Thorne: The Magic of Love

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The House of Four Seasons

By Atonia

Part 1

Jack and John left the day after the decision was made to bring Terry back to The House of Four Seasons. Max found the private jet in Miami and requested it to be brought to Richmond.  Toni packed for herself and for Terry, only a change of clothes, the house would provide their wardrobe. Terry watched her as she moved about their bedroom. She hadn’t slept with him since his return from Quito, she’d been sleeping in her old childhood bedroom. She was a stranger to him since he’d lost the magic and his memory of anything that happened after his movie.

“What kind of a house is it, Toni?” he asked from the bed.

Toni smiled, “If I told you the truth you wouldn’t believe it. It’s a very old house with many rooms, it’s comfortable, home;, it has everything you’d ever want in a place to live. It sets on a bluff that overlooks the ocean and there’s a strip of a beach below. The grounds are extensive; we’ve never found the end of it. There are many trails and pathways to ride or walk. You used to run there every morning. There is a tennis court, a pool and a large pond. It’s a magical place, Terry.”

“It sounds wonderful.”  Terry was glad she could finally talk to him without crying. “Max told me that’s where we met.”

“Yes it is,” Toni took a breath and zipped up the bag. “It’s where we fell in love. I think that’s everything I wanted to take, there will be clothes at the house, anything and everything you’ll need will be there.”

Terry looked down, “I hope so; for both our sakes.”

“I’ll go get Max to help you down stairs and into the car, make sure you have the neck brace,” she walked over and picked it up from a chair and lay it on the bed beside him, “Terry, I love you and you’re going to have to put up with that I’m afraid, I’m trying to…give you room and it’s hard; so don’t think badly of me,” she sat down on the bed and looked into his eyes, “if sometimes I forget and…have to…”

She kissed him softly on his lips and he responded in kind. She quickly got up and left the room, that wasn’t her Terry.

By the time they pulled up at the gates of the house in the rental car Max had procured for them, Terry was in such pain he could hardly open his eyes. Max was glad to see Toni’s jeep there and ran in the house to find some help with Terry. John came out with him and they each wrapped an arm around him and mostly carried him inside.

“Upstairs?” John asked.

“No, just put me down anywhere.” Terry replied.

Toni walked into the house feeling the warm comforting embrace that surrounded her, she followed them into the living room where they’d put Terry on the sofa. “He needs to go to bed, we didn’t give him a pain pill because they put him to sleep.”

“I’m good right here.” He said.

“Will he need a pill here?” asked John.

“I think he does this time,” Toni walked into the familiar kitchen and got a glass of water, everything was as she left it, as though she’d just walked out of the house and came back in. She gave Terry his pain pill and made him as comfortable as she could on the long down sofa. She covered him with a cashmere afghan and turned off the light. “Sleep, darling, sleep you’ll be much better when you wake.” She looked into his pain filled eyes and wanted to cry.

They left him alone in the shaded cool room and he closed his eyes. A warm intense rush of energy seemed to cover him, he felt as though he was being held and stroked and fought to keep his eyes open but the pill put him to sleep and the House worked its magic over him. The House loved Terry, always had, and it couldn’t stand to see him come home hurting and broken; it would heal his physical injuries and take away his pain.

Max found Toni in the kitchen pouring out a glass of iced tea. “Put that down, I found something better.” He held a bottle of chilled white wine and two glasses, “Follow me, madam” he strolled out the back door and Toni followed him, he walked off the terrace.

“Where are you going?”

“I said follow.” And so she did.

“Where are John and Jack?”

“Gone to explore, John’s never been here in summer and Jack wanted to stretch his legs after the long drive. I’m taking you to the pond; you’ve been under entirely too much strain and it shows my love, so a little R&R is in order. The house has Terry firmly in hand for a little while working it’s magic, and I have you.” He glanced down at her and smiled.

Toni smiled and fell in beside him walking down the path to the pond. “You’re probably right, I haven’t slept well or felt very good lately. I don’t think a glass of wine will hurt the baby.”

“Quite right, and you’d do well to give him a taste early on.”

“Him?”

“Of course him, you don’t think Terry would produce a girl do you?”

“Well I don’t know, but I might.”

“You don’t have anything to do with it, I studied biology. What do you reckon, the boat?”

“Um no; I don’t trust my stomach that much, a little queasy.”

They ended up in the gazebo and Max poured her out a glass of wine, “There you are now what shall we drink to, I know…a good season.”

“I’ll drink to that,” she touched his glass and took a small sip of the wine. “Thanks, Max.”

“Don’t thank me, I wanted to get you alone so I could talk to you, the last time we met here there was much I wanted to say and didn’t, things that I wanted to explain, wanted you to understand. I wasn’t prepared for the meeting we had, I didn’t know why Jack had summoned me. It was a shocker.”

“The whole thing wasn’t handled very well and that was my fault. I was just stumbling in the dark.”

“You were following your heart.”

“Yes, I guess I was.”

