Skinner/Thorne: A New Year

By Atonia Walpole

Part 7:

Ludivine had been over, helping to prepare dinner. Connie and Toni added the finishing touches and left it all in the wonderful warming ovens. Jacky had been bathed and fed and Anna had him down in the living room with Max and Terry.

“It must be nice having a nanny, Toni.”

“It is. I’ve kind of left Jacky to her since we’ve been here but at home I only have her four days out of seven. I like looking after the little stinker,” she smiled. “It gives Terry and me time together, to go out to dinner or a play or a movie, you know.”

“It’s important that you have time together.” Connie thought about them earlier in the afternoon. She’d been a little surprised especially after she knew Toni had been with Max. Of course Max hadn’t said anything, but she did wonder when Duflot came up to the door and said the boat was upside down in the pond.

“I believe our extended family has arrived.” Max peered out of the window and went to open the door.

After greeting the Duncan’s at the door he led them into the room where Terry and Toni and Jacky occupied the sofa, Connie a chair and Anna discreetly by the stairs, waiting for the signal to take Jacky upstairs.

Terry stood up. “Terry Thorne, my wife Toni and our Jacky.”

“Aubrey Duncan, and I think, Terry, you may have met my daughter Penny.”

“I did, indeed. Nice to see you again, Penny.”

“Same here. Hello, Toni. Oh, what a cute little boy! I love his hair.”

“That’s due to come off next week,” Terry said, glancing at Toni.

“Very nice to meet you, Aubrey, and, yes, I’m afraid he’s going for his first haircut right after his birthday.” Toni smiled at Penny.

“There’s quite a resemblance in your family, Max.”

“Yeah, afraid so, Aubrey. Terry here is six years younger than I am.” Max went over to the drinks cabinet and began to pour. “Even little Jacky didn’t escape.”

“Well, it’s all good,” Penny said brightly. “You married into a handsome family.” She turned to her sister.

“Too bad for you, Penny; they’re all married.” Connie pursed her lips.

“He’s out there somewhere, Prince Charming, and he’s looking for me right now.” She accepted a drink from Max and winked at him.

“I hope he finds you,” Max whispered.

“Jacky, say nite-nite.” Toni took him around for good night hugs and kisses. He smiled and gave Max a big kiss.

The love for Jacky was in his eyes when he kissed him back.

Terry took him to Anna, who had appeared in the doorway, and kissed him good night.

“That’s a fine little boy, Terry,” Aubrey observed.

“He’s pretty special,” Terry answered and accepted a drink from Max.

“Everybody got a drink? Well then, I think we should drink to family, and I’m glad we’ve all met.” Aubrey held up his glass.

“I’ll drink to that,” Toni said, lifting her glass.

Later they were relaxed and sitting around the table, finishing up their dinner.

“What brings you over to France, Terry?” Aubrey asked.

“Business. We were training a new team outside of Paris.”

“He owns Security International. It’s a K and R company…kidnap and rescue,” Max added.

“Is that right? You rescue kidnap victims?”

“Those that are insured, usually high profile victims.”

“Terry’s the best in the business, Aubrey. He’s a negotiator and when that doesn’t work, he rescues.”

“Was,” Toni added quietly.

“Sounds dangerous to me,” Aubrey said.

“Not when you know what you’re doing, when you have the right team in place. Ah, there’s always a risk but you take it,” Terry answered.

“Guess that makes you a hero.”

“No, I just do my job.” Terry picked up his wine glass.

“But that’s what heroes do, Terry.” Aubrey had a growing respect for Terry.

“He has the scars to prove it,” Toni said, putting her knife and fork down.

“How did you get into that business, if I may ask?”

“I was an SAS officer and just kind of drifted into it.”

“Wow, you’re talking badass guys!” Penny’s eyes rounded.

“Penny…!” Aubrey looked at his daughter.

“You don’t look like a badass,” Connie added.

“Thank you, Connie,” Terry smiled.

“He can be.” Max turned up his wine glass. He knew Terry could and had killed, something he couldn’t bring himself to do at La Fontaine when they rescued Jack.

“I noticed your accent. It’s different from Max’s?”

Terry looked at Max. “I spent a lot of years in Australia. Guess I picked it up.”

Max cleared his throat. “Actually Terry is Australian. His father was and he spent a lot of time with him. Our, um, mother had four sons and, ah, neglected to marry the fathers, therefore different last names and, um, accents.”

Aubrey grinned, “She must have been quite a lady.”

“Yes, she was. She married my father, of course, and his brother was my Uncle Henry, so you see the connection there.”

“Interesting family.” Aubrey pushed his plate away. “Mine’s not so unusual. I have an older brother who took over the family business back in Napa.”

“There’s Lucien, Dad.”

