Thorne: The Magic of Love

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The House of Four Seasons

(The direct continuation of Thorne: The Way Back)

By Atonia Walpole

Part 1:

Jack and John left the day after the decision was made to bring Terry back to The House of Four Seasons. Max found the private jet in Miami and requested that it be brought to Richmond.  Toni packed for herself and for Terry, only a change of clothes. The house would provide their wardrobe. Terry watched her as she moved about their bedroom. She hadn’t slept with him since his return from Quito. She’d been sleeping in her old childhood bedroom. She was a stranger to him since he’d lost the magic and his memory of anything that happened after his movie.

“What kind of a house is it, Toni?” he asked from the bed.

Toni smiled, “If I told you the truth you wouldn’t believe it. It’s a very old house with many rooms. It’s comfortable, home, has everything you’d ever want in a place to live. It sits on a bluff that overlooks the ocean and there’s a strip of a beach below. The grounds are extensive. We’ve never found the end of it. There are many trails and pathways to ride or walk. You used to run there every morning. There is a tennis court, a pool and a large pond. It’s a magical place, Terry.”

“It sounds wonderful.”  Terry was glad she could finally talk to him without crying. “Max told me that’s where we met.”

“Yes, it is.” Toni took a breath and zipped up the bag. “It’s where we fell in love. I think that’s everything I wanted to take. There will be clothes at the house. Anything and everything you’ll need will be there.”

Terry looked down. “I hope so, for both our sakes.”

“I’ll go get Max to help you down stairs and into the car. Make sure you have the neck brace.” She walked over and picked it up from a chair and lay it on the bed beside him. “Terry, I love you and you’re going to have to put up with that I’m afraid. I’m trying to…give you room and it’s hard, so don’t think badly of me.” She sat down on the bed and looked into his eyes, “If sometimes I forget and…have to…”

She kissed him softly on his lips and he responded in kind. She quickly got up and left the room. That wasn’t her Terry.

By the time they pulled up at the gates of the house in the rental car Max had procured for them, Terry was in such pain he could hardly open his eyes. Max was glad to see Toni’s jeep there and ran in the house to find some help with Terry. John came out with him and they each wrapped an arm around him and mostly carried him inside.

“Upstairs?” John asked.

“No, just put me down anywhere,” Terry replied.

Toni walked into the house, feeling the warm comforting embrace that surrounded her. She followed them into the living room where they’d put Terry on the sofa. “He needs to go to bed. We didn’t give him a pain pill because they put him to sleep.”

“I’m good right here,” he said.

“Will he need a pill here?” asked John.

“I think he does this time.” Toni walked into the familiar kitchen and got a glass of water. Everything was as she left it, as though she’d just walked out of the house and came back in. She gave Terry his pain pill and made him as comfortable as she could on the long down sofa. She covered him with a cashmere afghan and turned off the light. “Sleep, darling, sleep. You’ll be much better when you wake.” She looked into his pain-filled eyes and wanted to cry.

They left him alone in the shaded, cool room and he closed his eyes. A warm, intense rush of energy seemed to cover him. He felt as though he was being held and stroked and fought to keep his eyes open but the pill put him to sleep and the House worked its magic over him. The House loved Terry, always had, and it couldn’t stand to see him come home hurting and broken. It would heal his physical injuries and take away his pain.

Max found Toni in the kitchen pouring out a glass of iced tea. “Put that down. I found something better.” He held a bottle of chilled white wine and two glasses. “Follow me, madam.” He strolled out the back door and Toni followed him as he walked off the terrace.

“Where are you going?”

“I said follow.” And so she did.

“Where are John and Jack?”

“Gone to explore. John’s never been here in summer and Jack wanted to stretch his legs after the long drive. I’m taking you to the pond. You’ve been under entirely too much strain and it shows, my love, so a little R&R is in order. The house has Terry firmly in hand for a little while, working it’s magic, and I have you.” He glanced down at her and smiled.

Toni smiled and fell in beside him, walking down the path to the pond. “You’re probably right. I haven’t slept well or felt very good lately. I don’t think a glass of wine will hurt the baby.”

“Quite right, and you’d do well to give him a taste early on.”

“Him?”

“Of course him. You don’t think Terry would produce a girl, do you?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I might.”

“You don’t have anything to do with it. I studied biology. What do you reckon, the boat?”

“Um, no. I don’t trust my stomach that much, a little queasy.”

