Author's note: I removed this chapter to fix up a few things. Here it is once again, corrected.
My Darling Love
Chapter 59 – The Rules of Fair Play
"God can heal a broken heart, but first he must have all the pieces."
-Unknown
Wendy slept restlessly in the attic, Joseph, Edmund and John fell asleep in the nursery, and the bedtime fairy of the Darling house finished her rounds and descended the stairs to the parlor finding George sitting at his desk addressing the last of several envelopes stacked neatly beside where he wrote. Mary crept up quietly behind him and peeked over his shoulder…
Monsieur George Dubois
C/O Madam Vivian Lagrange Dubois
41 Promenade Clemenceau
Les Sables D'Olonne, FRANCE
Mary saw the name George and the name Vivian before her husband rested his hand over the envelope covering it from her sight. "I'm sorry, George, I didn't mean to intrude on your privacy…" Mary apologized and softly stepped from the room into the hall without another word.
"A few Christmas cards I forgot to send out, Mary, with everything else going on, nothing for you to worry over," George called out, seeing her swift departure from the room.
Mary walked down the hall to the closet, and took the knob in her hand. It was that moment she realized Captain Hook was truly gone. With him, he took a piece of her heart as well. There were to be no more consoling and encouraging words from her pirate captain, there were to be no more longs talks well into the night. There would be no more sharing of dreams and longings for the new tomorrows that would never come. As the tears filled her eyes, she thought back to the last moment they were together, she going to Jane, he, going back to his ship. "Was it 'check on Martine' or 'you're welcome' for raising Jane and loving Wendy?" Mary could not remember, but she knew for sure it was not the "I love you," she meant to say.
Mary had intended to go to the kitchen for tea; instead she walked past George, who was going there himself, and up the stairs to Jane's room. The bed was stripped right down to the frame but everything else in her room was intact. Mary opened the jewelry box, only to find James' rosary beads also missing, enigmatically retrieved by the same hand that took the fair maiden Gwendolyn's necklace. With Neverland gone from existence, all the mementoes of that magical world were collected, by the hand of God. Mary Baker Darling dropped to her knees by the bed frame and silently spoke, "You cannot take everything of him from me and leave me with nothing. You must leave me with something of him. Don't be greedy…"
Mary looked up to the ceiling, rather through the ceiling and the roof, straight up the heavens that God watched down from. Mary would not hear audibly, but what He replied to her demand; he did courteously as if curtsying for a queen. "I already gave you George in this life, your majesty…what more could you want?"
George sat at the kitchen table alone, looking about the room and its contents, trying to pass the time, waiting for Mary's return. She did return, and took her seat beside him. He was nervously regarding her attitude, for he had promised to never speak to Vivian again, although he never promised not to write. Feeling it best not to argue a technicality the moment she sat down he conceded, "I write to Vivian at Christmas, well, I write her son, Peter's son, and her too, just to be polite … Just to check in and see how they are doing."
Mary did not look at him; she only nodded staring straight ahead.
"Um … She's happily married to a um ... Gentleman … they are expecting a baby in the spring … their third together, four including George. She named him after me. She said she liked that name … I send a small gift to George every year … Vivian told her husband I was a distant uncle … He doesn't know about what happened between us or anything … she wanted to tell him and also about her past but I told her not to … I told her it was best that way … She has no other family and so … Vivian is really a nice girl who deserved a better life … You would like her if you got to know her … But I only write at Christmas …" George said his words in short bursts, watching his wife intently waiting for her to fly off the handle and begin screaming accusations of his betrayal.
Mary uttered no accusations, nor reprimands, and when he was finished, she offered this on a silver platter, "Does she still work in the dress shop?"
George smiled and touched Mary's arm, glad she asked. "Yes, in fact she does, and she loves it. Her husband is very wealthy, but she still keeps her own vocation. She's very talented, she made the robe I gave you for Christmas…" George wished he hadn't said that and again waited with bated breath for Mary's onslaught of hostile tones.
