Delectable Candy
By Michelle Harris
Aka Lady M. Harris
Chapter 1
1871, London...
They were too loud. Candy smothered a soft laugh underneath her covers, trying not to twitch, thereby giving herself away. She could hear her friends, Nila and Alys trying to sneak into her room without making a noise. They failed miserly. Gasps of soft laughter, feet usually so nimble tripped over the thick rug in the entry way because of the darkness and the furniture in the sparsely filled room was moved around by their clumsiness. The sounds of giggling laughter came to an abrupt halt before Candy's bundled form. Candy felt her ears prickle, knowing without seeing, that her friends were finally upon her.
"Candy, wake up you silly nilly!" Nila erupted into more laughter as she nudged Candy's shoulder. It was a glorious Saturday morning, with the sun shining brightly against the early fall morning. The leaves on the trees were turning colors, turning the school grounds of Saint Martin's Catholic girls school into a beautiful showcase of oranges, beige, browns, yellows and reds against the backdrop of the antique and majestic stone buildings and buttressed, brick church.
Alys laughed quietly, looking over her shoulder and hoping that she didn't disturb Candy's roommate with her laughter, who was buried beneath her covers, snoring quietly. When no movement was discernible Alys returned her attention back to Candy who continued to ignore her school friends.
Nila glanced at her friend as Alys put a finger to her lips to indicate silence. Then she winked at her and Alys had to suppress a chuckle. Nila reached over to Candy's shoulders and grabbed her blankets, swiftly taking the entire covers off her in one elaborate sweep.
Candy gasped in surprise and shuddered as the cold air hit her legs, curled up near her stomach. Her once sleepy eyes flew open wide in righteous outrage at her friends. "Honestly!" She gasped with heated conviction, blinking her emerald gaze as she tried to clear the sleep from her mind. "A girl cannot even sleep in around here without being bullied by her friends."
Her friends laughed outright at her comments and Candy could not help but to smile along with them, if a bit grumpily.
"You cannot mean to sleep your entire morning away, when it is so beautiful outside!" Alys continued laugh as she watched Candy roll into a sitting position.
"And since when have you become such a morning person, Alys?" Candy yawned, stretching her legs out in front of her.
"Since the college boys from Eaton have arrived in town last night, that's when!" Nila added nodding her head with Alys.
"Boys?" Candy questioned, not surprised by the announcement and laughed at the same time, glancing at her friends as she slid off her bed. She looked over at her roommate and noticed not a budge from the rise and fall beneath the covers. Litty could sleep like the dead, she thought smiling.
"But of course, boys!" Alys grinned. "Why else would we be about at such an ungodly hour?" Alys waved her gloved hands about her as if to emphasize her point.
"Suuush! Alys, you don't Mother Maria to hear you!" Nila gasped out with a smiling whisper, sitting on Candy's rumpled bed. "I swear she got ears as long as Norway!" Nila added as Alys started laughing again.
Candy's smile grew wider at her friends' outrageous description of Mother Maria. "You don't even know where Norway is, Nila!"
"So...but you get the point, don't you?" Nila shrugged her dainty shoulders. She brushed an offending piece of lint off her elegant day dress, the yellow and white strips of her velvet trim dress matched her small, yellow kid slippers. Crisp, white gloves donned her small hands. "If she knew we were up and about this early, we have a fine time trying to get rid of her."
Candy shook her head, the long, golden curls rippling with the movement of her head, swaying enticingly beside her hips. Smiling, she walked over to her armoire to pull out her best dress. It wasn't the newest of dresses she owned, and quite frankly, it was becoming too girlish for her to wear. It was pale blue, the sleeves were quite short, the hem of the dress now above her ankles and inappropriate for a girl of her eighteen years and of course, it was tight around her chest. Even the waist needed tightening, since her waist had somehow become quite small in the past year. Yet, it was the best dress that she owned.
