by Cee, DW
“That was fun!” I exclaimed looking back at my beautiful niece and nephew. They were itching to tear open the box that contained the cogs.
“That was fun.” He agreed.
“Today I think I kind of understood the joy Emily gets from being with her kids, everyday. I won’t experience that kind of joy if I work all the time, huh? If I’m on this track to partnership and I become part owner of the firm, when will I have babies, let alone get a chance to play with them and watch them at a toy store?”
It was unfair that being a woman, I had to choose between staying home and watching my kids grow up, and working. And if I married Max, it wouldn’t be kosher to ask a medically trained man to stay home. But, then why was it kosher to ask the woman to stay home? Why couldn’t the man sacrifice?
“It was beautiful watching you with the babies, Gem.” That made me feel so good! If the twins weren’t in the car, I’d make Max pull over and give him a kiss or two. “You’re an accomplished woman and a clever one as well. When we get to that stage in our life, we will figure something out.”
“But what choices are there for a woman? Either I stay home, the kids get a nanny, or go to daycare all day while we work.”
“There are tons of options if you’re willing to be flexible.”
“Such as...?”
“Maybe while the kids are young, you can do a four-day week and I can do a four-day week. Then there’s your mom and dad who’d be willing to help out a day, and my parents who would love to do the same, and that last day...a babysitter? Until they are of school age, we can both work a little less and stay home more with the kids, if that’s what you want. We don’t need the money. Between the both of us, we will live fine.”
I guess there were options out there I’d never thought about, since kids were never on my radar.
“You think we’ll be able to handle you as a doctor, me as a lawyer, and still have a few beautiful children?”
“If they look like you , they will be beyond beautiful, Gem!”
We took two sleeping kids up to their beds and decided to have a little bed time of our own. Max and Jane were definitely back and stronger than before.
August 15, 2013 Rolling Hills of Tuscany
“Gem,” a sexy someone whispered in my ears while it was still dark outside. “Get up. We have to go.”
“Where are we going at this hour?”
“Surprise, my beauty. Now get up,” he slapped my ass and got me up at the crack of dawn.
We got to Gatwick Airport with a small overnight bag Max had packed without my knowledge, and flew into Florence. He kept mum about today’s plans and all I heard was that we were staying at Gimpy’s villa in Florence.
“It’s so great to have family members who have homes everywhere.”
“It sure is, Gem. As soon as we drop off our stuff, we’re headed to the Uffizi Museum, the Accademia Gallery, lunch somewhere in between, then to a surprise in the evening.”
“What’s the surprise?”
“I can’t tell you, my precious Gem. If I did, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
We did all Max promised and stayed a bit longer at the Accademia, staring at the statue of David.
“David is almost as anatomically perfect as my own man,” I said while goosing him.
“Keep that up naughty girl and you will not be receiving your surprise tonight.”
“Is it still considered a surprise if I know what’s happening?” This time I grabbed him full-on rather than a childish goosing. “There’s no element of surprise when something happens in the dark between you and me.”
“Keep talking like that, young lady. You’re going to have to get a spanking after I give you your surprise.”
I turned around and faced him, put both my hands on his butt cheeks and brought him right close to me. “We’re never going to finish this museum if you keep talking like that.”
“We have to finish. We are meeting some friends for an early dinner.”
“But we just had lunch.”
“Are you done staring at David’s penis?”
“Oh, I suppose...” I pretended to be exasperated with Max as he held out his hand for me to follow along.
“Random question...”
“Hopefully not a random answer...” he said and gave me a kiss.
“Do you think I’ll run into Laney sometime soon? We’re headed back in a few days and I’d really like to talk to her.”
“Yeah? About what?”
“About Donovan.” Max didn’t flinch when I brought up the D word. In fact, he was perfectly fine with me talking about him. “I need to apologize to Laney and set things right with her.”
Max didn’t ask but I knew he was curious as to what our conversation would entail. I wanted to tell him everything. I had nothing to hide, and I was comfortable with him knowing what was in my mind and heart.
“I don’t think Laney is expecting anything from you.”
“Even if she isn’t, I’ve a lot to say.” We exited the museum and Max led me to what I assumed was our dinner location. “Laney and I’ve never really gotten along and most of that was because of me. Being almost five years older, Laney was always at an age where she bugged me. She was not quite old enough to be my friend, and not quite young enough for me to find her a ‘cute little girl.’ And the fact that she didn’t adore me and look up to me like my other girl cousins, bugged me as well. Something about her blonde hair, blue-eyed look made her look like a follower, but she was always a leader in her own right. I think what irritated me the most was that she marched to the beat of her own drums, rather than mine.”
“Were you a mean cousin to her?” He asked in a kidding-way and kissed the hand that he was holding. “Did you lock her up in a dark closet somewhere when no one was looking?”
