Renaissance in Firenze
by Atonia
Quite by accident or by design, he never really knew which Max Skinner was becoming a wine maker. With the help of Aubrey Duncan his palate had developed so that he could distinguish between one grape and another but he really never let on how advanced he was. He was also able to talk intelligently with Francis Duflot about the vineyard and what they were producing. And so whether it was design that led the two of them to start experimenting with grapes or just dumb luck they had come up with something that had both of them excited. It was being produced right in the cellars of Chateau La Siroque and not at Chambord as was the rest of the wine he made and sold. Using the old equipment his Uncle Henry had used many years ago he believed they were on to something.
While he talked openly with Aubrey about the grapes that went over to Chambord he hadn’t mentioned the vines being harvested by Duflot and a helper from the village. It was only a small plot after all…hardly worth mentioning. How Duflot had obtained the vines he didn’t want to know but he was very much involved in the product. He left the cellar and the grapes fermenting under the watchful eye of Francis Duflot and went back to the house.
He found Toni half in the little pool in the back yard with a kitchen strainer, "What are you doing, love?"
"Jacky has thrown my gold hoop earrings in here somewhere." She looked up blowing the hair from her face. "Do you know how many strange objects are in this little pool? Just look there in that pile, there’s a ring in there and I think it’s been under water for some time."
"The earrings I bought you in Rome?" Max squatted down by the pool and picked up the ring, fingering through the things he found keys, a fountain pen, buttons, an elaborate belt buckle, it’s leather long since disintegrated.
"Yes or I wouldn’t be bothering about it."
"I’ll buy you another pair, love. I suppose we should clean that thing out sometime. Half my childhood is probably in there…these are things I threw in there. I wasn’t always a very nice boy."
"It’s being passed on to your nephew. Jacky came straight out here with them laughing like crazy. That ring looks to be valuable."
Max looked at it wiping some of the pond slime off with his fingers, "it belonged to Madame Chenel; funny that her ring would be here and her daughter not."
Toni climbed out of the water and sat on the stone edge, "why did you throw it in the pond?"
"I don’t know probably jealous, she took up some of his time you know."
"And that time was precious wasn’t it?"
"It was, though at the time I didn’t realize just how precious. He told me once I was a little shit…and I was." Max stood up and handed her the ring. "I grew up to be a bigger shit."
"Not as I’ve known you; except for your uncontrollable tendency to cheat at games." She grinned up at him.
He opened his mouth to disagree and smiled knowing she had him there. "You haven’t told me where you want to go when Jacky goes back to London."
"I haven’t thought about it to tell you the truth…I told John when he was here somewhere warm with a beach but its fall now, my beach tendencies are not so strong."
Max looked down at her, "What are your fall tendencies?" he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, fall was Terry’s season. He was still a little tender in that direction.
She read him so well, "Anywhere I can be alone with you."
"We could go upstairs and lock the door…"
"I thought we were going away?"
"We are when you decide," he picked up a stone and threw it in the pond.
"Take me to Florence…you can replace the earrings there."
Max pulled her from the wall and embraced her, "Florence it is." He kissed the top of her head.
Toni stared out of the window of the train that was taking them from Rome to Florence. The countryside reminded her much of Provence except for the olive groves. She glanced over at Max, he had a book he was reading instead of looking out. "Did you ever read Under the Tuscan Sun ? It’s about a woman who buys an old run down villa in Tuscany and refurbishes it and lives there…."
Max looked over his glasses, "You’re not suggesting….?"
"No…just that it was a good book…they made a movie out of it.."
"I recall a book named A Good Year and they made a movie out of that too, about a man who inherits a run down Chateau and decides to do it up…." He grinned.
"We’re in Tuscany at least you could look at it…what are you reading anyway?" she picked it up to look at the front of the book,"garage wines?"
"Just something I picked up," he folded a page and closed it. "Really, do you think you’d want a piece of real estate over here?"
"Well I don’t know I haven’t seen it all yet. No; we own enough and don’t make use of what we have except for the Chateau La Siroque."
"We’re all part of the Mediterranean, probably not much difference here than home except for the Italians." Max stashed his book in his black leather carryon bag.
Toni grinned and looked back out of the window. He’d made all of the arrangements once she’d picked a place to go and now he was riding on a train toward Florence reading. She felt him take her hand and leaned over and kissed him softly. This was their first time alone together not counting the ten days they’d spent on the Rivera when she was pregnant with Rose. This was the first time she had left Rose for any length of time too and it wasn’t easy for her but she had this man at her side and right this moment that was all she needed.
