Children of the House of Four Seasons: Jacky and Maxi
The direct parallel to Claire Biebe
By Atonia Walpole
(Picture creations also by Atonia)
Part 1 – In Battersea
As soon as Maxi heard Jacky was back in London he flew over to hear first hand Jacky’s feats of daring do. Jacky was staying at his father’s flat. He’d developed an infection in his wound and had been treated in Khartoum for several days. He was now on the mend but still feeling weak and worthless as he was unable to take care of himself. Terry had insisted he stay there and he went along with it.
The housekeeper had been and gone and Jacky was down in the den watching TV, piled up on a sofa with the remains of his lunch still on the coffee table in front of him. He was cozy under a blanket and about to drift off to sleep when he heard someone calling his name.
“Yeah…I’m down here!” he yelled out. Not that many people had keys to the flat so he wasn’t worried it was someone up to mischief until he saw who it was.
“Ah, shit! I thought it was somebody.”
“Hey, I am somebody and don’t you forget it! What are you doing, having a lie in?”
“I’m recovering, dunce. What are you doing here, Maxi? I thought you’d run away from home.”
“I’m back. How are you, Jacky?”
“I’m okay. Just feeling a little rough right now, getting over an infection.”
“I hear you are a big hero now, eh?” Maxi cleared off a chair and sat down.
“I don’t think so. Just did what I had to do, ya know?”
“I want to hear all about it.”
“Read it in the papers. I don’t feel like talking about it. When did you get back?”
“Last week. Well, I came back on Sunday. Dad told me you’d rescued a girl, fell in love and got shot and I thought, whoa, I got to hear this. Where’s the girl?”
“Her name is Pam Roberts and she’s with her mum here in London. Yeah, that was pretty special.”
“You’re really in love, Jacky…you?”
“I am. I don’t know where it’s going but it happened. She’s, um, been over. I just need to get well.”
“Tell me about the shot part.”
“There was a gun,” Jacky grinned.
“Jacky, you arsehole!”
Jacky relented and told him about the escape from Eritrea into Sudan.
“You killed somebody?” Maxi was wide-eyed.
“Yeah, that was kind of…but I had to. If I hadn’t he’d have shot me or Pam, or had one of his goons do it. I didn’t have a choice and not much time to think about it, either.”
“What did you feel afterwards? I can’t imagine it.”
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“Just…bang, you’re dead?”
“That was about it.” Jacky reached for a pack of cigarettes on the coffee table and knocked them off. Maxi jumped up and got them for him, helping himself to one.
“I don’t know if I could do that, pull the trigger.”
“Have you ever shot a gun?”
“Well, no, we don’t have guns. Duflot I think maybe had one but I never shot it.”
“You should go out to a firing range sometime and learn to shoot, Maxi. You never know.”
Maxi frowned at the thought. “I’ll leave that to you but I know a man does what he has to.”
“What happened to you? You get to California?”
“Yes, I found what I was looking for and more. You know Grandpa Duncan was a good man and we loved him but his family…I think it was a good thing he left and moved to Provence. They are money mad and obsessed with the business of making wine. There is no room for anything else. Ah, but Cousin Luc, remember him? Luc Zone, the rock star? He is there and I think the only one who is in touch with life.”
“Yeah, I remember him. He’s cool.”
“He is, yes, and he gave me notebooks of songs my mother wrote for him. So I can know something there.”
Jacky looked at him a moment. “What do you know…there?”
“I can’t say for sure. She wrote some nice songs. Oh, and I met Ellen Duncan. She’s Luc’s niece. She’s a student with two more years of college. I think there is something. Um, I asked her to come to Provence when she gets out of school. She’s different, like Luc. I liked her.”
“Ohh, got one waiting in the wings.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I met this woman, Jacky. She picked me up at a bar in Napa you would not believe. She took me home and fed me little bits of food. She put her fingers in my mouth and she did things…oh, Jacky, not even you have experienced.”
