HI Folks! Here is Chapter 11 where we actually find out the choice of Eliza and William's marriage. In this chapter we will find Camille's reaction to her father's new wife. Let me know what you think. Thank you Love, Carebearmaxi

Honorable Mention

Chapter 11

Travel, Wedding, and New York

Eliza and William waved to Sophia, Bernie, and Alex, Jr. from the deck of the ship. It was a rainy, chilly April morning. Sophia was still suffering with the symptoms of early pregnancy, but she insisted seeing them off. Eliza and Bernie both made sure she was bundled up against the unusual April weather.

"It's a shame it's raining. I would love to stay out on deck for a while," Eliza said as the ship pulled away from the deck and she could no longer see her children waving from the pier. She looked down at her gloved hands but could feel the new wedding band that William had placed on her hand just yesterday in their rushed ceremony. She placed a bigger plain gold band on William's finger.

As they stood on the deck for a little while before reporting to their berth, Eliza breathed in the salt air mixed with other odors and scents. She clasped William's arm in her hands and lean her head onto the upper part of his warm woolen coated arm.

"Well, it took thirty years, but we are finally Mr. and Mrs. Wellington, " William said looking down at his new wife. "Are you happy, Eliza?"

"I'm sad at leaving my children, but I am very happy. I can't wait to meet your children…well, child, since Thomas is still missing."

After a moment, Eliza removed herself from touching him and looked up at his concerned bearded face. His eyes were squinted against whatever light and whatever mist was hitting them.

"William?" Eliza ventured.

"I know you are concerned for Thomas, but you are happy we were able to wed after all?"

"Have I done something for you to doubt my happiness?"

"No," William said smiling at her. "I know you so well, still do after all these years, it's amazing. However, I know something is bothering you."

Eliza walked away running her hand on the along the railing. I have never felt so insecure in my life she thought. I don't know why. I found Sophia adorable when she was a child and sometimes we have been at odds with one another especially where her father was concerned. Now, though, it seems she has become to understand me more. Maybe it was just her marriage and now pregnancy. What am I going to find when I meet William's children? He seems to think all will be well, but William may have blinders on being that we are finally together. Well, Camille did say she was happy for her father.

"Eliza?"

Eliza turned around and went into William's embrace.

"Would you like to settle in our cabin now?"

"Yes."

They took dinner in the dining room with the other passengers. Their table was in the middle of the room and it was kind of hard to hear each other without shouting. Eliza's hand came across the table and took William's. It was their left hands and their wedding bands shown in the dim light.

"How did you bear this voyage alone?" Eliza wondered.

"I read mostly. The papers and, before I left, Camille pushed one of Ellen's books on me to read. I have to say I found it very interesting."

"You were never a reader, William. How scholarly," Eliza said taking a drink. She was impressed.

William smiled and responded, "I read just not the same books that you did. Reading was one of the prerequisites to getting into the policy academy, Eliza."

"You're right, though, I was never a great reader. Now Ellen she could be the New York Public Library all by herself and she encouraged both children to read, so when we married I had a lot of catching up to do."

"You have changed, William," Eliza said. "I don't remember you having time to read anything other than the newspapers or the racing sheets. I suppose that all changed when you married Ellen."

"I did have to calm that down when I got married. Ellen was afraid I was an addict and would gamble all our income away."

"By the way, Chief Wellington, how did you meet your first wife?"

William hesitated. He really wanted to keep both his marriages separate, but Eliza had a right to know he supposed.

"There was a theft at her school and I was called into take statements. I did eventually find the criminal."

"And she was so grateful to William Wellington that she invited him to dinner with the family?" Eliza surmised smiling slyly.

"Yes," William said. He stroked her knuckles with his hand and sat closer. "Why this interrogation? I didn't think you would be interested in what happened in my life prior to coming back to England."

"There you are incorrect, Mr. Wellington. I am fully invested in your future, so I would like to know what's happened to you in the past. Besides you do know a lot of what happened to me," Eliza said as she smiled at her husband.

"If we have this discussion will you want to jump overboard and annul our marriage?" William asked. His tone indicated that he was not sure if he was joking or serious.

"This conversation is taking a trajectory where I did not think it would go," Eliza responded. She had heard the tone of his voice, and she wanted to put him at ease.

"Eliza, we have lived apart on different continents for almost thirty years. We have had similar experiences, but the one thing I know we have in common is that we still love each other."

