Part 4

The Thorne’s along with Jean Paul Dalle` were back in London. A car and driver met them at the airport and brought them to the Thorne’s home in Battersea. Terry was glad to be home. He took their bags to the bedroom and Toni went down to the kitchen to see Wiggins, who had stayed waiting for them to arrive and had prepared a dinner for them, keeping everything warm in the warming ovens of the Aga. Anna carried a sleeping Jacky upstairs to his room and got him settled down in his own bed.

“Thank you so much, Anna.” Toni hugged her and sent her to the waiting taxi. Wiggins, having put dinner on the table in the kitchen, picked up her tote bag and left. She’d stayed at the house while Toni was gone just to make sure everything was taken care of.

They went down to the kitchen, filled their plates and took them outside in the garden to the table. Toni had put out some placemats, not sure how clean the table was, but it was cooler outside without the heat from the Aga.

“Oh, this is nice,” Terry said, reaching for a pint of beer Toni poured for him to have with his meal.

“Is a very nice house, Terry.” Jean Paul accepted a beer also and looked around the garden.

“Yeah, we were lucky to find it. Gardens go at a premium here.”

“Where do you live, Jean Paul?” Toni asked.

“On the Left Bank. I have a, em, garage apartment, but there is no garage, just an archway.”

“You don’t live with your family then?”

“Non, our lifestyles are not compatible. They live a more formal life, more structured. I am, eh, well…I don’t know what I am.” He laughed a little.

“He’s a slob basically. I’ve been in his flat.”

“No, no, not a slob, Terry. I have all this musical equipment and other things about but I am clean.”

“I didn’t mean to suggest you were dirty, Jean Paul, just messy,” Terry grinned.

“Well…I have many things and a small space.” He flashed a smile.

What time Toni had spent with him she thought he was charming and quite sexy in a way. No doubt Penny had a hard time bringing him back that morning on her bike. She liked the easy camaraderie between him and Terry. Even though Terry was his boss you would never know it from the way they talked to each other. She figured him to be in his late twenties, and like Terry he’d come from Special Forces to the K & R business.

“What do you do when you aren’t out rescuing people, Jean Paul?”

“Ah, I make a little music, yes. I play in a band and I have a shop on the Left Bank. It sells musical instruments.”

“You’re a musician?”

“He’s lead singer in a band and plays everything, I guess. I heard them one night in Paris in a club. Not bad.”

“Oh, you were out clubbing in Paris?”

“It was the last night I was there, Toni, the night before I met you in Marseilles. The whole team went out together.”

Toni cleared the table while they had their cigarettes and went back inside. She rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. The pots on the stove she would leave for Wiggins. It was too hot in the kitchen to scrub tonight. She poured herself another glass of the cool white wine and went back outside. Night smells in her garden greeted her before she got to the table where smoke was the dominate scent. She bypassed them and walked out to the bench by the sandbox, sitting down. She hadn’t been there long before Terry walked over and sat down beside her.

“Where’ s Jean Paul?” she asked.

“He’s looking up some mates in London. Going out tonight and do whatever young single guys do.”

“I like him. I wonder what he thinks about Penny?”

“He’s got the hots for her right now and can’t wait to get back to France, where he hopes to get her to Paris.”

“Away from her father’s house?”

“Mmm. Jacky still asleep?”

Toni held up the baby monitor and let him listen. “He was a tired little fellow.”

“How about his mother? Is she tired, too?”

“Depends on what you have in mind. I’m too tired to scrub the pots on the stove.” Toni gave him a half-lidded look.

“That wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“We’ve finally got the house to ourselves tonight. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it, some time alone?”

“Let’s don’t waste it.” He took her wine glass from her and kissed her. Toni came back for more. “There are a lot of steps to climb,” he whispered in her ear.

“Not sure I can make it.”

“Sandbox?”

“To gritty.”

“Grass?”

“Neighbors.”

“I guess I’ll have to carry you up the steps then.”

“Would I do that to you?”

“You’ve done worse.”

Toni opened her eyes ,indignant now. As best she could, she pulled away from him. “I have not!”

“Muddy horse blankets in the rain.”

“Oh, Terry!” she laughed. “You poor thing, and you suffered so.”

Arm in arm and leaning into each other, they climbed the stairs.

John and Donna spent Monday and Tuesday sightseeing around London. They were enjoying themselves taking pictures, stopping in the various pubs and having a big pub lunch. They took the tube and marked off places in their guidebook so they’d know where to get off and what to look for. It was time spent together, just the two of them having fun and rediscovering that spark that brought them together in the first place.

“It’s Eros I think.” Donna opened her guidebook. “Yes it is. Oh, let’s sit on the steps for awhile and people watch.”

They were at Piccadilly Circus and as it was getting late in the day the crowds were thinning out, people were going to dinner or hurrying home for work.

“You know we didn’t even call Terry to see if they made it back yesterday.”

“Why not give them a call now?” Donna pocketed her guidebook.

Terry and Jean Paul had been to the office at SI for several hours and had just got back home.