"Oh look at that," he looked past her, "that house on the hill all by its self, looks a little lonely up there."
"Yes it does, the tree line doesn’t start for what maybe fifty feet down the hillside…odd."
"Those are olive trees, love, they aren’t planted for decoration."
"Do you think they taste the same as the ones grown in Provence?"
Max smiled, "Olives are olives…"
"And chateau’s and villas much the same?"
"I should imagine so, a little different in style, we’ll soon find out I’ve let one for two weeks." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
"Have you…we’re not staying in a hotel?"
"No…would you have preferred that?"
"Not at all…oh this is going to be such fun, Max."
Toni was a little disappointed when the taxi took them around Florence instead of into the city but when she saw the villa she was smiling. "Oh Mr. Skinner you have outdone yourself. This is gorgeous!" The villa was perched on a hill and came complete with staff to look after their needs. "I’m not sure two weeks will be long enough…"
"That was your decision, love."
"I know but…" She entered the downstairs rooms which were comfortable looking and not at all fancy. It reminded her again of Chateau La Siroque.
"Are you happy with it…does it meet Madam’s approval?"
Toni grinned, "Very happy."
Max paid the taxi driver and carried their bags upstairs to the largest bedroom, there were four rooms on the second level, one being a lounge area with a little balcony that looked over the valley below and the hills beyond.
"How will we get around?" Toni asked removing her jacket, it was much warmer here in mid afternoon.
"There is a little rollerskate of a car which we have access to for touring around and also two Vespa’s for going into Florence."
" A Vespa…can two ride on one?"
"Are you afraid?"
"I don’t know how to ride one."
"We’ll give it a go around the property and if you don’t feel comfortable…yes you can hang onto me."
"I think I’d rather hang onto you." She smiled and tilted her head.
Max patted her behind, "I thought we might stay here for tonight and begin exploring the area tomorrow since we’ve been traveling all day."
"That suits me, let’s go explore our villa."
Freed from responsibilities of their daily life they went hand in hand through the house and outside carrying a basket the cook had set on the outside table for them containing water, wine, bread and cheese, olives and dates, and a sweet.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Toni looked sideways at him as they walked.
"The House of Four Seasons," he looked down at her and smiled. "I was thinking the same thing…nothing to do but play and relax."
"It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that."
"For us not since we left the House."
"I guess so, the picnic basket we used to take with us…we could have gone there and saved you some money." She reached down and picked a blossom.
"I don’t mind the money and here there are no memories to intrude…I know what you’re going to say, Toni but its true. I have good memories there of you and the things we did but you have other memories and I’d rather not have them in attendance for the next two weeks."
He’d said it quietly but Toni knew the feeling behind those words. She went quiet looking out over the grounds and finally, "Max, I belong to you…nothing will ever change that…nothing."
He found a spot under some large shrubs and pulled her down on the grass, placing the picnic basket beside him. "I don’t believe anything can come between us."
"In another life, another world…the one that I came from I would never have had four husbands magical or otherwise, never four lovers going at once. I thought when I came out with Terry all that was over with, that we could live a normal life like everyone else. That wasn’t to be…we weren’t like everyone else. We tried of course and I think we were as normal as we could be in our daily lives.
"I’ve thought about this a lot this past year. I think I was the one that began what became the end for Terry and me. I left a two month old baby to go and look for Jack, and you know what happened after that in Paris. That wasn’t enough; I seduced you in Marseilles…"
"Now wait just a minute, you did no such thing…"
"I did and I did it shamelessly. Those three weeks with Jack and then you…he knew…"
"It was more than three weeks, nearly a month you were with him."
"Okay but the first week he was very sick. I know Terry tried to be liberal in his ideas about me and sex. At least I thought he was," she pulled a leaf from the shrub and rolled it up in her fingers. "He didn’t let on you know…he put on a false front about it all because he thought that’s the way it was going to be. He’d shared me for so long when we were at the House. He gave me enough rope to hang myself and I did with Jack last year. I would have gone with John in Rome if he hadn’t better sense than me. It’s… I still have such strong feelings for them all it seemed so natural because of what we’d shared together.
"What I’m trying to tell you, Max is that I’ve put all that behind me I can’t change anything but I’ve been there and I don’t have to go back again. I’ve made some big mistakes and I’ve paid for them. I want…I want to start over with you…Max we never really started it’s like we picked up in mid stream and continued on."