They ended up in the gazebo and Max poured her out a glass of wine. “There you are! Now what shall we drink to? I know…a good season.”

“I’ll drink to that.” She touched his glass and took a small sip of the wine. “Thanks, Max.”

“Don’t thank me. I wanted to get you alone so I could talk to you. The last time we met here there was much I wanted to say and didn’t, things that I wanted to explain, wanted you to understand. I wasn’t prepared for the meeting we had. I didn’t know why Jack had summoned me. It was a shocker.”

“The whole thing wasn’t handled very well and that was my fault. I was just stumbling in the dark.”

“You were following your heart.”

“Yes, I guess I was.”

“I’ve always prided myself as being able to think clearly and quickly on my feet. This time I blew it. The only time in my life that it really mattered and I blew it. I think in my mind you were tied to this place. This is where I knew you and even though I’d had a glimpse of you outside this place, at your grandmother’s funeral and at your Auntie’s, this was the place I pictured you. Given 24 hours to get my finances in order I would have walked away from here with you. If Terry could transfer money then I knew I could damn well do it. It had never occurred to me that I needed to. I had no idea you’d decided to leave this place.”

“The money wouldn’t have mattered, Max. I had money. What Terry did, he did on his own. It wasn’t anything to do with anything. I didn’t know about it until you found the receipts.”

“It didn’t matter to you but it did to me. I would have provided for you very well. And it wasn’t the magic I loved here either, it was you. I’ll admit I do love this place but, Toni, I loved you more.”

“Oh, Max.”

“I know. I can’t go back and change anything but I wanted you to know. I’ll live with regret for eternity. I’m living vicariously through Terry, which is probably why I meddled in his life by arranging for him to own SI. It’s something I would have wanted to do. I blame myself for his present condition. If I’d left him alone, Toni, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“I don’t blame you for his memory loss, I don’t. He did that himself. It was an accident but he put himself in danger, as he is wont to do. Don’t carry that on your shoulders, Max.  I don’t regret my decision.”

“I know that, and I know he loved you as I do. He will again, Toni. I don’t doubt that for a minute and neither should you. I don’t want to step over any imaginary boundary here with you. I know where your heart lies, but,” he looked around, “it is summer and I wonder if you’d consent to rest your head on my shoulder while we finish this wine.”

Toni smiled and leaned against him. He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head and sipped his wine.

His scent enveloped her and she closed her eyes, memories with Max flowing over her and all of a sudden she felt a flutter. “Oh!” she place her hand on her belly.

“What is it?”

“The baby, I think it moved.”

“May I?” Max put his hand on her belly. He felt it, too, and chuckled. “I don’t think little Terrence likes the kind of thoughts we were having. We should go back to the house, Toni. Thank you for coming down here with me and letting me bare my soul.”

“I’m glad I did. I don’t like unfinished business lying around either.  I think we’re about to have company anyway.” She saw Jack emerging from the path through the trees.

“What an intimate little scene you create here.” He looked at Max.

“We aren’t alone, Jack. Little Terrence has made his presence known.” Max stood up and gathered the glasses.

“I should think so. I have lost John somewhere. How are you, Toni? Feeling better?”

“Yes, much. I needed this I think.” Toni stepped out of the gazebo.

“Good. I forgive you, Max. I think we’ve all been so worried over Terry we forget about you.”

“I haven’t felt forgotten.” She fell into step between them. “Max has been here and then John.”

“You never did say where you were, Jack, when you knew about Terry?”

“I was about to engage in battle with an American privateer, not the sort of information one would want to talk about in the face of an American Marine.”

John was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee for Terry, who was awake and moving around unaided.

All three of them came in through the kitchen. “I was wondering where everybody was. Terry’s up and walking, no headache.” He raised his brows.

Toni found him in the study looking through the glass doors out onto the fountain. “Hi, Terry, I hear you’re feeling better.”

“Yes, much better. Amazing what a pill and a little nap will do for you.”

Toni smiled, “Amazing. John’s making coffee. Funny you would end up in here,” she said, walking over to his side. “You always liked this room, preferred it over the living room. Less fussy, you used to say.”

He moved away from her. “I’m sure I used to say a lot of things.”

“Terry, if you don’t want to be reminded or have me repeat things or tell you how it used to be, just tell me.”

“Right now I honestly don’t know what I want. I walked in here and picked up a book and wondered if I’d read it…I’m just empty, Toni.”

