Previously: Mercenary Leon meets MI6 spies David, the Prince of Wales and socialite Wallis Spencer. David becomes king then abdicates to marry Wallis. He becomes Bahamas governor. Leon dies and his son Sidney becomes a mercenary. Sidney saves David in a riot.
A couple of weeks passed before normalcy returned to Nassau. Wallis arrived by ocean liner from New York City. David met her on the pier, hugged her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips as the newsreel cameras captured the expression of endearment for the whole world to see.
It wasn’t a bad kiss. Why they didn’t do that sort of thing more often? MI6 would mind. What it didn’t know wouldn’t hurt it. Oh yes. The damned newsreel cameras. They recorded everything.
They even captured his actions on the night of the riot. Now the whole world knew him to be the heroic prince of action. Except he wasn’t a prince anymore.
Wallis’s first appearance was at Red Cross headquarters, checking on how the children and elderly were faring after the riot. She gathered all the volunteers into a bus and with a contingent of police drove over the hills to the shanties and camps to hand out food, drink and hugs.
A knock at his office door in the Governor’s Palace broke into David’s thoughts. Before he could say come in, Wallis entered with a young black man looking well-groomed and wearing white slacks and a crisp white shirt open at the neck.
“David, darling, here’s someone who says you want to see him,” Wallis announced. “The girls and I went to one of the shanty towns. This young man waiting for us when the bus stopped. He told me you had invited him to the palace.”
His mind was a blank, but he composed himself enough to smile, stand and walk around the desk, his hand extended.
“No need to rise,” the young man said in a humble voice. “It was nothing, really. I didn’t think at all. It just seemed to me you needed to be pushed out of the way of all the confusion.”
The incident flashed through David’s mind. The young man lifted him and carried him to safety during the riot.
“I’m glad you remembered my request to visit so I could thank you properly.” He shook he boy’s hand. “You have quite a strong grip. And you must be strong because you didn’t just shove me out of danger but actually lifted me.”
“I’m a fisherman. It’s quite strenuous work.”
“You haven’t told us your name.” Wallis didn’t smile.
“Sidney Johnson.”
“Well, Sidney, she continued, “I don’t think I would have taken your request seriously if you weren’t so smartly dressed. ”
“My father said just because we are fishermen doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know proper dress for the proper occasion.”
“Well-spoken too,” David added.
“My father read the newspaper to me every day. I still read the paper every day. That’s how I knew the Duchess would be in the northern hills today.”
“He must be very proud of you,” David said.
“He’s dead.” Sidney paused. “Fishing can be a very dangerous business.”
“Where do you live?” David asked.
“Eleuthera, although I visit my friends in the hills north of Nassau often.”
David arched an eyebrow. “Eleuthera. What a coincidence. I had a cousin—a member of the Romanov family—who lived in a large house on Eleuthera around the time of the Russian revolution. Her husband died of a heart attack rumor had it, and she was never heard from again.” He paused to light a cigarette. “Are you familiar with any large houses on Eleuthera?”
Sidney didn’t pause. “Yes, hacienda style. I pass by it every day.”
Wallis wore her tight smile she used when speaking to someone who didn’t really interest her. “Do you live with your mother?”
“She died shortly after my father passed.”
David stared at Sidney.
He looks like an older man I’ve seen before but I can’t place him.
“I need a valet.” Something in his gut told him he needed to learn more about this young man.
Wallis arched an eyebrow at Sidney. “You know what a valet is, don’t you?”
“Of course,” he replied. “A valet takes care of his gentleman.”
“Well put.” David turned to his wife. “So what do you think, Wallis?”
She shrugged. “He’ll be your valet.”
“Being a governor and a member of the royal family, I am privy to a great amount of knowledge the general public doesn’t need to know,” David explained. “Do you know how to keep a secret?”
A shadow of a smile crossed Sidney’s face. “You’d be surprised how well I can keep a secret.”
There was another knock, and David yelled, “Come in.”
The butler opened the door. “Mr. Harry Oakes is here to see you, Your Highness.”
Wallis turned and led Sidney to the door. “It’s just as well. I need to find a place in the palace for this young man to sleep.” She stopped to nod to the new visitor. “Harry, have you lost weight?”
“Why no.” His eyes widened.
“You should, you know.” Then she and Sidney left.
David tried not to smile as Harry looked down at his expansive stomach. With him was a blonde who wore too much makeup in a vain attempt to look young. He could not help but notice that when they passed Wallis and Sidney, the blonde snapped her head toward the Bahamian for a moment.
Harry stuck out his hand to David. “Sorry for the interruption, Your Highness, but I wanted to drop by to thank you for the way you handled those bums a couple of weeks ago.”
“They’re not bums, Harry,” the blonde corrected him. They’re black Bahamians who are tired of getting paid less than the white guys.”