He’d leaned back in the grass resting on an elbow while he listened to her. "What did you say your name was?"
"Excuse me?"
He looked up at her, "You wanted to start over…"
"Not that far back…I’m Toni Stanley Thorne." She grinned.
"No you aren’t…from this day forward you are Toni Skinner. I married you some years back and for some strange reason I can’t think of at the moment…we never had a honeymoon. Would you like to have one in Florence?"
She flung herself on top of him, "Yes…oh yes." Smiling she kissed him and was rolled over in the grass.
"I’d have you here but there may be hidden cameras or something, perhaps a gardener making his rounds," he kissed her again. "I love you; throughout all that’s happened since I first saw you…I love you."
"Me too you," Her arms went around his neck.
The next morning he had her on the scooter and after a few starts and stops she managed to ride it around the garage area and down the drive and back.
"You look like you’ve got the hang of it…"
"Max, no way will I get out in traffic on this thing I would panic and cause a wreck."
"I think you may be right, love. You can double up with me."
"You said that awfully quickly."
Max grinned.
"It will be fine, Toni there are hundreds parked everywhere."
"But it’s not ours what if it’s stolen?"
"Then we’ll buy them another, besides," he looked up and down the street, "everyone’s already got one."
They left the scooter and set off down the street stopping at a sidewalk café for a drink and a bite to eat.
"It’s probably going to rain," Max leaned back looking around the edge of the umbrella.
"We should have brought the car." Toni said looking out over the Arno River.
"It wasn’t going to rain when we left the house, what happened to the sun?" He picked up his beer glass.
"We’ll buy an umbrella," Toni said sipping her beer.
"Oh, a lot of good that will do on the scooter going home."
"Are you afraid you might melt?"
"I might," he met her eyes and smiled.
They had a sandwich and Max pointed out the bridge across the Arno, "Do you see that bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, there was an awful lot of damage here in Florence during the war, that’s the second world war, and all the bridges were blown except that one, it was saved by its historical significance. And those buildings attached to it are goldsmiths, jewelry making at its best."
"The earrings…" she turned to him and smiled.
"Um yes, earrings,"
"Will we go across it to the other side?"
"I thought we might." He had in mind something other than earrings. "Finish your lunch and we’ll have a stroll about."
The stroll brought them to the bridge, "Can you imagine this bridge once was the home of butchers and blacksmiths and tanners, the river must have been a sewer. They were evicted during the Renaissance."
"You’ve really done your research, haven’t you?"
Max took her hand, "A little…well you would if you’re going to a particular place…wouldn’t you?"
Toni laughed, "I just know they sell shoes, some of the finest leathers here and papers."
"Shoes," he grimaced. "We can’t buy those today."
"No, earrings will be fine."
In and out of shops until she found the perfect pair of gold loops, while Max looked at other things.
"Toni," he began in a small shop where he’d seen something he liked, "I want to buy you a ring."
"I already wear your ring." She fingered the three diamond ring she wore.
"I know but I didn’t give you that on our wedding day, I gave you a circle of diamonds; nicer than the one of Terry’s that you still wear."
"Does it bother you that I wear his ring, I also wear Jack’s and John’s necklace."
"No, it doesn’t really it doesn’t but I want you to have something special, a wedding ring."
"Max," Toni bit her lip.
"I can’t pull it out of thin air like I once did but I can purchase it, what do you think of this?" he moved from the velvet lined glassed case so she could see."
"Max…that costs a fortune."
"Is that your first thought?" he raised a brow.
"Well no, it’s lovely and it really does look like the one you gave me except the stones aren’t quite as large."
"Size matters?" he grinned.
Toni looked up at him with a little smile, "In your case…Max."
He asked to see the ring and Toni tried it on, it was a little snug going over her knuckle but could be resized to fit if they would like to come back in a few hours. Max bought the ring. It meant something special to Toni that he would want to do this, a wedding ring. She looked down at her hands while he took care of the charge card and moved Terry’s ring to her right hand. It was similar but not the same. She thought about when he’d given it to her that Christmas in Virginia before everything began to unravel in their lives.
"All done or is there something else?" Max asked her folding a receipt and putting it in his wallet.
"No," she slipped her arm in his. "Oh if we’d only known, I could have kept the ring…"
"What, the one from the House?"
"Yes."
"I doubt you would have been able to take it out," they stepped out of the shop and he turned to get a look at it, hoping to remember what it looked like in three hours.