Aubrey raised a brow at Penny. “No…there isn’t.”

Connie laughed, “Lucien is our cousin. He left the vineyard for the stage. He’s a rock star now.”

“He sounds interesting,” Toni said.

“He goes by the name of Luc Zone, if you can believe it, got hair down to here and a band that makes your head hurt.”

“Now, Dad...he’s really popular in the States.

Terry grinned, “Sounds like Jack.”

“Is he a rocker, too?” Penny asked.

“No, but he’s got the hair and plays violin.”

Toni giggled, “He wouldn’t appreciate that.” She looked at Connie, who was smiling.

Max chuckled, “Maybe Luc can get him a gig somewhere.”

Toni and Connie laughed.

“And then there’s John. He’s the nice brother. Lives in Maine now, but he’s an Alaskan. Married and three kids. Hockey mad and a deputy sheriff. He’s the youngest, by the way. I hope to get him over here this year.”

“I hope you do. I’d like to meet him, the nice brother,” Aubrey smiled, thinking these two were pretty nice themselves.

Penny sighed, “ I really wish you had another brother, unmarried.”

Toni looked at Terry and smiled, “If there’s another we haven’t met him yet.”

“Well, this has been great, Max. I really have enjoyed this evening,” Aubrey smiled broadly.

“I think we all have, haven’t we, Connie?”

“Yes, nobody came to blows, so far nobody’s sick from dinner, so I’d say it was a good evening.”

“The blows start after you leave,” Terry chuckled.

“Penny and I will be on our way so you can get started then.” They all rose from the table.

Part 8:

Max closed the front door after they left. “That went well.”

“Were you worried?” Terry opened the door and stepped out for a smoke, and Max came with him, bumming a cigarette.

“He’s pretty sharp. I wasn’t sure he’d buy the bit about our promiscuous mother.”

“Oh, well, I noticed you made yourself legit.”

“I had to. How else to explain Uncle Henry?”

“He’s an okay bloke, Max.”

“I think so.”

“Are you still arguing about grapes?”

“Not until the harvest in the fall. I assume it will resume.”

“Too bad we can't conjure up a brother for Penny. She’s a nice kid.”

“We really need another brother, Terry? Bollocks!”

“There are more. I bet Toni could conjure one.”

“You aren’t serious, Terry?”

“Nah, I’m having you on a bit. I couldn’t deal with another, that’s a fact.”

“I’m not going to take that personally.”

Terry took a draw off his cigarette. “No, you shouldn’t take offense, Max. What happened between you and Toni today?”

“Between us, we talked a lot and we did accidentally tip over the boat because we were both trying to stand up at the same time. What is it you want to know, Terry? Did I shag her? Yes, I did.”

“I only asked because of something she said about not liking that sort of thing, that neither of you did.”

“You should know the answer to that. You set it up. Here, go have three hours to shag. No, I didn’t like it.”

“What do you want, Max?”

“That question was answered a long time ago, Terry. We’ve come too far and complicated our lives. What I wanted is never going to happen. Could have been's and should have been's are all water under the bridge. I love her, too. Perhaps I’m not very imaginative but I think I could figure out how to be with her when we need it. It’s important, Terry, to maintain that love. That’s why we all exist.”

Terry walked over to the iron table. What Max said was right. He turned, noting Max had followed him. “I have for so long been afraid of you. It’s like we were both at the starting gate. You stumbled and I ran ahead. I’ve been looking over my shoulder ever since then because I know you’re a faster runner. I know your strength and I know what you can do if you want to.”

“I have too much respect for you and for Toni. There is no need to fear me. I couldn’t do it, Terry. I know I can be a bloody bastard but I don’t have that killer instinct that you have.”

“The fuck you don’t!”

“Not where you and Toni are concerned. You got another ciggie?”

“I know you can afford a pack of fags, Max.” Terry fished out a cigarette and handed it to Max.

“But then I would smoke them.” Terry lit his ciggie. “Relax, Terry, just relax. I could never take her away from you and Jacky. I wouldn’t try and she wouldn’t stand for it. She was able to stand up to Jack when he flooded her. She let him know where her heart was and he respected that after his fashion.”

“Jack has a code of honor that drives him, Max. I never doubted the outcome.”

“Are you implying that I don’t?”

“What do you think? If you were me…yeah, that’s what I’m looking at.”

“This is going nowhere. You don’t trust me. That’s what it comes down to. I don’t know what I can do to change that. You’ve been out for, what, almost two years? I’ve done nothing during that time to warrant such distrust. I don’t have a problem anymore. I know where I am, what I have here; I don’t want to lose any of that. I will love Toni until the day I die and nothing you can do or say will ever change that; and I’m not the only one. She had four seasons and, by God, she still does.” Max threw the cigarette down and walked toward the door, stopped and turned. “Terry, your insecurities are showing. It’s not a good look.”