“How do you know what I’ve experienced?” Jacky smiled.
“Because I know you. If it was something different or exciting you would have to tell me just to gloat over me. Well, now I can give it back to you.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jacky leaned back in the sofa pillows, “tell me about it, Maxi.”
Maxi began his tale and he got to the part with the grapes. “I get this enormous bulge in my jeans you know…”
“Wait a minute…you shit yourself?”
Maxi just looked at him a minute. “You…!” He burst out laughing and Jacky joined him. They laughed until there were tears in their eyes.
“I’m sorry, Maxi,” Jacky wiped his eyes. “Go on with your story.”
“No, no, you killed it right there. You will never know what she did to my body with her tongue.”
“Ah, come on…tell me! Was it good?”
“I’m not going to tell you.” He stubbed out his cigarette. “So how long are you going to be an invalid?”
“Probably another week. I’m on antibiotics right now.”
“Then what? What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Well, there’s something in the back of my mind. I wasn’t kidding about the newspapers. Over there in that pile. It made the papers. They suspected I was a spy, complained about sending a spy into their country.”
“And…so?”
“What if I was?”
“A spy…like James Bond?”
“Well, not quite but…I’m thinking about it. You know Dad is never going to give me anything else. I know that for a fact. It bothered him a lot sending me there after he found out the danger I was in. I can’t work for him.”
“You want to be in danger?”
“No, but I like the intrigue. I don’t know. It’s something to think about. What are you doing?”
“Not much of anything right now. Let’s go somewhere.”
“We just got back…”
“I know but…I think you’re about to get deeply involved with this girl and before it gets to the point where you don’t have time for me…we’ve never just taken of, you know?”
“True. This trip to California must have started something with you.”
“I’d never been anywhere, unlike you. I’m about to get serious about Chambord, you know, with the harvest in a couple of months. I guess I just want to play.”
“Okay, give me a couple of weeks to get back on my feet and we will. Where do you want to go?”
“You plan it while you’re lying about and let me know where we’re going. I’ll get money to you.”
“Right…I’ll pay for it and then you’ll owe me and you know how that works.”
“I’ll pay you,” Maxi grinned.
“I know you will. How long are you going to be in London?”
“Couple of days. Maybe time to meet your lady?”
“I’m not sure I want her to meet you.”
“Yes, you do. You can’t wait for me to see what you’ve got.”
Jacky grinned.
Part 2: Off the Sofa
Terry came in from work, fanned through the mail on the hall table and went downstairs to the kitchen. He could hear the TV from the den and he walked over to the doorway. Jacky was lying on the sofa and the debris from his lying surrounded him, lunch tray still on the coffee table, empty soft drink cans, overflowing ashtray.
“Jacky….”
“Oh, hi, Dad.” Jacky sat up, dislodging a book to the floor.
“How are you feeling? How’s the shoulder? Been going through the exercises?”
“Um, yeah, it’s coming along.”
“Well, how about exercising it now and cleaning up after yourself?”
Jacky grinned a little, piled everything on the tray and took it to the kitchen. Terry was putting the kettle on. “Maxi came by today.”
“Oh, did he? When did he get back?”
“About a week ago. He’s full of himself. I think he found out the grass is not any greener in California. He wants to meet Pam.”
“How long is he going to be in London?”
“He didn’t say exactly. Couple of days maybe.” Jacky took two mugs down for tea.
“If you weren’t so ill we could take Maxi and the girls out to dinner.”
“Well, I don’t think I’m that ill. I could go out."
Terry removed his jacket and lay it across the center island. “I don’t know. You’ve been riding that sofa for about a week now.”
“Not quite a week. I think I might go home tomorrow.”
“Dino sends his best to you. He’s heard about your escapades in Africa.”
“Yeah, old Dino. I almost went to see him. I was thinking about it before we left that House in the states.”
“Hoping to get a little action?”
“Maybe. It’s for sure I won’t be getting any here from you.”
