Replacement Baby

by Mary Ann Smart

  “Well, you’ve gone above and beyond to help me with everything for the masquerade party,” Mrs. Douglass explained. “So I would like to purchase your dress for the party as a way to say ‘thank you.’”

  Rose’s cheeks turned red and her eyes grew wide. “Wow, thank you, Mrs. Douglass!” she exclaimed in shock. “Thank you very much. This is amazing.”

  “You are most welcome, Rose.” Mrs. Douglass smiled in her usual pleasant way. “You deserve it. You’re an incredibly hard worker.”

  “I can’t thank you enough,” Rose told Mrs. Douglass over and over again, her gratitude pouring out.

  “You earned it,” Mrs. Douglass reassured her. “Please, Rose, you don’t need to thank me. You deserve this for all your hard work. Julie, you just write a check when Rose finds the dress she likes.”

  When Mrs. Douglass left the room, Julie exploded with excitement. “We’re going shopping!” she howled.

  “Okay, calm down and let’s go,” Rose told her, grinning.

  They left and took the Tube toward the shopping area by the river. They left the station and walked down to the shopping area near Canary Wharf. Julie found three floor length gowns that she loved at one store and Rose attempted to help her friend make a decision. Rose noticed several dresses which she liked, but she wanted to choose something special. I’m going to look really pretty when I found my dress, she told herself and smiled. I’ve never worn a long gown before. I’ll feel like a princess or something. I wish Rodney could be there.

  “So I know of this fantastic little hat shop we can go to when we find our dresses,” Julie told Rose after Julie decided not to buy any of the three dresses and they left the store. “They make custom masquerade masks. So we’ll get our dresses and bring them in. Then they will design masks to match our gowns.”

  “Sounds great,” Rose said.

  As she waited for Julie outside of the dressing room, Rose became lost in her thoughts. I like this peaceful world of parties and shopping. It’s so different from my life growing up. It’s nice to get out and try different things.

  At the next store, Julie found a bright purple off-the-shoulder taffeta dress. It had a large skirt and a sash. The dress made a swishing sound whenever Julie moved. She spun around in front of the mirror and her skirt encircled her.

  “I love it,” Rose enthused. “It’s perfect on you.”

  “Me, too,” Julie agreed. “This is the one I want.”

  Julie purchased the dress and they went on to the next store. Rose felt most drawn to the dresses which were deep colors of blue or green. She tried on half a dozen, but could not decide on one.

  “I really like that off-the-shoulder style that you got, Julie,” Rose told her. “And I love the full skirt. The taffeta is pretty, too.”

  “Okay, let’s keep a look out for something similar,” Julie said to her as the clerk boxed up her gown.

  At the next store, Rose spotted a dark green taffeta dress with a full skirt and simple off-the-shoulder sleeves. A green rosette was set in the center. It was hanging up on a wall on display.

  “Rose, your mouth is hanging open, this is a good sign,” Julie commented, coming up along beside Rose.

  Rose laughed. “Is it really? I guess I should try it on, then.”

  The dress fit Rose perfectly. She truly did feel like a princess with it on. She spun around and gazed down as her skirt flew all around her.

  “This is the one,” she told Julie. “It’s similar to yours, but still different.”

  “Then let’s get it!”

  Julie and Rose had both their dresses delivered to the Douglass house. When the gowns arrived in the early evening, they hurried off in a cab to a nearby hat shop, which Julie had told Rose about. Once there, a woman examined the dresses and drew mask designs based on the fabric colors and gown styles. She promised to have them ready by Saturday afternoon, which was the day before the party. Rose could not wait.

  * * *

  Saturday morning came, and Rose could hardly contain her excitement. She got dressed and walked toward the stairs for breakfast. Lionel caught her in the hallway on the way down to breakfast. He was holding a newspaper in his hands. He extended the paper out to show it to Rose.

  “Look at this!” he said quickly, excitement in his voice. “There was a big jewel robbery at this jewelry store near Buckingham Palace last night. The place is called Herald’s Jewelers.” He pointed to the third paragraph down in the article.

  “Wow,” Rose said with surprise in her voice. “That name sounds familiar. Have we been by there?”

