My Darling Love

Chapter 35 – The King in Check

"It is far easier to make war than to make peace."

-Georges Clemenceau

Before Mr. and Mrs. George Darling departed from their small comfortable home to the extravagance of the Davis Manor, George pushed Mary down on the bed and climbed on top of her. He straddled her waist, while holding her hands down he commanded, "Mary Elizabeth Darling, before you move from this spot you are to kiss me on the lips and tell you love me." Mary complied, and with George's defenses down as she engaged him in a passionate embrace, she flipped him over and onto his back on the bed. He was not wearing his shirt, only his trousers, therefore being already half naked, Mary took advantage of the situation and gently eased down his zipper, releasing the bulge hidden within, and it stood erect and waiting. George broke their kiss and looked sternly at his wife who was literally caught with her hand in his cookie jar. "Just one quickie, George?" Mary asked looking as innocent as possible. It was not a quickie, more so a full-fledged lovemaking sensation that left them both panting for air drenched in sweat.

"We are not coming home tonight, George, you better make arrangements for us to be alone elsewhere," Mary demanded as they got dressed, and George complied. With their carpetbag packed for their adventure, they hailed a carriage and were off.

They didn't get far, for they came across the whole lot of Darlings and Davis' heading back to the Darling house covered in dirt head to toe. "What have you been doing?" Mary asked as she stepped from the carriage, followed by George, to the disheveled group before her.

Millicent spoke for the entire group. "We went to Harold's and cleaned his flat from top to bottom. It's bright as a new penny, and George can move back in as soon as he's ready. I'll even have my butler help him pack his bags. I think you're crazy to begin with for bringing him back into your house, Joseph, just asking for more trouble. And Mary Elizabeth, once he is gone, you shall divorce him swiftly. I have already spoken with my attorney, and he has drawn up the papers and is quite ready to wage war with this thing you think worthy to call your husband. A lesson well learned on that, I should say," Aunt Millicent instructed, she just as filthy as the others.

"Why, Aunt Millicent, George is not leaving. He is to stay in his home with his family. We would never get divorced, quite the contrary, we have reconciled."

Aunt Millicent's face went white, then puce, and her eyes seemed to bulge from her head. She screeched at her niece so loudly that even Grandpa Joe had to cover his ears, "After all that man has done to you, Mary Elizabeth! If you let that depraved cretin live in your house with your innocent babies, I will call the constable myself to have him arrested for rape and robbing the virtue of a child!" Millicent covered her own daughter, Margaret's ears as she shouted and then slapped George across the cheek. "You should be ashamed of yourself, George Darling, and I will see you rot in prison before you return to the house your children reside in."

Millicent released Margaret, who looked about to the Darling children, all with muddy faces from scrubbing and scouring their uncle's "dump." Margaret was still as pretty as a picture, for Millicent would not let her lift a finger. Wendy sidestepped away from Margaret, as did John and Michael. George kept his head high after Millicent's assault, shocked by her actions. Grandpa Joe moved alongside his daughter and held her hand.

Mary jerked back as Millicent lovingly touched her face, "Mary Elizabeth, you know how much I love you and have always tried to protect you. Now I see that you are completely blinded by George's deceit, he has masked his true identity from you. Mary Elizabeth, he is a monster." Millicent moved in closer and whispered in her niece's reluctant ear, "If I were you dearest, Mary, I would worry that, in the night while you sleep, George might sneak into the attic and well dearest sweet Mary, you know what I mean..."

Millicent caught herself, as if she was either on the verge of tears or nausea and, without describing the middle, or whatever it was Mary should be afraid of, she ended rather loudly turning her attention to Mary's daughter with, "If he hasn't all ready. Perhaps that is why there are such horrid rumors spreading around about her spoiled virtue. Poor dearest Gwendolyn..."

Mary had no idea what her aunt could mean, but George and Grandpa Joe did, and both grew livid at the horrendous accusation. "That girl, Peter's niece, was of age, Millicent Baker Davis, and of no relation to him! You ought to be ashamed to say something like that. His own daughter! I think you are the one who has gone insane!" Grandpa Joe shouted, as Wendy went to her mother and held onto her for protection.