"Oh Candy, you can't possibly be thinking of wearing that?" Alys gasped out anxiously, walking over to Candy and rudely snatched the dress from her hand. She flung the dress on the wooden floor with flourish, a disgusted curl on her lovely lips.
Candy frowned, "why ever not? It's the only thing I own that doesn't stretch too tightly over my-my-" she stammered with embarrassment as she glanced down at her chest. The offending mounds were no longer small bumps, but quite round and shapely. The last several months had proved quite a change in that area of her anatomy. It wasn't the only change; her entire figure had blossomed. Where she had been quite slim before, everything seemed to have filled out and curved in all the right places. Some areas more than others, she thought with dismay again as she continued to stare at her bosom with faint dislike. As if it had a life of its own, Candy thought with distaste. Because of her change, the boys from the surrounding schools were swarming around her like buzzing bees and did their best to get her notice them. To her half-hearted disgust and her friends' delight.
"Oh I know that!" Alys shook her head gently at her friend, not wanting to hurt Candy's feelings. "But I brought one of my dresses for you to wear. The one that daddy had ordered last year and got the measurements all wrong." She rolled her China blue eyes heavenward in disgust. "I told him to leave it up to mama..." Then shaking her head as if to clear her train of thoughts, "As a matter of fact, I brought the other dresses as well from the trunk that he sent. None of them fit quite right in the well, um--you know and I might as well get some use out of them." Alys finished, noticing the frown that was beginning to form on her friend's face.
Nila could see the wheels turning in Candy's mind as Candy's face began to frown and Nila knew that Alys would have to think of something else far more creditable for Candy to accept the gift. She knew how much pride Candy had and something like this would only be thrown back into their faces. "That is...you can use them until you can pay back Alys for the dresses, Candy," Nila added, noticing Alys head nodding along with her. There, now Candy couldn't say no to the dresses, Nila thought.
Candy frowned delicately at her two friends, who stood earnestly watching her face for any type of disagreement on her part. She knew what they were trying to do and her heart went out to both of them. One so fair, the other a dark beauty.
Nila's father was of Oriental descent, marrying a German wife along his travels. Although his money and fortune was new, coming from the working class of the Bourgeois, his wife was of the upper class, a baron's daughter. The combination of the two cultures had produced an exotic looking daughter. Nila's skin was golden and smooth, her brown eyes almond shaped and cat-like accompanied by full, red lips. Her hair was as black as midnight reaching below her slim waist, her body quite delicate looking and curving nicely. Though she was sweet when she wanted to be, Nila was best known around the school for her sharp tongue and clever mind.
Alys was the very opposite, tall, curvy and refined in her form. Her father, a viscount was from a rich and powerful family in Spain. Alys' mother was of equal stature and beauty to her father's flattering looks. Pale blonde hair trailed below her waist, pretty sky-blue eyes and a creamy complexion that any girl would die for was the full description of Alys. Alys enjoyed flaunting her beauty around the girls at school.
Alys scoffed at Nila's ideas of being so quick-minded around men of the world. Men didn't appreciate a quick mind, was Alys' fond saying. Candy would only blush, as Alys would wave her hand like and shrug her shoulders as if she was a born coquette. Nila would grin at their friend, wondering how times Alys had practiced the gesture in front of her mirror. Men, Alys would continue, appreciated a woman who did not talk, a woman who was pretty to look at and a woman who would bear their heir. That was what men wanted. Alys would then shrug her pretty shoulders again as if she was right in her deductions nonchalantly and say that she would keep her opinions to the women of their class. For a woman ruled her household, and in return she would eventually rule her husband, whether he knew it or not. Candy and Nila would only laugh at her comments and wondered where she had gotten such advice. Why my mother of course, Alys would laugh along with her friends.
Of course, Nila would have to add her comments to Alys' such worldly deductions, that it depended on the man of the household and whether or not he wanted to be ruled, especially by his wife. Candy would join in and say something about love and honor between the wife and husband, spoiling the entire conversation. You're such an innocent Nila would proclaim arrogantly to Candy. Candy would quip back that she was and that she knew for certainty that her friends, Nila and Alys were too. Which would only have the young girls laughing again.