"It was lovely and very well made, although I would have preferred it blue. Tea, George?"
George had lowered his head, expecting hostile fire, but his wife's comment over the color of her robe made his head jerk up as she walked to stove and turned on fire below the kettle.
"Blue? I thought you preferred red."
Mary shook her head, gathering two teacups and placing them down on the table.
"I wrote to your friend and I asked her what she thought you would like as a gift from her boutique, something to cheer you up after our quarrel …" He caught himself with a wince, and confessed with some effort, "No, Mary, we didn't quarrel, I beat you. I attacked you like a beast and kicked you when you were down and then did not help you when you begged me to. I treated you like I was a monster and I am still brokenhearted over that. I cannot even begin to put into words how my heart is broken and need of repair over it. I ask you now for your forgiveness and I understand if you do not want to give it. But…" George choked on his words, and so Mary, a "wife" and "mother" shook her head and raised her hand to quiet him.
"No, Mary, you could have died that day at my hands, and I must say…" George took off his spectacles to wipe his eyes, and again Mary raised her hand.
"George, please. I sinned against you as well. Let us call it even."
"There was another?" George asked watching Mary and she nodded. "I thought it so…" George mumbled gazing down at his teacup.
"I'm truly sorry George, but at the time, I didn't see the choice to or not," Mary replied sadly.
"I know, Mary." Not another word was said as they sat at the table and waited for the kettle to boil, then Mary made tea. Mary glanced to George who stared blankly at his teacup, "Go on George, the robe…"
"Yes, Mary, the robe." He raised his head, looking straight ahead. "She wrote a fancy velour robe of blue would do the trick, but I thought you preferred red, so I wrote back red. Vivian made it to thank you for your aid in helping her finding her way in the world and sent it along. That's how I know she still works there. She sent a note, just telling me she was all right and the new baby. You can read it if you want." George looked at his wife who was looking away elsewhere. "Are you angry with me? I swear to you, dear Mary, there is nothing going on with her still. I am a happily married man and she is joyously married to another gentleman." George moaned, touching his fingers to Mary's hand that rested flat on the table, fearful to hold it within his own as he desperately wanted to.
"No, I'm not angry." Her reply was simple, and she clasped his hand in her own and then moved into his lap kissing his face, changing his expression instantly to one of total and unquestionable delight "You think I don't trust you, George, but I do. You think I would hate Vivian still, but I don't. I never hated her, I hated you at the time, but not her." Seeing his dismal face and the fear hidden behind his spectacles, Mary soothed, "Fret not, dear George, I didn't really hate you." Mary lovingly touched his face as his smile escaped him at the word "hate". But with that settled, his grin returned and he kissed her cheek. "I understand the mistakes she made in her life, just as I understand the mistakes Margaret made in hers. That is why I don't hate Margaret. That is why it is important that you don't hate Margaret. I forgave you, Vivian and Margaret a long time ago. Now you must forgive also. Do you understand?" George nodded and squeezed his wife tightly, laying his head to her neck.
"George," Mary lowered her head to his and whispered, "We must forgive Peter too. I know it will not be easy, but we must. Remember the Lord's Prayer; 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,' we must forgive to be forgiven."
"I know, Mary, I will do my best," George replied, nudging his face to hers. They kissed, and then George spoke again, bringing yet another worry of his heart out into the light. "You love him? You wish you had married him instead of me? Harry, I mean," George asked, wanting reassurance of some sort that her heart would once again only be his.
Mary pulled her head back to gaze upon his face, "Marry Harry, George? Have you lost your mind?" George was also a little stunned at his verbal slip, "I meant Captain Hook, Mary. I don't know why I said Harry. Captain Hook was the other, I know. It's alright."