David didn’t know who this blonde was, but he liked her already.
She stuck out her hand. She had a firm handshake. David was certain he liked her now.
“My name is Aline. Harry promoted me from poker dealer to his personal assistant. We have a long history together. He owes me, for a lot of things he wouldn’t want me to mention here. “
Harry’s face reddened. “You and your jokes, Aline. The Duke might get the wrong idea.”
“Both of you have a seat.” David waved at two padded chairs.
“Harry, I want you to call a meeting of the Bay Street boys,” David began as he sat, “and announce Bahamian workers on the RAF project will receive a forty percent raise. They’ll know it’s still less than the whites make but at least it’s a start. Hell, throw in free lunches.”
Harry puffed out his red cheeks. “I will not! Why, it’ll be like rewarding them for the riot!”
“Listen to the man,” Aline muttered. “He was the King of England. He knows what he’s talking about.”
David couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
“Okay. I’ll call the meeting and suggest it to them, but I can tell you right now they won’t go for it.”
“Listen to the Duke, Harry,” Aline responded. “They’ll go for it.”
David felt his heart beat faster. As he walked them to the door, he found his right hand touch the blonde’s back. She didn’t pull away.
The exhilaration of meeting new fascinating people ended for David with the arrival of a telegram a few days later.
Prince George had died in a plane crash on his way to inspect a RAF airfield in Greenland. David sent a letter of condolence to George’s wife Marina. He didn’t know if the Royal Household would allow her to see it, but David wrote it anyway. A sense of loss overwhelmed David. He slopped around in his pajamas and slippers the rest of the day. Getting dressed seemed like too big a chore.
Wallis stayed particularly close to David—coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist, snuggling on a sofa and putting her head on his shoulder, but not saying a word.
In the next few days public kisses became more frequent whenever they went out.
A week later Wallis announced concern for Aunt Bessie’s health and Wallis wanted to spend time with her before it was too late. David understood. Sometimes people find themselves closer to one family member than others and mourn the time when they won’t be there.
One evening David decided a night cap at home would not suffice. Wallis was gone, and he was not sure when she would return. He felt drawn to the Rialto. David needed to hear laughter and clinking of glasses. Also, he was certain he would be left alone. Etiquette demanded one not speak to royalty until the royal spoke to them.
He sat at the bar nursing a scotch when he felt a woman’s arm slip through his arm and around his chest. The only person to do that was Wallis, and she was in Baltimore.
“You look lonely.”
David recognized Aline’s voice.
“May I join you?”
“Of course.”
She sat unconventionally close and held one of those reddish orange concoctions with a small umbrella on top. Aline’s dress was scarlet and strapless, allowing David to notice ample cleavage.
“Where’s the Duchess?” Aline asked.
“Visiting a sick aunt in the states.”
“Oh, so you are lonely.”
“More than lonely.” David didn’t understand why he said that.
“Yes, I saw in the newspaper you brother Prince George died. Are you going to the funeral?”
“No. Current royal protocol forbids it.”
“I’m sorry I mentioned it.” Aline leaned in to David, touching his shoulder. “It isn’t easy being royalty, is it?”
“No.”
“I know.” She paused. “You see, my name is actually Alina. It is a Russian name.”
He wrinkled his brow. “I had a cousin who lived in the Bahamas for a while.”
“She was my mother.” Aline looked down. “I’ve said too much already.”
“I’ve heard the stories about her, but I never knew if they were true.” Interest entered David’s voice. “Was she really married to a Ribbentrop?”
“That’s what she told me.”
“Where did she go? Is she still alive? I don’t mean to be inquisitive, but this does make us distant relatives, doesn’t it?”
Aline looked straight ahead. “She moved to Montana and worked in a brothel. She didn’t think the Bolsheviks would find her there. She died when I was twelve. It was a hard life.”
“Do you even know who your father was?”
“Yes. But if I told you his name you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Harry Oakes.” David was quick. “That’s why you’re in the Bahamas working for him. I could tell by the way you talked to him you hate him.”
Aline shrugged. “He’s not so bad, for a rat.”
“I hated my father too.”
“It gives us something in common, don’t you think?” Her hand strayed to his leg and squeezed. “Your thighs are strong.”
David stared at her. “This conversation is becoming inappropriate.”
“It was inappropriate for Lenin to kill my relatives. It was inappropriate for England to force you to abdicate. Life is inappropriate.” She squeezed his thigh again. “How long will your wife be away?”
“I don’t know.”
Aline smiled. “I have a lovely secluded apartment not far from here. And the neighbors are very discreet.”
“You’re making me think of the days when I was a young prince with no responsibilities.” He leaned in but stopped short of kissing her. “I enjoyed those days.”