"Oh no, Joseph, it is not the French tramp I speak of, although I heard myself she was barely of age." Aunt Millicent smiled pityingly at them both for being so naïve, and as she looked past them, she saw the boys, and felt it her duty to shield them as well. "I had not thought of your sons, but I hear from my daughter that men who delight in such pleasures also like young men fresh from puberty as well." Instead of heeding Aunt Millicent's safeguard John and Michael now moved beside their father, "Oh, I see, Mary Elizabeth. It is already too late for them. Either they get pleasure from it or George has already educated them in his revolting and abhorrent acts.

The fire that burned inside Mary now flared without warning, and the rage that poured from her heart would not be contained. A wicked and evil witch she hid deep in her proper lady-hood now stepped forward, pushing Wendy behind her and out of the way. Mary wasted no time lunging forward on Margaret, grabbing her red locks in her left hand while dragging her to the ground. With what nails she had left on her right hand, she began scratching brutally in an attempt to claw the young lady's eyes out, "I'LL KILL HER!" Mary screamed, "YOU BITCH, I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HAIR OUT AND GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT BEFORE I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

No one was prepared for Mary's attack and no one would have thought it possible. Therefore, unaware how physically powerful Mary could be when that enraged, it took all of George's strength to pull his wife from Millicent's daughter. As he did, Mary made sure she took with her a large clump of Margaret's hair with her and still she continued to scream, "If I had a knife I would cut your tongue out, you stinking liar! I'LL KILL HER GEORGE! LET ME GO! LET ME HAVE AT HER!"

George was the only one restraining Mary, and Aunt Millicent, always the dragon of the castle, still endeavored to attack George. She jumped on his back and began beating him on the head with her purse. "I know you fathered my daughter's bastard child, I know it! I saw the child myself, and as I stand here today I swear before God almighty that it was yours! YOU ARE A SICK MAN, GEORGE DARLING, AND I'LL HAVE YOU COMMITTED! CHILDREN, RUN AND HIDE FOR I HAVE CAPTURED THE BOOGIE MONSTER!"

Grandpa Joe and Harold ended up in a jumbled mess, trying to separate Millicent and George, rolling around on the street as Millicent attempted to arrest George herself. Mary, released in the havoc, stood face to face with Margaret, her glare to Millicent's wayward daughter was terrifying enough to intimidate and terrify the poor girl. But before Mary could continue her assault, John, Michael and Wendy went for Margaret's throat. Mary had to yank each one of her children off before slapping and -- again -- clawing at Margaret herself, still screaming and calling her names. Mary was quick and relentless in making good on her promise to kill the "bitch." In a swift step, she took her place behind Margaret and wrapped her arm about young lady's neck, jerking it back as hard as she could to cut off Margaret's air. Wendy ended that. "MOTHER!" she screamed while running at full speed to shove her mother to the ground.

The only way to end the brawl that had erupted on the street in broad daylight was to have a constable come and divide everyone. Of course, with the law there, and the fear that even more gossip would be spread, no one said anything, and they were all dismissed to their homes, except one. Poor George Darling was taken away in the paddy wagon to the local jail. "Charge him with kidnapping and raping my daughter and molesting his own children. He is an adulterer. Ask his wife. She threw him out of the house for it. He also has been known to strike her on occasion..."

At the station house, in the privacy of the chief constable's office, free from prying eyes and ears, Aunt Millicent spoke a mile a minute. "He is a very jealous man who has been known to brutally punish his wife. There are several occasions I am aware of. The worst were when he accused her of bringing other men into the home when he was at work. Now, you know what I mean when I say brutal. He had no proof, only his foolish imagination, and the fact is she is a loyal, devoted, and loving wife and those allegations against her could not be farther from the truth! His wife is a saint!"

The chief had an idea of what "brutal" meant, "Oh, so you are telling me he beats her bad then?"

Millicent did not want him misunderstanding her words, so she clarified after leaning in over the desk in his office whispering, "Oh yes he beat her, Sir. But far worse," she moved in closer, "he's raped her many times to teach her a lesson that she belongs to him and him alone. She is a lovely delicate creature, undeserving of such disrespect ... You can imagine her shame, being defiled in such a heinous manner by her own husband repeatedly, for years. I am the only one aware that those things happened in their marriage, as she herself told me in the strictest of confidences." Millicent was so agitated by the events of the afternoon, when recounting the crimes of her memories, she now confused George and Mary Darling with Joseph and Elizabeth Baker.