“Max, if I’ve misjudged you, I’m sorry, mate. I get scared sometimes, afraid it could all come to an end tomorrow. I’ve laid myself open and I’m vulnerable. I used to have this shield that protected me. It’s gone. Once Toni got through, it dissolved. She’s all I got between me and black nothingness.”

Max sighed and walked back over to Terry, put his arm around him and hugged him. “You’ve got three brothers that love you and who will protect you, mostly from yourself. None of us, Terry, would ever try and take anything from you. You need Toni and I’m going to send her out here and …wash dishes or whatever it is that she’s doing in there. Good God, man! You’ve got it all and then some. Tuck those fears away. They clash with this nice jacket you have on. You have a good tailor.”

“Bugger off, mate.”

“Now you’re talking,” Max smiled and dashed off toward the door to find Toni.

“Hey, luv.”

Toni pulled her sweater around her shoulders. “What’s going on with you, Terry?”

“Oh, nothing,” he tried.

“Max told me to come out here and save you from yourself.”

“I had an attack of insecurity. I’m okay now.”

“You have nothing to be insecure about, darling.”

He smiled slightly. “That may be true, but it still happens where you’re concerned.” He put his arm around her.

“Is this about Max and me? I wish you’d put that book down, Terry. We all know how it ends. There will be no rewrites, no revisions. I love you like no one else. Could it be, Terry, that regardless of what you say and do that somewhere deep inside you it hurts like hell for me to be with Max? You, of the broad shoulders and I can take it attitude…hurt? I would never willingly hurt you, and I will never do anything ever again to cause you hurt.”

“I can’t ask that of you.” He looked into her eyes.

“Yes, you can. You can ask anything of me. I can’t help that I love Max, but he’s not the one I chose. You are. You should never have allowed me Max or Jack. I was just following instincts and emotions, and you, because you love me, let me do what I wanted to do. I didn’t know, Terry. You never gave me any indication that I could read what it was doing to you. I’m so sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry, Toni. I brought it on myself. I was still trying to place it in the House’s perspective. I had to share you because that was the way it had to be.”

“No, no, that’s not the way it is now. Doesn’t have to be. I’ve been having my cake and eating it too. You know nothing ever happened between me and Max until after Jack. And it was me, not Max, that instigated that. I don’t want to be like this, Terry. You and Jacky are my world. Don’t blame Max. It’s really not his fault. He can be a gentleman when I’m not a lady.”

“You are never not a lady. Let’s don’t play the blame game, Toni, because I’d win. If you think you can just be mine…”

“I don’t think, I know I can. Oh, Terry, I love you so much!” Her arms went around his neck. “I can’t believe you let this go on and never said anything. How can you be so…”

“Stupid?” He tilted his head. “I thought I could handle it, but then I started to really distrust Max.”

“You said something like that the last time we were here. Oh, Terry, sometimes you have to spell things out for me. I’m the one who’s stupid. But no more.” She kissed his lips softly.

“I think you’re pretty damn smart. It didn’t take you long to get right to the center of me, dig around and find out what my problem was. I couldn’t identify it and so I laid it all on Max, an easy target. I probably owe him an apology.”

“He won’t accept it, nor does he need it. He’s never understood how you could be so accommodating. I don’t think this will surprise him at all.”

“He still wants you. He’ll need you from time to time.”

“Not that way. He has Connie…I can give him my love and my words if he needs them, but everything else is between you and me. This is the way it was supposed to work. I mean why else was I given a choice to take one out? Otherwise I could have had all of you, and they put people in jail for polygamy. When I left the house I never expected to see any of them again. There was only you, and that was all I wanted.”

“Well it’s me you’ve got now. I hope you don’t regret this, Toni. It won’t always be easy for you, I know. You know I love you more than life, honey. It’s a lot to ask of you.”

“I’m not going to say anything else. I’m just going to love you and be with you and there for you forever, Terry Thorne.”

Part 9:

It was early morning at the chateau. Connie was awake and coming downstairs. She opened the curtains to let in the light and cracked a window here and there. It was still cool in the mornings. She went about making coffee in her kitchen but her thoughts were on the night before. Max had told her about Terry, and like Toni, Connie thought she knew the reasons for his insecurities. From time to time she had them herself. She could never be Toni to Max.

Terry had been out for a run and came in the back door, toeing off his running shoes. “Coffee. That smells good.”

“Good morning, Terry. You’re the only other early riser in the house.”

“Jacky was up with Anna when I left.”

“Come and have a cup. How far did you run?”

“Up to the gates of your Dad’s place and back to the crossroads and then back here.”

“That’s the trek I used to do on my bike, a good run.”