  “Not sure,” Lionel replied. He stopped for a moment to think. “I just can’t remember. But maybe.” He pointed back to the first paragraph in the newspaper article. “It’s the worst jewel robbery in London in over five years! More jewelry was stolen than any other robbery since 1989.”

  The article continued on the next page. There were a few black and white photos of the interior of the shop and of some of the missing pieces. There was another photograph of the shop sign.

  “It’s so strange,” said Lionel. “It says here that there was no sign of entry at the store. They can’t figure out how the thieves broke in.”

  “Hm,” Rose mumbled. “No broken glass and no picked locks,” she said, summarizing the information in the text as she read. “The alarm didn’t even go off. The video tapes appear to have been stopped on purpose. Sometime stopped the recordings on all the tapes.”

  “Looks like we have a mystery on our hands,” Lionel commented.

  “Yes,” Rose agreed. “Or, to be more specific, Scotland Yard has a mystery on their hands.”

  “Unless we solve it first!” Lionel exclaimed.

  “Very funny,” Rose replied sarcastically. She paused to read more. “I’d like to go by there, though. It all sounds so mysterious. It seems interesting.”

  “I guess it would be fun to peek through the windows and come up with our own theories of how it all happened.”

  “True,” Rose replied.

  “Let’s go eat now and figure this out later.”

  “Well, let’s go, then,” Rose agreed. Together, they went downstairs to the breakfast room, still discussing the robbery. Seated at the table were Mr. and Mrs. Douglass and Julie. The three of them were also talking about all the details of the jewel robbery while Mr. Douglass held the newspaper.

  “Did you hear about this?” Mr. Douglass asked his son.

  Lionel nodded, placing his own newspaper on the table beside the bowl of scrambled eggs and the platter of steaming hot sausages. The father and son began discussing their opinions on the robbery.

  Rose sliced the sausages on her plate. Their heat caused delicious smelling steam to rise up to her nose.

  “Wait,” Rose choked on a piece of sausage and began coughing. She covered her mouth with a white cloth napkin. When her coughing had ceased, she gasped out a realization that she had been to the jewelry shop before. “Herald’s… that is the jewelry store Rodney manages!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Douglass family, who was sitting around the large table, all turned to look at Rose. Lionel jumped up to see if she was okay and the face of Mrs. Douglass was clouded with concern.

  “Rose, are you okay?” She asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Rose apologized. “I’m sorry, everyone. It’s just that, I realized this is the same jewelry store Rodney manages. I was just… surprised.”

  Julie raised her eyebrows, but turned back to her plate of eggs without a word. Lionel opened his mouth to speak but closed it instead.

  He was going to say some snide remark about Lionel, Rose realized. She was glad when he did not speak.

  * * *

  The afternoon came, and with it plenty of rain. The rain was light enough that Lionel and Rose decided to don rain boots and umbrellas and venture out of the house. Rose also promised to pick up the masks for herself and Julie at the hat shop on the way back.

  They walked to Buckingham P
alace and then asked a man reading a newspaper on a park bench nearby how to get to the jewelry shop. He was sitting under his large black umbrella and the raindrops fell around him in a circle. He mumbled something and pointed to the left when they asked him for directions. They walked the way which he pointed and within a few minutes, they saw the sign for the jewelry shop up ahead.

  Approaching the building, Rose remembered going there last time with Rodney. She stared, reliving her memories and the familiarity of the place came back to her. Lionel nudged her.

  “Let’s ask this guy what’s going on,” he suggested. He motioned to a man in a dark rain coat, jotting notes down on a notepad outside. Other men were milling around inside and others were walking in and out, boxes in their arms.

  “Should we bother them?” Rose asked.

  “Why not? Besides, it won’t be a bother,” Lionel reassured her. He turned to approach the man with the notepad. “Excuse me, sir, but do we know yet how the thieves got in?”

  The man’s head snapped up. Squinting his eyes at Lionel, the man frowned. “All information is confidential,” he stated. Lionel nodded and mumbled an apology.

  “Come on, Lionel. Did you really think they would tell you anything?” Rose pursed her lips and shook her head.

