They continued through the slideshow, and when it was done, BB did request a copy. Mike took a DVD out of his computer bag. “I made one in case you were interested,” he replied with a grin.
Then they rose, walked out the door and proceeded to the dining car, spending a truly enjoyable evening of good food, good wine and good conversation.
CHAPTER 34
Lights glimmered, candles glowed, crystal clinked and silver sparkled. BB’s beautiful home was alight with music, merriment and the stuff of which memories were made.
Never, in all of her dreams, had Sonya envisioned attending a party so elegant. Hell, a week ago, she feared that her honeymoon would end in her husband’s premature death! Now, they were standing in BB’s beautiful home, dressed in chic clothing, drinking superb wine and feasting on fine French food. They had gone from one extreme to another.
Bryan was attired in a beautiful suit, silk tie and hand tailored shirt. The crisp white of the shirt did, however, tend to emphasize his beginning to fade bruises, but Sonya felt that he looked dashing nonetheless and that the bruises lent him a rakish air.
Standing by her husband’s side, resplendent in a royal blue silk sheath, Sonya surveyed the people mingling around the living and dining rooms. Some she knew, others were total strangers. It did her heart good to see the comfortable relationship that had seemed to have developed between BB and Mike on their sojourn to Tuscany. They both seemed relaxed and happy. Mike had raved about the villa in Tuscany, and BB had promised a family reunion there. She was looking forward to that party already, and this one was not yet over!
Steve and Mimi wandered over to visit. They were a good pair, Sonya decided, and hoped that their relationship would deepen and flourish. Both would be making the trip to Calgary with them, as Steven would pilot and BB co-pilot the jet that he owned.
What a way to travel! Sonya loved the little jet that John’s company owned, and commercial travel really did suck by comparison. Not that she could afford a private jet, but at least she could say that she’d been a passenger a few times.
“Daydreaming?” Bryan asked quietly whispering in her ear.
“Not really, just taking count,” Sonya replied. “Much as I’m loving this place, it’s time to get home. I got an email from Linda today and there are some projects to which I really need to give some attention. Not to mention, Linda can go back to part-time, when I am back on the job. We’ve already extended our vacation by a week, so that you could get back on your feet.”
“Are we going to tell the family what happened here?” Bryan asked.
“I can’t see how we can avoid it! You’re still pretty bruised and that alone would be hard to hide,” Sonya replied. “Do you have reservations about telling them?”
Bryan grinned. “Naw, it’s kinda cool now that it’s all over and done with. But, I’ve decided something. When they dragged me out of the car after the kidnapping, my glasses fell on the ground. Grégoire, the bastard, took great pains to grind them with his heel. He knew how little I could see without them.”
“The hood was for intimidation. I couldn’t see the guys I didn’t know without my glasses and he knew it. I’m going to have laser eye surgery when we return home. I’ve always been going to, but never got around to it. Is that okay with you?”
Sonya slid her arm around her husband’s waist. “How absolutely terrifying that must have been for you! I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. Laser surgery sounds like a great option.”
Finally, the party ended, people left, and all that remained were those living in the house and Steve and Mimi, who were staying overnight to keep things simple.
“I believe that was a successful soirée,” BB exclaimed. “I very much wanted to introduce my son to those that matter, and also to provide Sonya and Bryan with a pleasant memory to take home with them. Santé!" he saluted. "We shall leave from the garage at nine in the morning, is that acceptable? Good! Bonsoir!” he exclaimed.
“BB sure is different than he seemed when we first met him, isn’t he?” Sonya asked as they prepared for bed.
“Yeah, a lot looser than I thought he could be. I think that he and Mike are getting along okay, don’t you?” Bryan replied, stifling a yawn.
“I agree! “Turning out the bedside lamp, Sonya snuggled into her husband, smiled and without a worry, spent her last night on French soil.