Mary knew why he said Harry, for he knew another secret hidden in her heart she was unwilling to reveal to anyone, including herself. Maybe one day she would share it with him, but not tonight, for this night she belonged to him and only to him, and she felt it important that he know. "I realized something, George, I did exactly the same thing to you, that you had done to me. I replaced you with another, when you were lacking in our marriage. I chose to seek comfort elsewhere, feeling you left me no choice. For that I am sorry. I love you, I have always loved you and I always will love you. I loved him at times; I will not lie. But I only loved the part of him that was you. I never wanted to marry him, because you have been my one and only true love my entire life. And with you right here with me always is where I want to be. Right here with you, George, is where I want to remain." Mary touched her finger to George's heart.
They sat that way for quite some time before Mary realized something else out of place. "George, who else did you forget to send Christmas cards to? I checked and doubled check all the greetings we sent out. There must have been a dozen envelopes on your desk. Who are they to?"
If his face was anything but delighted with her arrival on his lap, it was beyond exhilarated when she asked that. George stood quickly and grabbed Mary by her hands leaning his head into hers, "Nine, Mary, not twelve and it's a special secret I have been waiting so long to tell you. Do you really want to know?" Mary replied with a smile, seeing the joy in George, happiness of their private life together, of sharing all the intimacies and confidences couples that are married should. "Yes, George, tell me."
John had packed his two sons, Joseph and Edmund and sailed to America, marrying the widow Caroline, becoming 'father' and adopting her two children as well after the New Year. The family of four settled in a small town in the countryside outside of Boston, coming home to London only at Christmas. Uncle Harry had never married; remaining the proprietor of his tavern, and moved back into the flat John vacated. George signed ownership of the tavern over to his brother as a "thank you" present for acting as replacement for Grandpa Joe. What Mr. Baker had once feared for his only daughter Mary had become the fate of Wendy, now an old spinster who was to die old and alone. At least a pirate captain and a daughter she never knew had loved her. And her parents and family would always love her. She moved back into the attic after the funerals and took up her life there.
Wendy read through her journal and constructed her novel, word-by-word, chapter-by-chapter, not leaving out one detail or word. She presented it to her mother one morning, leaving it on her pillow after she spent an entire month tying up all the loose ends. Although she did not write the ending or a very good beginning she felt for now it was finished enough to be read.
Dearest Mother,
My first book, I have yet to title it for I was hoping you would. I think my story will account for everything that happened while away on my own adventures. Please do not tell father anything of this and please do not let him read it. There are certain things as I am sure, as you are aware, that a man will never understand.
All my Love,
Wendy
Mary read the through the entire story without stopping. It took her two days and two nights, and when she was finished she understood everything. She accepted the poor beginning and partial ending, and told George nothing of what was written. "A woman's novel, George, you wouldn't be interested."
He still wanted to read it, being his daughter's first work, and Mary, wise in many ways, discouraged him further with, "Alright, George, but I must warn you, it's a story about a young girl and her quest to find a lost puppy."
George gazed at the mighty stack of pages before him and thoughts of a little fluffy dog named Patches trekking across the continents followed by a weepy little brat who should have never left the door to her flat open in the first place like his own son John had with Nana's replacement raced through his mind. "I'll wait until it's titled and printed."
Wendy began painting, and soon the attic was too small to work in, and George cleared the nursery of its contents especially for her, "There will never be children again in this house," he observed, and made that his daughter's studio. They donated Jane's clothes to an orphanage, and kept the toys and memories locked away in the room that had once been hers, Grandpa Joe's old bedroom. The door was latched, and no one but Mr. and Mrs. George Darling had the key.
One might think that was the end. But God was still watching … and waiting …
The devil stepped out of hell for a moment, and pulled up a tree stump in the void that had once been Neverland. Just as Mary had, he too gazed up and called out, "GREEDY!" shaking his fist.
Mary didn't expect an answer, but Satan did and so he raged on, "Got the body of one of your fallen soldiers down there with me, keeping it warm for you, but I must tell you, mighty Lord, it is WORTHLESS TO ME WITHOUT HIS SOUL!"