“Yeah it was, ta.” He took the cup of coffee, sat down at the scrubbed worktable and had a sip of his coffee.

Connie was a little hesitant to bring it up with Terry. “Um, what time is your flight today?”

“Ah, 4:00, time enough to get everybody up fed and packed before we take off. I’ve enjoyed being here, Connie. I know I kinda wrung the invite out of Max.”

“You don’t have to wring an invite. It’s a standing welcome. Um, did you and Max get things sorted out between you?”

Terry met her eyes briefly. “I think so. It’s kind of hard for me to open up and talk, bare my soul, if you will, but I did last night with Max. I think he understood what I was trying to say, and Toni went right to the center of it.”

“It was all about them sleeping together, wasn’t it, Terry?”

Terry moistened his lips. “Yeah, it was, but I couldn’t see that.”

“Max told me about your talk. It came to me that might be the problem, and I think Max knows it.”

“I don’t think that will happen again, Connie.”

Connie smiled, “I hope not. It bothered me more than I can say. But I know what Max is and so there are some things I must accept, like his love for Toni. I’m sorry you had to go through that last night, but I’m not sorry for the outcome.”

“This is good coffee,” Terry smiled.

Connie picked up his cup and refilled it.

Max was awake, sort of. He opened the curtains to their bedroom, squinted at the light, and went back to the bed. He lay there thinking about the night before and made a decision. Somehow he would let Toni know they couldn’t. Oh, but it was a hard thing for him to even think about.

Toni had Jacky in the bed with her while Anna took her bath and packed up their things. Jacky was playing in the covers and under the pillows.

Max could hear his squeals from down the hall and he finally got up and went to find them.

“He’s an alarm clock, and look how bright and shiny he is in the morning.” Max sat on the side of the bed and Jacky fell on him for a romp like he did his Dad in the mornings.

“You’re in for it now!” Toni got up and found her robe.

“I told Connie that I want one of these. She thought I was talking about a petting zoo.” He covered Jacky with a pillow.

“Talking is not the way you go about getting one, Max.” Toni sat on the dressing table bench.

“I am aware of that.” He peeked from under a pillow Jacky had covered him with. “Speaking of…that.”

“It’s been fun, Max.”

“Yes…it was. You know, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“It was too good to last, I suppose, but it’s the right thing to do…ooooweee.”

“Jacky, say you’re sorry!”

“He bit me, the little animal!”

Toni kept after Jacky until he said sorry, and he laid his blond curly head on Max’s shoulder where he’d bitten him.

“Did you teach him to bite? I distinctly remember…”

“No, I did not,” Toni grinned.

“He is definitely your child.” Max looked up to see Terry leaning in the doorway. “Did you really father this little brute? He’s bitten me and bashed me with pillows.”

“And he still wants one,” Toni added.

“He should have one then. Maybe we’ll leave this one behind for him. Good practice, Max.”

“No, take him with you. Mine won’t be such a ruffian.” He had Jacky down, tickling his sides.

“You’ll probably have a girl, Max, long golden curls, and she’ll have you wrapped around her finger and get anything she wants.”

“I might have a boy,” Max rolled his eyes at Terry. “It took John three goes before he had a girl.”

Terry nodded, “That’s true, and since were actually all the same…” He cut it off as Anna arrived to give Jacky his bath and get him dressed.

 “There’s coffee downstairs. Connie’s making breakfast.”

“Coffee! After that I need coffee!” Max stumbled out of their room.

Terry smiled at Toni and hugged her. “He took your morning bruising, darling.”

“Good for him,” Terry replied. “Everything ok between you?”

“Yes, he came to the same conclusion I did last night. We’re okay.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Well, if we can get showered, shaved and dressed and packed and fed, we might make it to Marseilles in time to catch our flight home. I’m gonna need your help.”

“You’ve got it, Terry. I’m standing up and about to get busy.” Toni smiled and kissed him.

The Thorne’s had left and, Max and Connie were strolling through the chateau gardens.

“It was a great weekend. I do enjoy having them here,” Connie said

“Do you really? I do, too, and I hope the next time there won’t be the tension between me and Terry. I think we understand each other finally.”

“Max, that vision you told me about that you had in the wine cellar.”

“What about it, love?”

“You said you knew if you opened your eyes you’d be back at the House of Four Seasons…you didn’t open your eyes…did you?”

“No. I’ve been trying to tell everyone that I don’t want to go back. I want to go forward…with you, Connie.”

“That’s good, darling, because you’re about to take a big leap.”

“What do you mean a big leap?”

“I know you wanted a petting zoo, but…we’re going to have a baby.”

“Connie, oh Connie!” He pulled her to him and held her tightly. “You don’t know how happy this makes me.”

ON TO SUMMER SOJOURN

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