From Fitzroy’s Private Diary (Extract 181)

Yes, I’ve been away. For goodness sake, it goes with the job. It’s not my fault she got herself pregnant. It wasn’t even my baby; it was my goddaughter. I suppose there’s some modicum of civility that dictates that I should mention if I’m about to go off for a while on a mission, one that I might die on, but I’m a spy! It’s not in my nature to alert anyone of my imminent departure, or even demise, even if she supposedly still holds the security clearance to know.

I say supposedly, because dear old Morley has given me another intelligence analyst to work with. His own experiment at bringing a woman on board. She’s awfully smart, and rather entertaining, but she’s a strictly on-British-soil-only posting. There’s no chance of me sneaking off abroad with her. I mean, it’s not like she’s a proper partner, which is why I haven’t mentioned her to Alice. Need to know, and all that. But it also means Alice isn’t in touch with what I’m up to, and she doesn’t like that. Oh, the questions! I think she thought that when she moved to an analyst role, we’d still be working together. We’re not. I do keep in touch, as best I can. Heavens, for the first couple of years of Hope’s life, I more or less lived at White Orchards. Of course, Alice remains unaware that part of that was due to my temporary enforced retirement. Again, need to know, and all that.

I’m going to have to come up with some sort of scheme. I suppose Hope is getting old enough to be worried about where her godfather might be (thank God her teeth came through and she can say godfather properly). I rather thought it I’d built up a picture of myself as a roving gad-about who got into all kinds of disreputable adventures, and as an old friend of her parents, I came and went very much with the wind. I mean, the only part there that’s actually a lie is that I’m a friend of both her parents. Ha!

However, the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that this is down to Alice’s concern for me, rather than Hope’s. Very sweet, but rather a bind. I may well have to get Morley to approve her for the occasional active service work. Then I could have my current analyst at home and Alice with me in the field. Could work well enough, but I’ll need to keep them strictly apart. Good grief, it’s almost as bad as managing a wife and a mistress.