by Cee, DW
“More?” She couldn’t believe it. “Before you give me any more, let me retrieve your Christmas present from my suitcase.” Jane’s thoughtful brother and girlfriend had dropped off our luggage before heading to the Soho apartment. “Open it.” Her smile was huge when she handed me a relatively large box.
What I opened took me down a memory lane of my own. “Josh?” I asked to her nodding.
“When we saw Josh in Rome, I was talking to him about his art, and I had mentioned that you hadn’t been drawing lately. He explained that it was probably because you were out of your favorite sketchbook, pencils, erasers, and colored pencils. I was told you are very particular about the supplies you use and you stop your craft whenever you run out of any of these components.” She was correct. “How very high-maintenance of you, Dr. Davis.” She kidded. “Of course, you are only high-maintenance to yourself.”
“So you decided to buy me all my favorite art supplies for Christmas? How very thoughtful of you, Mrs. Davis.” Little did she know…
“I try…” A smirk followed those two supposed nonchalant words.
“What Josh doesn’t know is that I have been drawing, but in secret.” A bemused look now crossed her face. “Why, you ask, have I been doing this in secret?” She nodded her head, encouraging me to finish my thought. “Groundhog Christmas Day wouldn’t be complete without a sketch of you.” I pulled out the portrait I’d drawn of Jane with the Antoni Resort as the background.
“Oh Max.” She cried again. I hadn’t seen this many tears in a long time. “This is breathtaking.”
“How can it not be when the subject is gorgeous?” I pulled her onto my lap. “I have one more surprise for you.” This time, I pulled out my cell phone and had her read an email sent to me a few days ago.
“Oh my gosh!” Her yelp was loud. “How did you do this?”
The email contained a message from the Antoni resort that I’d nixed on our last trip to Florence. “It was really more your grandparents and the Benningtons than it was me.”
“Explain, please.”
“Since our last trip, your enthusiasm for the wedding hasn’t been the same.”
“I’m sorry.” She apologized immediately. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. In fact, I thought I was doing a good job hiding my disappointment.”
I wanted to reassure her just as quickly. “You didn’t make me feel guilty. Feeling your disappointment spurred me to figure out a solution to a not-so-impossible problem.”
“So you called Gimpy?”
“I explained our situation, and asked for his and Gram’s advice. If there were any two people who could help, it would be them.”
“So Gimpy called Harry Bennington?”
I shook my head. “Gram phoned Harry, and after buttering him up with a quick trip down their own memory lane, she explained our situation and asked him for help. She also insisted he and his family attend our wedding so she and he could reminisce some more about their lives—past and present.”
“I’m sure Gimpy loved that.”
The thought made me chuckle. Roland was not thrilled at all when Estelle talked about her once-courtship with the duke. “Roland’s pout dissolved as soon as your grandmother gave him a sweet kiss on his lips and walked away.”
“He’s so in love with Gram.”
“After that two-minute conversation, Harry Bennington went on to convince the resort owner not only to cut the price per night and the minimum number of stays in half, but he also gave us an open invite to host our wedding at his villa in Florence or his castle in Scotland. I’d say the duke was and still is in love with your grandmother.”
“Estelle Cowper had three dashing suitors. Harry Bennington, a future duke, friends with the Queen of England, and rich beyond measure. She also had Roland Ascot, another titled, rich, and willing to give up everything for this one woman, man. But alas, she chose a brilliant commoner from a middle class family, who loved her more than the two other men combined. What a life Gram had and still has.”
“She is one special woman, and so is the granddaughter who is the spitting image of her. I think you and your niece might follow your grandmother in more than just the looks.”
“You mean I’ll have two husbands, too?” She kidded.
“I mean,” I pulled her under me and we sprawled onto the bed. “I will love you more than the three who loved your grandmother. That’s how special you are to me, Gem.”
“Damn. This is the best Christmas ever!”
“Shall I start to show you right now how much I love thee?”