It was a wonder to Candy how she had become such good friends with such an unlikely pair. However, their friendship had clicked from day one and they had been steadfast friends for nearly two years. The three were rarely seen without the other. Candy wondered how she had got along the year before they had arrived at St. Martin's.
"Oh, oh all right if you insist!" Candy exclaimed with feigned exasperation to her friends, Alys and Nila, taking the dress from Alys' hand. It would be nice to wear something nice for a change, she thought admiring the pale green taffeta dress in her hand. She remembered Alys' shriek of dismay at the trunk's contents that she had ordered when they arrived for her. All five of the dresses were too short in height, too large around her bosom and too tight around Alys' waist. A month later, a letter followed from Alys' mother explaining the situation and that her father had actually ordered the dresses on behalf of Alys' mother. Alys could not understand why her father's steward had ordered the dresses without seeking the advice of her mother's closest advisor within their household while Alys' mother recovered from a very bad cold.
"I still don't know why I put up with such friends?" Candy continued to mumble as Nila and Alys exchanged glances of triumph. Candy's gaze slid to the other dresses sitting on her chair that she had failed to notice earlier. Sure enough, the other four dresses were there. Candy sighed again. They were beautiful.
"And I don't know why you don't contact that wayward guardian of yours, Candy," Nila huffed as she sat back against Candy's bed. They had had this conversation before. "I mean, you're eighteen now...pretty soon you'll have to leave the school," Nila commented, glancing at Alys for some support on the situation. "I mean, you're practically living as a pauper, Candy! And we both know he's as rich as an Arab in a harem."
Alys shrugged, wondering at her friend's choice of words, adding, "you know that Nila is leaving in a couple of months, to be married to her betrothed. I will follow by the end of the year," she suppressed another shudder, for she didn't look forward to it. But as it was, her life was already set in motion for her. Candy's however was still hanging in the air, even after recently turning eighteen a couple of months ago.
Candy smiled as she pulled the dress over her head, taking a deep breath and said, "but I did."
"What?" Came their initial response of shock of the being the last informed.
"When did you do that?" Alys breathed in with surprise.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Nila gasped with outrage at Candy.
Candy shrugged her shoulders, smiling widely at them. "I still have not been able to get a hold of Albert. Apparently, my letter was forwarded to Scotland where he has been residing for the past year. But I have yet to hear from him," she finished and began buttoning the front of her dress.
"Perhaps, soon you'll hear from him," Nila voiced out loud, uneasy about the news. They wondered what would become of their friend should her guardian decide to contact her.
"Don't frown at me like that!" Candy stopped buttoning her dress as she watched Nila and Alys exchange glances of worry. "I'm sure that when the time is right, I'll hear something."
When Alys opened her mouth to say something else, Candy shook her head negatively. Alys subsided and smiled wanly.
"You're right of course," Nila replied, nodding her head solemnly.
"Oh...help me with these buttons, please!" Candy implored her friends becoming frustrated with the tiny buttons along the front of her dress and tactfully changing the subject. They jumped up, dispensing the uncertainty between the three and laughing proceeded to help Candy get dressed.
Richmond, Virginia...
Albert sighed with slight annoyance as he continued to read the letter before him. His deep blue eyes rapidly scanned the contents of the papers. The letter was from Candy forwarded to his London address and then to Scotland, in hopes of reaching him in time before his departure back to his estates in Richmond. Alas, the letter missed its mark to its elusive addressee and was once again forwarded to him in Richmond. Hence, a nearly five months delay in reaching him. He knew quite well that Candy probably thought that he had abandoned her. And rightly so in her deductions based on the amount of traveling he had been doing lately, his mouth turned at the thought.
