By Atonia

(Picture creations also by Atonia)

The mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France. The mistral is usually accompanied by clear and fresh weather, and it plays an important role in creating the climate of Provence. The mistral has the reputation of bringing good health, since the dry air dries stagnant water and the mud, giving the mistral the local name mange-fange (Eng. "mud-eater"). It also blows away pollution from the skies over the large cities and industrial areas.

Part 1

She guessed she’d been dozing. The book she’d been reading now lay on the floor and, loosening her seat belt, Toni leaned over and picked it up. She looked across the aisle at Max. He was asleep, finger still in his book. She moved over and gently took his glasses off his nose and placed them on the tray table. He looked so young, so vulnerable when sleeping. Quickly she moved away before she touched him and woke him up. They were on their way back to France after her stay at the House of Four Seasons.

Even now she wasn’t sure, not really sure, what she thought had happened really did happen. Magic was magic and there was no explanation for it. For all their sakes she hoped it did happen that finally things were settled and forgiven between her and Terry. She smiled a little and looked out of the window of the plane. He wasn’t a monster after all; he was just Terry. And Jack…oh, Jack…he declared himself a part of her life and Rose’s. She looked down at his ring on her finger…strange that Max had told her to wear it, the wedding ring Jack had given her all those years ago. But then Max was a surprising creature, often doing the unexpected, a very complex man. She looked over at him, his hair falling over his eyes. He needed a haircut…he needed her. I Love you, she mouthed and let her seat back. It was going to be a long flight

Max woke with a start. Was it day or night? The cabin lights were off and he glanced over at Toni, who looked to be asleep. He sighed and flexed the hand he’d been holding the book with. The flight attendant came down the aisle and he asked for water. He’d not get back to sleep now. Looking at his watch he noted there were still at least six hours to go before they reached Paris and then a transfer for Marseilles.

He was glad he’d come for her. Of course there was never a question after he knew where she was. He thought about the messages he’d gotten from his brothers. Each had told him what had happened and that he could just live with it and get over himself. Jack had been particularly straight with him and he was right, of course. Max just didn’t like thinking about it. It was just as well Jack didn’t come around that often but there was Rose and he would never deny him Rose. He let out a sigh…or Rose’s mother.

It had disturbed him a little when John told him she wished she’d never left the House, that she felt she’d messed everything up. It was too complicated to point fingers at any one or any one thing that had happened. Even Terry, whom he’d wanted to blame…no, he suffered, too, and Toni did love him after they’d left the house and presumably he’d stopped using his element of fire on her. Perhaps he suffered the most. There was Jacky shared between them. Well, he couldn’t deny Terry his son or his son’s mother either. It would be up to Toni. He would leave it up to her how she wanted to handle it.

His beard was a little longer than usual, hair tousled, clothes rumpled and he was tired. Duflot was to bring a car to the airport to meet them and he was late. Toni was heaped in a seat surrounded by her luggage. Max had sent his own to the chateau before he left for America. He had some very fine bottles of wine stashed about in his bags and hoped they'd made it home in one piece.

"I should have just rented a car." He ran a hand over his beard and sat down beside her. "You know what he’s like, a typical Frenchman."

Toni smiled a little, "Your hurry is not his problem."

"Are you holding up, love?"

"Yes, darling, as well as you are. We need a bath and sleep."

"Hm, and we're headed for a house with two children who have not seen us in over three weeks. They will either be ecstatic with high pitched squeals or run crying to Tuppy and have nothing to do with us…which might be…"

"Would not be…I’ve missed them and so have you."

"You think so, do you?" He reached over and squeezed her foot.

"I know you. For all that you will be right in the middle of them, probably making more noise than they will."

Max jumped up. "He hasn’t brought the truck…? Bollocks, Duflot!"

They rode home in the farm truck with Duflot driving.

Max, pulling her bags from the bed of the truck, commented, "I don’t know how he contrives to smell of garlic this time of the morning."

Toni bit her lip. It was true; it had been a nearly nauseous drive from Marseilles. "I’ll take that one, darling. No need to load yourself like a pack animal."

Once through the door he dropped all bags and walked through the house. Tuppy was in the kitchen with Ludivine, both children strapped in their high chairs. Maxi set up a wail as soon as he saw them. Covered in sticky biscuit, Max pulled him from his chair for a kiss and a hug.

Toni had Rose, holding her close and talking to her. "Has she eaten?"

"Do you think a wet cloth?" Max looked at Ludivine, who wet a towel for him to clean Maxi up a bit before swapping babies with Toni.

After an update on the children they took them to the play den and sat down, Maxi in Toni’s lap with his thumb in his mouth, clinging to her bosom. "We shouldn’t have left them for so long." She kissed his curly head.