“You were empty when you first came here, cold and detached. You held yourself away from me. You were well insulated and it took a while to break through that. Can I ask you something that I asked the first day you were here?”

“I don’t think I’m going to stop you.”

“I asked you what if there was a place you could go where you’d be welcomed and there would be somebody to love you? You said you didn’t think there was such a place and I said there is if you want it. This is the place, here with me because I’m going to love you Terrence Thorne.”

He looked at her warily but she could see something hit its mark, just as it had done before. John came in with a tray and set it on the desk. Terry looked back at Toni. “What was my answer?”

“You tell me.”

“It sounds like a place I’d like to be.”

“That’s close enough,” she smiled up at him. “Ready for coffee?”

She poured out his coffee and noticed him gingerly touching the side of his head. “Does it hurt?”

“Oh, no, not at all but there was a great lump on my head. It’s gone.”

“Have you looked in a mirror? Except for the little scar above your brow that you’ve always had, there is no trace of your injuries.”

 He walked over to little writing desk against a wall and looked in the gold-framed mirror above it. He couldn’t believe it, no scrapes, no…nothing. “I don’t understand how this can be…there isn’t a trace.”

“It’s magic, darling, magic and you’d better get used to it. I told you this is a magical house. I wasn’t kidding. That’s why it was so important to get you here as quickly as we could. The House has healed you, Terry.”

“Except for my mind.”

“That may come also. We don’t know. Come and drink your coffee.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all, Jack, come in. Coffee?”

“No thanks, Toni, I’ve just had a drink with Max, finished the wine you started. How are you, Terry? You look much better.”

“I feel pretty good. Head seems to have healed itself.”

“I thought it might.” Jack found a comfortable leather chair and sat down.

“Still no memory of anything.”

“I shouldn’t worry about that. You’ll have plenty of time. Are you planning to stay for the full season?”

“Right now, yes, but it depends, I guess,” Toni answered.

“Depends on me, you mean?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. If your memory comes back we’ll leave because I don’t think you’d especially want to be here. You were anxious to leave the last time you were here.”

“Why, why did I want to go?”

“Because, my good man, you were about to embark on a new life with Toni. I don’t suppose anything about this place has been explained to you. It’s called the House of Four Seasons and there is a reason for that. This house was built on an ancient site, a magical site, the magic of love. I see how skeptical you are but it is true. A person may come here for a season that lasts three months. You may have a companion of your choice for that season or one will be chosen for you by the House.  I believe, am I correct, Toni, that you chose your seasons? Very well, some did not work out and some did. Toni spent six years here in this place.

“John came in winter, Max in summer. I came in spring. Except for a couple of mishaps, she had one other fall that first year. Since then you were her fall. You came and spent three months with her each year. There are rules to the magic here. She could not have you or me for the full year, only for a season.”

Toni could feel Terry looking at her but she did not look back.

“Her first love here was John and she fell hard, then came Max. But it was John that caused her to stay here and live as she had to with four seasons. She finally settled on the four of us. I think it was the stability she wanted. Anyway she fell in love with all four of us. Max gave her a ring one summer. He in essence married her, a magical marriage. You gave her one in fall and John and I did the same.

“The rules of magic are this. Once you have married and we all did, there will come a time when you must choose one of the four and take him away from the house to live in the outside world, forsaking magic. That happened last year. Once she knew how it was to end she decided she couldn’t go on living like this and made a decision to take someone out. She made this decision during your time here in the fall and I think you had a lot to do with that. She tried to be fair. John left early, upset because he knew it wasn’t him. I took myself out of it by coming early. Max never made it. We had a meeting with him to spare him the same fate as John. I summoned you to come for her and you did in the later part of April.”

Terry was shaking his head. “This is madness! You were married to three other men, my brothers? What…what kind of a person are you, Toni? Why did you bring me to a place like this?”

“There is more, Terry, and you need to know it. Toni, if he’s going to upset you, leave the room. I’ll deal with him. She doesn’t deserve this, Terry. She rented this house for a year to write. She’s a writer and a damn good one, too. She had no idea what was involved, no idea about companions when she came here.”

“It was my fault. I was the first and we fell in love.” John walked in and sat down. “I don’t know how I could have prevented it. Have you told him where he came from?”

“No, I haven’t,” Jack sighed. He looked up as Max came in. Toni got up and left.

