Chapter 21

Iris put her hands on the table and forced herself to meet his eyes squarely. "We met with your 'boys' only recently, Bill; and nothing came of it then."

"No it didn't!" he snapped resentfully. "But that was not the fault of my boys; they would have been willing to take it further – if you had only met them half way."

The colour came to her cheeks, and she allowed her eyes to drop from his. He could not be allowed to see her anger – her outrage and offence at the way those – brutes had manhandled her!

He must continue to think her weak and unprotected – until the time was right.

"Oh James!" she thought silently. "I need you now, don't let me down!"

"Well maybe I could have been a little less – reserved," she said slowly. She peeped up at him, and saw the way his shoulders relaxed.

"Yes," he agreed with a nod. "My boys don't need much encouragement – but they do need a little." she saw the indulgent smile that came to his face, and looked up suddenly.

"I am really grateful for your concern, Bill; for both my father's health and for your concerns for our safety ... I promise to think of what you have said, and consider fully your wisdom, and my options." She stood up whilst he was digesting her words. "But now I really must get back to my father ... goodbye for now, Bill; you should go and get some rest." she just managed to make her tone sound concerning and maternal – Just.

Bill smiled up at her. "You have always been a good girl, Iris; a little too wilful ... a little too human at times, but a good girl at the heart of you."

"Daddy raised us well," she whispered tearfully, and this time her emotion was genuine.

He reached out and patted her arm. "You go on back to your father, girl, I will come and find you later."

As Iris walked down the deserted corridor she felt the weight of his parting words; they sounded so much like a threat to her.

She wrapped her arms around her waist in an effort to warm herself, but still the shiver racked her frame.

"Iris – there you are!" it was Aunt Trudy, standing in the doorway of the little waiting room.

She looked small and tired, and slightly batty – as she always did, and Iris thought she had never seen anyone quite so wonderful in her entire life.

"Oh Aunt Trudy!" she whispered as she reached her, and her green eyes filled with tears.

Aunt Trudy reached out to embrace her niece – squeezing her tight in an effort to comfort her, before leading her into the quiet empty little room.

"I've just been in to see your father, and Laurie ... she is looking as pale as you child. She told me to come and find you, and that you would tell me what I need to know; she did not want to risk disturbing him, and I did not want to upset her any more than she already seemed to be."

"He is going to be okay!" Iris said first to reassure her aunt. "They just need our help a little; they need our blood to help purge his system."

"So what is wrong with him, and how can I help?"

Iris smiled tearfully. "It's a virus of some sort; it's poisoning his system – his blood, so they want to give him a complete transfusion, using our blood."

"Ah," Trudy sighed in understanding as she sat back, and a look of relief came to her face. "So the two of you are pale because you have been giving blood – and not because you are falling ill too."

"That's right, Aunt Trudy, and we were hoping that you would be willing to donate as well,"

Trudy laughed lightly. "Of course, child; he is my brother after all ... my only male relative."

Iris hesitated.

"There is something else, Aunt Trudy ... Bill Frawnings is here in the city, he knows about dad being ill and came to hospital – he might still be here for all I know..."

"Oh?" Trudy looked at her sharply. "And what does he want – do you think, why are you so worried about that?"

"Well, he said pretty much what you just said, that we are women without a healthy male protector; that if word got out, well we could be seen as being vulnerable..."

Trudy's eyes narrowed, but she just waited silently for her niece to continue.

"He said that I should think about pledging to 'one of his boys'."

Iris could not stop her lip from curling with disgust at the idea, and her green eyes fixed on her aunt as though begging for her to intercede.

"We could all have a lot to lose," Trudy murmured thoughtfully.

Iris nodded in agreement, especially Aunt Trudy – her company was worth millions, and so many of their kind would almost definitely appear, would be looking to get control of some or all of that wealth, which she had created.

"What should I do, Aunt Trudy?" Iris whispered huskily.

Trudy sighed again as she reached out and patted her niece's hand in reassurance.

"Don't worry about it now, child ... we will sort something out, but later once we are more certain of your father's progress."

Iris couldn't help but think that her aunt was not taking the threat seriously enough.

"But don't you see Aunt Trudy, that might be too late, they seek to take advantage of daddy's illness, they won't wait to see how he fares, they will act and soon!"

"Hush now, child;" Aunty Trudy soothed her as Iris seemed on the brink of hysteria. "We are not totally without allies, people who might be prepared to step up in our defence."