###
Nancy Maralyn Popovich
A native of Montreal, Nancy has lived with her husband in the Canadian Western Provinces for the past forty years. Creating art and reading voraciously since childhood, purebred dogs became a passion in early adulthood. Her career required writing skills, but it has been since retirement and the availability of more time that the passion for writing has been satisfied. You can contact Nancy and preview her other novels at:
www.nancypopovoch.com.
Here is a glimpse of the continuing story of the Toth Cousins in the next book in the Spy Series, BACKLASH. Will Sonya and Bryan be able to recover from their ordeal? Will Mike and BB establish a connection? Will Steve and Mimi’s relationship become something special? Take a peek at this preview of
BACKLASH
CHAPTER 1
It seemed, Sonya thought, that most of the important occasions in her large family took place in the restored Victorian home belonging to her sister, Susan. She and her husband, Kevin, had the largest home of all of the Calgary cousins, and it was where they tended to congregate when everyone was in town for a celebration. Or a funeral, which was not as uncommon as one might think, given the size of the Toth family.
It was also where she and her husband, Bryan, were living until they could accumulate enough money to buy their own home. They paid only expenses for their homey little third floor apartment, which allowed them to salt away both of their salaries for a down payment on a home of their own. Susan and Kevin’s many kindnesses to them were something that Sonya would appreciate forever.
Tonight’s occasion was somewhat uncommon, but not the first of its type that the family had attended over this past year. She was grateful that their family were close knit enough that these small bumps in the road could be taken in stride. More or less. To be honest, these bumps had been more like landslides it seemed at times, tumbling and changing family relationships like dice rolling in a cup.
As the youngest of the cousins, Sonya was not yet born when Susan, James and John were dubbed the “Terrifying Trio” by the family. The closest of friends, they had been constantly in trouble together as children, and their fast friendship still remained all these years later. James and his wife, Martine had flown in from Toronto for this special occasion, and they were, of course, staying with Susan.
The living room, dining room and great room were filled with cousins, spouses and children of various ages. Even their elderly aunt and uncle, Willi and Jake, had made the trip from the family’s origins in the Creston Valley in British Columbia. This was as important an occasion that the family could imagine.
The family were doing their best to get to know two new family members. Steve Hunter had been introduced as John and Mike’s half brother several months ago, and most of the family had seen him again at Sonya’s wedding eight weeks later. Steve’s addition to the family had caused another domino to drop, and changed that particular branch of the family dynamic yet again.
On this occasion, however, they were being introduced to Air Marshall (Ret.) Merlyn Blackburn, who had just been revealed as Mike’s biological father. So as it stood now, John and Steve Hunter had the same father and John and Mike had the same mother. Brothers still, but now with some differences.
The stranger in their midst, Air Marshall (Ret.) Merlyn Blackburn, or BB as he preferred to be called, apparently had no difficulty remembering who belonged to whom and where each of the many cousins fit in. The family, accustomed to strangers being confused by their numbers, were duly impressed with the patrician British gentleman with the impeccable manners, regal bearing an
d prodigious memory.
The story surrounding the revelations of these family ties was somewhat convoluted.
Last winter, an incident had occurred at her cousin John’s home. His wife, Sara and their son Ivan, had been taken hostage after receiving delivery of an old desk inherited from Sara’s father. This happened after her father and his best friend had been murdered. Both of whom, they later found out, had been operatives for MI5 in England. In other words, they were spies.
The man who held them captive, Igor Kovaszic, had been looking for information rumoured to be in the infamous old desk in one of its numerous hidden compartments. One thing led to another, which resulted in John teaming up with Steve Hunter, the MI5 operative who had been working on solving the murders of their old employees.
Since John owned the major portion of an air rental company called Airlimo, he had access to and control of a small jet. He was able to fly Igor out of the country as requested by Canadian Security and Intelligence Services, with as little red tape as negotiations between governmental spy agencies was possible. Steve Hunter had flown as his co-pilot at that time. After a difficult flight they finally landed in Gibraltar, surprised to see Air Marshall Blackburn, Steve’s stepfather. The Air Marshall, who the family now knew as BB, was at the time married to Steve Hunter’s mother.