"I could have, I thought I knew what my future held."
"You left Jack’s as well and John’s rings behind, I supposed they disappeared along with mine."
"I wonder…I may look for them the next time we go there."
"What would you do with them you only have so many fingers or are we considering toes now?"
Toni smiled, "No, I may not wear them but just to have them." She turned to him at the corner and took his hands. "I love the ring you chose for me."
"You aren’t going to cry?"
"No, I hope not…I just feel so full all of a sudden."
"Let’s go find a nice quiet place for a drink." He kissed her forehead and led her across the bridge.
Toni had herself under control by the time they found a quiet little hole in the wall bar. Max bought them both a drink and sat with her. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, sorry I…"
"It’s all right to be emotional I get that way myself sometimes. All this because I wanted you to have a wedding ring from me, here today?"
"I didn’t realize when you gave me that ring six years ago just what it meant, I mean I knew later but at the time, you said eternity and…I didn’t know I’d married you but you did didn’t you?"
"I knew what I was doing, love. I also knew the rest of my brothers would follow. It was a game and I made the first move. I did it because I loved you and I wanted to bind you to me forever somehow being the first to do that was…special."
"The first and the last, oh Max." she reached across the table and took his hand.
"Hey, no more teary eyes, this is our honeymoon it’s only right you should have a wedding ring." He picked up his glass, "to my bride."
She touched his glass with hers, "to my husband."
Later when they went back to pick up the ring he placed it on her finger, heavy gold set with diamonds, "I love you." He kissed her in the shop and got a round of applause from the patrons and proprietor.
Toni blushed and smiled, "thank you all," she took his hand as they left.
As they walked back across the bridge a most spectacular sunset stopped them in their tracks. A break in the shops allowed a perfect view. They stood silently leaning into each other for a moment and he took her in his arms and kissed her soundly. Drawing apart she noticed they weren’t the only ones caught up in the moment, she smiled and caressed his cheek, Florence…it seemed so right. There were no memories here except the ones they were making.
"I’ll never forget this place," she said softly.
"It’s ours, we own it let’s go enjoy the night."
The rain held off giving them time to walk the streets in Florence for awhile and admire a few of the squares before sprinkles drove them into a restaurant for dinner. Later they walked the wet sidewalks the rain having moved on. They found a square with a fountain and street musicians, people were coming out of the bars and restaurants to enjoy the night. Max took her in his arms and waltzed her around the fountain.
"I remember now what a romantic you are, how did we lose it, Max?"
"Um add three kids and an ex husband I think somewhere in the mix we lost the time for romance. The daily necessaries took over."
"We never really had a chance; the timing was out wasn’t it…you widowed and given me the day of the memorial service and me torn inside out from the trauma of being given away. It’s taken some time for us to come to terms with what we have. We’ve had to learn it as we went along, we hadn’t a choice."
"Oh well we did have a choice, you didn’t have to stay with me but I wanted you to. I wasn’t ready for you I was still hurting but I knew there was no one else I’d ever want to be with but you."
"Do you remember when we did up the cottage back before Connie’s accident and…Jack? I thought at the time how right we were for each other, how I could have lived in that cottage with you. I was still very much married to Terry but a part of me knew how it could be. I’ve always loved you, Max."
"Yes I remember that very well. I don’t believe in premonitions but something, Toni…I believe was put in motion that day. I don’t know how to explain it…fate…magic?"
"I’d hate to think magic took Connie."
"An automobile accident took her and nothing else, nearly took John as well so…no there was no magic at work on the motorway."
"I felt so bad for you, I hurt for you and Maxi. Strange we’ve never had this conversation before. You know it never occurred to me at the time that you would go back to France with Maxi alone. I was taking care of him as if he were my own. I don’t think I could have let you go back with him."
"Toni, I knew before the memorial service what Terry was going to do. I didn’t know how he was going to pull it off but I’d told him earlier, before the accident, that if he let you go I would take you and that there would be no going back for him. I’m not sure at that time he really intended to let you go, but when Connie died he felt guilty and he felt I’d lost enough. There is a strong bond between Terry and I, always has been, I think you were that bond and still are aside from the fact he’s my little brother as it were."
"I never think of you as being the oldest, in some ways you’re much younger. "
"Why thank you," he smiled and brought her hand to his lips. He hadn’t really meant to tell her about the agreement he and Terry had but she hadn’t taken it in he thought, and that was just as well. He’d never told her he planned to leave Connie and give up everything for her if Terry had let her go.