“Nothing like that, but I don’t think I’ve ever really said a kind word to her whether verbally or mentally. In many ways, I envied her individuality, and the fact that she was brave enough to march to the beat of her own drums and not care what others thought. I also never liked the attention Donovan bestowed upon her.”
“Aha! Now, we get to the crux of the matter.” He was still kidding. If I still had doubts about Max, me and Donovan (which I didn’t), it was completely obliterated with this conversation!
“Donovan always liked Laney.”
“He perved on her...as a child?”
“No, silly!” We both laughed. “Being Jake’s best friend and Kelley’s younger brother, Donovan came over all the time. I think he met Laney for the first time when she was in fourth or fifth grade and I can still remember how sweet he was to her. Laney was beautiful as a young girl...”
“...and as a grown woman...” Max added to my (slight) irritation.
“And between her looks and her precocious nature, Donovan was taken by her—of course not in any weird, child predator-like way.”
“Uh-huh...” Max wasn’t convinced.
“I can still remember getting pissed every time he spoke to her or played with her in the pool, rather than showering me with attention.”
“Gem, I’ve no doubt you forced his attention back to you. I can see where our little Ellie gets it from—it’s definitely a Reid trait.” He laughed.
“Anyway...that’s all old news, but I do need to make sure we’re okay, and I’d like for us to be friends. If she’s good friends with Emily, and I’m good friends with Emily, there’s no reason why she and I can’t be good friends.”
“I like the attitude, Gem.”
“Plus, I need to help Donovan. He’s done everything he could to help me. I’d like to return the favor.”
“Well, here’s your chance.”
Max walked us into a restaurant where Jake, Emily, JR, Laney and Donovan were holding court in the middle of the room.
“What are you all doing here?” I was so happy to see my family!
“Well, hello to you too, little sis.
”
I went around the table and hugged Jake and Emily, kissed my newest nephew, gave Laney a warm, longer than usual hug, then slapped Donovan on the back as a greeting. Most likely no one (not even Max) would object if I hugged Donovan like the rest of the family, but I wasn’t sure what his status was with Laney, and I wanted to err on the cautious side.
“What are we all doing in Florence in the middle of the week, and where are James and Ellie?”
My brother spoke. “It’s a surprise what we are doing tonight. And our older babies are still in London having the time of their lives with Uncle Nick and Uncle Doug. I just spoke to Gram and I could hear their cackles over the English Channel. We are only here for the night. The three of us will be heading back in the morning.”
“Excuse me,” I heard Laney say when her phone rang. She walked outside to answer the call.
“How goes it?” I asked.
“Damn, you Reid women are a difficult lot! It goes well on some days, and not well at all on other days.”
“You’re so damn cryptic all the time. Details, Donovan.”
“You don’t want to know. I’ve never worked so hard for anything. Law school, the Bar exam, life—all a breeze compared to winning over one woman.” Donovan rolled his eyes, but he looked happy.
Laney walked back in looking unhappy, and rattled.
“You all right?” Donovan was the first to address all our concern.
Laney just shook her head no and took an extra large gulp of her water. “May I hold JR? I haven’t seen him since he was born. He’s grown so much.” The baby exchange was done and Laney ignored the rest of us while she played with the baby. “When I first met him, I thought he looked like James. Now I think he looks more like Ellie. He’s so beautiful, Emily.” She spoke to Emily, but cooed to the baby. With a baby in her arms, Laney was in her element and none of us missed the look of adoration on Donovan’s face.
Dinner was a lively affair with all of us talking about our time in Europe. Donovan and Laney had done the most so far, but they’d also been here a bit longer than the rest of us.
“Are you really working for the firm in all these exotic places, or is this just an extended vacation, compliments of the firm?”
Donovan put his finger on his lips signaling me to keep my mouth shut. “Don’t tell anyone, especially not Roland.” He said it in such a serious tone, but we all laughed at his joke.
“Laney,” an unfamiliar voice called. “Duchess!” Uh-oh! I knew who this English accent belonged to and by the frozen look on Laney’s face, this was not going to be a fun evening. Though...it was just a slight bit-o-fun for those of us who were spectating. Hey, I may have turned a new leaf, but I was still human. Drama is fun, entertaining, addictive—as long as it ain’t my drama!
Laney got up with JR in her arms and Donovan got up with her. Oooh! He was making his stand, marking his territory, not letting anyone take away his woman. This was better than any drama I’d ever watched.
“I need to talk to Michael. This has gone on too far. Let me go, Donovan.”
Damn! My cousin could bark when called for, though it didn’t make Donovan happy.
“You’ll come right back here after you talk to him?”