“Thorne.”

“Hey, Terry, just wanted to see if you made it back. Donna and I are still here and flying back on Wednesday.”

“John, good. What have you been doing with yourself?” Toni handed him a drink.

“Trying to see all the hot spots in London in a day I think. We’re at Piccadilly Circus right now sitting by the statue.”

“Have you had dinner?” Terry raised his brows at Toni, who nodded.

“No, we ate a big lunch and have been drinking a lot of English ale.”

“Unless you have something else planned for tonight, find a taxi and come on out here.”

“Want to go to Terry and Toni’s?” John asked Donna. “Okay, we can do that. I need your address.” He motioned to Donna to give him something to write with.

Terry gave him their street address. “Right. See ya, mate.”

“That’s good. I wanted to see where they live anyway.” Donna gathered her bag and stood up.

“Yeah, me, too.” John went about the business of finding a taxi again.

Toni met them at the door and ushered them through. Terry and Jean Paul were on the balcony with Jacky. He had a new train set that went round and round on a track, blowing it’s whistle and talking as it went. It was Thomas Train, he informed John when he squatted down to have a look.

“It’s an old Victorian,” Toni explained to Donna and went back inside, giving her a tour.

Jean Paul took himself off for the evening and Terry sat down on the top step, mainly to keep Jacky from climbing down.

“So you’ve been sightseeing, have ya?”

“Yeah, show Donna London. We’ve enjoyed the last couple of days and we’ve decided we need to do this kind of thing more often, you know, get away just the two of us.”

“I can understand that. It’s good to do. It seems like we’re rarely alone anymore.”

“The more kids you have the harder it is to get away. I mean, I love my kids, you know.”

“I know, John. It’s easy to get caught up in your daily life. Sometimes you forget how to be adults. We have Anna and that helps. We can get out when we want to.”

“Maybe we ought to look into someone like that. Donna depends on Mrs. Pickering, but she ain’t there all the time. Donna has a problem with having help. I think she needs to get over that. We can afford it now. No reason not to have it.”

“Put your foot down, John,” Terry grinned, “show her who’s man of the house.”

John chuckled, “Yeah, I reckon that’s what you do, right?”

“Of course I do.” Terry scooped up Jacky from the top step. “Did you get Jack off okay?”

“Oh, yeah, he was pretty much okay on the flight. That damn Killick was driving him crazy. I don’t know why he brought him.”

“He’s used to having a manservant, John. He does for others but not for himself. How did he get back across?”

“Took him down to where you used to live. He knows that area and we had dinner and took him to a dock where they got on a water taxi and headed down toward the sea.”

“You staying at Max’s?”

“Yeah, nice place, great view. I guess it just sits empty.”

“It does, except when he comes over. I probably should have kept the flat. It would have been handy for Jack, but at the time I couldn’t think why I needed it any longer.”

“This is a nice place. At least you got a garden out back and trees.”

“That’s the reason we bought it. Toni loves it here. I was afraid she wouldn’t after living in Virginia.”

“You don’t get back there very often, do you?”

“We were there Christmas, and this year we’re going back for Thanksgiving and all going well, will be there through the holidays before coming home.”

“This is your home, ain’t it, Terry, London?”

“Yes. It was before and it is now.”

“We feel that way about Maine. We went back to Alaska for a visit, and you know when we left it didn’t bother us at all. It was nice to see everybody again, but it ain’t the same as it was…before. I don’t know, Terry, it seems like things are just getting better. Me and Donna, and just life. It’s getting better all the time now.”

Terry started up Jacky’s train again for him. “I agree. There was a time when I first began coming to the house I didn’t think it could get any better. Then when we left it I thought it couldn’t get any better, and then we had Jacky. Right now, John, I couldn’t ask for any more.”

“It’s worked out for all of us.” He turned as Donna and Toni came out.

“I’ve had a tour. It’s a lot of house and a lot of steps.”

“Keeps my legs strong,” Toni said, picking up Jacky. “It’s time for his bath and beddy bye.”

“They weren’t too strong last night.” Terry cocked a brow at her.

“I made it.” She lifted her chin, winked and took Jacky up to Anna.

“What happened last night?” Donna innocently asked.

Terry met John’s eyes and a look passed between them.

“You don’t wanna know, Donna,” John said, grinning. “Let’s go down and look at the garden.”

Part 5:

Toni and Terry were piled up on the sofa. It was late and they’d been watching a movie on TV.

“So it’s tomorrow we get our instructions. I mean, what do we have to do anyway?” Toni asked.

“I don’t know, luv. Never been to the palace before. I think it’s just a private meeting to thank us for rescuing the rellie.”

“It’s nice that Henry will be there. Won’t he be impressed.”

“I doubt it. Not much impresses a fourteen year old. He’s all into the RAF Cadets now.”

“I’m so glad Liddy agreed to that. Oh, but he would have been impressed had he been at Max’s when you landed. I was and I think your brothers were, too, although they wouldn’t admit it.”