Toni went through the kitchen. The house was preparing dinner. It smelled good but she didn’t stop, going out to the bench on the bluff and sitting down. She couldn’t blame him. It sounded horrible to her own ears listening to it, but she had lived it and knew how it had been. She had experienced more love in this house than most people in a lifetime and she didn’t regret it, not one day of it. If he thought her some cheap wanton thing with no morals at all, then he could go. But, oh, God, she wanted him so. He was her life and the father of her child who moved gently in her belly.

It had grown dark by the time she heard the back door open. She didn’t turn to see who it was and so she was a little surprised to find it was Terry.

He came up to the bench and sat down beside her. “I owe you an apology. I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t understand, Toni, but I do now. Will you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive. I’m glad you understand now. Maybe you know how special you are to me.”

“I wish I could remember it all. They told me stories about me getting washed out to sea and how you went into some kind of a coma, about going to a funeral and ending up in Jack’s ship, and about where I came from. If it wasn’t for you I’d be a DVD.”

“If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have this tiny baby kicking around in my belly. He’s been active today. I don’t know if it’s because I’m back in this magic place again or what. I can  feel it, though, the magic, like a sixth sense or something. Can you feel it?”

He was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, I can feel it. Now I know what it is.” He reached his hand out and covered hers. “I do want you to tell me how it was, everything you can remember, but keep something secret so I will know if my memory comes back. It won’t be something I was told happened or said. I’ll know I remembered it.”

“I’ll do that.” She took his hand and laid it on her belly so he could feel the movement of his child. “Just so you don’t doubt anything I tell you “

“I don’t doubt you.” He moved his hand to her face and kissed her softly and then a little more intensely.

Toni felt it down to her toes but had no idea what he was feeling. He still had that barrier up. She held it back, not wanting to overwhelm him with her desire to be with him. He must know, she thought, he had to know.

“What’s going on?”

“Kissing.”

“Ah, good man! He’s done it then.”

Part 2:

Toni spent the night in her own room. She’d taken Terry to his and stood in the doorway as he looked around. The subtle scent that always sent her reeling was strong in the room. He’d turned and looked at her, telling her nothing with his eyes, and so she turned and went next door to hers and closed the door. She believed he would in time come to her. His kiss earlier that night had told her that.

The next morning she lay in bed, the early morning queasiness with her again. The house had provided her coffee and tea in case her stomach couldn’t take coffee. There was also, she noticed, a few crackers on a saucer. The House knew she was pregnant. She nibbled the crackers, poured a cup of tea and got back in bed. Someone knocked on her door.

“Come in. Jack, good morning.”

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

“No, I’m awake. Anybody else up?”

“Everyone but you, pet. Terry went running this morning so that should tell you something.”

“I should have thought about coming here straight away.”

“You had much to deal with.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and walked over to her balcony.

“That’s the first place I saw you the day I came in here after John left. Do you remember, Jack?”

“Oh, yes, I remember. I hadn’t a clue what to do with you. Do you miss it, Toni, at all, being here?”

“I really haven’t until I came yesterday. Oh, I will admit to thinking about Max one day this summer.”

“Max cares deeply for you. John and I had to separate him and Terry last evening for remarks Terry made in ignorance.”

“Oh, dear! Surely we can do better than that.”

“We have. Terry understands now. He was made to listen. I won’t lie to you, Toni. I miss it. We only had one season together, only one of our own.”

“I know, but I remember every detail of it, the way you came to me. Ah, Jack, we can’t go back.”

“No, my dear, we can’t, but I would like to think we may be a part of your child’s life in some way. He should know his uncles. We’ve changed all the rules you know…Max came to you in Richmond whereas before he could only come to Terry.”

“You all seem to be operating out in the world. Maybe it’s because we need you. I know there are times I want to talk to you, and Terry told me you came to him when he really needed to talk to someone in London.”

“That may be the reason rules have gone by the wayside, but still there are certain ones that do not need to be broken. You and Max, for instance.”

“Nothing broken there nor will there be. He knows where my heart is. Oh, God, my heart! It was once divided into four pieces and now it’s whole again, but it aches, Jack.”

Jack walked over, set his cup down on her bedside table and sat on the side of her bed. “I am sure it must ache for Terry’s love. It will come, Toni, it will. He’s the same man he was when you met him.”

