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    The Long Road Home
    The Long Road Home
    The Long Road Home
    Ebook72 pages58 minutes

    The Long Road Home

    By Richard Johnson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Forced into an unwanted marriage, Lady Frances takes the only option that she can see. She leaves England and becomes Frank Grenfeld.
    Now, decades alter, she muust return to her former life and deal with the problems that made her abandon herself and her family and confront hwer most dangerous enemy in the process.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRichard Johnson
    Release dateDec 4, 2012
    ISBN9781301277537
    The Long Road Home

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      Book preview

      The Long Road Home - Richard Johnson

      THE LONG RIDE HOME

      By Richard Johnson

      Published by Richard (Rick) Johnson (Desert Dragon Productions) at Smashwords.

      Copyright October 2012 Richard Johnson

      ISBN 9781301277537

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

      Contents

      Chapter I

      Chapter II

      Chapter III

      Chapter IV

      Chapter V

      Chapter VI

      Chapter VII

      Chapter VIII

      Chapter IX

      Chapter X

      About the Author

      THE LONG ROAD HOME

      by Rick Johnson

      Chapter I

      I was on the way home from the airport and had decided to meet a few friends at a bar we used to frequent. Why not, I was divorced, my kids lived on their own and the alternative was to go home to an empty house. But, like they say, you cannot go home because the bar, superficially the same with its decor and large windows, now sported a number of big-screen televisions set to sports and the clientele was mostly young kids. Being retired (my driver’s license said I was in my mid-sixties but it also said that I was born in New York City) I definitely did not fit in. Still, I found a place at the bar and ordered a beer, Longbow, as I hated the common beers that these kids drank, and settled in to think about things.

      Basically, I was at that age where I got senior discounts, but my regular trips to the gym kept me in shape. I was divorced but still on good terms with my ex-wife and her new husband of 10 years who she had met after we had divorced (nothing bad, we simply grew apart). We had three children, all sons, two of which had gone into medicine, one inheriting my business. I was well-off and lived in a very nice house with a housekeeper who came in almost daily to ensure that I was still alive, that the house was clean and that I ate decently. I suspected that she reported to my kids more than she did to me as I had a reputation for a wild life. I still skied, surfed, kayaked rivers, sky dove, fenced, anything that would keep the blood flowing. But finding a woman even near my age who could and would do these things was impossible so I was mostly alone save for the occasional date, all of whom broke up with me because of my refusal to settle down and ‘enjoy my retirement’. I had friends who did that. They retired to Florida or ended up in some old-folks home and then a plot in the cemetery. When I die, it will be as I lived, to the fullest and not in a chair with the TV on and a beer in my hand or worse, in a hospital with tubes sticking everywhere.

      Excuse me, sir a voice called from behind. I turned to hear, Are you Francis Grunfeld?

      I am.

      Please sign here, Mister Grunfeld. He landed me an electronic signature pad and stylus and I signed and received an envelope, one of those courier service things that was giving the post office so much trouble.

      Returning to the bar, curious, I read the label. No return address, just some shipping code but instructions to deliver to Mr Francis Grunfeld at this bar at this time and date. Now that was strange as my decision to stop her was barely an hour old, having made that choice as I collected my luggage at the baggage claim, so who could know where I would be at this date and time? When I opened the envelops, two things fell out. A small flat box and a sealed envelope. The box opened as it struck the bar and two objects fell free.

      Sir? Are you ok? It was the bartender, a young girl asking. You look pale.

      After a couple attempts, I manage to croak, I’m fine, just.. another drink, something stronger please.!

      The coin was a silver Five-Pound Coin that had a woman’s face on the obverse, ‘Fortuna III Regina Dea Gratia 1513’ Fortuna the Third, blessed by the Goddess. The reverse showed her palace in Londinium. I guess we had a new Queen. The other was a gold band engraved with Celtic scrollwork and two ‘coats of arms’. The match was in a box at home.

      I looked at the letter, hemp parchment paper, not the wood pulp that is common today. The return address showed the Arms of Alizarr

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