“How much do you want? You haven’t healed completely from the last gig.”
“You know what I mean, Dad.”
“Yes, Jacky, I do,” Terry sighed and took his tea into the den. He picked up a stack of newspapers from the floor and placed them on a table. “Why is it your place never looks like this?”
“Because you taught me to clean up after myself.” Jacky sat back on the sofa with his tea.
“Did Rena come in?”
“Yes, she did the upstairs. I told her not to bother in here. Disorder bothering you tonight?”
“I guess.”
“Something on your mind, Dad?”
Terry looked at Jacky for a minute. “I’m just trying to figure out where Amy fits in my life. I talked to her today and she wants us to move in together. I’m not sure I want that.”
“You’ve been on your own for too long, got set in your ways. I doubt she could stand to live with you.” Jacky sipped his tea.
“I’m that bad, huh?”
“Why don’t you give it a go? Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone nice and warm to come home to instead of an empty flat?”
Terry smiled, “Nice and warm…yeah, that’s on the plus side. Pam lives with her and she doesn’t want to give up her flat.”
“Not for long. Pam and I have talked. I think she’s going to move in with me.”
“Are you getting married?”
“No…are you?”
“No, I’m still married to your mother.”
“You know I’ve often wondered why that is, Dad. It’s been, what, twenty-two years now. I’m thinking that’s your excuse, that’s what keeps you an arm’s length from anybody else.”
“You could be right.” Terry took a drink from his mug. “There was a time I thought we might get back together.”
“When was this?”
“Long time ago. You were about four, I think.”
“Well, that’ s come and gone.”
“Yes, it has. I have no plans to ever marry again.”
“Still if you’re hooked up with Amy she ought to have some say so about you. Right now Mom is listed as your wife. I saw the insurance papers at work”
“What were you doing in the insurance papers?”
“Looking for sod all to do. I don’t think I’m going back to work there. I can’t sit at a desk all day.”
“I can’t put you in harm’s way again.”
“I know this and I understand it, Dad, but I can put myself somewhere. I’m not looking for dangerous situations but it’s got to have more than paperwork and computer screens to hold my interest.”
“Have you got something in mind?”
“I might look into, um, going into government service of some kind. Maybe Henry can get me hooked up with the right people.”
“You want to go undercover, don’t you?”
“I don’t know.” Jacky lit a cigarette. “Something to think about.”
“You’re fucking crazy.”
“I know. I’m your son,” Jacky smiled broadly. “So as, uh, one crazy son of a bitch to another, when are we taking the girls out?”
Terry grinned, “Do you feel up for it?”
“Oh, yeah! I’m ready to get off the sofa.”
“Tomorrow night is good. I’ll set it up. You get in touch with Maxi.” Terry finished his tea, took his mug back to the sink and rinsed it out. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“Let’s get some fish and chips. I feel the need of malt vinegar in my veins. Be glad when I get off these meds. I could use a pint, too.”
Maxi was the first to arrive and sat at the bar with a drink in front of him, surveying the women and catching an eye now and again. He’d just struck up a conversation with a likely lady when Jacky and Pam came in with Terry and Amy. He saw them in the mirrored wall behind the bar, made his apologies to the lady and picked up his drink and finished it.
Jacky spotted him and they all walked over. “Hey, Maxi."
“Jacky, I thought I was going to have to buy my own dinner. This must be Pam.” Maxi put on his most charming of smiles.
“Pam, this is my cousin Maxi.”
“Hi, Maxi.” Pam started to put out her hand but was embraced and kissed on both cheeks.
“Hello, Pam.” He took a step back, still holding her shoulders and looked into her face. “C’est magnifique!”
“Merci beaucoup,” she answered and smiled.
“You’ll have to make allowances for him. He was brought up in France.”
“She’s too good for you, Jacky,” he tossed off and dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Ah, Uncle Terry.” Maxi hugged him.
“Hi, Maxi. How are ya?”
“Very good. Ohh, and this is your lady?”