"He would not let her buy their children clothes, so she had steal money from him, that ended in another beating that left her bedridden for days." Not even close, but she was obviously a little unclear on the details as she grew on in years.

"He committed adultery with underage girls. He has been having at my daughter since she was a small child. Thank God I took her in when I did. Officer, he fathered a child by her that my niece Mary knows nothing about. He often speaks of his daughter Gwendolyn, in the most inappropriate manner to his gentleman friends. I have it on the best authority that he has already deflowered her himself, feeling no other man worthy of her, against her will. Oh goodness, to think all this time my poor Mary Elizabeth has been living with a rapist!" They were bald face fabrications, but to Aunt Millicent, misled by the devil and his helpers, they were the word of God, and she even told the constable that, "These are the words of God Himself, my good man."

God looked down and laughed, quite amused, for the devil can quote chapter and verse from the Scripture if need be. Therefore, He moved His all-seeing eyes to George and nodded his head, granting him the mercy and salvation he prayed for in his cell. As Mary had promised George, with an army of angels, she blasted into the hell where her husband waited and defeated the devils that trapped him there.

"My husband is a proper gentleman in every sense of the word, and I don't care what that woman accuses him of. These are his children; ask them yourself if you don't believe me. I have also brought my brother-in-law with me as well as our neighbors, and if you need further witnesses, I can have the entire congregation of our church here in this station in an hour's time. And that includes the all of the priests, every single nun and even the Bishop, Sir." Mary was led into a separate room to give her statement, more so her declaration of her husband's innocence.

First and foremost, "WHAT!" Mary shouted, nearly fainting. The constable had just informed her as she took her seat at his desk, that George Darling, being husband and provider, had all rights within the law to take his wife to bed, even if it was against her will, ending with, "I am sorry, though, that a lady such as yourself has been a victim of rape at the hands of your husband...I myself feel it is--" He never finished his sentiment. Mary had slid to the floor.

When she came to herself, she slapped the chief constable on the cheek and then apologized, "I'm sorry to raise my hand to an officer of the law, but you must be corrected for thinking my husband a rapist, whether he has the right to be or not. Believe me when I tell you, sir, my husband does not even have to ask for my company in his bed, it is his to have wherever and whenever he wants it, and I am more than willing to grant him any marital favor."

"Yes, he strayed to another woman, a consenting adult of a proper age, and there is hardly a man among you that has not done the same thing, and that is no one's business but our own ... It is his right as my husband to put me in my place, if need be, and the time she speaks of was at the insistence of his mother, who was just as misinformed as that woman who is causing all this unnecessary trouble ... My husband did not kidnap anyone, and I have a thousand alibis that will say the same ... I'll have you know, officer, that Millicent Davis should be arrested for kidnapping. Margaret was left in our care by her father, and she just dropped by one day and stole her away from us because she was lonely and in need of a ... a project..."

When the constable asked after their children, Mary didn't have to say anything in his defense only, "His own children? How dare you?" The river of rage from the dam that had broken in her heart poured hellfire from her eyes, down the front of her dress to her clenched fists that she beat on the desk where the constable sat.

Not wanting another slap, he interrupted her with, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Darling, I should not have even asked you such a loathsome question. I know George myself from the bank, and I know he could never be that sort of man. As soon as Mrs. Davis leaves with her daughter, we will let you take your husband home. We won't press any charges, Mrs. Darling. To tell you the truth, we didn't believe her anyway. She seems an old nagging biddy who's angry that her daughter's got herself in trouble and needed to blame someone."

George was released to Mary and the children. The few constables who were not so easily swayed by Mary's ringing endorsements received all the proof they needed when the Darling children knocked their own mother aside, racing into their father's arms.

"Father, we were so frightened -- did they hurt you?" Wendy cried.

"Are you sure you are alright father? Was it terribly awful?" John and Michael shouted over one another. Harry shook his brother's hand, and Mary was last seen kissing George on his cheek whispering, "I told you I would never let you burn, George."

They walked home, everyone embracing the others, with George in the middle talking, as families reunited often do. They were in the door when George heard a peculiar murmuring, as if someone was trying to scream but couldn't. "Whatever is that noise?"

Michael took his father into the living room where Grandpa Joe was bound and gagged to his favorite chair. "We had to, Father, he wanted to kill Aunt Millicent."