God looked down and saw the hellfire and lava shoot out from the hole, and chuckled at the devil's attempt to provoke a rise from Him. Receiving no reply, the devil stood and shouted, "CHEATER!"
"Now, now, now Lucifer…You know the rules, there is to be no name calling. Whenever you are ready for a rematch."
Lucifer stepped up, "I am ready. I'm always ready for a rematch…" He cackled as he fell back into the hole he crawled out of, but not before hollering up once he landed, "I still think you cheat, you made me call the game a draw and yet you still kept the prize. And don't even get me started on Jane! Unfair play!"
That got the Lord's attention and He parted the clouds that were not there and gave His full voice, "Read your rule book, Lucifer, the angel must be cast into the hellfire by his choice to be enslaved by you for eternity. It was not my fault that Pan felt it necessary to pierce James' heart and send him back to heaven. And it is not a technicality, Lucifer, as you are thinking. Call to mind all the times Hook and Pan have sacrificed themselves, saving their place on the battlefield. They are sent back by us, are they not? And they begin again where they left off, do they not? How can I continue the game when my piece has been incorrectly wiped from the board by the opposing side? Remember the rules … there can be no evil without the presence of good and vice versa. If you ask me, Pan is the one who ended the game erroneously. It was he, not I that granted my servant relief of his position, even if it was not intentional on his quest for greatness… There was no prize. Your servant took James and sent him back to me. I took your servant Pan, and sent him back to you. That makes us even. So I'll ask you again, and only once more, do you want a rematch?"
Lucifer peeked his head out of the hole and nodded, "Its still not fair! Pan has a heart now where he once had none!"
God had an answer for that too, "If he didn't want a heart, Lucifer, he shouldn't have asked for one."
"And what of Jane's continued interference?" Lucifer tapped his claws, impatiently awaiting the Lord's response, "You don't expect me to believe a fallen angel from Neverland and a woman from Earth could really create a child together, no matter how much they, or you, for that matter, believe their love was real!"
"I did not have my hand in that child's conception or creation. Her name is nothing more than a coincidence. A name given to a child does not make them one in the same with whom it honors. If you think I am lying on that matter, as I know you do … prove it."
"Hook would have never been able to enter into that world without a real child born of him there! And all that has been resolved and saved would never have happened without his involvement! You cheat by looking ahead! You cheat by seeing things seen and unseen! Jane could not save her 'son' the first time you cast him from heaven, you gave her a second chance to help him earn back his wings and bring him home!" Lucifer shrieked in resolute anger.
"And what would that have solved, if what you are claiming is true? Absolutely nothing, for there is to be no happy ending with both James Hook and Baby Jane dead on Earth! There is nothing but suffering and sorrow with their absences there, and here I was thinking you would be thankful, grateful even. I want James on Earth as husband to Gwendolyn, not here in heaven. I wanted Baby Jane to grow up and fulfill her destinies on earth, not here in heaven. So, at the very least, where they are concerned, for now, you have won. Of course I see all that is unseen. After all Lucifer, I am God, the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible. I am the Light of Light, True God of True God, of Whom all worlds were made. And of all that has been, and all that will be, I did not alter the free will of anyone. I did not change the fates of those involved. I did nothing but watch from a distance, as I always do! They made choices and if those choices were in My favor, so be it. If I remember correctly -- and I assure you, I do -- I was not the one who distorted George's entire being, making him a monster. Imposter, you are! Nor did I send anyone to an early repose by stealing away their conscious mind. Cheater, you are! I was not the one that allowed Peter Pan to move about freely within the worlds unsupervised. Fool, you are! And what is the cause and affect of your poor misjudgments and even poorer ministrations, Lucifer? You were again, defeated."