“Amy Roberts, this is my nephew, Maxi Skinner.”
She got the kisses, too. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Maxi.”
“Likewise,” he smiled sweetly. “Well, I am the odd man out tonight.”
“You should be used to that, Maxi.” Jacky leaned behind him to the bartender to order drinks.
“Your nephew is darling,” Amy said quietly to Terry. “How old is he?”
“Twenty-one and according to his father, he might live to be twenty-two. He can be a darling when he wants to. How was your trip, Maxi?”
“Interesting. You know I went in search of my roots, my mother, and I didn’t find much of her there. I did find Luc. Remember him? Yes, he was the rock star. He’s living there at the family home now and you know they all said he was crazy. Well, he’s the only one who is not as far as I could see. They are obsessed with the business of making wine, not the wine itself but the business…money. I could not live like that.”
Terry took his drink from Jacky and looked at Maxi. It must be Toni’s influence. “How’s your Mum?”
“Oh, she is on to Rose at the moment, volunteered her at an elder care facility in Bonnieux. But Mum is fine. She sends her love.” He sipped his second drink and smiled. He’d always been fascinated by the relationship between his Mum and Uncle Terry. You would think two people who loved each other so much would be together.
“Jacky says you’re a winemaker,” Pam commented.
“I am, yes, and in two months I will be busy with the harvest and making more wine. I wonder if you could spare Jacky for a week or so? I am thinking a little trip somewhere.”
“That’s up to him, when he’s well again.” Pam was noticing the resemblance of the two cousins. Maxi’s hair was darker, his eyes more blue than green, darker than Jacky’s. Both very good looking as was Jacky’s father, Terry. She glanced at her mother, who only seemed to have eyes for Terry.
“Ah, see, Jacky. No obstacles.”
“I haven’t decided yet, Maxi.”
Amy sipped her wine and looked from one to the other. They were so alike, same eyes same little bump between. Handsome men; she wondered what Maxi’s father looked like.
“I think our table is ready.” Terry turned back to the group.
After dinner Maxi walked outside of the restaurant with them and said good night. Terry and Amy took a taxi; Jacky walked off with his arm around Pam, presumably heading for his flat and a little after dinner delight. He stuck his hands in his pockets. Looked like the whole world was paired off but him…odd man out. He hailed a taxi and went back to his father’s flat for the night. Tomorrow he’d promised to take his Dad’s car out for a spin and get it serviced for him.
Jacky unlocked the door to his flat. “Haven’t been in here since I left for Africa. Sorry about the mess.”
“What mess? You’re a neat person, Jacky.”
“Not really.” He turned on a lamp.
“How’s your shoulder tonight?”
“It needs attention, lots of attention.” He pulled her to him and kissed her.
“Um, I think you need attention, too.” She backed away and looked around his flat. “So you think we could both live here?”
“I think so but that’s up to you. We could always find something else.”
“I’ve got a lot of stuff. Well, I could go through it, probably throw half away. How many bedrooms?”
“Two, one is a junk room.” He led the way down the short hall and opened a door. “I told you.”
“Hmm, when did you play rugby?” She picked up a ball.
“When I was in school at St. Albans. That’s me third from the end.” He pointed out a picture on the wall.
“You haven’t changed much except for this.” She tugged at his beard.
“I’m older.” He looked into her eyes.
“I know. Where is your room?”
“Next door. Wanna see it?” he grinned.
“Yes…I do.”
Part 3- Things Best Left Alone
Maxi went down to the lockup and picked up his dad’s Aston Martin. He had a little trouble getting it started but then he rolled out onto the street and went in search of the garage. He had a sandwich at a pub on the corner while it was being serviced and then went back to pick it up. The mechanic told him what it needed was to be driven.
He made his way out of London to the motorway and after passing through traffic he let it go, loving the feel of the powerful car. What a shame, he thought, for it to sit months and months at a time in a lock up when he could be driving it. He made up his mind to take it back to France.