"What do you think, shall we find a bar and drink all night or weave our way back to the villa and um…all night?"
Toni laughed, "um all night sounds good to me."
They spent days touring around the area, eating, drinking, eating….
Max found the winery he’d been looking for, they did a very nice little lunch and Toni was still playing with the crumbs of bread and olive oil when Max came back to the table.
"I’ve met the owner,"
"Oh, la de da."
"He wants to show me something…do you mind terribly?"
"No, not at all, I may wander over in the garden."
A quick kiss and he went back through the doors. Toni left the table and wandered out of the courtyard dining area into the garden. The sun was very warm on the old stone bench where she found a seat. The smell of sage was strong and a look around showed her it was planted among the flowers.
How timeless this place is she thought, and then she thought of the Chateau, the same feeling there of timelessness. The warm sun, the smell of earth, the scent of herbs mixed with flowers, dampness around the shadows, and water from the fountain. She experienced a sharpening of her senses, sounds of bees, the water dripping over the edge of the fountain, something moving beneath the leaves scattered under the shrub, ants… a timeless scent…
She began to feel herself pulled toward something as though part of her was slipping away. Firmly she grabbed onto the stone bench…no…no. At last someone else had walked into the garden, a man and a woman speaking softly to one another. She blinked and took a deep breath but the sent lingered in her nostrils…she knew that scent, "Maximus," she whispered to herself.
Toni stood up hoisting her bag onto her shoulder looked around the garden and walked quickly out to the graveled car park. No she would not allow it…oh Max where are you? She opened the car door and then thought better of it, better to stay within sight of…she heard his voice, laughing and breathed a big sigh of relief, Max was coming.
"I’ve been looking for you what are you doing out here?"
"Oh, Max," she ran to meet him.
"What is it, love?"
"Don’t leave me like that again, not here, not in Italy."
Max ran a hand over his face and then tapped the steering wheel, "Is there no place we can go without…"
"I don’t know…it was just so unexpected, I could so easily have slipped away back into time."
"And he was there waiting for you I suppose."
"I think so, I caught his scent…"
Max leaned over and started the motor. He drove down the winding narrow road from the winery back toward the motorway. It bothered him and the more he thought about it…
"This has to stop."
"I agree, but how, there was nothing that I did to bring it on, I wasn’t thinking about him or anything in particular except herbs."
"Herbs?"
"Yes, sage and thyme planted among the flowers. We have pots of the same at home and they bring nothing to mind except timelessness."
It frightened him to think she might fall through the invisible wall into Maximus’s arms. He thought about the last time it happened in Rome, only it hadn’t been into his arms but into his world where any number of horrible things might have happened to her. Terry and Jack had brought her out barely escaping with their lives.
He reached over and took her hand and kissed her fingers, "I‘m not letting you out of my sight. Perhaps Italy wasn’t such a good idea after all, I’d forgotten about the gladiator."
"Every time I begin to think we’re just like other people, the couple at the next table…something happens and I’m reminded how we’re not. We live and function as others do but…"
"Magic lives, we only exist through magic. I’m the same, Toni, sometimes I forget too. You’re real enough though."
"Not anymore…you know that as well as I do. What did you bring I saw a bag…"
"Some special wine the owner gave me to try."
"Let’s go somewhere and drink it."
"It’s to be savored and tasted, Toni not troughed to get drunk." He grinned over at her, "We’ll pick up a bottle of plonk for that. Is that how you want to spend the rest of the afternoon?"
"No, not really," she sighed, "it scared me, Max for a moment there I thought I was slipping away."
"You can control it, love remember Jack taught you how to in Rome."
"I know I can, but if you’re not even remotely thinking of it and it just gradually comes over you then…I don‘t want to think about it anymore lets go back to the villa."
They spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, Max was reading his wine book, and Toni read for a while and napped. As she was coming awake in that half sleep half conscious state when one is not sure what is real and is a dream, she saw him, not face to face but more like the essence of him, his scent, the strength of his arms around her, the feel of him beneath her hands, the oily slickness of his skin, she wanted….
"Toni…Toni…"
She became aware of Max standing over her lounge chair touching her. "Max…" she sat up pushing her hair from her face.
"Are you okay you were making sounds…"
"Oh…yes I’m okay," she swallowed, "what sort of sounds?"
