat as she was met with the sight of Darlene Lewis, and Annie quickly stepped over to cover the littler girl.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, a nasty tone in her voice.

"Oh, your father asked me to stop by here and see if you were in the park before I headed to the Savoy this evening," Darlene grinned, eyes twinkling. "He said time must've gotten away with you kids. I suppose that's not the only thing, hmm? You've all got quite excellent imaginations."

Hannah also stepped in front of Molly. "We don't want to go with you," she said firmly. "We're spending time with Michael. And we're having dinner with the Webbs tonight."

"Are you, now?" Darlene narrowed her eyes, as a car pulled up near the curb where the girls and Michael had begun their cricket game. An older man got out, and before Annie and Hannah could realize what was going on, he lifted Molly from behind, causing the girl to scream.

"Shut up," the man said, clamping a hand over her mouth. Annie, meanwhile, whipped around.

"You let her go!" she yelled. "Put her down right now!"

"Silly little girl," Darlene laughed, grabbing Annie and Hannah both by the arms and starting to shove them towards the car. "Don't you realize you can't always get what you want?"

"Annie," Hannah's voice began to quiver. "I think we know what Madame Charlotte meant by sinister characters now."

"She won't get away with this," Annie said, her own voice shaking, though she tried as best she could to maintain a sense of confidence. "Daddy will realize something's wrong when she doesn't show up with us. He's going to protect us, he always will."

Darlene scoffed. "Your daddy won't know anything," she sneered. "I'll show up, I just won't tell him I met up with you. It'll be hours before they start to worry. Aren't you girls always running off? This'll be just another shenanigan to them. They'll think you're playing games, and your father will be too invested in my Marlene to think too hard. You've gotten yourselves into quite the pickle, have you not?"

"Annie…" Molly reached for her friend's hand, as the door to the car was shut on them. Now, Annie noticed Michael had been shoved in, as well, and she wrapped an arm around Molly before shaking her head.

"It's going to be okay," she said again. "It always is."

"Is it?" Hannah asked, softly.

Annie just hugged Molly tighter, a lump forming in her throat, too. It usually was. With Daddy Warbucks, they were always safe. But, they weren't with him now. And bad stuff still found them—Molly's parents' deaths, being the perfect example.

What had they done?

What was going to happen to them?