"Nonsense, he’s just glad to see you." Max settled down with Rose and her bottle. "You’re okay, aren’t you, Maxi?"

Maxi rooted farther into her. "He’s definitely his father’s son." She looked up at Max and hugged the little boy closer.

It was two hours before they were able to drag themselves away from the babies and up the stairs for that much-needed shower and nap.

"I’m too tired to, um…" Max looked at her out of one eye.

Toni grinned and pulled the sheet up. "Don’t even think about it." She lay there in the semi-darkness of their bedroom, drifting off and thought how comfortable she was with Max, how thoughtful and sweet…and…handsome and…she loved him…

Four hours later she woke up. Max was still asleep and it was dark outside. She walked to the window and looked out. Moonlight lit up the gardens and the vineyards beyond. She heard him stir and looked around.

"Are you awake?"

"Um…what time is it? What day is it? Is it still September?"

"Oh, lover, it’s going half past seven. It’s too much, all this time travel. Worse for you." She knelt on the bed.

"There was something I wanted to do today, but it’s not today anymore, is it?"

"It’s still today."

"Maybe I’m thinking about tomorrow." He sat up against the headboard and rubbed his eyes.

"I was just thinking I don’t believe we’ve eaten anything but a dried up roll and butter today."

"What do you eat at half past seven?" He looked up at her and ran a hand through his hair.

"Omelet. I’ll make it. Sure you’re okay?"

"Oh, yeah, just disoriented…feeling."

"Coffee?"

"Please." He got his feet on the floor and Toni went downstairs.

He was awhile coming down the stairs; he’d stopped off and read a story to Maxi. He walked into the dining area. Toni had lit a thick yellow candle. A tray of olives, goat cheese, sliced bread and butter, some nuts and a few grapes waited with a bottle of cool white wine in a bucket of ice. He opened the wine and poured out some in his glass and tasted it.

"I thought it was coffee, eggs and toast?"

"You thought wrong." She flipped the tomato and onion omelet onto a platter. "Besides, you took your time so I made use of it."

"Had to read to Maxi. I swear that kid has radar for ears. Kiss the cook?"

"Mm, that’s a good down payment." She smiled and handed him the platter.

They were into their meal and Max looked up. "It’s good to be home doing homey things. Although I did enjoy Florence."

"I loved Florence. It will always be a special place in my mind. Yes, it is good to be home. Tuppy, bless her, is going to take Rose into her rooms tonight."

"I think it’s time she moved out of my dressing room, don’t you?"

"Well…but she’s only seven months old."

"Old enough. Maxi was down the hall at seven months."

"Yes, but that’s because we redid the nursery for Rose."

"Toni…"

"I’m going to lose this one, aren’t I?"

"Fraid so, love. When they’re older I thought we might put them up in the attics."

"I don’t think so…up in the attics?"

"They’ve been cleaned out, just need a bit of paint and some furnishings. There are nice rooms up there. Tuppy doesn’t seem to mind it and they do play up there when Jacky’s here."

"You’re beginning to sound like some old stuffy Victorian. Banish the kids to the attic, seen and not heard, that sort of thing."

"Not at all, love, but there’s a warren of rooms up there, just the kind of place a small boy would love to play and they could tear the place down up there and I wouldn’t care."

"Were you up there as a small boy?"

"I played up there, I guess, but you know which room was mine." He busied himself in his plate.

"You don’t remember if you played up there?"

"No…my memories are kind of sketchy…whatever the script writer penciled in for me to…remember."

Toni frowned. How easy it was to forget he wasn’t a whole person but one with selected memories and never knowing if they were true or not. "I never think of you that way anymore, as a movie character. You’re a man, a man that I love and choose to live with."

He smiled a little, "I don’t think of it either. Perhaps it was going back to the House of Four Seasons that reminded me what I really am. That and the bollicking I got from my brothers."

"Did they really…shame on them! They had no right."

"Yes, they did and it was overdue. Are you going to eat the rest of that omelet?"

"Are you okay, Max?"

"Of course I am." He scraped her bit of omelet into his plate.

"Well, I don’t know what this is about but I’ll tell you this, I love you as you are and they have no business sticking their noses in our door."

"You can tell them when the proboscis appears." He grinned and sipped his wine.

"You aren’t going to tell me, are you?"

"Um, in a word…no. It’s nothing for you to worry about, love. More wine?"

Part 2

Life made its way back to normal at La Siroque. Max was busy making wine over at Chambord with Aubrey Duncan and when not there he and Duflot spent time down in the cellars at the chateau. Like his Uncle Henry, Max and Duflot had come up with a garage wine that they were nurturing along. Max, having done his homework, already had a market for it. There were three wines on the market from La Siroque’s vineyards already bringing in a nice profit but like his Uncle Henry he was intent on making his own fuck you million.