“Hell yes, Max Davis. Show me the love.”
Chapter 2 Jane: “Celebrating” Rebirth
Since sealing the deal with Antoni Villa, life moved along swimmingly. Max and I would have to do at least one more visit, but as of today, we were getting married at the ritziest villa in Tuscany on May 31st. With the start of the new year, our wedding luck had changed for the best.
“Hello, Gem.” I loved his welcoming voice.
“Hi. You having a good day?”
“It was a so-so day until you called, Babe. What’s up?”
Damn, I was a lucky woman. “Gram nixed the wedding dress I chose. She says it’s too much of a high school prom dress. She wants all of us to go wedding shopping today.”
“OK. I’ll stay at school and finish up some work.”
“I was told all the men were to report to Jake’s and take care of their godchildren so Emily can shop with us.”
“What’s the father of our godchildren doing if we are taking care of them?”
It was always hard to stay business-like at work when I spoke with Max on the phone. He made me giggle like a schoolgirl most of the times. “You, Jake, and Donovan will each have a child—not to worry about my brother slacking on his parental duties.”
“Good to know.” I knew Max was grinning on the other line. “I’ll see you tonight?”
“I’ll see you tonight hopefully with a wedding dress ordered, and honeymoon negligee purchased. Gram makes it a point to buy the girls not only a wedding dress, but all the expensive lingerie a girl could ever wish for in life.”
“I always knew I liked that Estelle. Just know I’ll be expecting a fashion show tonight.”
“Max Davis, I can’t do that. Those are for the honeymoon.”
“All right, then. Just make sure you’re naked when you get home.”
I giggled some more. “OK. Think of me.”
“Bye, Gem.”
With a slight change of plans, we all met at Bee’s, first, to decide upon bridesmaids’ dresses. She had sent over a sketch of a bridesmaid dress a little after my conversation with Max, and I loved the dress enough to commandeer everyone to the loft before visiting the bridal shop.
“Hi everyone.” I greeted Laney, Emily, Mom and Gram as I opened Bee’s front door. After hugging and kissing everyone, the three of us stood while Mom and Gram sat on the sofa and Bee worked at her sketch table.
“No Mavis?” Mom asked.
“She got held up at work and sent her apologies. Not having had a daughter, this was one outing she didn’t want to miss but her boss wouldn’t let her leave.”
“I’ll give her a call after our excursion and tell her all about it. Maybe the three of us will shop for your honeymoon.”
“That sounds great, Mom. Thanks.” I knew I could count on Mom for all the extras.
“I just finished enlarging and coloring the sketch. What do you think?” Bee turned our focus her way and held up a design.
“Oh…Bee…” Every woman ooh’ed and aah’ed.
“It’s stunning, Bee. I don’t think I need to look any further.” This wedding planning was seriously falling into place.
“I can make this dress any color, but this is the fabric I thought would look and feel perfect.”
Bee showed us a large swatch in a deep burgundy wine color for the sleek dress. Since all the ladies
standing at the altar were on the taller and thinner side, the fitted, spaghetti-strapped dresses worked beautifully.
“Is Donovan still being pig-headed about letting you be a bridesmaid at the wedding?” Donovan had dropped a bomb on us the other night at their house when they explained their elation at becoming parents of twins. “You’ll only be seven months pregnant and you’ll only have to stand at the altar for a brief while. I mean, you can sit after you walk down the aisle if you get tired.” After all Laney and I had been through, I wanted her in my wedding party.
“He’s not letting up but assume I’ll be there. Between now and May, I’m sure I’ll convince him to ease up on the Papa Bear attitude.” Laney was awfully sure of herself. The way Donovan had a protective hold on his wife that night at their new home, I wasn’t sure he’d let up any time soon. In fact, we all thought he’d be worse than my brother was when Emily was pregnant. “Just don’t blame me if I ruin all your wedding pictures with my big stomach.”
