A Tale Of Two Cities: Sydney's Second Chance 3

As Simon returned home, he realized that he was happier than he'd been in a very long time. Perhaps ever. It felt as if his dearest wish had just been granted him, and perhaps it had.

Little Lucie. The young woman was very perceptive as well as beautiful. It was only a matter of time before she knew the truth about him. Maybe she already did. What had her mother told her after he had disappeared from their lives? Had she told her the horrible truth or made up a story about him having had to move away? Knowing Lucie, she would have done the thing which would have been least likely to cause her daughter pain. He knew that the little girl had been very fond of the family's regular visitor. To be told of his true fate would have broken her heart. So, most likely Little Lucie had been pacified with a hastily concocted imaginary tale.

Too tired to mull extensively over the situation, Simon fell asleep soon after reaching the place he now called home, which wasn't terribly far from the place he'd previously called home, all those years ago.

His night was filled with dreams, vivid images of life as it had been before, of longing to hold her in his arms and kiss her lips, of struggling to hide that desire from her and Charles. His dreams were so real that upon awakening, he wondered whether they'd really been dreams at all or actual memories relived in his subconscious. One thing he knew for sure was that he couldn't wait to see her again.

"Why on earth did you say what you did to him?" Lucie asked her daughter.

"Because it's true, Mother," Little Lucie replied. "He is someone I knew when I was a little girl."

Lucie felt a slight tingling in her spine.

"The way he answered all those questions we asked him after dinner," Little Lucie continued. "His answers seemed very vague to me."

"He's obviously a very private person," Lucie replied. "Perhaps he simply doesn't feel comfortable enough with us yet to give more definite answers."

"I think it's more than that," Little Lucie said thoughtfully. "It almost seems as if he's trying to hide something."

"I think you're right." Lucie suddenly had a disturbing thought. "Suppose he's dangerous?"

"But I don't feel afraid around him at all," Little Lucie told her mother. "In fact, it's just the opposite. I feel very safe with him around, almost as if he's been sent to protect us."

"I feel just the same way," said Lucie.

"There's something about his initials...S.C...we once knew a man with those initials, didn't we? It was a long time ago..."

For Lucie it was just like being struck by a bolt of lightening. "It can't be the man you're thinking of, Lucie. That man..." She caught herself just in time.

"Had to go away," Little Lucie finished for her. "But you never told me where he went."

"I never told you, Lucie..." Lucie could hold back the tears no longer. "I never told you because...he died, Lucie. He's gone." Her body was wracked with sobs.

"Oh, no!" Little Lucie gasped. "How did he die?"

"Do you remember when your father was imprisoned in Paris? You were very young then."

"Vaguely."

"I never told you the whole story about how he was freed."

"You didn't?"

"No, I didn't." Lucie took a deep breath. "You remember, Lucie, that your father and Sydney strongly resembled each other."

"Yes."

"Well, when Sydney found out what had happened to your father, he came up with a plan to get him out of prison. He went to Paris, visited the prison pretending to be a friend of an inmate, and tricked your father into changing places with him. He went to the guillotine in your father's place, Lucie. And he did it all out of love for me."

"Oh, Mother!" Little Lucie was sobbing now as well. "I had no idea...but you're right. It couldn't be him."