John was next to his father, almost seventeen, he now stood the same height as George and they looked more like twin brothers, than father and son. "It took all five of us to tackle him and keep him from leaving the house. We tried to barricade him in his room, but he was so angry he pushed right out. Mother was afraid to leave him unattended when we went to get you. We tied him up as best we could. Sorry, Grandpa, but it was for your own good."

George slowly approached his father-in-law and removed the gag from his mouth. "Finally, George! Let at me at her. I kill that beast with my bare hands. I'll reach into her chest and rip her heart out. I cut her limb from limb and then drown her in the toilet. I'll slash her throat and dump her dead body into the sewer where it belongs. No better yet, I'll dig a hole and throw her in and bury her alive!"

His disturbing words were frightening, not only to children, but to George also, and he felt it best to stuff the rag back in Grandpa Joe's mouth until he cooled off. "You shouldn't speak of your sister that way," George remonstrated, stepping back as Grandpa Joe began knocking about in the chair so hard it fell over.

"Goodness gracious, Father, calm yourself or you shall surely have an attack," Mary added as she strolled past him, handing George a cup of hot tea, giving little attention to her father raging about on the floor.

"Mary, I think we should do something with him. It is not safe for him to be tied up in such a way in our parlor."

For his safety and his age, they had to release him and he got up in one movement, like a young man of only twenty. He pulled the gag from his mouth himself and shouted, "I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT MY STUPID, IGNORANT, THICK, DENSE, SLOW, DIM-WITTED, BRAINLESS SISTER! I'M TALKING ABOUT THAT TRAMP SHE CALLS HER DAUGHTER!"

All the Darlings gathered in the parlor and looked on as Grandpa Joe stalked about like a caged animal looking for an escape. He stopped suddenly and peered at his family who had suffered so much before him. "I was there when Margaret birthed that child. Millicent left the baby in an orphanage in Paris, that's right George, Paris! That is where she ran off to when she fled my sister's home. It seems your brother was paying her visits at that expensive boarding school as well as in London while he was here. How they met, no one knows, but he was her lover nonetheless. When she told him of their child and attempted to rid herself of it, he tried to kill her. Then thinking better of it, he told her if she stole your pocket watch, another mystery, he would marry her and leave his wife."

"How do you know that?" Mary asked holding George by the arm.

"Should the children being hearing this Mary?" George asked while glancing about at their mouths gaped open.

She nodded. "They are grown now, and they have a right to hear grown up things such as these. It will teach them why adults need to live truthful lives with honor. They need to learn that the monsters they feared when they were children and told then not to worry about are, in fact, very real and walking the streets looking like ordinary people. Go on, Father."

"I know about this because that most unfortunate caretaker from the school she attended who still -- to this day -- sits in prison for crime he didn't commit, told me when I visited him. He found them together on the school grounds and told the headmaster. She went missing that day, but not before lying and telling her friends a concocted story of her love affair with him gone awry. And so, he was arrested and sent to jail. He didn't know the man and could not even give me a valid description, for when he was discovered, the other man took off running so as not to be recognized."

"But the watch, and Paris and child? How do you know all that?" George questioned him, indicating for his family to sit down and listen closely.

"No, George, send the children upstairs now, for this is too wicked in nature even for our own ears." The children, of course, did not want to leave, but they eventually obeyed. With the door to the nursery and the door to attic shut and them inside (Mary checked herself), Grandpa Joe continued.

"Millicent was summoned to Paris by the Parisian police when Margaret turned up on the street birthing the baby. Your brother -- you know him, George, Satan -- left her in the middle of a busy street to find her own way to the hospital. I traveled with Millicent there, and she made me sign off on the papers putting that child up for adoption so as to keep her name and that of Margaret's away from scandal. She told me if word ever reached London, I was to say it was your child George, with that whore you were having the affair with, and that I was doing you a favor."

Seeing the hint of a hidden truth shadow over Mary's face and tears well in her eyes, Grandpa Joe added. "I was there when Margaret pushed the child from her body, and it was Margaret's, not the whore's, Mary. From the midwife's hands to mine to the caretaker of the orphanage the baby went. The only hint of the father's identity I had at that time was that we were in Paris. The baby looked like any other child you see on the street, all red and puffy from crying. Only a day after delivering that baby, while staying at the hotel there so Margaret could recover and regain her figure, Peter and his wife paid us a visit on rumor from friends that we were in town. Now, NO ONE knew we were in town, Millicent saw to that. What does that tell you?"