Thoughts of a golden girl with sparkling green eyes and a sprinkle of mischievous freckles flickered across his mind for a brief moment. He sighed softly. For he surely knew that the young girl he had left behind on Penny's Hill, three years ago was no longer the young girl he remembered. As time had its way of revealing it's natural courses, the girl was probably a young woman now.
He smiled ironically to his thoughts. Just as she was now probably a lovely, young woman in the prime of her youth, the past years had changed him in more ways than he cared to remember.
Upon his inheritance of the Rutherford fortune, he had to reluctantly conceded to the extent of his holdings, especially after finally admitting publicly his position within his family. It had been a shock to most of the family members, he remembered. They had no idea that he; young Albert was actually the "Uncle Ale." Uncle Ale had been termed by family members as the mysterious and unknown caretaker of the Rutherford fortune. The situation then had suited him fine, trying to find his purpose in life and who he wanted to be.
His search for direction and purpose nearly killed him in the process and it bothered him more than he cared to admit. His adventures to Africa to travel its vast continent and his daring exploits to bring back a diamond large enough to fill his palm, just for the thrill of having accomplishing the impossible was nearly the cause of his death. If it weren't for the Maasai girl and Johnson, he would be dead by now. He recovered from the gunshot wounds he received from the guards at the De Beers' diamond beaches, traveled back to the states and then moved on to Richmond. While aboard the train to Richmond, it crashed targeted by robbers for its hidden haul of gold that government officials were trying to transport. From the crash, he ended up suffering from a bout of amnesia. That took no less than a half of year to recover from.
Yet, as he took over the financial aspects of his estates, he found an immense pleasure and satisfaction in running them. He watched his coffers grow the last couple of years beyond that of what was given to him and knowing that his extended family, generation to the next generation would lack for nothing underneath his hand.
On the contrary to what Candy probably thought, Albert had not forgotten about her at all. Upon her eighteenth birthday he was reminded quite well that she was now of eligible marriage age. As forethought, he had made lengthy preparations for a return to London to fetch his young charge. His London townhouse was already prepared to receive Candy upon her arrival. However, the situation with his grandmother, Ally had to be dealt with first and foremost. Although his ancestral home was in Scotland, he deemed it a far more appropriate place for his grandmother's residence. The mansion was far too large for a bachelor of his state and his grandmother rather liked the idea of playing hostess to his huge home. It also afforded him the luxury of making sure the place was properly taken care of by installing her and a formidable army of servants under her care.
He carefully put away the tattered letter into his breast pocket of his elegant, navy linen jacket and sat back against his high back, leather-grained chair to stare pensively outside of his library window. He did not see the large, French windows that overlooked the lush green lawns, immaculately trimmed brushes and shrubs that surrounded the house. Nor did he take heed of the stately trees where the leaves were beginning to turn colors from the onset of fall, trees that lined the impressive driveway to his white, row-columnar mansion. His late Uncle, William Albert Sterling, rebuilt the house burnt down by the Carpet-baggers during the revolutionary war of the states and it was half the size of their ancestral home in Glasgow, Scotland.
Albert was hoping to slow the pace of his traveling between his estates. He hoped to settle Candy into London's society, marry her off to a good match and then return back to his estates by the end of the following spring, should his planning and just a little of Lady Luck work in good favor for him. His ship was due to leave the following day for London, reminding him once more of the last minute details that he wanted attended to before his long departure for Europe. However, as Albert knew from past experiences, he knew that Lady Luck nor Lady Fate ever yielded to the whims of human musings, however carefully planned their original intentions.
Chapter 2 coming soon.
Author's notes: This story was originally written for the 1970's anime called Candy Candy. I made some changes to fit my needs and may pursue publishing it in future. But that's the far future, if it ever happens. The complete story, written exactly for the anime sits at my website: http://ladymharris.homestead.com. Along with some Sailor Moon fan fiction that I'll try to get posted here eventually. Any questions or comments please feel free to contact me ([email protected]). No flames, please. Thanks.