He confronted her with a truth that he witnessed, and a decades old deceit was revealed. Steve Hunter was in reality John’s half brother, which had been announced to the family in June. At that time, John’s older brother, Mike, had demanded that his mother be honest with him about his parentage as well.
The three men involved in this triangle, BB, Ivan Toth and Paul Hunter had been great friends as young men in various Air Force units posted at the same base in Germany. At the time, they had sown their wild oats with absolute abandon. What no one knew at the time, was that the women that married Ivan Toth and Paul Hunter were already pregnant when they married. And the men that they married, were not the biological fathers of their unborn children, a fact of which both women were most definitely aware. This deceit had now all come to light.
So, while the family was aware that Steve Hunter was John’s half brother, what they were now digesting, was that Mike was in reality, BB’s biological son. Despite positive DNA testing, there was no denying that Mike and BB were related. They had the same height, build, profile and identical, laser-like steel blue, dark lashed eyes. BB’s hair was now pristine white, a foreshadow of what Mike’s honey blonde locks would become.
Sonya and Bryan had carefully planned their honeymoon trip to Paris, where Bryan had spent a year on a post graduate scholarship for his Doctorate in Art. They had anticipated a romantic honeymoon in the city of love, but unfortunately, that had not come to be. Mike made the trip as well, intent on meeting BB, the man that at the time he believed would prove to be his father. Steve had been essential in acting as intermediary, using his knowledge of both men to ease their meeting. All had gone as planned.
Until. Until Bryan had been kidnapped and badly abused. And then everyone around Sonya turned out to be spies; honest-to-goodness, black wearing, judo kicking, electronics using, gun totting, working for various governmental agencies spies.
And this was not some sort of “B” movie. They actually had clout with the local police. And several of them were now socializing and interacting with her solid, boring and oh, so very ordinary family. It was somewhat bizarre.
CHAPTER 2
“Hey, Babe!” Bryan grinned as he slung his arm around his wife’s shoulders. The bright cast on his last two fingers and part of his hand was covered with graffiti-like signatures and little drawings in felt pen. In his uninjured hand he held a beer. Dressed in jeans and a Picasso Rocks theme tee-shirt, he didn’t look at all like the director of a prestigious art gallery, but rather an art student. The black and blue of his bruises had turned into a hideous shade of yellow and maroon, which didn’t help the image at all. However, his young looks belied his age, education and talent.
“Hey, yourself!” Sonya smiled back at him, noting the healing bruises and again saying a prayer of thanks that he was home and healthy. “It looks like everyone is enjoying themselves,” she remarked, leaning against her husband. “BB seems to be fitting in quite well.”
“Yeah, he’s a bit of a chameleon. He seems to be able to blend everywhere that he goes. Maybe it’s a skill that served him well in his career as a spy. But I have to admit that I don’t think anyone would point at him and declare him to be one. He just seems too…”
“Stately?” Susan interjected as she walked by. “He looks like the quintessential English gentleman. Just how much did you tell everyone about what happened in Paris? And about BB, except for the fact that he’s Mike’s father?” she asked curiously.
“Only that he was able to pull some strings that helped us to get Bryan released from Grégoire and his band of thugs. We also mentioned that Madame Lalonde was our landlady and her grandson, Sylvain, was about the same age as Ivan,” Sonya replied, twirling a lock of golden blonde hair around her finger, something she usually did when she was stressed or thinking. “But much of what went on is and will remain confidential. We discussed the entire thing on the flight home from Paris and we all agreed that too much information is just that, too much information. This is need to know.”
“So how did you explain the kidnapping?”
Susan could be relentless, Sonya grumbled to herself, but that was a part of the reason for her success in business.
