212 212

There was a bonus to taking this wayward path.  Michael had found the least attention drawing manner in which they could travel was by taking a ferry from Ireland to Liverpool, England.  Henry had agreed with this with enthusiasm, but he had felt duped afterwards. Michael had strangely remembered that one of his sons had a house in Liverpool that they could spend the night in.  Henry had some awareness that Michael's sons had all been in Afghanistan serving in the Royal Air Force, so he had not really spend time with his sons in between their tours as he was based in the United States.  As it had become Michael's home territory he had come into contact with some of his son's cronies to make sure that the new Baroness and Lord would be well protected while he relaxed with his family. Michael had decided to stay with his son's family for a couple days before coming to Leicestershire to join them.

The first parts of the journey were completely uneventful.  Ellie had not liked to leave in such a shody way without telling Nolan, but once they reached the smaller airport, Michael had coalesced that the boy must be sworn to secrecy.  Nolan had rolled his eyes as he read some of the headlines aloud to Ellie. Henry was glad to see that she had laughed in good humor instead of collapsing with mortification. She was always surprising him with how strong she was.

Henry when he had gone to the United Kingdom previously, but had not wandered further than the city limits where his meetings with clients had been based.  He chasted himself for not taking some time to explore the countryside. Once they landed in Ireland, Henry was amazed by how green the verdant landscape was.  He was sad to leave the fresh green hills behind as the scenery was changed as the train came to the port city of Dublin. It was time to change from a train to the ferry to cross the water to England.

On the open water Michael seemed to lose all of his rigidity as his eyes were strangely wet even for him.  He sat with his arms wrapped around his wife. He whispered into her ear. She smiled before Michael reached out to catch Ellie's attention.  "My younger son has a house there along the river. It's called Mersey River. You see that row of houses with red roofs, one of those belongs to my son."

Ellie squinted ahead at the boats which were tethered to the docks behind each house.  "This is such a beautiful place to build a house. It must be very calming to live so close to the water.  You know that Liverpool has a Superleague Formula team, I was a very big fan of when I was a child. My father talked the driver into giving me lessons.  I have a great fondness for this city because this was where it all started. I have a great love for crisp English air. My mother actually only came here for the food at the Chinatown.  She had her priorities."

Michael and Ellie began to compare notes on various restaurants in the city while his wife looked on with some incredulity.  Finally, she and Henry exchanged glances before laughing heartily. Michael's wife murmured something quickly to Henry in Chinese.

Henry replied in the same language, but to his shock Ellie continued his thought without missing a beat.  Henry looked at her curiously as he asked her in chinese, "You can Speak Shanghainese, my dear?"

Ellie nodded quickly and spoke up to answer the question in the aforementioned language. Henry looked spooked as he realized he had probably spoken it in front of her many times. "I apologize for not asking you if you spoke the language yourself. It's one of many that my father didn't want me to learn so if course naturally I did." Henry looked mischievous. "I know your English name is Ellie, but I should have asked you what your Chinese name was. If I had known I would have probably been able to figure out what languages you can understand because of your mother."

Ellie shook her head before explaining quickly. "My maternal grandmother was from Shanghai, but my grandfather from the same side was from Hong Kong. He is the one who gave me my Chinese name. I grew up speaking with them over the phone in Mandarin and Shanghainese. I never thought it was weird." Ellie shrugged indifferently. "I know you've spoken it around me before, but you haven't said anything that would offend me or I would have spoken up. I'm not a mouse."

"That I know for sure." Henry said with a chuckle. Michael and his wife exchanged glances as they looked from the Mr to the Mrs. they were always a lively set to watch. Michael wished for a moment that Henry could see Ellie for the treasure she was than the mistake he'd made. If his master was not careful a bigger mistake was soon to come.

Ellie covered her face with a baseball cap as they approached land. Henry handed her a facemask and he drew one on as well. Michael has explained that it was common for Asian tourists to wear masks for hygiene so if the duo put them on it would draw less attention to either of them. Each was well known in their own right so fanfare would be inevitable, but could be avoided. The four of them hailed a taxi at the ferry's port. Michael barked directions in his homely Liverpool drawal and they were driven quickly to a townhouse that boarded the river. As the taxi stopped and Michael got out there was a flurry of activity as two strapping young boys ran out to greet their grandfather. Then the son appeared holding back the leash of a rampant German shepherd who was yipping excitedly. The daughter-in-law came with a quick peck on the cheek to Michael before quickly running to the passenger door to help her mother-in-law into the house. A swarm of small dachshunds came out next like fast moving flying hot dogs that had come from some strange mystical enchantment that seemed to permeate the moment