By Michelle Harris
Aka Lady M. Harris
Chapter 1
1871, London...
They were too loud. Candy smothered a soft laugh underneath her covers, trying not to twitch, thereby giving herself away. She could hear her friends, Nila and Alys trying to sneak into her room without making a noise. They failed miserly. Gasps of soft laughter, feet usually so nimble tripped over the thick rug in the entry way because of the darkness and the furniture in the sparsely filled room was moved around by their clumsiness. The sounds of giggling laughter came to an abrupt halt before Candy's bundled form. Candy felt her ears prickle, knowing without seeing, that her friends were finally upon her.
"Candy, wake up you silly nilly!" Nila erupted into more laughter as she nudged Candy's shoulder. It was a glorious Saturday morning, with the sun shining brightly against the early fall morning. The leaves on the trees were turning colors, turning the school grounds of Saint Martin's Catholic girls school into a beautiful showcase of oranges, beige, browns, yellows and reds against the backdrop of the antique and majestic stone buildings and buttressed, brick church.
Alys laughed quietly, looking over her shoulder and hoping that she didn't disturb Candy's roommate with her laughter, who was buried beneath her covers, snoring quietly. When no movement was discernible Alys returned her attention back to Candy who continued to ignore her school friends.
Nila glanced at her friend as Alys put a finger to her lips to indicate silence. Then she winked at her and Alys had to suppress a chuckle. Nila reached over to Candy's shoulders and grabbed her blankets, swiftly taking the entire covers off her in one elaborate sweep.
Candy gasped in surprise and shuddered as the cold air hit her legs, curled up near her stomach. Her once sleepy eyes flew open wide in righteous outrage at her friends. "Honestly!" She gasped with heated conviction, blinking her emerald gaze as she tried to clear the sleep from her mind. "A girl cannot even sleep in around here without being bullied by her friends."
Her friends laughed outright at her comments and Candy could not help but to smile along with them, if a bit grumpily.
"You cannot mean to sleep your entire morning away, when it is so beautiful outside!" Alys continued laugh as she watched Candy roll into a sitting position.
"And since when have you become such a morning person, Alys?" Candy yawned, stretching her legs out in front of her.
"Since the college boys from Eaton have arrived in town last night, that's when!" Nila added nodding her head with Alys.
"Boys?" Candy questioned, not surprised by the announcement and laughed at the same time, glancing at her friends as she slid off her bed. She looked over at her roommate and noticed not a budge from the rise and fall beneath the covers. Litty could sleep like the dead, she thought smiling.
"But of course, boys!" Alys grinned. "Why else would we be about at such an ungodly hour?" Alys waved her gloved hands about her as if to emphasize her point.
"Suuush! Alys, you don't Mother Maria to hear you!" Nila gasped out with a smiling whisper, sitting on Candy's rumpled bed. "I swear she got ears as long as Norway!" Nila added as Alys started laughing again.
Candy's smile grew wider at her friends' outrageous description of Mother Maria. "You don't even know where Norway is, Nila!"
"So...but you get the point, don't you?" Nila shrugged her dainty shoulders. She brushed an offending piece of lint off her elegant day dress, the yellow and white strips of her velvet trim dress matched her small, yellow kid slippers. Crisp, white gloves donned her small hands. "If she knew we were up and about this early, we have a fine time trying to get rid of her."
Candy shook her head, the long, golden curls rippling with the movement of her head, swaying enticingly beside her hips. Smiling, she walked over to her armoire to pull out her best dress. It wasn't the newest of dresses she owned, and quite frankly, it was becoming too girlish for her to wear. It was pale blue, the sleeves were quite short, the hem of the dress now above her ankles and inappropriate for a girl of her eighteen years and of course, it was tight around her chest. Even the waist needed tightening, since her waist had somehow become quite small in the past year. Yet, it was the best dress that she owned.
