He called and the clerk told him to set the letters outside on the small table in the hall by the door, and they would pick them up very shortly. He did that, then they decided it may be good to rest a while. They went back into the bedroom, hung up the clothes from the bed and put the rest of the things in the closet. They laid on the bed and looked out the window at the marvelous view. They laid there talking of their future and knew there was a lot to work out as soon as they got a chance to consider everything. Now was not the time to get into it. So they laid there, relaxed and fell asleep. After about an hour they awoke, so surprised that they were actually tired enough to fall asleep. It was now four-thirty and it would soon be time for dinner. They needed to call down to order and tell them when they wanted it delivered.
“How about six-thirty?” he asked. “Or do you want it sooner?”
“That will be just right,” she answered.
He called and asked if they had a menu he could come down to pick up so they could make an order. He hung up and went to get the menu. They looked at it, decided what they wanted, and he called back to order. They would keep the menu for future reference.
“Do you want to do any shopping for fabric while we are here?” he asked her.
“I don’t really know. I may wait until after I meet with Phylicia to see what is going on, to see if she has something in mind that she would like me to do.”
“Then we can plan if we need to shop,” he said.
They went to the living room, sat on the couch near each other and she laid her head on his shoulder. It was good to just sit there, relax and hold each other, not moving or talking for a while. They sat for some time, then got up to get ready for dinner which would be arriving very soon. She went into the bedroom, touched up her makeup, pulled her hair back and tied it with a ribbon. She came out and walked over to the windows to look out again. It was so breathtaking she wanted to fill her mind and emotions with this wonderful sight.
The phone rang. It was Phylicia as she had expected. They talked a while, then Todd took the phone to get directions to the place. They hung up and went back to the window to continue looking at the view.
She stood there just watching the view. Soon he came over to stand beside her and after a short time the doorbell rang. He went to answer it to find the waiter there with their order. He wheeled the cart over to the table. They sat down and he laid out the meal for them and poured the wine in their glasses. It was still light so the candles would not do any good at this point. They began the meal, and then after a bit, he poured more wine in their glasses. They ate slowly, enjoying the pleasure of the fine tastes of the meal.
After the meal was over it was getting a little dusky outside and they decided to go out and sit on the patio to watch the city light up. The lights would take on more brilliance as it began to get darker. The evenings were shorter now and it soon became a magnificent show across the landscape and the water. They watched it for a while, then decided to go to bed.
They got into bed and lay there for a while in each other’s arms. They turned to each other and began to snuggle and kiss. Soon they were getting more involved in the process and made love in a gentle fashion. They then lay and held each other for a while. Soon they fell asleep and rested very well. They awoke the next day and saw a mist hovering over the area again. It was quite early, so it may burn off before they had to go out. They got showered and dressed, got the coffee from the hall and sat at the table to drink it. After coffee was finished, he went over to order breakfast which would be up very soon. They continued to sit at the table and soon the waiter came in with the breakfast and placed it on the table. They thanked him and began to eat. They planned to take their time for they did not have to meet Phylicia until one o'clock in the afternoon. They didn’t plan to go anywhere else before that. It would be good to just take a leisurely morning to get ready and wait for time to go to the restaurant. It would take about twenty minutes to get there so they would plan to leave about twelve-thirty, which would get them there in plenty of time.
CHAPTER 25
They got ready and left early to stop in the gift shop downstairs. It was a fairly large shop and they looked around for a while, then left to go to the restaurant. When they got there, Phylicia was already there and had acquired a lovely table by the window with a spectacular view. They came over and said hello. Triessa and Phylicia hugged each other and then Phylicia held Triessa off at arm’s length to look at her.
“My, are you aglow! Life has been good to you. You both look great. Where have you been? Well, I guess I can wait until we get seated and place our order.”
The waiter came and took the order, then they began talking. Triessa and Todd told her of the places they had been and how wonderful it had been.
Triessa told her, “We have some marvelous shots on video and some snapshots as well. We plan to make a travel album with which to relive our memories and show them to the family. It is truly been a super time. We will spend some time here, then go on to Todd’s place for a while and back to mine. We will have to make some decisions on how we are to live at both places. That will not be easy for we love them both equally.”
The meal came and they began to eat. Triessa asked Phylicia about the fashion world and what was in the future that affected her.
“There is going to be a real special show here next week and I wonder if you would like to attend to check on the recent arrivals. Of course, if you don’t want to, it will be understandable. It will tie up most of one day for you. Unless you have planned on something like this, you may not want to take the time away from your personal plans.”
Todd spoke up and said, “If you really want to, my precious, you should. I won’t mind attending and you will be able to get filled in because some shows are not repeatable. So please, if you want to, feel free to do so. We have plenty of time and have already done a lot. Then after it is done we can go on to my place. It is in five days so we can do things here until then and be ready to drive on to my place after the show is done.”