“A case of mistaken identity,” Bryan sighed, rolling his dark brown eyes skyward. “It just seemed to be the most expedient way to avoid all kinds of questions. Mimi, Steve and BB were easily explained. BB owns the jet that we flew home in and he’s here to meet his grandsons and to get to know Mike better. Steve is a pilot and a brother and Mimi is his girlfriend, so it made sense to come home to Calgary together.”
Susan shrugged her shoulders. “Sounds perfectly logical to me! The entire story would be too much I think, and sometimes it’s better not to know every detail. I had nightmares the first night after you told us the complete story.”
“You asked!” Sonya retorted to her sister. “Just spreading the wealth,” she shrugged her shoulders and laughed, her china blue eyes twinkling in mirth.
“Yeah, yeah,” Susan murmured. “Look! Sara’s grilling Mimi. You’d think that she was Steve’s sister not his sister-in-law. I know that she liked him when they first met, before they even knew that he was John’s half brother.” John’s wife, Sara, was one of Susan’s best friends and they had discussed this in detail several times.
Their little group gazed across the room where Mimi was gracefully leaning against a counter, sipping on her wine, while Sara stood beside her, a serious look across her pretty face, tucking a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear as she normally did when she was concentrating.
They were an interesting study in brunettes, Susan thought. Mimi’s hair was a short, shining, stylish bob, her heavily lashed, hazel eyes luminous in an animated face. Sara on the other hand, was all peaches and cream complexion, soft brown eyes and straight, fine, almost shoulder length hair. They were two beautiful women, yet so very different from one another, both in appearance and in personality. And, Susan supposed, if Mimi and Steve were in a serious relationship, they could ultimately become sisters-in-law. What was that saying about degrees of separation?
Susan’s revelry was interrupted. “So, how is Sonya really doing?” a voice beside her asked. She turned with a smile. “As well as I think she can, given the circumstances. She was pretty shaken after it was all over.”
Peter, their oldest cousin and Sonya’s employer, nodded knowingly. He was one of the few that knew the entire story of what happened in Paris.
“She’s been different since they got back.” Noting the look of alarm on Susan’s face, he quickly continued. “Not anything you’d notice, if you didn’t know her well. She’s quieter, more intense and for lack of a bette
r word, she seems more mature for her twenty-two years than when she left for Paris. She’s always been stubborn, as you well know.” He noted Susan’s knowing grimace.
“It’s not in a rebellious way. It’s in a quietly serious and more determined way. The older clients that once seemed to intimidate her are no longer an issue. She handles them like a seasoned professional now.”
Peter managed the company for which Sonya worked, and in which she owned twenty percent of the shares, shares that had been bequeathed to her by Peter’s father. He, along with John and Steven’s father, his brother Jake and their grandparents’ best friend had founded the company many years ago. They named it Snytytza, Inc, an homage of sorts to the family’s Ukrainian roots.
“I understand what you mean,” Susan replied thoughtfully. “I’ve seen it myself. It’s subtle, but the incidents in Paris really did change her. I hope there are no long-term problems ahead for her. Do you think that she needs to speak to someone about it?”
China blue eyes, the same eyes as Sonya’s, crinkled in a face encompassing smile. “Naw, I think she’s fine. Just saying, that’s all. If she feels the need, she’ll do it. You know how independent she is.”
Susan’s red-gold eyebrows rose over navy blue eyes. “No kidding!” she replied. “According to everyone, not only is she the spitting image of Gran, she’s almost like Gran was – quiet, but a force when she needs to be. She’ll be okay.”
Their attention was diverted towards a burst of laughter. Apparently John had, as was his habit, played a little joke on Sonya and her reaction had caused the laughter.
All of the cousins looked like family, unusual for so many relatives, but John and Sonya looked more like brother and sister than cousins. Both had inherited their grandmother’s coloring; hair the color of ripe golden wheat and brilliant china blue eyes. There was no denying that they were related.
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