CHAPTER 86
Marty must have had his chat with Gemma, for she asked for a house meal the next Friday evening, which brought a flurry of urgent requests for additional places to be laid, one of them for a much smaller person. No Blake, however, as it turned out he was doing some coppering job or other. What the hell; I had asked Paul and Paula as well, so it was the second dining room, as ever, for a full House. Gemma insisted on doing the cooking, really pushing the boat out with little savoury nibbles to start with followed by a full-on chicken dinner with more trimmings than a Mod’s Vespa, and as she bustled around the kitchen, directing some of the other girls to ‘pour this’ or ’peel those’, I found myself looking properly at Marty, as he sat in an alcove, as much out of the way as he could manage, given his size.

The Earl Maid

By Susannah Donim

Rob is a shy and reserved young man, but an unexpected inheritance suddenly makes him the centre of attention. His wife helps him find a way of hiding in plain sight.

Chapter 4

In the face of threats from local villains, Rob is forced to hide out as Martha, the housekeeper.

“The Earl’s not here,” I squeaked in my best Martha voice.

“We’ll wait,” said Eleanor’s brother. “Through here, Tank.”

Tank? Never did a man’s nickname suit him better.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

Warning! If your politics are right wing you'll hate this one

Does my hair look all right?

The Earl Maid

By Susannah Donim

Rob is a shy and reserved young man, but an unexpected inheritance suddenly makes him the centre of attention. His wife helps him find a way of hiding in plain sight.

Chapter 3

The Hadleighs start to host meetings of local societies to ease their financial difficulties. Rob gets drawn into a rather unusual demonstration at a meeting of the Pink Ladies.

Stamp Part 1

It was one of those days where you should follow the song lyrics. ‘Know when to fold, know when to walk away’. I was playing poker with a few of my drinking mates and we were betting in one pound coins.

Mouse glances up at her rearview mirror and notices two black SUVs were following her. She had gotten a few miles down the highway. When she noticed they were being followed, after picking up the man and teenage girl.

She steps on the gas pedal and increases her speed. She watches as the SUVs she spotted increase their speed as well. She looks ahead and spots two eighteen-wheelers and several other SUVs. She speeds between the two eighteen-wheelers and zig and zag between the other cars. She drops back, so she is hidden by the eighteen-wheelers.

The Earl Maid

By Susannah Donim

Rob is a shy and reserved young man, but an unexpected inheritance suddenly makes him the centre of attention. His wife helps him find a way of hiding in plain sight.

Prologue

The court case in Houston gets under way.

CHAPTER 84
It was odd, in that I felt almost as tired as Di must have, just with the waiting around. Once we were all back at the House, and Paula had departed with her man, I slept the clock round. Of course, that might just have had something to do with what we drank at Harry’s, but I did my best to claim otherwise, even if only to myself. I rattled round the House on my own that day, the girls all being either at school, work or on some teenager mission of other to the city centre.

“Hey, it’s Sonic the Hedgehog!” Stuart says as I enter his music room, earning laughter from our friends and an eye roll from me.

“Funny man,” I snort.

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Stuart says with a smug grin.

“And how long am I gonna have that nickname for, anyway?” I moan as I pick up my bass guitar and start tuning it. “I washed the dye out days ago…”

“More’s the pity,” Mikey laughs.