Finding himself not far from the cottage, he turned off to go have a look. It had been a while since he’d been there. Parking in front of the garage, he got out and had a look around, a lot of memories here from when they were children. His mum would come over and he and Jacky and Rose had the run of the place without nannies and without much supervision. He unlocked the door and went inside, remembering to put the key back behind the loose stone by the door. It smelled musty and he went through and opened the back door. Still the roses bloomed without anyone ever seeing them, he thought, and went over and smelled them where they rambled over the wall. He walked through the garden to the back gate and man-handled it open. The hinges needed oiling or something. The stream was running swiftly due to the rain they’d had. He remembered playing in that stream, filling his shorts with stones so he could sit on the bottom without floating to the top. He smiled to himself and turned back through the gate.
Back inside he went upstairs through the bedrooms and ended up in his Mum and Dad’s room. He went through to the bathroom, just checking to make sure there were no problems like a leaking pipe or something and as he came out he saw the edge of a book under the bed and picked it up. It turned out to be his Mum’s journal and he lay across the bed and read it cover to cover, having to hold it near the window to finish for the light was fading in the room and the electricity was turned off. He closed it and wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve. He wouldn’t want her to know he’d read it but he wished he could talk to her about it. He looked down at the book, not wanting to leave it here for somebody else to find. He took it with him.
All the way back to London he kept thinking of the poems she’d written when her heart was breaking. Everything she felt at the time was in that book. How she felt about his Dad and Uncle Terry and Uncle Jack. She’d been carrying Rose then. He just wanted to put his arms around her and tell her he loved her. He wondered if his Dad had ever read it. He doubted it. A journal was a private thing. He knew because he had several locked in a box in his closet, locked to keep Jacky and Rose out of it.
It came to him when he locked the car back up and took the book from the front seat that he had something he wasn’t supposed to have and now he didn’t know what to do with it. Surely his mum didn’t mean to leave it at the cottage. Probably dropped from her packing or something but she would have missed it when she got home and known it didn’t make it. Once back at the flat he reread some of the passages and closed it up. He picked up his phone and called his Uncle Terry.
“Uncle Terry, I took Dad’s car out for a run today and ended up at the cottage.”
“Everything okay there, Maxi?”
“Yes, it needs a good clean but no leaky pipes or anything. Um, I found something that Mum left there, something I don’t think she left on purpose. I don’t know what to do with it, Uncle Terry. It’s her journal.”
“A journal? Where did you find it?”
“Just under the bed in her room. It was sticking out and I thought it might be a book or something but it was…her book.”
“I’m presuming you’ve read it?”
“Yes, I know it wasn’t written for me to see but, yes, I read it. I think…I think you should have it. You know if I take it home she will know I’ve read it and…I don’t know what to do with it.”
“You shouldn’t have read it. That was her private place, Maxi.”
“I know. I wish I hadn’t but there it is. I did and I know what I shouldn’t know.”
“I think you should destroy it.”
“No…no…her beautiful words. There are watermarks on some pages I think were tears.”
Terry was silent for a moment. “Are you at home in the flat?”
“Yes, I, um, was going home tomorrow and drive Dad’s car through the Chunnel.”
“I’ll come by, say about thirty minutes. I’m at the office right now.”
“Okay, good. I want you to take this book. It should be yours.”
Terry was there within forty-five minutes. Maxi opened the door and looked at him for a minute.
“Come in…coffee, tea or something stronger…I would suggest.”
“Something stronger,” Terry said, noticing the look Maxi gave him.
Maxi poured him a drink and took it over to him where he stood looking out over the balcony at the Thames. “You know, Uncle Terry, I love you and I would do anything for you, but I don’t understand how you could do such a thing to the woman you love because I know you love her. I’ve watched that all my life. I’ve heard all the story about how you want things to be better for her, that you went with another woman and you think you didn’t deserve her. That is no reason to give your wife away. Look what you did to her and to Jacky. You divided up his life. He’s told me how this affected him and he didn’t have to, you know, because we could see it. It shouldn’t have happened.” He turned and went back inside and poured himself a drink.