“They don’t give an inch.”

“Neither do you.”

“It’s an unspoken rule.”

Toni raised her head. “Is it?”

“No.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell them you were going to meet the Queen?”

“It was none of their business.”

“Terry…are you that afraid of blowing your own horn?”

“I’m not afraid, Toni. It just has nothing to do with them.”

“But you invited Henry.”

“That’s different. He’s my son. Immediate family members were invited, too.”

“Jean Paul’s wouldn’t come?”

“He didn’t tell them. I don’t think he’s spoken to his father in five years, maybe longer.”

“That is so sad. He’s being honored.”

“They don’t approve of what he does for a living, Toni. His father wanted him to come into the bank with him after he got out of school. Instead he went into the military.”

“But not to speak to your child, that’s awful I think.”

“They are opposite sides of the coin. He’s Left Bank, they’re high society. His father hasn’t written him out of his will, though, so maybe one day they’ll make peace.”

Toni was quiet for a moment. “Are we too peaceful…you and I?”

“You want to argue?”

“No…no, not that. I just don’t want us to become old married people sitting on the sofa watching TV.”

“Well, let’s see, Toni. It’s been three days since we left France and before that…”

“Oh, Terry,” she poked him in the ribs. “I used to read you poetry…and so did you, read to me passages from whatever book you were reading.”

Terry felt down in the sofa cushions, found the remote and switched off the TV. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“Well…we’ve become parents and somewhere along the way I just think we’ve lost who we were or something. The you and me thing.”

Toni had been lying in his lap and he pulled her upright beside him, putting his arm around her. “Toni, we’ve grown since we met and if anything I think we’re closer than ever. The love I have for you has deepened into something else.” It dawned on him what she was missing. “Romance?”

“I think you’re right about the love deepening. It has. I don’t know, I’m just…"

“I was never into poetry but I liked that you read it to me. I’m not much of a romantic, Toni. I’m a realist. What brought this on? Is it because you spent two weeks with Jack? Now he is a romantic. You once told me he recited poetry to you.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with poetry and, no, not because of Jack. I want to go away with you somewhere, just you. I want a little time with you, somewhere I don’t have to be mummy or the lady of the house or somebody’s sister-in-law. Is that…too much? Am I being…?

“No, I don’t think you are. I said as much to you in the pool at Max’s chateau. You know John said something like that when they were here about how good it was for them to get away together. Sometimes you have to prod me, Toni. I get caught up in work and life and I don’t think, I don’t see. That’s why there are two of us, luv. Let’s get through this palace thing and we will go away. Think about where you’d want to go.”

“I want to go back to the House of Four Seasons just for a week. I wouldn’t want to leave Jacky any longer than that. I want to go back where it all started…with you. I’ve been pulled and pushed and my heart stretched so far. It was always you…I want to go back there, Terry, where we caught fire…I want to touch the flame.”

“It may not be the same as you remember it. We’ve come a long way from the House. Maybe the flame doesn’t burn as hot as it used to. Is that it? Do you want to go back and try and recapture something that’s missing in your life?”

“You’re beginning to doubt yourself, Terry, and that’s not like you. No, I’m not missing anything with you. It would just be nice with no one around and all our needs taken care of but one, and you, Terry Thorne take care of mine.”

“You take care of mine, too. If that’s where you want to go then that’s where we’ll go, but let’s wait until September This is July and it’s summer, not my strongest season. I don’t want to be competing with memories of Max…no-no,” He put his finger on her lips, “I would be.”

“If you don’t want to do this…”

“For some reason you do, and I’ll do whatever you want me to because I love you.” He kissed her. “I know we’ve been through a lot since we left the house and there have been times when…I thought I might lose you to Max. I know how strong he is with you, but right now I don’t feel that threat as strongly as I have in the past. I also know that could change depending on him and which way he decides to blow.” He put his finger on her lips again to shush her. “Maybe the fire needs replenishing.”

“You are as strong with me as you ever were…stronger because of what we’ve shared. I felt like that last conversation I had with Max, when he told me he had made that commitment, that we might be friends now. I think he’s changed, Terry.”

 “Have you ever known the air to blow only in one direction? That’s what he is, he’s air. He has good intentions and he tries, but he’s driven by the one thing in his life he wanted and didn’t get. So don’t let yourself be fooled. I love him, Toni, but I also know I can never let my guard down with him where you’re concerned.”

“How did we get on Max tonight? I wasn’t even thinking about him.”

“The House of Four Seasons, that’s how.”

“Well…maybe we shouldn’t go back there.” She thought about the House. It was all about four seasons and that included Max. Something of him would be there. Sometimes she forgot they weren’t like other people. Their lives seemed to fall into everyday normality.

“I’m leaving that up to you. We can go anywhere in the world you want to, but right now we need to go to bed. It’s late, honey.”

“I don’t have to go anywhere to touch the flame. I’ve got it right here…it’s you.” Toni caressed his cheek.

“Hmm… take me to bed and touch me.”

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