“Yes. I won’t let Michael drag me away to some foreign country like some people I know,” she let out a weak smile. This was just enough for Donovan to feel reassured and to sit back down while Laney walked over to Michael.
Michael met her half way and grabbed her in his arms and hugged the breath out of her. Max, who was sitting at the end of the table got up and held Donovan back before he beat the shit out of Michael.
“Give her time to work it out. She’ll come back to you if you’re meant to have her.” Can you believe this was MAX giving relationship advice to DONOVAN? Hell must have frozen over because now I’d seen everything! Max was counseling Donovan in matters of love.
“Can you guarantee me that she’ll be back?”
“No, but I can tell you karma is a bitch and what goes around comes around.” Our entire table busted up laughing with Max as its leader. That actually brought out a disgruntled smile from Donovan as well.
The four of us continued our conversation on what we wanted to do while we were still in Europe, while Donovan kept his eye peered to the door.
“Delaney,” he stood up and walked over to a very unhappy girl. She actually looked like she had been crying. I wish I could console her and tell her everything would be okay like it was with me and Max, but I couldn’t because I had no assurance everything would be okay for her.
Donovan brought her back to our table with his hand somewhere on her the whole time and she didn’t say much to any of us.
Emily asked, “Are you all right? How can I help you, Laney?”
“I’ll be okay,” she said wiping off the last of the tears that were dripping from her eyes.
“And Michael?” Emily left that question wide-open.
“He left.”
“How did he know where you were?” I think my brother asked that purposely to alleviate his best friend’s curiosity more than anything else.
“I had let Michael know daily where I would be and he called me earlier today asking exactly where I was. So I told him, not realizing that he was really coming here for me.”
Poor Michael. Or was it poor Donovan?
We could all tell Donovan was unhappy, but he tried hard not to let it show. He was actually being sensitive towards Laney’s feelings.
“If we are all done eating, I think we have a bus to catch,” Jake said and got us out of the restaurant. Laney and Donovan trailed behind us whispering to one another. I was curious to know what was going on over there, but my knowing boyfriend pulled me along so I wouldn’t eavesdrop.
“Leave them be, nosy Jane.” Max warned.
“I’m not being nosy.” I defended myself. “I’m just trying to help. I have both their best interests at heart.”
Max abruptly put both his hands on my cheek and kissed me. In the middle of a laugh he said, “I love you, Gem.”
Well, I loved him too! I was all smiles after that kiss.
The bus was filled with a horde of very excited Italian people ranging from my age, all the way up to Gram’s age. They all spoke in a flurry of Italian so we had no idea what was going on. Emily and I tried to figure out where we were going, but Laney sat against the window staring out looking like she had lost her best friend. I saw Donovan put his hand on her hand and he held it the best he could with her not being compliant.
We were all dropped off near the city of Pisa, and in the middle of nowhere. There was a large stage, thousands of chairs—well maybe not thousands, but hundreds of chairs set up and obviously, we were watching a concert.
Emily gasped, turned to her husband and said, “Is this what I think it’s going to be?”
“It is, Love. Happy anniversary. I’m a little late, but I thought this would make up for my tardiness.”
“What’s going on, Emily?” I asked in eagerness.
“I believe your wonderful brother is crossing off another item on my bucket list and we are about to watch an Andrea Bocelli concert in the middle of Tuscany!”
Hot Damn! I loved my brother!
“This is so romantic!” I squeezed my boyfriend’s hand in excitement.
“Yeah,” Max chuckled. “I think your brother invented the word romantic.”
“What a fantastic surprise! Isn’t this great, Laney?” I turned to my cousin and attempted to infuse some of my enthusiasm into her.
“It is,” she answered back with a little more eagerness than I saw on the bus. Donovan once again tried to hold her hand, but I saw her ball up her right hand and continually twist it out of Donovan’s hand. He had no reservations about showing his disappointment at his dismal result of wooing Laney. To add salt to the wound, Laney walked over to Emily and offered to hold JR for an indefinite amount of time.
&
nbsp; “She’s not giving you an inch is she?” Max asked with an evil smirk on his face.
“Shit. She’s not even giving me a millimeter.” Donovan shook his head in disbelief.
“Karma I tell you…” Max announced loudly, and walked ahead and started chatting it up with Laney.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked Donovan
“Who the hell knows? Are relationships normally supposed to be this difficult?”
“I think good, long-lasting ones are.”
The concert started and even Laney, who was originally in a glum mood, was mesmerized as soon as Andrea Bocelli started singing. The world’s favorite tenor crooned love song after love song after love song and in Italian, to boot. Emily’s body leaned into Jake’s with their baby in the center, I was tempted to sit on Max’s lap because I was in such the mood, and even Laney softened and slightly turned her body into Donovan when he put his arm around her chair.