Gram responded, “Emily was just starting to show in her second trimester, Laney. You have at least three inches on her. You shouldn’t be a house at Jane’s wedding.”
“Such pressure, already, Gram.” Laney kidded. “I know compared to Jane and Emily, I’m considered overweight, but I want you to know that my husband thinks I’m perfect.”
“Your husband is blind, deaf, and dumb where you are concerned. You need to keep up your appearance at any age. Do not ever let yourself go, you understand?” Gram was talking to all the women in the room.
“Yes, Gram.” We all answered in unison.
Our trip to Bee’s was cut short by an irate Nick Reid, who chided all of us for making his woman work. We thought we were bonding with her, but apparently, my brother didn’t feel the same way. He emphatically stated, “Bee is busy with her new collection. She doesn’t have time to make bridesmaids’ dresses for you.”
That was enough for us to laugh all the way to the bridal shop on Nicholas Reid’s behalf.
Shopping for a dress proved to be as difficult as finding a wedding site.
“What do you think?” I asked the only person who had veto power over all the dresses in this bridal hall.
“No!” was the answer of the night. Gram nixed every dress I tried on. “Maybe we need to have your dress made, just like Laney’s.”
I thought I looked pretty damn good in most of the dresses I’d picked.
“Let’s go to Neiman’s and pick out some lingerie for you instead. I think we’re done with dress shopping.” Gram was slightly on the cantankerous side today.
“Gram. I need to eat before we go any further.” Laney spoke all our sentiments.
“What do you want to eat, Laney?”
“I’m craving a juicy steak. How about we park at Neiman’s and walk a few blocks over to Cut?”
“Are you picking up the dinner tab?” Gram questioned without a smile.
“No.” Laney’s answer was as emphatic as my brother’s back at Bee’s. “I’m here on your request, Gram. I have tons of homework to do as soon as we get home. You’re the one with the deepest pocket here.”
Our grandmother dropped her stern façade and grinned. “Those twins of yours better be two strong boys with the way you’ve been craving protein. You don’t want two thick, heavy-boned girls. Nothing worse than a woman outweighing her husband.”
“Oh the pressure…” Laney sighed loudly and gave Gram more grief with the amount of food she ordered.
The jovial banter between Gram and Laney was the center of our conversation, until Gram turned her attention to me.
“Jane, do you think it’s wise to live with your fiancé before the wedding?”
What? “We set up house months ago. Why are you bringing this up now? What’s wrong with us living together?”
“Well, none of the Reid women have moved in with their men before the wedding. Where’s the surprise and the fun in learning about your spouse when you’ve been together already?”
“Laney and Donovan lived together in Europe,” I complained. “And you were in the same house with them when they cohabitated.”
My grandmother had a response for everything. “Well, Donovan was Laney’s first man in every sense of the word. And they didn’t exactly live together. They were with each other here and there.”
“Emily and Jake were in Paris together,” I argued further.
“They were in two separate rooms. Emily came to Jake as a virgin, too.”
“Gram, seriously?” I wanted to ask her if she was a virgin when she and Grandpa Jerry married. Mom looked at me and shook her head just enough for me to hold back.
“Gram.” Emily spoke up on my behalf. “Max and Jane will be married in a few months. They moved in together knowing they were going to be together the rest of their lives. Whether they learn about each other now or four months from now, I’m sure they’ll be just as surprised and thrilled.”
I seriously felt like sticking my tongue out at my grandmother. Instead, I openly pouted.
“Since when did you become such a prude, Gram? Aren’t you the one who sent an open-invite to Donovan to stay with me in Belgravia? I’m not exactly the model Reid since I was knocked up before the wedding.”
“I’m just making a suggestion.” Estelle Cowper Reid Ascot was unusually ornery today.
“Don’t pay any attention to her,” Laney said once she hopped into my car. “She was only kidding with you, Jane. Didn’t you see that rascally smile she tried to hold back?”
