Enigma (closed)

[heartofcourage]

"Well, if my mother insists, I guess I will have to." Victoria said with a smile as James untied the ribbon and placed the ring on her slender finger.

She returned his smile as he poured them both a glass, laughing at the giddy excitement that was in his voice. "To a long and happy life together, James." She murmured, clinking her glass against his own before she took a long draw from her glass.

The celebrated their new engagement that afternoon. There was another swim in the ocean, more wine, another session of lovemaking in the surf, and by the time the sun was starting to set, she was sitting peacefully in the front seat of his car, her hand holding his as they drove back to the farm.

"I suppose this means I'll have to start planning a wedding." She commented, glancing to James with a smile on her lips. "For after the war, of course."

 

[KiwiD82]

James held Victoria's hand between gear shifts as they drove back towards the farm. They were both a bit giddy - the combination of sun, wine, and love had definitely affected their moods.

"And I'll do all I can to afford it," he replied, briefly glancing across at her.

Victoria looked stunning. Her still damp hair allowed itself to be gently shifted by the wind that rushed past the convertible. Her grip on his hand was a familiar and comfortable one. Her bright summer dress glowed in the light of the setting sun. Her eyes smiled, and her smiles came easily.

She was happy.

James felt as though he had cracked the code. In the midst of a war and with a nerve wracking evening ahead of them, James had made Victoria truly happy.

The MI5 agent was still reflecting of their upcoming bliss when he turned the car into the Stirling family's long driveway. There he slowed, and eventually stopped, the engine still running just inside the gate.

James turned to face Victoria, taking a firm grip of her hands between both of his. The evening was going to be one of mixed emotions: celebration and - potentially - revelation.

When he spoke, his tone was one of love, support, and genuine concern.

"Are you ready?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Victoria frowned slightly as James stopped his car just inside the gate to the farmhouse. The engine idled as he turned towards her, taking her hands in both of his and drawing her attention to his dark eyes. He asked if she was ready. She was ready in every sense of the word, but she knew just what he meant when he asked it.

"Yes." She said softly, her fingers squeezing his own.

She was ready to find out the answer to the questions that had plagued them for days now. She knew in her heart that no matter the answer that they got, she was still a Stirling and she always would be. Her father had loved her since the day she was born and he had never treated her as anything but his daughter. That wouldn't change even if her mother suddenly declared that her father was another man. Of course, she hoped that wouldn't happen, but she had to prepare in case it did come to light.

"No matter what, Jim, I know that this is necessary. This world is different now and we have to take things as they come." She murmured softly, leaning across the gearshift to kiss him gently. "Now, let's go and eat a nice family dinner. Then we can ask the really tough questions."

 

[KiwiD82]

James offered Victoria a sympathetic smile as she kissed him. They had been through struggles but this loomed as their toughest yet. He hoped the engagement ring would serve to remind them both of how much they were both prepared to fight for what they had.

"Yes, let's make your sisters giddy with excitement," he said, chuckling lightly. "Not to mention your mother!"

James adored Victoria's mother but sometimes it felt as though she had planned this day herself - though she would have wanted it to happen months earlier.

The car was driven up to the farmhouse as the setting sun bathed the building in orange and pink light. Stepping out, Victoria's lover walked around the bonnet then opened the passenger door.

"Ah, Mrs Victoria Braithwaite to be, I presume?" he said cheekily, holding out an arm and hoping to help ease the mood. "Shall we greet my future in-laws?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"Braithwaite?" Victoria asked with a grin on her lips as she took his hand and stepped out of the car. "Who says that I'll take your name? I'm quite fond of Stirling."

She would take his name in a heartbeat. She loved him completely and couldn't wait for the day that she became his in every sense of the word. Until that time, however, she was content with teasing him as she always did. He could certainly dish it out as good as he got it.

She noticed as they walked up the walk, that there were faces pressed against the front window. Her sisters were waiting impatiently, craning their necks to try and get a look at the ring on her finger. News traveled fast, it seemed.

"And I hope you are ready for the mess that you've created." Victoria said with a grin as she opened the door and allowed James to step in first.

 

[KiwiD82]

James grinned at Victoria's response to his invitation. How could he not?

"I'm quite fond of Stirling, too," he quickly retorted with a contented smile. "Well, one Stirling in particular."

As soon as they turned to face the house, Victoria's sisters were immediately obvious. The sight brought a light chuckle to James' lips, and he turned to his lover and spoke under his breath.

"I should have known better than to trust your mother to keep this a secret!"

When Victoria opened the door and James stepped in, the house erupted into squeals and excited giggles. James was initially mobbed by Victoria's siblings, but they soon wanted to get past him to see their sister and the ring that sparkled on her finger.