“Well, I would like to touch bases again since we are here now, to know what I need to do in the future and when to do it. We can get our plans organized when we get back. It would be hard to be so close and not stay. Yes, Phylicia, we will be glad to go. It is the same place where we met, very interestingly. How reminiscent. I had not thought of going there, but now that the show is there, I am actually glad to go back to see it again. Shall we have lunch at the same place where we were that day?”
“Why not,” replied Todd. “It will be very interesting and we can relive it in a way. How nice that it will be there where we met. This is too remarkable.”
They finished lunch and Phylicia told them she really had to get back to work but would see them on show day and they could have more time together.
“I am sure you won’t miss me and can find plenty to do. Are you planning to do any shopping for fabric while you are here, Triessa?”
“I had not really thought about it, but I may consider it since I will have plenty of time. Then I can have plenty of material to begin when I get ready to design.”
Phylicia got up, said goodbye, and told them she would be in touch again soon. They parted and Triessa and Todd went to the car to go back to the hotel and decide what to do.
“Is this the day we want to go to have the picnic we had thought about by the falls? Do you mind if we put it on the back burner for now?”
“Yes, I would rather do that and if we do not get to it, it will not be a really big deal right now. I need to plan what I want and when to shop for fabrics. We can go back to the stores we looked in before. They are probably the best ones I know of and we know what they have. Of course, they always get in new things and I will be interested to see what they may have that is totally new. I am not up on the recent fashions either. Do you want to come with me?”
“Oh, yes, I would love it. I really enjoyed the last time we went and now I know a little more about it. So, l
et’s go tomorrow, if that sounds good to you. We can see if there’s anything else we will need to get to go with it while we are here.”
“That is great and we can have it shipped as before and won’t have to worry about it. It will arrive long before we do and be waiting for us.”
“It is settled then. Tomorrow is planned, then we will have four more days before the show. It seems somewhat like when we were here for a fashion show a while back, except we know it is a different situation and we are going out of interest, not participating.”
Back at the hotel they looked at the time, saw it was already nearly three o’clock, so there was not time to do much more today. They would sit around again and discuss the rest of the trip and see if they needed to make any extra plans. They both changed and sat on the couch looking out at the view of the whole area; it is so expansive and breathtaking. It was good to have more leisure time.
He said to her as he put his arm around her shoulder, “I know of a road that will take us to the top of the hill there and we can look down here and see everything we are now a part of. Would you like to do that and plan to take a lunch with us? We can have them make us up a basket downstairs and we can pick it up when we leave. There’s lots of area to drive around up there and we can see far and wide.”
“Oh, that sounds simply marvelous. I think that would be a wonderful idea. A picnic would be super up there, looking down at the world. I will call to have the kitchen do it for us and mention a few things we would like.” She went to the phone and called to place her order. “How about placing an order for dinner while we are at it or would you like to go out? I can do it all at once.”
“I am beginning to feel like a married man and enjoy being here with you. But if you would like to go somewhere it will be fine as well.”
“No, I had not really thought about that. I, too, enjoy being here, just the two of us. I will order for both occasions and then we can sit and talk some more about the rest of our trip after we leave here.”
She called in the order and went back to sit beside him on the couch.
“We can drive from here to my place when we get ready to leave. It will be nice to spend some time there. We’ve always been in such a hurry when we’ve been there. After we get there we can drive to the restaurant where I proposed and we can eat dinner there again and have the same music played as before. I will order the same champagne. We will soon be coming up to our first month anniversary. That would be an ideal time to plan on going back to the place. Wouldn’t that make it special? It will come out to just the day after we get to my place so we can plan on going that evening. That will be perfect.”
“Yes, that would be ideal. I will, no doubt, feel close to the way I felt then. Nothing can replace that ever; it is a one-time event, and the emotions were so genuine and special. I would not ever want anything else to come even near it. All the rest of these things will be new experiences. We can get shots this time as well, which we didn’t plan before and that will be a great part of our trip and collection of memories.”
“That is right, each day will have its own special features that can add to our life. That is as it should be. Each day we are growing and becoming a different person just a little bit because of our experiences. That is wonderful when we look ahead to a whole lifetime together.”
“That will be one of the highlights of our trip and be real special. This is another one being here in this wonderful place so close to where we met and fell in love. We will spend some time at my place, our place, and when you are ready, we will go back to the Rose Garden before we get back to any type of work and schedule planning. It will be a perfect ending, a grand finale.”
“Exactly, precisely,” she exclaimed. “I will be glad to see it again; it has been so special in our lives. I never dreamed of such a thing when I had it done. I am so pleased with the way it worked out. I think it couldn’t have been done better.”
“I agree wholeheartedly, my precious princess. It had to be something grand to fit you and your style. I am so grateful it worked out that way. Though it happened spontaneously in a sense, it was waiting to be discovered. We would not have thought of it if we had not been there looking at it right then. We could not have had all the beautiful things if we had done it elsewhere. We should have shared it with the whole world because it was such a spectacular event and so glamorous.”