The first weekend in October brought Jacky. Terry brought him over around noon on a Saturday.

"I forget how nice it is over here," he remarked, unbuckling Jacky from his car seat.

"Is it raining in London?" Toni asked, waiting for her son to be handed out of the vehicle.

"Not yet but promised," he smiled and set Jacky down on the gravel.

Jacky ran to his mother and was taken up in her arms and hugged and kissed. He was used to this now, a month with her and a month with his father. Having submitted to all the kissing, he wanted to know where Maxi was.

"Um, he’s with his Dad down in the cellars. I’d better take you down there. You’re not to go on your own."

"I’ll get his gear inside." Terry gave Toni a brief kiss on the cheek and pulled Jacky’s bags from the car.

"What’s going on in the cellars?" Terry asked when she returned.

"Wine is going on. Something fishy about this wine but I don’t ask questions. Want something to drink or eat?"

"We stopped for a bite on the way but I wouldn’t say no to a cuppa." Terry made himself at home around the table and watched her put the kettle on. "How are you?"

"I’m fine."

"No repercussions from your visit to the House?"

"Ah, no, none at all. He said he received a bollicking from you guys. Why and what for?"

"Not from me, he didn’t. I just told him we’d finally come to an understanding."

"That was it?" She turned with a teapot in hand.

"Pretty much. I don’t remember exactly what I sent him."

"Mental messaging again?"

"Um hm, he’s open," Terry grinned. "I could send him all kinds of images but I don’t."

Toni pursed her lips. "Thank you for that." She made his cup of tea and sat down at the table with him. "Anything going on with Jacky I should know about?"

"Um, no. He chipped a tooth. I took him to the dentist and had it smoothed out. It’s not a permanent tooth, so not to worry."

"How did that happen?" She sipped her tea.

"He was running in the park and fell. Scared the shit out of me because his lip was bleeding."

"You were with him then?"

"Yeah. I told you Anna’s only there days now, didn’t I?"

"I think so. How does he, um, accept that?"

"I don’t know. It’s never come up. Why?"

"Just…sometimes I think he spends as much time with her as he does me and are his affections divided.  She’s been with him since he was a little baby."

"He knows who his mother is just like he knows who his father is even though he spends as much time with Max as he does me."

"I think it might be confusing for him."

"I don’t. He’s okay, Toni. Don’t go looking for things to worry over."

"Oh, Terry, I don’t have to look far. I want our children, all of them, to grow up normally without having their childhoods screwed up because of me."

He took a drink of his tea. "Who’s to say what normal is? Our kids, and I do mean all of them because they are our kids, are going to grow up loved wherever they are. When Maxi gets older I thought he might come home with Jacky once in awhile. They are so close in age."

"I know and Maxi has a birthday next month. I’ll need Jacky there."

"I meant to speak with you about next month. There’s a job I may step into for awhile."

She met his eyes. "Okay, that’s never a problem, you know.  Can you tell me where or what?"

"No."

"You worry me."

"Shouldn’t."

"Don’t let anything happen to you." She took his hand across the table and played with his fingers. "I couldn’t bear it, you know."

He looked down at their hands. "I’ll be with Jean Paul. What are you doing with me?" he asked softly.

"Something I shouldn’t." She released his hand and took her cup to the sink.

Terry followed her, turning her around and kissing her. "Direct me to the cellars and I’ll go see Max."

"Are you staying the night?" She looked at his shoulder.

"No, I’m on to Paris."

She took a ragged breath. "Cellars are this way," leading the way out of the back door. Why had she touched his hand? It seemed such a natural thing to do. Could she not touch him? Had she invited the kiss? Did it matter?

They came down the steps to the cellar where voices were heard on the other side of the door.

"Your mother is going to kill both of us," she heard Max saying and then Duflot laughing and saying something unintelligible.

Toni opened the door to see Max with Jacky under his arm and Duflot trying to wipe something off of Maxi.

"What’s all this?" she asked.

"Mummy!" Jacky called, holding out his stained arms.

"You haven’t thrown them in the vat?’ she asked, only half serious.

"I may yet." Here, this one’s yours." He handed Jacky to Terry.

"It’s not so bad," Duflot laughed and put Maxi down, his clothes stained purple.

"Let me have him. You’ve got to go on to Paris in those clothes." Toni took Jacky and led Maxi out of the cellar.

"They wanted to see some grapes," Max sighed, "and so Duflot puts them up there on the barrels. We only just caught Jacky before he went in head first. "I’m putting a lock on the door today."

Terry grinned, "Might have added a little flavor to your grape juice."

"Don’t think the thought of bottling them up hasn’t occurred to me. How are you, Terry?"