Terry came back in. “Where’s the book?”
“It is there on the table by the chair.”
He recognized the book. He’d bought it for her when they were still at the House of Four Seasons. He picked it up and ran his hand over the leather cover.
“I know she is not my birth mother. I’ve known this since I was seven years old but she is the only mother I have ever known. I went to California to find my birth mother and she wasn’t there. The only thing I find is a notebook with songs she has written for her cousin Luc. I come home and I find this, this book of poetry and prose that mum wrote. I am more her than I am my birth mother. I want you to take it. You should read it but don’t ever let Jacky see it.” Maxi had tears in his eyes he realized and blinked them away.
Terry sat down and opened the book. The first few pages were written at the House, some the last year she was there. He scanned them quickly and turned the page. The first few words caught him in the chest: That you could leave me. He started to close the book.
“No, you read that. You need to know.”
“I do know, Maxi. I lived it.”
“You don’t know this…how she hurt.” Maxi turned on lamps so he could see and walked out on the balcony. Two cigarettes later and an empty glass he turned around. Terry had put the book down and was sobbing quietly in his hands. Maxi went back in and knelt down by his chair.
“I’m sorry for your pain, I am, but you needed to know hers. Yes, my Dad took her and made her whole again but it took some time. You read it there. And all this time she is carrying Rose for Uncle Jack.” Maxi went into the kitchen and wet a towel and brought it back to him.
“Ta.” Terry wiped his face. “I can’t take it back. I knew I’d made a mistake before I came to Paris for Penny’s wedding and I saw her there.” Terry reached for a cigarette and Maxi lit it for him.
“You don’t know all of it, Maxi, and I don’t know that I want you to. You and Max have a great relationship.”
“Yes, we do but we also do not tell everything to each other. I know he has always loved my mother. Even when he was married to my birth mother, he loved her. I hear things, you know, and we piece them together, Jacky and I and Rose. We tried to make sense out of our crazy mixed up family. I am not like Jacky who sees things black and white, a realist like you, he is. That’s why he was mad at Mum for so long. I was never mad at Mum about Uncle Jack. You know these things happen and now that I know where we came from and that she is married to all of you by magic, I see no wrong in what she did.”
“It just all happened at once. I came back from Australia with this guilt about the girl there and I was going to tell Toni. She wasn’t there when I got off the plane. Max was and took me to his flat and I was told she was pregnant with Jack’s child. It threw me. I’d decided we weren’t any different from anyone else, that the same rules applied and we’d both broken them. I thought we needed to separate for awhile. I had John, Jack and Max come and talk to me, trying to set me straight but I was so…well, Max said if I let her go he would take her. He was willing to give up everything for her.”
“My mother...?”
“Yes, he would have lost it all, the chateau, everything. Your mother was going back to France to visit her father and John went with her to the airport. That’s when the accident happened on the motorway and she died. Max was devastated by her death and by the guilt he had for what he was going to do. It came down on me hard, knowing that if I’d played by the rules at the House Toni would have been his to start with. I thought he’d suffered enough and I wasn’t worthy of her. I’d already put her though hell enough times in our lives together. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done the day I left her there at the chapel and told her to go to Max. She thought I was going to take her home.” He sobbed again and then pulled himself together. "What she wrote about the tortuous fire being gone from her and that she was at peace with Max…that’s what I wanted, for her to be at peace.”
“Oh, mon Dieu.” Maxi sat back on the floor, letting it all sink in. “It was a mistake I think on your part, a mistake for you. She loved you and would have forgiven you anything. But for my father I think it saved him. He would not be who he is now if not for my mum. And for me, I don’t know. I would have been like Jacky, back and forth all my life. You know, Uncle Terry, there is nothing about our lives that is normal. We are a complicated family.”