“You are right, everyone should know that it is possible to be so very happy and in love.”
They turned toward each other and put their arms around each other and kissed gently but long. It was so wonderful to be together at last with no more parting and waiting to be together again.
They heard the buzzer and realized that they had been sitting there talking for some time and it was now time for their dinner. He opened the door while the waiter brought the food in and placed it on the table by the window. They sat down while he poured the wine for Todd to taste.
“This is a new specialty and we want you to have it with our compliments for your honeymoon. How do you like it?”
Todd tasted it and smiled broadly.
“This is exquisite. A perfect blend. Please leave us the name of it and where we may get some. I definitely want to stock our wine cellar with some of this for our special occasions.”
He passed the glass to Triessa and let her taste it.
She smacked and nodded her head.
“It is the ultimate. What a marvelous blend, as you said. How could it be so smooth and perfect? I wonder if we’ll be able to do something like this one day with our vines.”
“This wine is Montrachet. It is a delightful wine. Alexander Dumas said “it should be drunk kneeling with your head bowed.” There is no comparison.
It is a balanced, sweet, natural wine with no spare sugar. We can stock you with some, if you’d like. I will check with the desk and see how much we can supply for you. It will get you started in your life and in the future we can keep up on it. It would be a great pleasure for us to help begin your new life with such a grace. Triessa has always been one of our favorite guests and we are happy she has found herself a wonderful husband. We wish you all the happiness in the world.”
“That is really kind of you,” exclaimed Triessa. “We will be very grateful and pleased with such a wonderful service. You have a fine establishment here and your service has always been excellent. That is one of the reasons I come here as often as I do. I wanted my husband to experience this also. We thank you deeply; everyone has been kind to us.”
The waiter nodded, left and they began to eat. Todd poured more wine for each of them and they drank to the future and a wonderful and love-filled life.
He looked at her and said, “I want the richness of joy and pleasure to increase continually and enrich every area of our lives and our family. We will have a family when we decide the time is right and we can give them the fullness of our love and experience. When we are full, we will be anxious to share it. It will be so wonderful; it is really hard to grasp at this point because it is something we will have to live to understand fully. But we shall to the fullest.”
“Yes, my precious, we will do that. I want to wait a while before we start a family so we can give all those things. We need to build and enrich our lives, so we can be a container full and ready to pour into their small lives the bliss we will have gathered together.”
They ate and went out on the patio, sat at the table and enjoyed the wonderful evening air. They saw the glorious lights coming on all over the city as if by magic.
Soon the waiter returned bringing the dessert out to the patio, set the coffee on the table, bowed and left. Todd poured the coffee, Triessa got the dessert ready to serve, and they sat there and spent a long time over the finishing touches of the meal and the day. It was a perfect temperature and the sky was now full of stars. The moon was big and bright and all was perfect.
After a while they went in and looked at the clock and were surprised that it was already nine-thirty.
“We should go to bed so we will be fresh tomorrow when we go shopping for your material. We will do a lot of walking if it is like the last time. One thing about it is we will not have to hurry. We can go back again if need be. I want you to take your time and get all the supplies you want so you will be ready when the urge strikes you, as I know it will inevitably.”
“Yes, it is time for bed. I’m ready; I feel quite tired and need to rest.”
They got ready for bed and lay there looking at the view, trying to fill their memories to the fullest so it would last them forever. As they lay there in each other’s arms, they fell asleep to dream of being back at the Rose Garden. It had not really been part of their thoughts until they began talking about it and now it beckoned them back to its glory and elegance.
The next day was lovely. They got up and got ready to go to the city for her materials. They decided to eat downstairs in the dining room. They went in, ordered, and sat near a window to look out at the other side of the hotel. It showed the hills and the beautiful flowers in the back yard with a fountain in the center supporting a small statue on one end. They ate and went to the car to go to the shops. The last time they went in his little MG, but it would be easier to have the bigger car. They could park nearby and walk to the shops and place the packages in the trunk when they got a number of them. They left and spent the day as they did before but took more time to look around. She found some wonderful fabrics and was very excited. Some Chemise with Silk Blended Mousseline, embroidered Sari Fabrics, sumptuous Golden Mesh Jersey, Black Cotton Velvet with periwinkle blue flowers, and Shantung-Pure Silk with a subtle sheen, of a superb quality.
When they returned at night, she was ecstatic with all her finds but knew that she would be thinking of designs. She must be careful to wait and not hasten the end of the honeymoon and set her mind back in the right gear. There will be plenty of time for work when this was all over. They went to a local restaurant for dinner, one they had seen the day they were shopping. They went in, were seated, and ordered their meal. The waiter returned quickly with their meal and wine so they could begin to eat. They were pleasantly tired and were ready to go back to the hotel and retire after the meal was done.
Once Within A Lifetime Page 32