She ran with him through seventeen states and here she was. He was a saboteur of the United States government and she had believed him. More than that she had loved him....deeply. She had believed that he was looking for the guy who framed him. Not at first of course. When he kidnapped her so that she couldn't get to the police she had fought mighty hard and tried to get away many a time and almost did. She smiled slightly. In the way he learned to like. After all, he hadn't trusted her at first either. Constantly trying to escape to the police. Then she had trusted him and that's when it all fell down.

“Thank you Ms. Penny for coming to us with this information. It is very valuable indeed. America awards those who help it.”

“Thank you Sheriff, but it's the least I can do. This country is what I believe in and without it, well, I wouldn't know what to do.” As she looked down at her cafe kisses with a small look of remorse she noticed the pattern on her coffee cup. It didn't appear to be what it actually was. While she thought they were flowers she looked closer and noticed that they were not flowers, but the fleur de lis. Slowly she looked up into the old gentleman's face. She saw her intuition in there. The one that knew what was going on before she did. “Sheriff, why haven't you called anyone yet?” “Why Ms. Penny, I just called someone, but I don't think it is going to be who you thought it was. Just remember that this is what America gives you Ms. Penny.....a very bad headache.” Just then she blacked out and all the world melted away.

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A very bad headache was what she had indeed. It was one filled with anger. She didn't like to be had and had was what she had been. She awoke in a very plush chair in the middle of a very rich room. She hadn't been in a room like this since she went to visit that long lost cousin of hers. Even the books had to be worth thousands of dollars. She bolted before they put her back down again. “Now young lady there is no reason to be acting that way. It's entirely too appalling for anyone's tastes.” It was a lady of very great fortune and incredible power because she was in the midst of many men in tailcoats and top hats. “What's she doing here?” She heard a very familiar voice. “You, you, coward, you call yourself a human being? All the lives that have been lost because of your stupid insensibilities....I couldn't think of all the things I would like to do to you.” Everyone laughed including James. The cruelty was something she had thought about in the beginning, but as time went on it was hard for her to imagine anything cruel in his kind demeanor. Now she saw it and she disliked it. It brought tears.

The door opened just then and a good thing it did because the last thing on this Earth she wanted was for him to see her cry. An older man walked in. “Well, well, Mr. James, the framed saboteur. We can't help it that all the rest of them are a bunch of idiots. Can we? Little Ms. Penny lapped up all your words like they were candy. Mr. Adams shame on you, You've brought a framed saboteur into all our secrets. Apparently he's smarter than you are.” He was speaking to the man with the red tie in the corner. The man looked very scared. “Isop, he was the boy from the paper, I figured that it was the boy.” “Well, whatever you thought, I think we can both agree that it is time to do away with the both of them. They are nothing but an obstacle now.”

“You're not doing that in my house Isop, you best take them somewhere they can be easily discarded of. I have a function downstairs and I can't be bothered.”

“Very well, Mrs. Rochester.”

Out into the dark they went. Strangers two days ago and together again. Hands clasped in fear and comfort. It may be the end of the road for them or just the beginning. Which one neither could tell. In love they were fortified and in the dark a candle burned bright. The end or just the beginning they were together, free of the disillusionment. Just a girl and guy intertwined in an incredible situation far beyond their reaches.

“Cafe Kisses”*

Ingredients: ¾ cup of all purpose flour, 2 tbs of very strong lukewarm black coffee, 1 and ½ cup of softened margarine, ¾ plus 1/8 cup of sugar, 3 egg yolks, 1 tbs of cocoa powder, ½ tsp of vanilla extract, ½ tsp of baking powder, 1/8 cup of Splenda, and 1/8 tsp of salt.

1. Stir the coffee and ¾ cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook (please don't stir) until the mixture reaches 114 degrees. Beat the egg yolks in a double boiler with an electric mixer at high speed until pale. Gradually beat the syrup into the beaten yolks. Place over barely simmering water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture lightly coats a wooden spoon. Immediately plunge the pan into a bowl of ice water and stir until cooled. Beat 1 cup of the margarine in a large bowl until creamy. Beat into the egg mixture.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter two cookie sheets.

3. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Beat the remaining margarine, sugar, Splenda, and vanilla with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients to form a stiff dough.

4. Form the dough into balls the size of walnuts and place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Use a fork to flatten them slightly. Bake until firm to the touch (about 10 minutes). Cool on the sheets until the cookies firm slightly (about 10 minutes). Transfer to racks to finish cooling. Stick the cookies together in pairs with the cookie cream created in step one.

5. Simply sit back and enjoy the deliciousness.

* Base of this recipe from Cookies and then I molded it from there.

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