  “Okay, but it doesn’t hurt to ask,” Lionel replied, defensive.

  Rose shrugged.

  “It’s strange that Rodney worked here,” Lionel said in a quiet voice. “Do you think he’s in the store?”

  “No, he’s actually out of town this week. He comes back on Tuesday,” Rose told Lionel. She sighed. “I’m actually so relieved. I’d be so worried that maybe he was hurt if he hadn’t been away.”

  “Wow.” Lionel’s expression showed his surprise. “You don’t think that’s odd?” He grinned in a way that was full of mischief. “Hey, maybe Rodney robbed the store.”

  Rose gaped at him. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “Yes, I was kidding. Don’t be so touchy.”

  “Don’t drag Rodney into this, then,” Rose retorted.

  Lionel took her by the arm and led her away from the jewelry shop. “Come on, let me take you to lunch.”

  “Okay,” Rose agreed, glad to change the subject. She pulled her arm away, because she was still a bit cross with Lionel.

  Sitting down on the covered patio at a quiet café, Rose and Lionel ordered tea and food. The rain had almost completely stopped and the sun was beginning to peek through the clouds. After the waiter left, Lionel began asking Rose questions.

  “Now you’re sure Rodney didn’t sneak in the night to rob that shop?” Lionel joked.

  Rose’s mouth hung open as she listened to her friend speak. “Lionel,” she hissed, anger welling up inside of her. “This is ridiculous. Rodney is not a jewel thief! He has nothing to do with this whole thing. He was away for work. I don’t understand why you hate Rodney so much.”

  “I’m sorry, Rose,” Lionel responded quickly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just joking.”

  “Well, it’s not funny.”

  “Okay, I’ll stop,” he said to her. “And I don’t hate Rodney, I just have a hard time trusting him, that’s all.”

  Rose took a deep breath to control her frustrations toward Lionel’s attitude about Rodney. “Lionel, I honestly think you have a hard time trusting anyone. You seem really suspicious of people all the time.”

  Lionel sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he agreed. “I just know that there is a lot of evil in the world. So I tend to be more suspicious.”

  Rose nodded. “You should try to be more positive.”

  “I guess I should,” he mumbled. “I’ll work on being more positive about Rodney. He hasn’t done anything to make me suspicious. I’ll work on it, I promise.”

  Rose reached out to squeeze Lionel’s hand. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

  “This jewel robbery is so strange,” Lionel said, changing the subject. “I keep thinking of different theories, but nothing makes sense.”

  “I can’t wait to ask Rodney what he thinks when he comes back,” Rose confessed with a hint of excitement. “I feel that we’ll get a lot more insight into the whole thing when I see him. He would know all the ins and outs of the shop. He would know about all the entrances and all that.”

  “Yeah, true,” Lionel said. He stopped and took a deep breath. “Okay, so this is my first attempt at being positive about Rodney. He does seem to take you to neat places when you two go out together. Like that one night club you told me about. I’m taking some pointers from him the next time I take a girl out.”

  “Yeah, he does take me the cool places,” Rose agreed. She paused and then looked at Lionel across the table. “Do you date a lot back at Dartmouth?”

  Lionel appeared to be taken aback by her question. “I do, some. I’ve gone out with maybe five or six girls since I started there. Just casual, no more than a few dates. Definitely nothing serious. I guess I’m just too busy during the semester. I focus a lot of my time and energy on school, and I also keep busy writing for work. Sometimes I do work with my dad, too. That makes me enjoy my summers in London even more.”

  “Have you ever dated a girl in London?” Rose asked.

  “Once or twice,” Lionel replied. “But then I realized that I would be leaving London soon anyway. It seemed pointless to take a girl out when there was no chance of forming any sort of meaningful relationship.”

  “Yes, I see what you mean,” Rose said.

  Their waiter brought out their lunch, which consisted of light egg salad sandwiches and a small cabbage salad for each. They ate in silence for several minutes. Rose stared out at the sunbeams on the tile floor, which were appearing from behind the clouds.

  “Do you want to have a girlfriend?” Rose asked, going back to their conversation from earlier.

