Scarlet Rose

Chapter 10

12th April 1925

New York - Broadway theatre

The letter had been waiting at his dressing room backstage. Among many other fan letters. His routine flicking of those letters hadn't expected he would stumble to the one letter he had been waiting for - for a month and half almost. He dropped everything else as if he had been put under a witch's spell. Locked the door. Lit a cigarette, took his brass letter opener from the dresser's drawer and opened it. Inside, his letter lay unopened.

"What the heck...?", he murmured on his own.

An additional letter had been inserted inside the envelope. He took it out and begun to read it. "

"Dear Terrence,

My son I want you to know that neither myself nor Sister Maria have taken the liberty to read your letter, addressed to Candy. I am therefore returning it back to you because she is not here to receive it. She has moved out of Pony's home.

Do not worry. She is fine. I think, since we were reading your troupe's news, you may be able to give your letter to her in person. She has moved to London you see, since January this year. I will not go into details why she decided to make that journey, but you know Candy...

When you are in London, you can visit her in this address in Camden, where she stays.

Candy White

17 Gloucester Crescent

Camden

I am certain she will be more than happy to see you.

Kind regards

Your most loyal fans

Miss Pony & Sister Maria

PS. Congratulations for your stellar performance in Hamlet. The reviews are nothing less than spectacular in all the newspapers. We are very proud of you!"

An hour had passed and he kept reading over and over the same  brief letter.  He read, folded it, put it back in his pocket and then ten minutes later he would repeat the same movements.

The fact that Candy was actually living in London unnerved him. Pony's home was her sanctuary, her haven, the one place she felt whole. Even at the time they were in St. Paul's together, she had named the hill inside the college ground, her "pretend Pony's hill".

What pushed her to move back there? To change even continents. Was it just freedom? The States were huge enough for the both of them! If she was so upset, she could have moved to California, not cloudy, rainy London.

On the other hand, Miss Pony gave him her address quite readily. It looked like Candy had just decided for some change of scenery. A big change that is, but nevertheless...it shouldn't be anything more than that. Whatever was going on, he would meet her, after all that time. Another eight weeks and part of him would travel back in time. It seemed that London would always pull him back one way or another...

He started to prepare for the night's performance. Inside his mind, he started planning. He had to speak to Robert. Somehow to start the performances in London perhaps later...Anyway. He would find something. Just enough to free up time for him to catch up with her after more than ten years. There would a lot of ground to cover.

Chelsea, London

Christian's apartment

She knocked at the door of his flat and waited for a few minutes, feeling nervous without knowing why. "Wasn't it her that had proposed to pose for Christian?", she thought to herself fixing her moss green beret as if it was out of place, smoothing the pleats of her white cotton skirt. She stared at the closed door in front of her for a couple of seconds. She placed her ear in silence at the wooden surface trying to hear for any noise from inside. She couldn't hear anything. Her hand, moved by her curiosity, slipped and gripped the door knob and gave it a twist.