"Oh Candy, you can't possibly be thinking of wearing that?" Alys gasped out anxiously, walking over to Candy and rudely snatched the dress from her hand. She flung the dress on the wooden floor with flourish, a disgusted curl on her lovely lips.
Candy frowned, "why ever not? It's the only thing I own that doesn't stretch too tightly over my-my-" she stammered with embarrassment as she glanced down at her chest. The offending mounds were no longer small bumps, but quite round and shapely. The last several months had proved quite a change in that area of her anatomy. It wasn't the only change; her entire figure had blossomed. Where she had been quite slim before, everything seemed to have filled out and curved in all the right places. Some areas more than others, she thought with dismay again as she continued to stare at her bosom with faint dislike. As if it had a life of its own, Candy thought with distaste. Because of her change, the boys from the surrounding schools were swarming around her like buzzing bees and did their best to get her notice them. To her half-hearted disgust and her friends' delight.
"Oh I know that!" Alys shook her head gently at her friend, not wanting to hurt Candy's feelings. "But I brought one of my dresses for you to wear. The one that daddy had ordered last year and got the measurements all wrong." She rolled her China blue eyes heavenward in disgust. "I told him to leave it up to mama..." Then shaking her head as if to clear her train of thoughts, "As a matter of fact, I brought the other dresses as well from the trunk that he sent. None of them fit quite right in the well, um--you know and I might as well get some use out of them." Alys finished, noticing the frown that was beginning to form on her friend's face.
Nila could see the wheels turning in Candy's mind as Candy's face began to frown and Nila knew that Alys would have to think of something else far more creditable for Candy to accept the gift. She knew how much pride Candy had and something like this would only be thrown back into their faces. "That is...you can use them until you can pay back Alys for the dresses, Candy," Nila added, noticing Alys head nodding along with her. There, now Candy couldn't say no to the dresses, Nila thought.
Candy frowned delicately at her two friends, who stood earnestly watching her face for any type of disagreement on her part. She knew what they were trying to do and her heart went out to both of them. One so fair, the other a dark beauty.
Nila's father was of Oriental descent, marrying a German wife along his travels. Although his money and fortune was new, coming from the working class of the Bourgeois, his wife was of the upper class, a baron's daughter. The combination of the two cultures had produced an exotic looking daughter. Nila's skin was golden and smooth, her brown eyes almond shaped and cat-like accompanied by full, red lips. Her hair was as black as midnight reaching below her slim waist, her body quite delicate looking and curving nicely. Though she was sweet when she wanted to be, Nila was best known around the school for her sharp tongue and clever mind.
Alys was the very opposite, tall, curvy and refined in her form. Her father, a viscount was from a rich and powerful family in Spain. Alys' mother was of equal stature and beauty to her father's flattering looks. Pale blonde hair trailed below her waist, pretty sky-blue eyes and a creamy complexion that any girl would die for was the full description of Alys. Alys enjoyed flaunting her beauty around the girls at school.
Alys scoffed at Nila's ideas of being so quick-minded around men of the world. Men didn't appreciate a quick mind, was Alys' fond saying. Candy would only blush, as Alys would wave her hand like and shrug her shoulders as if she was a born coquette. Nila would grin at their friend, wondering how times Alys had practiced the gesture in front of her mirror. Men, Alys would continue, appreciated a woman who did not talk, a woman who was pretty to look at and a woman who would bear their heir. That was what men wanted. Alys would then shrug her pretty shoulders again as if she was right in her deductions nonchalantly and say that she would keep her opinions to the women of their class. For a woman ruled her household, and in return she would eventually rule her husband, whether he knew it or not. Candy and Nila would only laugh at her comments and wondered where she had gotten such advice. Why my mother of course, Alys would laugh along with her friends.
Of course, Nila would have to add her comments to Alys' such worldly deductions, that it depended on the man of the household and whether or not he wanted to be ruled, especially by his wife. Candy would join in and say something about love and honor between the wife and husband, spoiling the entire conversation. You're such an innocent Nila would proclaim arrogantly to Candy. Candy would quip back that she was and that she knew for certainty that her friends, Nila and Alys were too. Which would only have the young girls laughing again.