“Yes, we are, Maxi, very complicated.”
“I always wondered why if you loved my mum so much you didn’t live with her. Now I know and I am sorry for you and for her. I hope there are no more secrets to come out. We have all paid a price in one way or another from these secrets.”
“Your mother doesn’t know what Max was about to do. Don’t tell her.”
“No, she has suffered enough in her life. She is to be protected and as her second son I will do this. As for my father, I love him and respect him and I find no fault in him for this. I never knew Connie as a mother so…another drink?”
“I think so, Maxi.”
“You know Rose is trying to get to the House of Four Seasons. She is making lists of characters. I tell her, no, you cannot go. Mum has told her no, Papa has told her no, my father has told her no, and still she makes this list. I think it would be a mistake for her. I know for her it sounds wonderful, a way to get this pirate she is in love with, but the consequences of this…I don’t think it would be worth it.”
“She definitely does not need to go. She’s only twenty and much too young to understand.”
Maxi handed him a drink. “She is young in years but she has this big love to give…she give some to me.” He shrugged.
“What happened between you two?”
“Sex happened. She used her element on me when I was sixteen. You know I didn’t even know I had one but I learned, I learned to use it with her.”
“That must have been pretty powerful between you. What are your feelings for her now?’
“Well, I love her still but I know she is my sister now. It’s not, um, not a romantic love. I don’t know how to say it. I think I was obsessed with her.”
“Is there anyone in your life, Maxi? Have you got a girl?”
“No, I don’t. I can call and get a date anytime but you know sometimes I feel like it is a waste of time. I don’t love these girls. I take them out and I know and they know we are going to have sex and that is all it is about. I think I’m waiting for my big love to come. I hope it comes,” he smiled.
“It will come for you one day. You’re a good man, Maxi.” He fingered the book on the table.
“What will you do with it?”
“I don’t know yet. It probably needs to be destroyed but I…I don’t know if I can. I may give it back to her.”
“Well, if you do don’t tell her where you got it. I don’t want her to know I read it.”
“No…no, I won’t say but I think I want her to know that I did. I’m glad you brought it back. You’re right; it didn’t need to stay there for someone else to find.”
“Like Jacky, he wouldn’t understand and would be angry with you. Neither one of you needs that.
“No, we don’t.” Terry finished his drink and stood up. “Thanks, Maxi. I think I’ll go home now.”
“Sure…I’m sorry to upset you. Um, I’m going to drive Dad’s car home. It’s not good for it to set up like it does and it’s a fine car.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No,” he grinned, “he might say no. This way it will be there and what can he do?”
“He could send you back through the Chunnel.”
“I don’t think he will. He loves this car. I don’t know why he hasn’t taken it before.”
“Maybe because it was never part of his life in France.”
“Hmm, well then, it can be part of mine. It’s a classic now, you know, an Aston Martin. Yes, it will be, um, chick bait.”
Terry chuckled and hugged him. “Give my love to your mother.”
“I will.” Maxi closed the door. The book was off his hands now. He gathered the dirty glasses and put them in the sink, giving them a good rinse. Tomorrow he would drive home and see his mother. He needed to see her.
Part 4 Moving In Leaving Out
Saturday morning Jacky, with some help from his mates, moved Pam into his flat. She’d packed everything and directed bins and boxes into the junk room to be sorted later. Her clothes went into half of his closet and he’d cleaned out a few drawers for her but was glad to see she’d brought a large dresser with her. After everyone had left he walked down the hall and into the bedroom where she was hanging clothes.
“It got smaller.”
Pam looked up. “I told you I had a lot of stuff and I did throw a lot away, too.”
“What’s in all those bins?”
“Books and two have my photo equipment stashed. I’m going back to work on Monday.”
“Leaving?”
“No, not yet but as soon as I get an assignment I will. Nature of the business, love.”
“I’m looking at something myself. I talked to my older brother Henry and he’s going to put in a word…with MI5.”
Pam stopped folding clothes. “MI5…?”