“I’ve always prided myself as being able to think clearly and quickly on my feet, this time I blew it, the only time in my life that it really mattered and I blew it. I think in my mind you were tied to this place, this is where I knew you and even though I’d had a glimpse of you outside this place, at your grandmother’s funeral and at your Auntie’s, this was the place I pictured you. Given 24 hours to get my finances in order I would have walked away from here with you. If Terry could transfer money then I knew I could damn well do it. It had never occurred to me that I needed to, I had no idea you’d decided to leave this place.”

“The money wouldn’t have mattered Max, I had money…what Terry did, he did on his own, it wasn’t anything to do with anything. I didn’t know about it until you found the receipts.”

“It didn’t matter to you but it did to me, I would have provided for you very well. And it wasn’t the magic I loved here either, it was you. I’ll admit I do love this place but Toni, I loved you more.”

“Oh, Max.”

“I know, I can’t go back and change anything but I wanted you to know. I’ll live with regret for eternity. I’m living vicariously through Terry, which is probably why I meddled in his life by arranging for him to own SI, it’s something I would have wanted to do. I blame myself for his present condition, if I’d left him alone Toni, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“I don’t blame you for his memory loss, I don’t. He did that himself, it was an accident but he put himself in danger, as he is wont to do. Don’t carry that on your shoulders, Max.  I don’t regret my decision.”

“I know that, and I know he loved you as I do. He will again Toni, I don’t doubt that for a minute and neither should you. I don’t want to step over any imaginary boundary here with you, I know where your heart lies, but,” he looked around, “it is summer and I wonder if you’d consent to rest your head on my shoulder while we finish this wine.”

Toni smiled and leaned against him, he put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head and sipped his wine.

His scent enveloped her and she closed her eyes, memories with Max flowing over her and all of a sudden she felt a flutter, “Oh,” she place her hand on her belly.

“What is it?”

“The baby, I think it moved.”

“May I?” Max put his hand on her belly he felt it too and chuckled, “I don’t think little Terrance likes the kind of thoughts we were having. We should go back to the house, Toni, thank you for coming down here with me and letting me bare my soul.”

“I’m glad I did, I don’t like unfinished business lying around either.  I think we’re about to have company anyway.” She saw Jack emerging from the path through the trees.

“What an intimate little scene you create here,” he looked at Max.

“We aren’t alone Jack, little Terrance has made his presence known.” Max stood up and gathered the glasses.

“I should think so. I have lost John somewhere. How are you, Toni feeling better?”

“Yes much, I needed this I think.” Toni stepped out of the gazebo.

“Good, I forgive you, Max. I think we’ve all been so worried over Terry we forget about you.”

“I haven’t felt forgotten,” she fell into step between them, “Max has been here and then John.”

“You never did say where you were, Jack, when you knew about Terry?”

“I was about to engage in battle with an American privateer, not the sort of information one would want to talk about in face of an American Marine.”

John was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee for Terry who was awake and moving around unaided.

All three of them came in through the kitchen, “I was wondering where everybody was, Terry’s up and walking, no headache,” he raised his brows.

Toni found him in the study looking through the glass doors out onto the fountain. “Hi, Terry, I hear you’re feeling better.”

“Yes much better, amazing what a pill and a little nap will do for you.”

Toni smiled, “Amazing, John’s making coffee. Funny you would end up in here,” she said walking over to his side, “you always liked this room, preferred it over the living room, less fussy you used to say.”

He moved away from her, “I’m sure I used to say a lot of things.”

“Terry if you don’t want to be reminded or have me repeat things or tell you how it used to be, just tell me.”

“Right now I honestly don’t know what I want, I walked in here and picked up a book and wondered if I’d read it…I’m just empty, Toni.”

“You were empty when you first came here, cold and detached, you held yourself away from me. You were well insulated and it took awhile to break through that. Can I ask you something that I asked the first day you were here?”

“I don’t think I’m going to stop you.”

“I asked you what if there was a place you could go where you’d be welcomed and there would be somebody to love you, you said you didn’t think there was such a place and I said there is if you want it. This is the place, here with me because I’m going to love you Terrance Thorne.”

He looked at her warily but she could see something hit its mark, just as it had done before. John came in with a tray and set it on the desk, Terry looked back at Toni, “What was my answer?”

“You tell me.”

“It sounds like a place I’d like to be.”

“That’s close enough,” she smiled up at him, “Ready for coffee?”

She poured out his coffee and noticed him gingerly touching the side of his head, “Does it hurt?”

“Oh, no not at all but there was a great lump on my head, it’s gone.”

“Have you looked in a mirror, except for the little scar above your brow that you’ve always had, there is no trace of your injuries.”

 He walked over to little writing desk against a wall and looked in the gold-framed mirror above it. He couldn’t believe it, no scrapes, no…nothing. “I don’t understand how this can be…there isn’t a trace.”

“It’s magic darling, magic and you’d better get used to it, I told you this is a magical house, I wasn’t kidding. That’s why it was so important to get you here as quickly as we could. The House has healed you, Terry.”