  “Well, yes,” Lionel answered. “I would like to. But I don’t want to date several different girls anymore. I want to find one very special person and form a relationship with her. I want something that’s lasting.”

  Rose smiled at him. “That sounds so nice. I love spending time with Rodney, but he hasn’t expressed any sort of desire to form anything long term with us. We are dating, but we aren’t officially together or anything.” Rose stopped, suddenly feeling shy that she had shared something so personal with Lionel.

  “You are too wonderful for him to want to give you up,” Lionel reassured Rose. “Don’t worry, he won’t let you go. He’d be stupid to. You’re a special person, Rose. Don’t forget that.”

  “Thank you.” Rose looked down at her hands and spoke in a quiet voice. “I hope he won’t let me go.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rodney called Rose the following morning, the day of the masquerade ball. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his voice on the line. She pressed the phone close to her ear.

  “I’ll be home next week,” he reminded her. “Would you like to go out to lunch this Thursday?”

  “Lunch? Thursday?” Rose repeated. “Yes, I’d love to.”

  “It’s a date, then,” Rodney replied. “I’ll call you sometime next Wednesday to discuss the details about where to meet and at what time. Can’t wait to see you again. It’s been way too long.”

  “I agree!” Rose exclaimed. Finally, after two weeks, she would get to see Rodney!

  They said their friendly farewells and Rose hung up the telephone. She realized that she had forgotten to ask him about the robbery at the jewelry store. But her thoughts quickly drifted to their upcoming date. She sighed happily just thinking about it. Finally, Rodney was coming home. It seemed like he had been gone for forever, even though it was only a couple weeks.

  Julie walked by and stopped when she saw Rose’s happy face. “Did Rodney call you?” her friend asked knowingly.

  Rose nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes, he just did. I just got off the phone with him.”

  “Well, it’s about time he called,” Julie pointed out. She cros
sed her arms over her chest. “He hasn’t called in a week.”

  “Yeah, it’s been about a week,” Rose informed her. “We have a date on Thursday.”

  “Thursday!” Julie cried enthusiastically. “So you’ve already set a date. Perfect! So, Rose, tell me something. What’s the first thing you will do when you see Rodney?”

  “I’m going to run right up to him and kiss him!” Rose replied with a coy smile.

  “Kiss him? Kiss him on the lips?” Julie’s voice was full of surprise. “It’s about time!”

  “That’s right, I’m going to kiss him,” Rose repeated her idea. “I’m sick of waiting around. This whole ‘taking it slow’ thing isn’t working for me. We’ve been dating for over a month! I’ve tried kissing him before, but it was in such a shy and timid way that maybe he didn’t even realize it. So yes, I’ll kiss him. And we’ll see where it goes from there.” Rose laughed.

  “Woah, where did this whole new Rose come from?” Julie asked with a smile. “You’ve gotten bold. I’m proud of you.”

  “Just don’t say anything to Lionel,” Rose warned. “You know how much he dislikes Rodney.”

  “Yes,” Julie agreed. “Which is so pathetically silly, anyway. He needs to get over it. You like Rodney, and not him. He needs to deal with it and move on. My brother.” She rolled her eyes. “He can be so stubborn. He needs to let it go and throw away his stupid pride. It’s not doing him any good.”

  “Do you think Lionel wants me to like him?” Rose asked, her voice filled with curiosity. “In a romantic way, I mean,” she added.

  “Don’t you know?” Julie asked, looking at Rose strangely. “Haven’t you noticed? He’s crazy about you!”

  “Well,” Rose said, embarrassed. “There were times when I thought he did. But then I told myself that he was just friendly. Just kind and personable with everyone, you know? I guess I keep telling myself he doesn’t like me.”

  “Well, you sure have been fooling yourself,” Julie said. “He would go out with you in a heartbeat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother interested in someone like he’s interested in you. Whenever you are in another room, you are all he talks about. I’ve told him over and over again to let it go and move on. I’ve told him so many times that you like Rodney, not him. But he won’t give up hope that maybe you’ll be attracted to him someday. Really, it’s sad. Sad in a pathetic way, I mean.”