"Almost as though you were in pain, moaning, whimpering sounds."
"Must have been a dream…I don’t," she regained herself, "no more plonk for me," she laughed a little.
Max looked at her a moment and went back to his chair and picked up his book.
Toni poured out a glass of cool water, someone had brought out a heavy jug; the water had a mint spring in it. More herbs. Sounds and sensations were coming back to her now, Maximus why was he trying to get to her, to pull her in. No, no she couldn’t do that… wouldn’t do it. She looked down at the palm of her hand and brought it to her nose, scented oil. Oh God.
"You mentioned going to Milan…do you think we might…tomorrow?"
Max looked over his book, "Tomorrow well if you want to, I thought we’d hit Milan before we left the country, sort of on the way out the door. I want to stop in London for a day or two before we go home."
"I suppose that makes sense, and we do have three more days here, we could go to Pisa see the tower before it falls down."
"Why the sudden urge to leave Florence?"
"There’s no…well I don’t know, something here…"
"Is it Maximus again?"
"I think so, I just know I want to leave here…soon."
Max’s eyes darkened a moment and he put his book down, "I’ll tell the bastard to bloody well leave you alone. I won’t allow it. Bollocks, this is our honeymoon he has no rights here. D’ye hear that gladiator," He called out. "He wasn’t even a final four season, what the bloody hell does he think he’s about?"
Toni dropped her head, "I don’t know, Max I’m not encouraging it, hadn’t even thought of him for ages."
"He was a fall wasn’t he, came in September?"
"Yes,"
"…Came after me for one bloody season."
"Yes."
"I think you’re right, we do need to get out of here. It’s fall in Italy. I suppose Germany is out he was there too, Terry’s in England right now but I swear if we went to Australia he’d be there too. Bloody John in America and Jack…who the hell knows where he is, could be waiting on our doorstep when we get home."
"Max we can’t run from our past. And you are right, everywhere we go we are subject to some sort of memories."
"Are their flights to the moon yet, should we check into that?"
Toni bit her lip he was truly angry, "Max, you have nothing to fear from anybody."
"Yes I do...I do. I am afraid of losing you again. It could happen so quickly, out of the blue."
"No, no darling I thought we’d established where we are. I will never leave you…never -not for anyone."
"You may not want to but other forces…they are strong where you’re concerned. I feel, it don’t think I don’t. When Terry’s near you or Jack…oh yeah I feel it too."
"Please, let’s don’t go there, we were going to leave all that crap behind, make our own memories here."
"I didn’t start it."
Toni got up from the lounge and walked a little away from him, arms crossed, tears threatening to overflow, she looked out over the valley, olive groves, the roof of a farmhouse, and smoke here and there from a chimney. She felt him come up behind her turn her around and hold her. "Oh, Max." she grabbed onto the collar of his shirt.
"Let’s go in," he said softly.
He had her beneath him, looking into her eyes, he teased her lips with his until she took his face in her hands and pulled him firmly to her lips and he used his element on her. Blasting them both apart and then pulling them back together as one.
"My God, Max…," later she breathlessly said into his neck, "what was that?"
He pulled up with a half grin, "Typhoon."
The typhoon carried them through Florence and onto Milan where Toni did some serious shopping, and then onto London where Max went to work for a couple of days to pay for their holiday. He was also working to fund his little project down in the old wine cellars of La Siroque. Several times Toni picked up the phone to call Terry since they were in London and she hung up before dialing his number. Jacky would be with her in another couple of weeks, she could wait to see her son, and now was not the time to be talking to Terry.
Max came in one evening talking about going to Bordeaux, "Only for a couple of days, some people I need to see, um…business."
"Are you meaning to do this before you come home?"
"Yes if that’s okay with you?"
"Of course, what better way to end our honeymoon…"
"Toni, love…"
"If you do that then there is something I need to do too. There’s my Aunt’s house in Boston. It’s being sold soon and I’d like to clear out my old room, a few things in there I want to keep."
"You’re going alone?"
"Are you going to Bordeaux alone?"
"Well, but that’s business…"
"So is clearing out my old room…business."
"All right…meet you at La Siroque in four days…deal?"
"Deal," she grinned and kissed him. "We can resume the honeymoon then."
"Or now," He returned her kiss.
They parted at the airport, long lingering kisses and hugs and promises to call. He started for his plane and stopped turning to look at her…something.
Toni moved away from his gate and started for hers and stopped and turned, he’d already got on the plane…something.
TBC