George also took notice of Mary's expression and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Be strong my love, I'm here by your side," he whispered and Grandpa Joe continued.

"His wife was complaining of the time Peter spent there chatting alone with Margaret. She started screaming at him from across the room that they were to be late for dinner and he checked his pocket watch, and that's when I saw all the proof I needed to put it all together. He had George's watch, the one you gave him for Christmas Mary, with the inscription 'My one and only, Darling Love'. I asked him about it and he stuttered about and said George gave it to him because he needed a watch. That made no sense at all, because I know George would never be parted from it, and that was one of the items I knew Margaret stole when she disappeared."

Grandpa Joe now sat on the sofa next to Uncle Harry and scratched his head. "So from then on after Margaret returned, I kept tabs on your brother Peter. Whenever he ventured to London, it always seemed Margaret would go astray for a few days. Millicent had no idea where she went but would not report her missing, because she still hoped to marry her off well to a rich gentleman. And then this very morning..." He paused and looked to his son-in-law, "when George brought her home, Mary, and I knew where he went, my suspicions were confirmed. So I told my sister everything I knew and she confronted Margaret right before we left Harold's."

"Is that what Margaret was crying about?" Uncle Harry asked.

Grandpa Joe nodded. "When I asked Millicent what her daughter had said in her defense, she put me off, and said she would do what needed to be done to rectify the situation. God only knows what that girl told my sister, but I'm sure you all can assume she figured out a way, and quickly at that, to turn it around on George who also unknowingly discovered the father of her baby's identity." Grandpa Joe exhaled deeply.

Her father sighed. "Mary, would you please make me some tea. I am very tired."

Mary was up in a moment, and the kettle was steaming soon thereafter. The children came downstairs at George's request and sat with their grandfather, and silence soon filled the house. On Uncle Harry's suggestion, Wendy sat down at the piano and played peaceful melodies to keep everyone's mind from drifting to dark places.

George went into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around his wife. "I know what she said, I don't need anyone to tell me." He leaned his head on Mary's shoulder and pulled her closer in. "She said it was my child, she said she was meeting me, she said not only was I having my way with her but with that other woman as well. I know that's word for word what she said."

Mary tilted her head into his, "Did you know?"

George turned Mary about to face him, to see the genuineness in his eyes, "No, but I must admit, something that made no sense to me before makes perfect sense now." He pulled out a chair and led her to sit; he took the seat next to her and, in a whisper no one else would hear, he spoke, "Remember what I told you about the unpleasant experience his wife wanted me to try with her and Vivian?" Mary nodded. "Well, my brother had the same idea, but not two woman, two men. He said he knew of a girl that would we could share at the same time."

Mary needed no further explanation, and raised her hand to George's mouth. "Please, go no further. I get the idea. And you are thinking it was Margaret?"

He nodded, "Yes. The odd thing was I didn't even have to tell him I was not interested in such a thing, for he withdrew the offer as soon as he said it by saying he didn't trust me enough to hold my tongue." Mary and George both looked deeply into one another and saw the same thing the other did.

"I have to ask you George, what did his wife, Eve, think of all this?" She suddenly shook her head. "Never mind, I don't even care." Mary put her elbow in the table and rested her head in her hands. She was very tired; tired of the drama and stress, not only of the day but also of the years they spent together married. She closed her eyes and when she opened them and looked to George, she could see his need of acceptance and his desire for reassurance that she would be there for him, now, when he needed her most. "I'm not angry, just a little disheartened at all this. I don't blame you, I just wish..."

"What do you wish, Mary?" George leaned toward her to hear her better.

If one could look into Mary's heart and mind, it would be seen that she wished George were in no way, shape or form involved in any of this. She wished he could be just as naïve and ignorant about all the sordid details as she was. She wished she had never been neglectful, and she wished she had shown him the first letter his brother ever sent her. She wished she could run away and never have to be a grown up again. She wished the teakettle would whistle and she wished Wendy would stop playing the somber tune that Grandpa Joe said was his favorite. She wished she could go to sleep and awaken to a new day and start anew. She wished the bedtime fairy would visit her, and give sweet dreams instead of the nightmares she was growing accustomed to. Feeling all that was far too hurtful to tell George, she settled on, "I wish God would grant our family some serenity, and I wish we could go out to a nice restaurant and have a delicious dinner together, just the two of us."