Victoria's parents then emerged to congratulate the couple, Robert with a strong handshake, and his wife with an all embracing hug.

The war had been hell. And that evening wouldn't be easy, either.

But in that moment, all was right with the world, and James savoured every last second of joy and excitement that was on offer.

 

[heartofcourage]

Victoria patiently let her sisters fawn over her engagement ring, giving James a wink as he parents joined the fray. The congratulations were thick and sincere, her mother in tears that the day had finally come. She could only imagine what her wedding would be like. If they were this excited about James finally popping the question, she very well might be in for a fight when her wedding day came.

Her sisters dissolved into constant chatter, excited over the upcoming nuptials as well as what they might possibly be wearing. Victoria didn't care at all about her own dress, let alone what her family would wear. She would leave those details to her mother.

 

[KiwiD82]

Bedlam.

That's what the brief moments that followed their entrance to the house felt like. The uproarious welcome, combined with excited squeals, tears of joy, and proud smiles, made for quite the celebration.

James, for his part, was unable to stop smiling. Victoria truly made him happy like nobody else could, and he turned back to her, taking her hand and leading her through the throng of younger sisters and further into the house towards the dining room.

He knew the rest of the Stirlings would follow. He knew that there would be a hundred questions to answer. But he was more than happy to oblige. He wanted to take a seat, look around at his future family, and soak up the experience.

 

[heartofcourage]

"When will the wedding be?" Rose asked, her eyes wide and excited as they all settled around the table while their mother finished dinner.

"After the war." Victoria answered simply, preparing to match wits with her sisters.

"After the war? But that might take ages!" Rose exclaimed, a pretty little pout on her lips.

"Well, I suppose you'll have to be patient then." Victoria murmured with a slight smile on her lips as the next sister started in with her questions.

"Where will you get married?" Mary asked, almost as excited as her sister about the upcoming wedding.

"I don't know. London, I suppose. Something simple." She answered with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "Somewhere Mrs. Braithewaite doesn't have to travel far too."

"Nooo....the country is so much nicer than the city!" Mary insisted, disappointment on her features as Agatha butted in.

"Who will be your maid of honor?" Agatha asked, the look on her face telling Victoria that she hoped it would be her.

"Perhaps I'll ask Mummy. Girls, there is much more serious business to think about right now than a silly wedding." Victoria scolded gently as her father took a seat at the head of the table and soon Ruth was dishing up the hearty ham and potatoes that would be their dinner. "James and I have more on our minds at the moment."

 

[KiwiD82]

Seeing the unbridled excitement of Rose, Mary, and Agatha contrasted with Victoria's feigned annoyance with such questions was highly amusing to James. His fiancée had always played down the idea of marriage but he knew full well that she was as much in love with him as he was with her.

James decided not to answer any of the questions. Leaving the wedding until after the war meant Victoria's brothers could be present, assuming of course they came home. It would only be right for them to be there to see their sister on her wedding day. And the location hadn't been decided, but the young girls in their exuberance must have assumed every last detail had already been organised.

He only spoke up when Mrs Stirling began serving food, in an attempt to distract the three young girls.

"So what did my future sisters-in-law get up to while we were relaxing by the beach?"

James made sure to avoid eye contact with Victoria and especially Robert - his gaze would betray what they had really been up to.

 

[heartofcourage]

The girls dissolved into a wall of noise as they told James at once what they had been doing that afternoon. They made a new dress for Agatha, tended to the chickens in the barnyard, went for a horse ride. It seemed that they had really just been waiting for the moment that the two of them came back home so that they could see Victoria's sparkling ring and hear all about their wedding.

"Girls, enough talk of that." Robert said in his booming voice as Ruth finally took her seat and their happy family meal started. "We wouldn't want to scare James off forever, would we?"

 

[KiwiD82]

James burst out laughing as the girls tumbled over one another in an effort to answer his question. They were a curiosity at times, he decided. At some point, early in his and Victoria's relationship, they had become giddy with excitement at the thought of their sister dating him.

As an only child, James had found the situation somewhat unusual, but incredibly endearing. Their youthful sense of seemingly infinite hope was a refreshing distraction from everything else that was going on in the world.

He let a smile go in Robert's direction at the man's comments, before looking across to Victoria, knowing full well that nothing could scare him away from the love of his life.

James waited his turn before serving himself and eating. He'd forgotten just how hungry he was, and - true to form - he offered Ruth a compliment regarding the meal.

"It smells and tastes delicious as always, Mrs Stirling."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Well, I decided that we deserved a celebration tonight." Ruth said with a gentle smile on her face as she looked at James. "It's been a good day, after all."

Victoria glanced across her plate to her mother, knowing that the worst of the day was yet to come. She didn't want to have the conversation that she needed to have with her family. It would break someone's heart. Probably her own.