"I’m good. Just wanted to stop and say hello. I’m on my way to Paris to meet with Jean Paul and his team. I may, um, leave Jacky here part of November. I don’t know for sure. We’ll see how it goes."

"No problem. I’ll return the favor."

"Do that. I was just telling Toni I’d take Maxi when he’s a little older."

"He’s going to be older on November 12. You can have him then."

Terry smiled and patted Max’s back. "Thanks, mate."

He only spent a little over an hour there. Hugs and kisses at the door and he was backing around the drive. He turned and looked at the chateau, his son and Max’s  running in circles in the drive, Toni with Rose on her hip and Max giving him a wave. A part of him wanted to turn around and go back, go back and be enfolded into their life, to be a part of it. He thought it almost like leaving The House of Four Seasons, a place where he could go and would always be welcomed and loved because she was there. He smiled a little and slipped his sunglasses on. Time to leave fantasy and move back into reality.

"That was quick." Max looked at Toni and took Rose from her.

"Yes, it was. I think there must be something important in the works. He’s got that look about him."

Toward the end of October, Penny came down from Paris to stay with her father. Jean Paul had left on an assignment and she didn’t want to be left alone in their apartment. Aubrey Duncan was delighted to have her home again and they came frequently over to La Siroque and took the boys home with them for a night or two.

One day Penny and Toni were in the kitchen preparing lunch and Penny said, "You know, Toni, when Max first brought you over here after Connie died, I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out. I knew you as Terry’s wife, Max’s sister-in-law. You were with Terry at her memorial service and the next thing I knew Max had brought you home."

"I know your curiosity must have been really high."

"I think Dad talked with Max but he never told me anything except that I wasn’t to ask."

"Well, Terry and I had some problems and then Connie was killed in the accident and I took Maxi. I should tell you I’ve always loved Max. We just sort of fell together at the time and it was right…it was right for both of us."

"He’s such a dear. I love him, too. He’s a good brother to me."

Toni smiled, "How’s the Paris apartment coming along?"

"It’s finished finally. I love this place and the people but trying to get something done in a reasonable amount of time…You love it, too, though, don’t you as an American living here?"

"Yes, I do. I particularly love this house."

"How was Florence?"

"Oh, lovely! Penny, have you been there?"

"No, I’ve been to Rome and Naples."

"You should go. It’s a timeless place, very different from Rome. We loved it."

"Maybe we will when Jean gets back. He’s promised me a trip."

"Did Terry leave with them?"

"No, he went back to London." She looked over at Toni.

"Terry said he might be going somewhere with Jean Paul."

"I think he will join them later. Jean said ‘I’ll see you when you get there’ so…"

"Thanks, it always worries me."

 "You know, Toni, I don’t think that girl means a thing to him. He’s always going to love you. She’s just a substitute. I know I shouldn’t say anything…."

"What girl?"

"Yvette. He’s taken her out a few times in Paris. She’s a nice enough person but you can tell it’s just not personal with him."

Toni stopped breathing for a moment. Yvette….

"He talked to Jean Paul about you. I don’t know all he said and it’s none of my business, but I do know he told him he would never love anyone else but you. So that’s why I say it’s not personal with him."

"Excuse me a minute." Toni went into the pantry. Well, what did you think…did you think he wouldn’t need a woman? Did you think he didn’t have sex? He’s a healthy male and he doesn’t belong to you, not anymore. He’s not yours. It’s quite possible for him to meet someone and fall in love with them…he’s not yours…he’s not. It came as a shock, something she’d never thought about, and it wanted to hurt somewhere down inside of her. Before it had time to put out feelers, the hurt was interrupted by Max opening the pantry door.

"What are you doing in here with the door shut?"

"I was…" She looked at him.

"Do you want wine with lunch or are you making that spiced tea?"

"Spiced wine."

"Toni?"

"I need a red wine, something bold and hearty." She reached over on a shelf and brought down a box of pasta and then put it back. "Terry has a woman in Paris."

"I should think so. Maybe two or three…come out of there."

Finding a corner in the entry way, he backed her against the wall. "It’s upset you?"

"Yes…no…I don’t know. I never thought about it…never." She turned her head.

"Terry’s not a wanker…he has needs just like the rest of us. What would you have him do?"

She shook her head slightly. "I’m being silly, I know. It was just a shock to actually hear it and hear her name. I don’t expect him to be celibate, not being who he is. I think it’s going to hurt when I have time to digest it."

"Penny running her mouth?" He would have a word with her and pass on a little brotherly advice about Toni.

She nodded.

"We’ve got a houseful of people to feed. Let’s take care of what we have to right now and we’ll look at that hurt place later, okay?"

"Yes.…"

"Swallow…swallow it down."

Her arms went around his neck. "I love you."

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