George pulled his head back and raised his brow. "I can't speak for God, but as far as dinner, that is an easy wish to grant, dearest. When would you like to leave?"

Mary smiled at him, "Now."

Since George felt it not his place to speak on God's behalf, it left the Lord no choice but to speak for Himself. Mary rose as the teakettle whistled and Wendy's tune finally ended. "Please nothing depressing!" John shouted down the stairs to his sister as she started something more upbeat. Mary made the tea and served it along with a cool damp towel for her father's forehead. George already had his coat on and was helping Mary with hers when he said, "I am taking my wife dinner."

Wendy the storyteller ran into the front hall and called for her father's attention. "Just remember, Father, mother turns into a pumpkin at midnight."

George took his wife to an elegant restaurant and wined and dined her. They had a most enjoyable time and Mary was quite drunk when they left. Halfway home, she passed out from all the wine she'd consumed with dinner, and George was forced to throw her over his shoulder and carry her the rest of the way home. He blew in through the front door and declared, "Wendy, you mother turns into a pumpkin well before midnight!" No one laughed; instead they were lined up like soldiers waiting in the parlor for their parents to return.

Grandpa Joe walked up to his son-in-law and helped him lower Mary to the sofa, where two constables waiting arose to make room. "George," one of them said, "I am sorry to have to do this to you, but tonight you are under arrest and I have to take you back to the station."

Mary rolled over and off her bed onto the floor below. She had never laughed so hard in her life as she had at dinner with George. He told her off-color jokes he heard around the office, and once she was tipsy, she thought anything he said was funny. Now, she was thankful her head was attached to her shoulders, for it felt like it was going to fall off. It ached and throbbed, and from the floor she moaned, "George, help me..."

Wendy rolled over and looked at her mother sprawled on the floor, and had to giggle when Mary pulled herself up on the blankets and all her makeup smeared to one side of her face. Even after a few hours in her drunken slumber, Mary was still under the influence and she giggled, too. "Wendy, my dearest daughter, where's your father? Did he fall off the bed too? Is he on the other side? Does he need my help?"

Wendy went very serious, and Mary, seeing this tried to stand. "Wendy, what is it? Did something happen to your father?" Mary tried to be serious, but couldn't contain the chuckle that erupted. "Oh no, George escaped!" It was still dark outside, and Mary staggered to window and threw them open. "George!" she called out into the night. "Nope, not out there. Maybe he's hiding." Mary fell to the floor and crawled around, looking under the bed and in the wardrobe calling out his name. Grandpa Joe, hearing his daughter's slurred shouting came in without knocking.

"Now, Father, you know the rules, you have to knock." She was so intoxicated she reeked of the wine she drank, and pointed her finger accusingly at him. "Father, why are there two of you?"

Grandpa Joe lifted her back up and into the bed. "Wendy, you have to make sure she sleeps this off." He turned to Mary and shook her to stop her laughing at his stern disposition. "Mary Elizabeth, you are drunk. Now go to sleep!"

He left the room and descended the stairs, John was waiting for him at the door and before they left into the night, Grandpa Joe turned to his other grandson, "Michael, tonight, you are the man of the house. No one comes through this door, do you understand?"

Michael was ready to join her majesty's military as soon as he was old enough. Already a soldier at heart, he nodded and repeated the command, "Yes, sir. No one will come through that door. Not on my watch."

Upstairs, Mary cuddled next to Wendy and ran her fingers through the hair that fell over her pillow. "Such lovely hair, Wendy, I'm so jealous. It is the color of your father's." She sighed, remembering. "You know Gwendolyn Angelina, your father and I made the most passionate love the morning we created you ... like we would never touch one another again after the moment it ended ... I wished we could stay in that morning forever. Every single time I look at you ... I think of that wonderful morning and the man I love ..."

Wendy held her mother tightly; blinking back her tears, for in a few hours she would awake from her bliss and be smack in the middle of another nightmare. "Wendy darling, tell me a story."

Wendy smiled and thought about it. Then she kissed her mother's forehead and whispered, "Alright but you must first close your eyes." When she was sure he mother had complied, she began. "Once upon a time there was a was peasant named George and he loved a lovely queen named Mary..."