She raised her hand from where it was clasped in William's and stoked his face. Once, long ago, she never would have touched him like that. Now she found that's all she wanted to do. Touch him. Love him.

"Yes, we do," Eliza said confidently.

William looked at Eliza. He saw the laugh lines and the starting of wrinkles on his wife, but all William cared about was that he finally had his Eliza with him at last. He hoped she was just suffering from being away from her routine. He watched as Eliza released his hand and rose.

"Where are we going?" William asked.

"To our cabin, we have more catching up to do."

William rose and took her hand.

They returned to their cabin and sat on the bed. Eliza unbuttoned the top of her dress to the shirtwaist underneath. She removed her earrings and set them on the nightstand at the narrow bed. It will definitely be a cozy fit for us Eliza thought.

William undressed down to his shirt and undid that. He poured drinks and handed one to Eliza.

"I want to know more about your marriage to Ellen. It seemed to have been a happy one," Eliza said taking a sip and sitting close to William on the edge of the bed.

"What's to tell? We were attracted to one another, I proposed. She said yes. We were wed and became parents within two years."

William looked at the bottom of his glass and said softly, "I was lonely, Eliza. She was the first woman to whom I felt any sort of attraction. She was so very different from you, so I suppose I married her because she was different than you in some ways."

Eliza ran her finger around her glass.

"Perhaps, we shouldn't have this discussion after all."

William rose and poured himself another drink.

"If you are asking me if I was deeply in love or if we were blissfully happy, no I was not. We were content. Ellen was a good wife, and I was a good and faithful husband to her, and I love the children we had together, but there was always you. Did I think about it every day? No, daily life was busy and as you know being a cop, even a Super is not easy. I was glad for a warm home, with a contented wife, and two good children. Was yours not the same way? It seemed to me that it was."

"This is going to sound like a silly question when it was my choice to not join you in NY all those years ago, but when you made love with your wife, whose face did you see?" Eliza asked looking at William in earnest.

"Eliza, why do you need to know that?"

Eliza took his hand and looked him straight in the eye so he would know the truth.

"I wanted you. The first time Alex kissed me all I thought of was what I was missing with you. I pictured you in the dark. I wondered how much more I would enjoy sex if I really loved the man I was with. I married Alexander because I didn't want to be alone anymore. He told me he loved me and that I made Sophia a good friend and he wanted to make it permanent."

William kissed her fiercely. He did not want to hear anymore of Eliza's troubles. Yes, she had taken ownership of those troubles, but he no longer wanted her to feel that she had to repay him or make up for lost time to him. What made them work was that he loved her, and she loved him, and they argued and competed with one another, and they shared a past containing so many moments. They also shared memories of Henry, her father.

They stopped kissing and they looked at one another.

"Do you regret marrying me after all this time?" Eliza asked.

"Absolutely not! Besides I need your help to find my son. I trust no one else more, and I know no one more capable than you to help me in that endeavor," William said taking her hand to show how earnest he was. He played with the gold band on her hand moving it back and forth with his thumb.

"Now, I don't want to talk of this any longer. I want to get some sleep, but first maybe we could celebrate that we are man and wife now?"

"All right. However, I may ask you some more questions tomorrow. I'm curious."

Eliza put her arms around her husband, and he held her tight as he pressed her into the small mattress.

They arrived in Port of New York seven days after leaving London. The sun was bright in the sky and the air seemed a bit warmer than the air in England.

"William, it's beautiful here! Is it always like this in Spring?"

"No, not all the time. Much of the time it reminds me of London, but we are lucky today."

He pointed to the dock and waved as the ship moved closer.

"There's Camille," he said to Eliza who suddenly felt a lot of anxiety.

Eliza waved a little to her stepdaughter. She was tall like William from what she could observe. As for more features she would only know once she was face-to-face with her.

Over the rest of the trip, Eliza had chosen premium times to ask William some importuning questions to which, with great patience, he answered. As soon as she saw the scowl on his face and heard him grunt, she realized that she had gone too far. The last thing she wanted was to make him angry. She had to hand it to him, though, he never lost his temper. Very different from when he was younger.

They finally alighted from the ship and Camille ran to her father

"Dad!" William put down the bags he was carrying and his daughter launched herself into his arms.

"I am so happy to see you! So glad you're home!" Camille said as her father squeezed her tight.

He finally released her and asked, "I assume this means that Thomas is still missing?"