 

[KiwiD82]

James smiled back at Ruth but his gaze quickly found Victoria again. She was nervous about that evening's upcoming conversation - as was he - and the nerves were beginning to show on the English beauty's face.

Victoria had only the slightest of tells, but James had spent the previous two years learning them, and he could see them now.

The sooner they had the difficult conversation, the better - but they would need to wait for the younger girls to leave the table first. Such potential revelations would be much to bear for their young ears.

In the meantime, James tried to subtly catch Victoria's attention, offering her supportive smiles and glances in the hope that the others wouldn't notice her worry.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dinner in the Sterling household was always followed by coffee and dessert. The younger girls left soon after to go to their room and plan for the wedding the was yet to come. Victoria sat rooted in her seat, dreading the conversation they were about to have with her parents and wishing that it never had to occur.

"Mummy. Dad. There is something that James and I need to talk to you about." She started, gripping the coffee cup tightly in her hands as she watched James finishing the last of his cake. "It has to do with the war. It's important that we get the truth from the both of you."

 

[KiwiD82]

Dinner had been a delight as it always was in the Stirling household.

The giggles of the three youngest siblings were still audible as Victoria visibly sucked up some courage. James watched, noting his fiancée's white knuckles as she began to steer the conversation in a direction that none of them wished to go.

He knew he had to say something. He was the one who had encountered the information in the first place, of course, but even if he hadn't been, he couldn't have sat back and let Victoria squirm. She deserved so much better.

"I can't really explain all the ins and outs," he began tentatively, knowing that revealing too much could be dangerous for all present. "But there is a question I must ask and I need an honest answer."

James paused, nervously looking across to Victoria, reading the anxiety in her furrowed brow. He took a deep breath as his gaze drifted from Robert to Ruth and back again.

"I...when..."

James paused again, then regathered his thoughts and started again. He just wanted the conversation to be over with. He decided to cut to the chase.

"Mrs Stirling," he spoke quietly and gently, "I mean no offense by this, but we would like to know if Mr Stirling is in fact Victoria's biological father."

James felt the words sink like stones as soon as they left his mouth. There was no doubt that Robert Stirling was Victoria's father in every other way. He had raised her, instilled his morals and ethics into her, taught her about life and the way of the world, and been the present and loving father that she deserved. But to question his actual involvement in her bloodline felt as though he were stabbing the Stirling name with a knife.

James had never felt so small.

 

[heartofcourage]

Ruth visibly jerked backwards when the question was asked, her eyes wide with alarm as she looked towards her husband and then towards her daughter. There were dark times in her life that she had worked hard to overcome but she had always sworn that her daughter would never learn of them.

"How could you think that?" Ruth asked, her features pained. "You can't ask me that in my own household."

"Mummy, the answer is important. National security is at stake." Victoria said in the calmest voice she could muster. "We need you to tell us..."

"No." Ruth Stirling said as she stood from her spot. "No. Not even if it means saying the king of England's life."

Victoria didn't watch as her mother stormed from the room, a door slamming off in the distance. Robert let out a long sigh, deflating in his chair as he looked between his future son-in-law and his daughter. He knew the truth. He knew he had to tell them.

"I've loved you since the day I met you, little lass." Robert said softly as he looked towards Victoria.

Not since she was born. Since the day he met her. Victoria forced herself to let go of Her coffee cup, her fingers aching as she nervously twisted the ring on her finger as she waited for that horrible secret to unfold.

 

[KiwiD82]

James had known his question would be confronting, but Mrs Stirling's reaction was much bigger than he had imagined. There was clearly more to this situation than he'd realised, even aside from Robert Stirling possibly not being Victoria's biological father.

James managed a muted and stuttering apology as Ruth passed him on her way out, but he doubted he had been heard.

He found he didn't want to look Robert in the eye afterwards, but he forced himself to.

"I'm so sorry," he said, barely above a whisper.

James had seen displays of emotion from Ruth before. She was as far from stoic as a person could get. But seeing the pain her face expressed was like nothing he'd seen from her before.

Even so, he knew it was necessary, and he was eager to hear more from Mr Stirling, while keeping an eye on Victoria to see how she might react.

 

[heartofcourage]

Robert ran a hand over his face as he looked at the two across the table from him, considering the story that he was about to tell. He leaned forward, his elbows pressing against the table as he started to tell them what they wanted to know.

"When I first moved from Scotland, I was living in a boarding house in north London. I worked through the evening in a factory and only wanted to go home to my room and sleep during the day. There was always a baby in the front room, crying helplessly from a crib next to the fire. Some complained about the baby, but the owner of the house felt bad for the woman who lived in the attic with her infant daughter."