“Except for my mind,”

“That may come also, we don’t know. Come and drink your coffee.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all, Jack come in, coffee?”

“No thanks, Toni, I’ve just had a drink with Max, finished the wine you started. How are you, Terry; you look much better.”

“I feel pretty good, head seems to have healed itself.”

“I thought it might,” Jack found a comfortable leather chair and sat down.

“Still no memory of anything.”

“I shouldn’t worry about that, you’ll have plenty of time. Are you planning to stay for the full season?”

“Right now yes, but it depends I guess,” Toni answered.

“Depends on me you mean?”

“Yes that’s what I mean, if your memory comes back we’ll leave because I don’t think you’d especially want to be here. You were anxious to leave the last time you were here.”

“Why, why did I want to go?”

“Because my good man you were about to embark on a new life with Toni. I don’t suppose anything about this place has been explained to you. It’s called the House of Four Seasons and there is a reason for that. This house was built on an ancient site, it is a magical site, the magic of love. I see how skeptical you are but it is true. A person may come here for a season that lasts three months. You may have a companion of your choice for that season or one will be chosen for you by the House.  I believe, am I correct Toni, that you chose your seasons? Very well, some did not work out and some did. Toni spent six years here in this place.

“John came in winter, Max in summer, I came in spring except for a couple of mishaps, she had one other fall that first year. Since then you were her fall, you came and spent three months with her each year. There are rules to the magic here, she could not have you or me for the full year, only for a season.”

Toni could feel Terry looking at her but she did not look back.

“Her first love here was John and she fell hard, then came Max. But it was John that caused her to stay here and live as she had to with four seasons. She finally settled on the four of us, I think it was the stability she wanted; anyway she fell in love with all four of us. Max gave her a ring one summer, he in essence married her, a magical marriage. You gave her one in fall and John and I did the same.

“The rules of magic are this, once you have married and we all did, there will come a time when you must choose one of the four and take him away from the house to live in the outside world, forsaking magic. That happened last year, once she knew how it was to end she decided she couldn’t go on living like this and made a decision to take someone out. She made this decision during your time here in the fall and I think you had a lot to do with that. She tried to be fair, John left early, upset because he knew it wasn’t him, I took myself out of it by coming early, Max never made it, we had a meeting with him to spare him the same fate as John. I summoned you to come for her and you did in the later part of April.”

Terry was shaking his head, “This is madness, you were married to three other men, my brothers? What…what kind of a person are you, Toni…why did you bring me to a place like this?”

“There is more, Terry and you need to know it. Toni if he’s going to upset you leave the room, I’ll deal with him. She doesn’t deserve this, Terry. She rented this house for a year to write, she’s a writer and a damn good one too. She had no idea what was involved, no idea about companions when she came here.”

“It was my fault, I was the first and we fell in love.” John walked in and sat down. “I don’t know how I could have prevented it. Have you told him where he came from?”

“No, I haven’t,” Jack sighed. He looked up as Max came in. Toni got up and left.

Toni went through the kitchen, the house was preparing dinner, it smelled good but she didn’t stop, she went out to the bench on the bluff and sat down. She couldn’t blame him, it sounded horrible to her own ears listening to it, but she had lived it and knew how it had been. She had experienced more love in this house than most people in a lifetime and she didn’t regret it, not one day of it. If he thought her some cheap wanton thing with no morals at all then he could go. But oh God she wanted him so; he was her life and the father of her child who moved gently in her belly.

It had grown dark by the time she heard the back door open. She didn’t turn to see who it was and so she was a little surprised to find it was Terry.

He came up to the bench and sat down beside her, “I owe you an apology, I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t understand, Toni but I do now. Will you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive, I’m glad you understand now, maybe you know how special you are to me.”

“I wish I could remember it all, they told me stories about me getting washed out to sea and how you went into some kind of a coma, about going to a funeral and ending up in Jack’s ship, and about where I came from, if it wasn’t for you I’d be a DVD.”

“If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have this tiny baby kicking around in my belly, he’s been active today, I don’t know if it’s because I’m back in this magic place again or what. I can feel it though, the magic; like a sixth sense or something, can you feel it?”

He was quiet for a moment, Yeah, I can feel it. Now I know what it is.” He reached his hand out and covered hers, “I do want you to tell me how it was, everything you can remember, but keep something secret so I will know if my memory comes back…it won’t be something I was told happened or said, I’ll know I remembered it.”

“I’ll do that,” she took his hand and laid it on her belly so he could feel the movement of his child. “Just so you don’t doubt anything I tell you “

“I don’t doubt you,” he moved his hand to her face and kissed her softly and then a little more intensely.

Toni felt it down to her toes but had no idea what he was feeling; he still had that barrier up. She held it back not wanting to overwhelm him with her desire to be with him. He must know, she thought, he had to know.

“What’s going on?”

“Kissing.”

“Ah good man, he’s done it then.”

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