"Yes," said Camille Wellington, a tall girl of only 24 years old, looked over at the smaller very blonde woman with the large blue eyes. At her father's mention of her missing older brother, her smile faded. However, the ebullient smile returned when she spotted and walked over to Eliza.

"You must be Eliza. My new stepmother," Camille hugged her tightly to herself. "I'm so happy for you and my dad. You have made him very, very happy."

"I'm so happy to meet you, Camille. My! You are a tall woman. You're almost as tall as your father," Eliza observed.

"Yes, I was never petite like you. You are beautiful like dad always said."

What does she mean that 'dad always said'? Eliza wondered.

They had begun to walk over to their motor car.

"Do you drive?" Eliza asked.

"Yes, all the time." Camille answered astonished that Eliza did not.

"I am used to walking everywhere, besides when my husband was alive, he would drop me at my office before he went onto Scotland Yard. I would take a cab home from my office."

They arrived at the car and Eliza climbed into the back seat.

"No, dad will drive, so you can have the seat next to him. I'm good in the backseat," Camille had said.

"William, you drive?"

"Yes, I learned ever since carriages became a rarity. You'll soon see why," William volunteered. He pushed the button and started the engine and pulled into the lane for the exit out of the port.

The traffic in New York City proper was congested just like it was in London, but to Eliza it seemed more intense and urgent in its movement. Maybe it is just that I am not used to it yet.

"William, does it take long to learn how to drive?" Eliza asked.

"No, not at all. I can teach you if you promise to obey me. I know how you are," William said smiling.

It was not a long trip back to their, Eliza's new home, but it was a very interesting one for Eliza. This was her first time ever to the United States and to New York. She was almost 58 years old and had never been out of Europe. When she really thought about it, William had accomplished a lot coming from England and finding not only professional success but also personal in taking a wife and having children.

William pulled up in front of a three-story townhouse with brick face and white shutters and a white front door. There were bushes on either side of the cement front steps that led to the front door. Camille hurried out the door and ran up the four steps and unlocked the door while William retrieved the luggage from the back of the car.

"Welcome home, Eliza!" Camille said as she allowed first Eliza and then her father to enter the house.

Eliza removed her hat and unbuttoned her coat and gloves and looked around the foyer which was wide with hardwood floors. A coat stand was next to the door, so she deposited her coat and hat on it.

An older rather stout woman with gray hair in a bun and large brown eyes came out of the back of the house in an apron, she wiped her hands on it and then held out her hand in a friendly manner.

"I'm Mrs. Ryan," the older woman said with an American accent. Camille, having been born in the United States, also had the same cadence in her voice as Mrs. Ryan Eliza noted to herself.

"Make yourself at home, Mrs. Wellington," Mrs. Ryan invited. "I have cooked a large dinner for you and Chief and Camille as I know that Chief has an enormous appetite. Cami will show you your room and the upstairs arrangement."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ryan. I hope we can be friends," Eliza said.

Mrs. Ryan simply nodded as Camille took over and showed Eliza upstairs.

At the top of the stairs on the second floor there was a narrow hallway with a bedroom on the left which was Thomas' and looked like it had been untouched for weeks.

"This room is the main bathroom which is the one that everyone uses except for Daddy and now you. You both have your own bathrooms."

"Our own bathrooms?"

Camille nodded.

Camille continued the tour by pointing out her bedroom and then her father's bedroom and then finally to Eliza's bedroom.

"My bedroom? Why do I have my own room? I thought I would be sharing William's, Eliza asked aloud extremely curious. "Did your parents have separate bedrooms?"

"Toward the end of mom's life, it was easier. She was sick much of the time and she felt that dad did not get enough sleep if they were in the same room, so this room was converted from a guest room to my mother's room."

Eliza raised her eyebrows at that and then William catapulted out of "his" bedroom and kissing his daughter on her head, said, "Cami, lass, can I steal your stepmother for a few minutes?"

"Certainly, dad, I will go downstairs and check on dinner. I hope we can talk again soon," Camille said and then gave Eliza an alarmingly tight side squeeze.

She whispered Eliza's ear. "I'm so glad you've come. "

Eliza squeezed Cami's waist in response to her very warm welcome. She gave a little chuckle and wide smile to William who smiled as he watched his 24-year-old daughter click down the hall in her heels.

"Cami is our family ambassador. She loves people. I know she's very happy you're here," William said taking Eliza's hand. He pulled her into "his" bedroom and closed the door.

"William, can I ask you a question?"