"One day, I had enough. The woman was never in the house during the day and had no one to watch the baby. She decided leaving the child in the living room was her only choice. She would at least be checked on from time to time there. That day, I marched in there to simply get the baby to stop crying." Robert let out s long sigh as he looked towards Victoria.

"I found this little slip of a thing. She had cried so much, her cheeks were red and her voice was hoarse. She had a soiled nappy and looked absolutely miserable. But she had the most beautiful pair of brown eyes I had ever seen and golden hair the color of straw. She was a little angel. She was starving. I lifted her out of that crib and she instantly stopped. I knew right then and there that little girl was mine. I just had to convince her mother. We were married a few months later and we moved here shortly after."

 

[KiwiD82]

James had experienced bombing raids in London. The sirens, the panic, the anti-aircraft guns - they all made a lot of noise, but nothing came close to the sound of the explosion of the bombs themselves. The eruption that accompanied a detonation, and the crumbling of bricks and mortar that often followed were terribly loud.

But Robert's story - and its implications - drowned out any bomb James had ever survived.

He was stunned into silence, and he was lost for words. Even if he could have thought of a response, it wouldn't be his place to provide one. This was Victoria's story and hers alone.

James' future father-in-law had confirmed their worst fears.

Victoria's fiancée braced himself for her reaction. This didn't simply mean that Robert was not her biological father - it also meant that her siblings were in fact half-sisters and half-brothers.

All James could do was reach across the table and extend a hand towards Victoria in case she wished to hold it.

 

[heartofcourage]

Victoria sat stone faced across from her father, not moving as James extended his hand towards her. She couldn't move. She was shrieking on the inside, but her mind refused to let that show on the outside. She sat stiffly in her seat, her lips set in a hard line.

"Who was he?" Victoria asked softly, needing to know who her father really was.

"Victor Kruger." Robert said, looking down at the table briefly before her let out a long sigh that sounded almost like a growl. "Dear, you need to understand that he was never in the picture. Your mother had one summer with him when she was young and foolish. He had family living in London. He was gone by the fall and she was carrying you."

"Where was he from?" Victoria asked, her voice cold and icy.

"Berlin. He only met you once. When you were two and sick with scarlet fever. They thought you would die and your mother thought it was her duty to bring him to London so he could see you once." Robert reached across the table and took her hand, not even giving her a chance to pull away. "He surprised me by actually coming. He had a China doll and a book of puzzles. He looked like you. He stayed two days and then he was gone. That was it."

 

[KiwiD82]

James had known he was hoping in vain when Robert had confirmed he wasn't Victoria's father. Hoping that it was somehow a mistake; hoping that there was some other explanation; hoping that her real father was anyone other than...

"Victor Kruger."

James' heart had sunk as soon as the name had left Robert's lips. He slowly withdrew his hand, quickly noticing that he was fading into the background as Victoria's focus stayed with the man she called father and the story he told.

He respected that. It was her story, after all. But he desperately wished he could help her in that very moment.

And yet all he could do was listen, and wonder what they were going to do next.

 

[heartofcourage]

He had visited her once. Victoria racked her brain trying to remember the meeting. She remembered being sick and she still had the China doll, but she had absolutely no memory of the man that had given it to her.

She let out a long, slightly defeated sigh as she slowly stood from the table to leave the room. Before she did, she paused by her father's chair and pressed a kiss to his cheek. She had no words to express her feelings right then, but she did care for him deeply. She needed him to know that. Then, she left the room. A few moments later, a door upstairs closed and there was silence in the manor house.

 

[KiwiD82]

James watched in silence as Victoria rose, defeated.

He'd always admired his fiancée's strength and had often marvelled at her resilience, so witnessing her essentially retreat to her room came as quite a shock. She was anything but weak, but he'd never seen her get so seemingly close to giving up.

Dropping his head, James let out a long, slow sigh. He looked across to Robert, the man who would be his future father-in-law, the man's loose red hair resembling a fiery mane.

"I'm so sorry," he breathed. "In one fell swoop, I have upset the two women you love most."

James then stood slowly, before making his way towards Victoria's bedroom. They had known the conversation wouldn't be easy, but it had been much more difficult than he had imagined.

James was confident that they would both progress beyond this. But as he opened the door to Victoria's room, he could only wonder what the full repercussions would be.

 

[heartofcourage]

Victoria sat on her bed, her knees pulled to her chest as the China doll that had been mentioned downstairs lay on the bed beside her. Her mother had kept it on her bed all of those years, never mentioning where it had come from or who it had come from. She wanted to feel betrayed, but all she felt was...lost.

"You have to turn me in." She murmured as the door opened and James stepped into the door. "You know that you do. I won't take no as an answer either."

She had no idea how her name was attached to the entire mess, but if her father were a wanted man in England then she would have to answer for that.