Honorable Mention

Chapter 1 – William

William James Wellington, retired police chief of New York City, aged 60, stood at the gravesite in London of his old friend and mentor, Henry Scarlet. It was the anniversary of his death too many years in the past to count. Coincidentally it was also the first time William had set foot in London in 29 years.

Standing at the foot of the grave of his mentor and friend who had nurtured and guided him into the respected man he was, William's mind could not help but be thrown back to this day in 1883 when Henry was being lowered into the grave to lie beside his long dead wife, Lavinia, for eternity. It was sad because even then he knew that Henry was troubled.

With a slight smile, William also remembered the love of his life standing there, too, at the front of the small gathering doing her best not to fall apart-Eliza Scarlet-Henry's daughter and the woman he had known and loved since William had met her at their tender ages of 19 and 16.

Eliza Scarlet, aged 16, was blonde, blue eyed with a sharp tongue which William had found out shortly after she introduced herself in the kitchen of Henry's house. She also knew how to lie, too. He did not find out for years later that Eliza could not even boil an egg. It was funny. William did not care. Cooking is not difficult. Loving and wanting to be with Eliza was.

Days later, after their initial introduction, William had been invited to eat and stay at the Scarlet home by Henry Scarlet who had needed to keep William around as a witness on the murder case for which William had called the police to report.

Also, for some uncanny reason Henry trusted William and in so doing provided William money to buy some secondhand clothes, place to bathe, and Henry's own house to sleep.

This was definitely the moment when William came to the Scarlets' home, dressed and clean, that he fell in love with Henry's daughter, Eliza. Upon this second meeting, William could barely breathe at the sight of Eliza dressed to the nines and her hair coiffed to attend a party. William believed she had looked at him the same way now that he was wearing clean neat clothes, his face and hands clean, and his hair washed and brushed.

While at the party, William found it amusing one of the real reasons she wanted him to escort her to a fancy dinner party because she was determined to show her father that she was as good as or even better than any male police officer in solving a crime. Eventually, William was amazed at her intellect and cunning. Eliza was not a bad young woman just determined to be something that society at the time did not fully accept as a profession for an impoverished middle class young woman. Eliza wanted to be a policewoman.

Eliza, you always were insinuating yourself where you should not be. William thought.

Standing here now in front of Henry's grave, he still could feel the rushing heat that seeing her always gave him. He remembered he brushed a tear away from her cheek with his thumb the day they buried Henry. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her while she cried, but she was nothing to him other than a friend in the eyes of society to do that. Touching her or she touching him could set his body afire and his mind where it should not be, but his heart was always there just under the surface yearning for her. He wanted her so badly even back then. Unfortunately, he had tried everything to resist it. She always prodded him about womanizing, gambling, and drinking too much. Eliza I do not think you ever understood who I was at that time. Would you understand me now or even who I am now? Maybe not. Too much time has passed. I only know that back then I was a young man, under a lot of stress, loving a younger woman who's last thought was to say she loved me and wanted me, too. I found out too late that, yes, you did love me and wanted me as well.

How he had loved her. How she had broken his heart.

"Well, Henry, you've been gone a long time. I still miss you for sure. I think you would be proud of the way I turned out. From your help and guidance I finally became a Superintendent, or what they call in my adopted homeland, Chief of Police. In a large city like London but across the pond. New York City in the United States has been my home for nearly 30 years.

I'm back in London now. Not sure for how long or why I even returned. Ships move a lot faster now and the world is changing so fast that I find I cannot keep up. I returned I suppose because the only things I have left are my American son and daughter. I retired just this past month. I have attained a lot of awards and commendations and I have you to thank for setting my path on the straight and narrow when it could have been so different. I could have been so different.

As you may know Eliza and I tried but she and I just could not compromise to make things work. It's been 29 years since I left her that rainy March evening feeling that a year's separation would surely bring us together in the end and although I did love my recently deceased wife, I never ever stopped being in love with your daughter."

Just for a second William looked up at the sky which was blue and filled with those puffy clouds. An odd day for London as most of the days he could remember were filled with clouds and rain.

As he looked back behind him for a minute he was sure that he felt someone behind him. He thought maybe it was Henry's ghost coming out of the grave or down from heaven to comfort him in his odd mood. Then he noticed that what he saw was not an apparition at all, but Eliza Scarlet Blake as she had added the name of the man she eventually married after she turned down his marriage proposal.

Ah…Eliza…