It was a wonder to Candy how she had become such good friends with such an unlikely pair. However, their friendship had clicked from day one and they had been steadfast friends for nearly two years. The three were rarely seen without the other. Candy wondered how she had got along the year before they had arrived at St. Martin's.
"Oh, oh all right if you insist!" Candy exclaimed with feigned exasperation to her friends, Alys and Nila, taking the dress from Alys' hand. It would be nice to wear something nice for a change, she thought admiring the pale green taffeta dress in her hand. She remembered Alys' shriek of dismay at the trunk's contents that she had ordered when they arrived for her. All five of the dresses were too short in height, too large around her bosom and too tight around Alys' waist. A month later, a letter followed from Alys' mother explaining the situation and that her father had actually ordered the dresses on behalf of Alys' mother. Alys could not understand why her father's steward had ordered the dresses without seeking the advice of her mother's closest advisor within their household while Alys' mother recovered from a very bad cold.
"I still don't know why I put up with such friends?" Candy continued to mumble as Nila and Alys exchanged glances of triumph. Candy's gaze slid to the other dresses sitting on her chair that she had failed to notice earlier. Sure enough, the other four dresses were there. Candy sighed again. They were beautiful.
"And I don't know why you don't contact that wayward guardian of yours, Candy," Nila huffed as she sat back against Candy's bed. They had had this conversation before. "I mean, you're eighteen now...pretty soon you'll have to leave the school," Nila commented, glancing at Alys for some support on the situation. "I mean, you're practically living as a pauper, Candy! And we both know he's as rich as an Arab in a harem."
Alys shrugged, wondering at her friend's choice of words, adding, "you know that Nila is leaving in a couple of months, to be married to her betrothed. I will follow by the end of the year," she suppressed another shudder, for she didn't look forward to it. But as it was, her life was already set in motion for her. Candy's however was still hanging in the air, even after recently turning eighteen a couple of months ago.
Candy smiled as she pulled the dress over her head, taking a deep breath and said, "but I did."
"What?" Came their initial response of shock of the being the last informed.
"When did you do that?" Alys breathed in with surprise.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Nila gasped with outrage at Candy.
Candy shrugged her shoulders, smiling widely at them. "I still have not been able to get a hold of Albert. Apparently, my letter was forwarded to Scotland where he has been residing for the past year. But I have yet to hear from him," she finished and began buttoning the front of her dress.
"Perhaps, soon you'll hear from him," Nila voiced out loud, uneasy about the news. They wondered what would become of their friend should her guardian decide to contact her.
"Don't frown at me like that!" Candy stopped buttoning her dress as she watched Nila and Alys exchange glances of worry. "I'm sure that when the time is right, I'll hear something."
When Alys opened her mouth to say something else, Candy shook her head negatively. Alys subsided and smiled wanly.
"You're right of course," Nila replied, nodding her head solemnly.
"Oh...help me with these buttons, please!" Candy implored her friends becoming frustrated with the tiny buttons along the front of her dress and tactfully changing the subject. They jumped up, dispensing the uncertainty between the three and laughing proceeded to help Candy get dressed.
Richmond, Virginia...
Albert sighed with slight annoyance as he continued to read the letter before him. His deep blue eyes rapidly scanned the contents of the papers. The letter was from Candy forwarded to his London address and then to Scotland, in hopes of reaching him in time before his departure back to his estates in Richmond. Alas, the letter missed its mark to its elusive addressee and was once again forwarded to him in Richmond. Hence, a nearly five months delay in reaching him. He knew quite well that Candy probably thought that he had abandoned her. And rightly so in her deductions based on the amount of traveling he had been doing lately, his mouth turned at the thought.