With that proclamation given in a thunderous tone from heaven, the devil decided it was best to change the subject. "Rumor has it you have another one of my minions up there. Family, you know. By rights that soul is mine. I want it!"
"Nope. You really should reread the rulebook. The rule of three, Lucifer, remember? But, if you are asking me to engage you in fair play for once, Lucifer, so be it. We shall begin, yet again."
"Rule of three! You cannot be serious!" Lucifer shouted.
"Quite, Lucifer, if three or more that ask it of me, then …"
"Who asked?"
"Margaret, Mary and George."
Lucifer was not impressed, and shook his head picking his teeth with his claw, "Mary and George are one."
"Margaret, Mary and George, and Harry then."
"Mary, George and Harry I believe is also one."
"They are not, but fine. Mary and all, Margaret and John."
"Really, please. You lecture me of technicalities. Margaret and John are one."
"Again, they are not, but since you insist on a correct list, Margaret is one, Mary and her entire family are another, the nameless constables who have searched for her are a third, the priest at the church and all the nuns are five, shall I go on? Really I could go on all day. You would never guess she is the daughter of Peter Darling, the way the entire world seems to be praying for her."
"Fine, recreate Neverland as it was, send back the pirate captain and I will return Peter Pan. Let's be on with it already! I grow tired of chatting with you!" Lucifer screamed, retaking the hole he climbed out to mock God with technicalities.
That answer was simple, "No."
"What do you mean 'NO'! How are we to do this then?"
"I told you. You still don't listen when I speak do you? Fair play, remember? If you truly want a soul you feel you've been cheated out of, then I will give you the opportunity to earn it. Have no fear, Neverland is already awaiting Peter Pan, but there will no pirate captain there. For I have a new prize for you and she calls herself, Queen Martine. But I must warn…"
Lucifer knew what the Lord meant without having to say it and he didn't want his warning. He snickered wise that the presence in the place of a pirate captain would surely be unfair play, in his favor for once. "Don't bother with your warning, I am eager to get on with it."
"Are you not forgetting something?"
Lucifer once again pulled himself out and rested up on his elbows. With a rather annoyed face he called out, "What now?"
"It is finished with Queen Mary. No more."
"Yes, it is finished…" he groaned slipping back into the hole. "It is truly up to all involved to end it happily. I will not interfere, although I am sure you will. I know how the lovely Queen Mary will always have favor in your eyes. Oh yes, and with the Maiden Gwendolyn as well. There is no one to save her now and she will die old, alone and unloved, what a pity. Worry not, I have bigger fish to fry and I am bored of dealing with the Darling family. A complete and utter waste of time, if you ask me. You have my word and I would be willing to shake on it." As an act of good faith to their new game Lucifer raised his hand out and extended it upwards.
A bolt of lightening jetted down from the sky and cracked the earth nearest the hole where the devil's horns protruded. "No thank you, Lucifer, I'd rather not."
"Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven…
"Bless Gwendolyn, make her strong, have mercy on her heart, give her the love she prays for. Bless Mary and George, grant them a long life together. I beg of you to grant them the peace in their hearts and mind. Watch over them, they love one another so much although I know myself that they won't always see it. Bestow your blessings on them, for they are truly worthy of your efforts. Bless John and his family, may grow together in love and happiness. Bless Harry, keep him close to his family and forgive his sins against others. Have mercy on Peter Pan, for he knew not what he was doing. He will always be a childish and selfish, forgive him…Forgive Peter Darling, a pawn in the devil's game, evil since birth…"
"And you James…""You already gave me your absolution, my Lord, I am ready to begin again."
"No, James, that will not be necessary. I have already sent another in your place, another you have saved as well. Fear not that she does not have the strength required. You said it yourself, James, vengeance belongs to God, and since it is mine and there are an awful lot of fairies floating around here praying for me to take it, well, James, you I'm sure, understand my meaning."
"I do my Lord, But what is to become of me?"
"Are you brave enough, James, to believe?"