CHAPTER 7

Edinburgh; Scotland - 1943

Two years had passed since they were taken in by the Fairfax's. Agnes had just become a mother. When the baby arrived, Allister had been abroad and it went unexpectedly quickly, so it had been Shelagh who had delivered the little boy, as the midwife was still on her way. The moment Allister had gotten the telegram which told him Agnes had delivered their baby boy, he abandoned what he actually needed to do and went straight home.

It was a few days later, that there was a knock on the door and Shelagh opened it. She was surprised to find a man standing there, because she was expecting Aislinn to come back with the little groceries they could get in this time.

"Hello, my name is William Fairfax. Is my brother at home?"

Allister, who had heard his brother's voice, came to the hallway. "Will, it is good to see you. Shelagh, thank you, I'd appreciate it if you could get us a some tea."

Shelagh nodded and went to the kitchen. Allister took his brother to the sitting room. They spoke quietly. "We need to finish the operation, Allister. Gerrit and Jan were immediately arrested when they were dropped in their home country."

"I know Will, but I can't leave Agnes now."

It was at that moment that Shelagh came in carrying a tray which held the cups of tea.

"We'll talk about this later." Allister said in a hushed tone and his brother nodded. The young man looked at his protégé, wondering how much she had heard. The knock on the front door made her leave and he could vaguely hear her chastise her sister for being late. The younger girl giggled and started telling her older sister about whom she met while getting the little groceries she could get.

Later, when night had fallen and the house had gone quiet, Shelagh slipped into the sitting room. Allister sat in one of the recliners near the fire. He startled when he heard Shelagh's voice telling him in no uncertain terms, she wanted to be a part of what he was doing.

"And what do you think it is, I'm doing, Shelagh?"

"You're working on missions abroad, to sabotage the Germans in their plans for this war."

Allister stood up and walked over to where Shelagh stood. He was at least two feet taller than she was and he mustered all the intimidation skills he had. Never once did she cowered away from him and she looked him square in the eye. He sighed, he should have foreseen this change of events. "Once you're in, there is no way out. And there's your sister to think about." He warned.

"I accept the consequences. And my sister will understand."

"We'll go to London tomorrow. Go and pack."

Poplar; London - Present Day

Shelagh had rushed through the routines of breakfast and dressing her daughter. The latter was showing her unhappiness at being hurriedly dressed. When Angela had been put in her playpen, so Shelagh could get her coat and purse, Patrick stopped his wife. "Darling, it will be all right."

"She wanted to talk. Patrick, I've got a bad feeling about this."

Patrick pulled Shelagh with him and made her sit down on the couch. "This bad feeling, has it to do with being afraid she will tell you she doesn't want to see you?"

"No, she did that yesterday." Came the breathless reply.

Now Patrick understood his wife's subdued manner. Shelagh loved with her whole being and being told to go by someone she loved deeply, hurt her more than anything else. Combined with the guilt of a broken promise, this had made her inconsolable. "Then what is this bad feeling then?"

Shelagh looked up miserable at her husband. "When I took care of Aislinn, there was one time I had washed her as best I could and changed her into a clean nightgown. When I wanted to put her left arm in its sleeve, I noticed these numbers on her arm."

"What do you mean? Like they were written with a pen?" Patrick gave the appearance of ignorance, but he had an inkling what the numbers on Aislinn's arm meant.

Shelagh shook her head, oblivious to Patrick's apprehension. "They stayed on when I washed her arm. It is almost as if it is a tattoo, as if she was…"

"… branded." Patrick finished her sentence.

Shelagh looked at him with wide eyes. "Who would do such a thing?" She whispered, the pain evident in her voice.

Patrick grabbed her hands. "You know I don't know what happened, but I did hear stories of soldiers who fought at the end of the war. They would come across these so-called 'Konzentrationslager' as the Nazi's called them.

"The concentration camps." Shelagh muttered and the look on her face was both one of recognition and ghastly horror.

Patrick nodded, "I'm not really surprised you've heard of them. They also mentioned the people -both alive and death- had a six digit number on their left arm for identification."

"But, that would mean she was sent to one of them." Tears were forming in Shelagh's eyes.

"You're guess is as good as mine, darling." Patrick replied. "She is the only one who knows. You go and talk to her as promised, and I'll take care of Angela."

But Shelagh shook her head. "No, I'll take her with me. I'm sure her godmother would love to spent some time with her and I think after our talk both Aislinn and I could use her sweet and good-hearted nature."

Patrick got Angela out of the playpen and handed her over to Shelagh, then he went to get pram while Shelagh put their little girl her coat on.

Chummy opened the door and let Shelagh in. "You know, Peter was worried about how to contact any family of the woman when she was found. She had no purse, no papers. But it's all ticketyboo and marvellous now that you've identified her. I didn't know you had a sister. Do you want some tea?" The pace in which Chummy was talking, showed her anxiousness.

Shelagh sighed inwardly and thought to herself that there were many more things that Chummy didn't know about her. The gently way in which she spoke to Chummy belied her irked feeling. "Some tea would be nice, Chummy, thanks. If you could make that two cups, I'll take them both upstairs when I see my sister."

Chummy nodded, "Right on it."

Shelagh saw Chummy leaving, and then knocked on the large wooden door that let to Sister Julienne's office. When she heard the affirmative to enter, she opened the door and stepped inside. Sister Julienne stood up to great both Shelagh and her goddaughter and Angela made it no secret, she wanted to be held by her godmother.

Shelagh handed Angela over to Sister Julienne. It was then she noticed that Sister Evangelina was also in the room. Said Sister had stood up and walked over to Shelagh. "How are you?" Sister Evangelina's concern was clearly visible in her eyes.

"I'm okay, I'll manage."

"I know you do." Sister Evangelina briskly said, then in a much softer tone; "but that does not mean we won't support you in whatever it is that is troubling you."

A small and shy smile appeared on Shelagh's face. "Thank you, Sister." It was at that moment, Chummy appeared with two cups of tea. "Well, I'd better go upstairs, then."

"Call us, if you need anything." Sister Julienne gently said and Shelagh replied: "I will, thank you."

Edinburgh; Scotland - 1944

Shelagh shivered and pulled her coat closer around her. She had been in London for the past six months, working for MI5. And even though it had been freezing in London, she had forgotten how cold it could be up north.

Her sister now knew what kind of job she did and had visited her on occasion. Together they had attended dinner parties. At one of these, they had met Kasimir Metzger. A German soldier, a Generalleutnant -comparable to a lieutenant general here in the British army-, who worked at the German air force called the Luftwaffe. At one of his missions, his plane had crashed and he had been captured. He was brought to MI5, who offered him his life in exchange of his loyalty to Germany. Metzger accepted the deal without hesitating, and so he became a double agent for the British army. He had just been back from Germany, delivering 'information' to the German secret service called the Abwehr.

It was thanks to Kasimir Metzler, she was once again back in Edinburgh. After a short courtship, Kasimir had asked Aislinn to marry him and today was the day of their wedding. Shelagh stood outside of their home for the past three years, waiting for her sister to come down. She moved around to try and keep warm, but when she saw her sister descending the stairs, Shelagh stood still.

"Well? What do you think?" Aislinn nervously asked.

Shelagh walked over to her sister and took both her hands in her own. "Aislinn, you look absolutely beautiful. I can't believe you are getting married today." And she pulled her sister into a hug.

"Well, believe it." Aislinn grinned with a sparkle in her eye. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss this for anything. Come, your future husband awaits."

Neither girl would know that only in three months time, their lives would drastically change.