Thoughts of a golden girl with sparkling green eyes and a sprinkle of mischievous freckles flickered across his mind for a brief moment. He sighed softly. For he surely knew that the young girl he had left behind on Penny's Hill, three years ago was no longer the young girl he remembered. As time had its way of revealing it's natural courses, the girl was probably a young woman now.
He smiled ironically to his thoughts. Just as she was now probably a lovely, young woman in the prime of her youth, the past years had changed him in more ways than he cared to remember.
Upon his inheritance of the Rutherford fortune, he had to reluctantly conceded to the extent of his holdings, especially after finally admitting publicly his position within his family. It had been a shock to most of the family members, he remembered. They had no idea that he; young Albert was actually the "Uncle Ale." Uncle Ale had been termed by family members as the mysterious and unknown caretaker of the Rutherford fortune. The situation then had suited him fine, trying to find his purpose in life and who he wanted to be.
His search for direction and purpose nearly killed him in the process and it bothered him more than he cared to admit. His adventures to Africa to travel its vast continent and his daring exploits to bring back a diamond large enough to fill his palm, just for the thrill of having accomplishing the impossible was nearly the cause of his death. If it weren't for the Maasai girl and Johnson, he would be dead by now. He recovered from the gunshot wounds he received from the guards at the De Beers' diamond beaches, traveled back to the states and then moved on to Richmond. While aboard the train to Richmond, it crashed targeted by robbers for its hidden haul of gold that government officials were trying to transport. From the crash, he ended up suffering from a bout of amnesia. That took no less than a half of year to recover from.
Yet, as he took over the financial aspects of his estates, he found an immense pleasure and satisfaction in running them. He watched his coffers grow the last couple of years beyond that of what was given to him and knowing that his extended family, generation to the next generation would lack for nothing underneath his hand.
On the contrary to what Candy probably thought, Albert had not forgotten about her at all. Upon her eighteenth birthday he was reminded quite well that she was now of eligible marriage age. As forethought, he had made lengthy preparations for a return to London to fetch his young charge. His London townhouse was already prepared to receive Candy upon her arrival. However, the situation with his grandmother, Ally had to be dealt with first and foremost. Although his ancestral home was in Scotland, he deemed it a far more appropriate place for his grandmother's residence. The mansion was far too large for a bachelor of his state and his grandmother rather liked the idea of playing hostess to his huge home. It also afforded him the luxury of making sure the place was properly taken care of by installing her and a formidable army of servants under her care.
He carefully put away the tattered letter into his breast pocket of his elegant, navy linen jacket and sat back against his high back, leather-grained chair to stare pensively outside of his library window. He did not see the large, French windows that overlooked the lush green lawns, immaculately trimmed brushes and shrubs that surrounded the house. Nor did he take heed of the stately trees where the leaves were beginning to turn colors from the onset of fall, trees that lined the impressive driveway to his white, row-columnar mansion. His late Uncle, William Albert Sterling, rebuilt the house burnt down by the Carpet-baggers during the revolutionary war of the states and it was half the size of their ancestral home in Glasgow, Scotland.
Albert was hoping to slow the pace of his traveling between his estates. He hoped to settle Candy into London's society, marry her off to a good match and then return back to his estates by the end of the following spring, should his planning and just a little of Lady Luck work in good favor for him. His ship was due to leave the following day for London, reminding him once more of the last minute details that he wanted attended to before his long departure for Europe. However, as Albert knew from past experiences, he knew that Lady Luck nor Lady Fate ever yielded to the whims of human musings, however carefully planned their original intentions.
Chapter 2 coming soon.
Author's notes: This story was originally written for the 1970's anime called Candy Candy. I made some changes to fit my needs and may pursue publishing it in future. But that's the far future, if it ever happens. The complete story, written exactly for the anime sits at my website: http://ladymharris.homestead.com. Along with some Sailor Moon fan fiction that I'll try to get posted here eventually. Any questions or comments please feel free to contact me ([email protected]). No flames, please. Thanks.