“Yeah.” He sat on the end of his bed. “It’s not like I’ll be thrown in the mix right away. Training and schooling first. I have to do something, Pam.”
“I know and I know you’d be good at it. If you need a recommendation I’d be glad to testify.”
“It’s okay with you, then?”
“I’m flattered that you would ask. Yes, Jacky, it’s okay.”
“You’re the best, Pam. You know that?”
“I might not be the best but I’m what you’ve got.” She leaned over and kissed him.
“Your mum didn’t seem too happy about you moving in here.”
“Ah, she’s just doing the mum thing. She thinks it’s too soon, I’m too young. Hello, I’m 24.”
“Dad said she wanted them to live together.”
“I know she does but she’s lived alone with me for, gosh, since I was eight. It would take something for her to include a man in her house.”
“Yeah, Dad’s the same.”
“That’s the last of it. I’m not going to bother with the bins today. How about a cup of tea?”
“Sure, I’ll put the kettle on.” Jacky went into his kitchen and filled the kettle.
Pam followed him in. “Any food in the house? I’ve worked up an appetite.”
“Want me to cook for you, too?”
“Can you?”
“I grew up with Dad. I can cook. We had Wiggins when I was a kid. She taught me a few things, too. I used to hang out in the kitchen with her.”
“Good, cause I can’t,” Pam smiled. “Mom did all the cooking.”
“How about I cook you up a ham sandwich?” he grinned.
“Hey, that works for me. I can make a sandwich.”
“Did your cousin make it home okay through the Chunnel?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t call to check on him.”
“He’s pretty cool.”
“He thinks he is. Ah, he’s okay. I like to pick on him, though.”
“I’d like to meet your Mum one day.”
“You will. We’ll fly over soon.
They made the sandwiches together, stopping for a kiss between slices of bread.
Pam sat at the table and took a drink from her tea mug. “I want to pinch myself that this is all really happening.”
“What? Moving in here?”
“That and you finding me in Africa and then we found each other at the rock.”
“Yeah, the old rock. Too bad we didn’t have any film. Well, it wouldn’t have mattered. I lost my camera anyway.”
“I know where you can get a good deal, Jacky…really.”
“Okay. We’ve, um, never talked about finances here but don’t think you’re going to contribute. This flat is paid for. All I pay are utilities and upkeep. I came into a lot of money when I turned twenty-one. My uncle Max, that’s Maxi’s Dad, invested it for me. I don’t have to worry about income…neither do you now, so if there’s anything you need here or want to change.…”
“I don’t intend to live off of you, Jacky. I make good money, too, when I’m working. I appreciate it, I really do.”
“We won’t argue over it,. You can buy your own toothpaste…okay?” he smiled.
“This is going to be such fun!” She smiled and picked up her sandwich.
Monday morning Pam went back to work and Maxi showed up at his door. “I know you were supposed to plan the trip but…Uncle John has asked for our assistance with Claire.”
“What?”
“Miami. Bring short pants and sunglasses. I have booked two seats on the six o’clock flight.” He whirled into the living room.
“You want to be a little more specific?”
“Short pants, you know, come to your knees.”
“Idiot! What about Claire?”
“Ah, she’s run off to Miami and is trying to obtain her trust fund.”
“Claire Biebe?” Jacky asked in disbelief.
“Do you know another one? Uncle John is busy with his work and cannot go. He has asked if we can go and find out what she is up to and why she is there.”
“Did they have a blue or what?”
“No, as I understand it, she was going home to Portland and ended up in Miami. He’s had a phone call from her stating she’s okay but he’s not convinced this is so.”
“You’ve booked a flight today?”
“Yes, we must be at Heathrow by five o’clock.”
“Bloody hell! I wasn’t up for a trip right now. Pam moved in on Saturday.”
“Sorry, I could go by myself.”
Jacky looked at him a moment. “No…you’ll fuck it up.”
“That’s not very nice, is it?”
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