You want to take on the rest of the cryptography?” the Admiral looked at Harold in surprise. While they knew he was decent at code-breaking, he certainly wasn't the type to take on massive projects. “All of it?”
“Everything you have,” Harold said. “It doesn't matter how much it is.”
“Alright, sir,” The General shook his head. “We can get them delivered to your house.”
“I can take them now,” Harold said, confusing him even more.
“Are you channeling the Earl of Rippon?” the General said and Harold almost dropped the small stack of paperwork he was holding.
“I'm sorry?” he asked.
The General lowered his voice.
“The Earl of Rippon and the former...Lord Bamber used to be very good at breaking codes together. I know what happened with the situation...but you wish you still had their skills?”
“Perhaps,” Harold said “There was no one like them.”
“I did hear the Earl Rippon was around,” the General said. “Is he still in town?”
“He's...not in the Navy anymore.”
“I am aware,” the General replied. “Good luck to you, sir.”
“Thank you,” Harold saluted. The fact that the General had brought both of them up shook him. Was the General suspicious?
When he got home, struggling with a stack of paperwork that almost engulfed his head, Wesley fell on it like a hungry dog.
“How in the world did the Navy uncover this much?” Wesley said. “Are we operating espionage with every resource?”
“It's a backlog,” Harold said “We have been slowly working at it, but it's...”
“That's a cipher for this,” Aaron said, from his place at the breakfast table. From beside him, Matheson leaned over, completely disregarding his personal space. Aaron snorted, leaning back with a laugh.
“Matheson, you miss the Navy that much?”
“Sorry, sir,” Matheson said, not sorry at all as he scanned the code. Corrigan leaned over as well, and Harold stood back, feeling like an outsider. “Look at this.”
“That's easy,” Corrigan said, shifting papers around.
“So uh...you've got a handle on it?” Harold said. “Aaron, you're alright?”
“Fine, thanks,” Aaron said. “Annabelle wants to see you, she's in the garden.”
“Why?” Harold asked and Aaron shrugged.
“I don't know what's going through my sister's mind.” Aaron said, with a shrug. He was already distracted by the papers, and Harold took that as his cue to head out into the garden. Annabelle randomly asked for him to join him, and he didn't think it was too odd. However, she usually didn't ask for him the moment he walked in from work.
“Annabelle?” he asked, as soon as he got out into the garden.
She was standing with their two children, gathering flowers into a basket. Standing in the late morning sun, in a gown of pale blue, she looked like an angel. His heart instantly felt lighter.
“You're home early,” she said, with a smile.
“Just a pick up,” he shrugged. “You wanted to see me?”
“I did,” she said, going over to touch his arm. “The children wanted to give you something.”
“Alright?” he asked, turning towards them. His daughter had a single daisy in her hand, where as James, his son, had two. “The flowers?”
Annabelle nudged James as both of them stepped forward.
“Tell Father what I told you,” Annabelle said and James handed over the flowers.
“Mother says to give you one flower for each of your children,” he said. Harold looked confused.
“But---” he said, and then it dawned on him. He turned to Annabelle, his mouth wide open. “Are you?”
“Yes,” she said, putting a hand to her belly.
He froze. Under normal circumstances, he would be happy. He was happy, but this was not the best time.
“Harold?” Annabelle asked, her smile frozen. “Aren't you happy?”
“I---” he said. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I'm sure,” she said. “I thought you wanted more children?”
“I do,” he said. “I do. I just want to keep you safe.”
“Keep me safe?” Annabelle said. “What are you talking about?”
“Uh---” she was the only person who could render him speechless.
“Harold, what are you up to?”
“Just...trying to fix things,” Harold answered.
“Fix things?” Annabelle asked. “What is happening?”
“I'm happy you're with child.” he tried, but Annabelle was smarter than that.
She stormed into the house, her children in tow.
It only took one look at the table for Annabelle to figure it out.
“What happens when the Navy finds out you're working on this code?” she asked her brother, who looked up.
“They are...happy?” Aaron said. “So grateful they forgive our actions and offer us full protection again?”
“Why do we need protection from the Navy?” Annabelle asked. “All of a sudden?
“What's happening?” Shauna came in from shopping then, and overheard the conversation.
Aaron's face turned pale, as Harold came to his side. However, his change of color was nothing to do with his health and everything to do with the fact that the women were about to start raising their voices.
“Lola!” Annabelle sudden noticed her. “Tell me what is going on, right now.”
“You're going to be mad at your husbands,” Lola put in. “But I think it's worth it.”
“Do you want to step outside?” Morgan touched Lola's arm then, and she happily took the invitation, leading him out into the garden that Annabelle had just walked out of. She could hear their raised voices, and James's excited clamoring over the thought that his father was a spy.
“I'm sure you've been through this,” Lola said. “Angry wives.”
“I've seen it enough,” Morgan answered. “Although I have never experienced it.”
“She never yelled at you, your wife?”
“We didn't....fight,” Morgan said and Lola gave him an odd look.
“Really?”
“We just...got along.”
“Isn't that wonderful,” Lola said, softly. Morgan glanced at her with a sad smile.
“You remind me of her,” he said. “Your wild eyes, your passion. Your energy.”
“You should have met me five years ago,” she said. “I was even wilder. I used to do three shows a day on the stage, and have enough energy for a party.”
“You shouldn't lose that,” Morgan said, looking into her eyes. “I'm sure it made a lot of men fall in love with you.”
Lola chose to break the moment, looking at the clouds go by.
“Thank you,” she said, after awhile. “I just hope that we are doing the right thing.”
“Well, there's no such thing as the wrong thing,” he said. “Because you don't know what would have happened if you chose another path.”
“Do you really believe that?” she asked and he smiled.
“I try to. I don't always believe that.”
“Mmm,” she took a deep breath and cocked an ear. “Sounds like the screaming is finished. We should go back inside.”
“Do you work tonight?”
“Every night except Monday,” she said. “And I imagine my colleagues will have a lot to tell me after yesterday, so I'm going in early.”
“Another day, saving the world,” Morgan said. “Must be tiring.”
“It would be a very entertaining day if we didn't save a whole country at least once.”
“Lola,” Morgan said, catching her arm before she headed inside. “You are throwing away a good thing, with him.”
“I'm doing what's best,” she said.
“What would have been best is for me and the wife to never marry,” he said. “But I don't regret it.”
“How can you say that?” she said. “I heard you had a great marriage, I heard...”
“Who told you that?”
“Aaron,” she said, wondering if she made a mistake. “He knew your wife, years ago.”
“Ah, the high and mighty Lord Bamber,” he said. “I knew who he was when we started sailing. Everyone has secrets, that's why we work well together.”
“Do you think this plan is going to work?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “Strange things happen in this place that I've never seen before. So why not?”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” she said. “I think you're the only one who has confidence right now.”
“It only takes one to change to world, Miss Lola,” he said. “Just one. And that one could be you.”