"Certainly, love," he said as he bent to kiss her. Eliza smiled as he kissed her, and she felt his arms around her. She was glad for a little familiarity in this strange environment.

When William did not stop kissing her, Eliza held up her hand.

"Darling, we can continue in a minute. I have a question."

"What is it?" William asked with trepidation. He never liked being a victim of one of Eliza's interrogations. She was very good at getting the answers she wanted when she wanted them. He came to sit on the end of the bed and drew Eliza into his arms. She stood between his thighs.

"Camille, was showing me the rooms up here and she pointed out that the room next to this one is mine. I somehow thought we would share a bedroom. She said it was because of Ellen's illness in the last few months. Is that correct or was there another reason?"

William smiled and said, "If you want to share this room and this bed with me, you'll get no objection from me. We can convert that to an office for you when you get your American Private Investigator license. I assume you will want to continue to work?"

"That's fine, William. Yes, I would like to share a room and a bed with my husband. You still haven't answered my question. Indulge me unless the reason hurts too much," Eliza said.

William hung his head for just a minute and then he raised it.

"Ellen and I maintained separate bedrooms long before she became ill. We tried not to let the children think there was anything wrong with it. I explained that even monarchs in England shared separate bedrooms."

"Well, I think that was probably true for Edward VII but current monarch or his grandmother you may be mistaken," Eliza said.

William laughed at that, and Eliza answered him with a chuckle and a big smile. The first he had seen from her since the boat came into port. He understood, though. Eliza had never been outside Europe, and she had to meet his daughter and his housekeeper, so it was new experience overload for her.

"Whatever," William chuckled. He kissed her hand before he continued.

"Ellen and I loved each other, and we quickly produced two children; however, after that I began to work very late. There was a lot of gangs and discord all over New York City. As Chief it was my responsibility to eradicate it and make life safer for the inhabitants of this great city."

"You did the same in London when you were Inspector Detective," Eliza observed. "Was it that much different?"

"I was Superintendent or Police Commissioner, so I had all the boroughs of New York City under my purview. A large dirty job but someone had to do it. Long hours and lots of distraction when I was home. Ellen was an attractive woman with suitors before me and three brothers who had friends who had dated her starting when she was a teen."

"I bet you were the best Police Commissioner this town had ever had, William. I know how you work."

William chuckled again.

"Continue, William," Eliza said. "Unless you would rather not."

"No, I can talk about it now. It was hard for a time, but Ellen and I worked through it. We still cared for one another, and we had the children. We found no reason to divorce. Then she got sick."

Eliza hugged William.

"I'm so sorry. Ellen was unfaithful to you, then?" Eliza whispered in his ear.

William pulled her back so he could look into her face.

"Yes. She had had a boyfriend before me. He was one of her brother George's friends. He got married a few years before I even knew Ellen. He had recently divorced, and I suppose Ellen was feeling neglected. I came home one night early, and I found them in bed together."

"Where were your children?"

"By this time, they had their activities after school and because Ellen was a teacher many people volunteered to bring them home if she or I were not available."

"We had a terrible fight, so I wound up taking this room and we slept in separate beds after that. I could not share my bed, myself with her after what she had done. I kept thinking of you and I felt you would never have betrayed me like that if we had ever married."

"No, I was never unfaithful to Alexander and, though, he was a good man, and I did get an offer for illicit romance I declined. However, the man asking was not one I had been in love with either. It seems Ellen had chosen you as a husband on the rebound. Did you know that?"

"Yes, after we were married, but I had told her all about you before I ever proposed. It was not like this man that Ellen bedded during our marriage."

William asked, "Was Blake ever unfaithful to you? I'm sorry. That's none of my business."

"No. that's all right. I can truthfully say that he was never unfaithful to me except like you where his work was concerned. I was guilty of the same infidelity before Alex was born and after he was about a year old."

"I was never unfaithful to Ellen except where work was concerned as you say."

Eliza stood there and held William in her arms very tightly.

"I'm sorry, William. I am so sorry. I will make it up to you, I promise."

William had his nose buried in her shoulder and tears of happiness escaped from his eyes. "You have nothing to make up for, my love. We have the rest of our lives together."

They stood like that for a little while and then William released her and said, "Let's get your things moved in here and then go down to supper. Remember how much Ivy used to love to cook for us and she would get very unhappy if we didn't eat?"

Eliza nodded.

"Well, remember that Mrs. Ryan is of Irish descendants, so think of Ivy's anger and triple it."

Eliza laughed long and hard.