“I know she was kidding, but I have been a little perturbed for a while about the fact that most of the women around me saved themselves for their husbands. I’m the only one on the cul-de-sac who’s not a virgin.”
Laney cackled. “Is there a doubt in your mind that I would have let Donovan Taylor pop my cherry a lot earlier than age twenty-three, if given the chance? Had he hinted, or even smiled the wrong way, I would’ve had him pinned to any surface and de-virginized myself. Trust me, Emily was almost as bad. It was only because of her promise to her deceased mom that she stayed a virgin until her wedding night. Had her mom been alive, she would not have kept that promise.”
“Let me ask you something. After you and Donovan separated, how was sex every time you saw each other?”
“Off the hook!” she said quickly and forcefully. “But, I don’t have much to compare it to since we’d only been together for a short time before we separated. It could’ve been that good no matter what, for all I know.”
That made me think. “Maybe there is something to what Gram is saying. Maybe I should move back home and “redeem” myself. I could be like Max and become a ‘born-again virgin.’”
“What the hell?” Our ride was too short to explain Max’s years with Hannah that led to his “rebirth” with Emily.
I’d talk to Max tonight and tell him we’d be on our best behavior until the wedding. I didn’t know how to close the barn door after the horse had already won the Triple Crown, but I’d damn well try.
Chapter 3 Max: (Not) Celebrating Stud
Jane came home from dress shopping with her family and told me she was “closing the barn door” and that I “needed to keep my stud in its shed.” I had no clue what craziness got into her, but with the uphill battle I had with school, I didn’t mind.
Today, a few weeks later, I was pissed.
“Babe, this is ridiculous,” I complained. I hadn’t gone this long without sex since Jane and I reunited. “I don’t give a damn if you’ve had twenty partners before me. That’s all in the past.”
“I know you don’t care, but I do. I want to redeem myself.”
“Aargh!” I was not happy. “Who do you have to redeem yourself for and why?”
“Can you please be supportive? It was a hard decision to make, but I know we’ll both be happier about it on our wedding night.”
“I was pissed last week. I’m pissed now. I’ll be pissed up to our wedding night.
There’s no ‘happy’ in anything I just said.” I spoke in frustration.
“I promise. You’ll be thrilled when it feels like the first time in Tuscany.”
“Shit,” was about all I could say.
My woman wasn’t usually a hair-brained-schemer, but her latest idea had me looking for relief in all kinds of ways.
“What’s with the sigh?” Donovan asked when we headed into the club to play poker with the men.
“Don’t ask.” Too embarrassed to explain my situation, I turned the attention to Nick who was having woman issues—not that I wasn’t having woman issues of my own.
“So what’s the problem?” Jake, our marriage in-house counselor, asked his brother.
“Nothing is the problem,” Nick was naïve enough to answer. Jake, Donovan, and I laughed. “Bee and I decided to take some time off and explore life without each other. That’s all.”
“Considering you and Bee just got together, it’s a little bizarre you would take some time to re-evaluate yourselves. What is it that you did wrong?”
Nick sounded even more idiotic when he vehemently denied doing anything wrong.
My cousin-in-law to-be shoveled out wisdom by the pounds. “We men always do something wrong. If you will admit and accept that half-truth in front of your woman, it’ll make your life a whole lot easier. It took me a very long time to understand this, and look at what I had to go through. I moved my life to a different continent, only to have it moved back here because your cousin got pissed with me and left me again. After months of struggling to sell your grandfather’s company, appease a pissed-off woman, and plan a wedding, I come home to find out that my wife is pregnant with twins. Life never works out the way you think it might work out.”
Jake and I uttered a silent, “Here, here.”
As Nick opened his woes to us, our game started and I had a good enough hand to bet against these high rollers. I saw to Jake’s initial bet of a hundred and raised it another fifty. The first hand went to Donovan. The next damn hand went to Donovan. And this was how our night continued. He won every last dollar from all our pockets.