“I can see some of that, Jack. All rules aside and you know how I feel for Terry, I want you to know that I love you, and I always will. You’ve been my refuge when disaster struck and even now I find myself running to you when something goes wrong. I know you will steer me in the right direction and talk sense to me when I need it. I just wanted to say that.”

“You give me joy, Toni.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her. “And now I’m going to steer myself out of your chamber.” Jack closed her door and stood against it for a moment before walking back downstairs to join the others.

They were out on the terrace, Terry smoking a cigarette.

Jack came though the back door. “I can see no reason for us to remain here. Terry is well enough to begin running again. He knows his background here so why are we still here?”

“We only came yesterday, Jack, what’s the rush?” Max asked.

“We may be intruding here.”

“I have no problem with you staying awhile,” Terry said.

“Well, you should,” Jack answered, paced around for a minute and stepped off, walking toward the pond.

“What’s up with him?” John asked.

Terry finished his cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. “He’s been upstairs with Toni.”

“Maybe she’s kicking us out?” John ventured.

Terry looked after Jack. “I don’t think so.”

“He may be right. There is no reason for us to stay. What say, John, ready for a trip to the airport?” Max asked.

“Well, yeah…what are we going to do about Jack?”

“His ship will come for him. You’re all right with this, Terry? Think you’ve got it from here on out?” Max asked him.

“Yeah, I believe I do. I know where I’m going. I just have to find my way there.”

John clapped him on the back. “You’ll get there.”

“Well then, we should go pay our respects to the lady of the house and be on our way. Terry, if ever you need us for anything, you know we’ll be there.” Max placed his hand on Terry’s shoulder and walked past him into the house.  John followed him up the stairs to say good-bye to Toni.

Terry got up and walked down toward the pond to find Jack.

He found him in the gazebo. “What’ s up with you, Jack?”

“Your lady. I’m half in love with her, you know, and she just told me feels love for me, too. I know it’s not taking anything away from what she feels for you; that’s on an entirely different deck. I had one season with her when she wasn’t pining for another…one.  You must dismiss me. I am merely flogging myself for the years I wasted. So I am away as soon as my ship can come for me.”

“I’m sorry, Jack. I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing would be good but I will tell you this, Terry Thorne, she has me for whatever she needs. And God help you if she comes to me because you’ve put your life in danger again. I know you, know you well, and you will take unnecessary risks, but not again. You have a wife and a child to think of and, whether you get your memory back or not, that is your main concern.  Value your life, Terry. There are men enough to take risks, men who are paid well.”

“You also have a wife and children, but you take risks. You’re in the thick of it.”

“That may be true, but I also know I will survive. I am not out in the world as you are. When you leave this place you are at risk crossing a street. I am not.” Jack turned back and looked at him. “How do you know I have a wife and children? I have not told you this.”

“I don’t know. It just came to me.”

“What is the name of my ship’s doctor?”

Terry stared at him. “I don’t know.”

“He treated you once. Ah well, perhaps it will come in bits and pieces.” Jack feeling a little better having vented at Terry, stood up and stretched. “Breakfast.”

Toni, showered and dressed, said her goodbyes to John and Max. They were already on the road to Boston. She found it strange they had to fly like anyone else. They used to just leave the property and they were back in their movies. Something had changed there and she didn’t understand it. Like Jack they seemed to exist in both worlds now.

Terry and Jack were in the kitchen having an enormous breakfast when she came in. “Somebody was hungry this morning.”

“I think we both are and it’s good to see Terry eating like a man again.”

Toni smiled at Terry. “Yes, it is.”

“My appetite is back.” He coolly looked at her as he bit into a piece of toast.

She smiled and went over and buttered herself an English muffin, glancing back at him. “Did you know John and Max have gone already?”

“Yes, and I’m away myself as soon as I have transport.”

“There’s no hurry, Jack.” She smeared on strawberry jam.

“I beg to differ,” Jack cut into a beefsteak. “There’s a horse in the stable. I plan to ride today.”

“Only one horse?”

“There may be two, but I don’t think Terry wants to ride with me.”

“Very perceptive of you, Jack.” Terry looked across the table at him, chewing his breakfast steak.

Later after Jack had taken himself off to ride, Toni and Terry went for a walk. “Whatever has Jack in a mood?  she asked.

“I think he’s just ready to go and is having to wait on his ship to come in.”

“You really didn’t want to go riding with him?”

“No, Toni, I didn’t. I wanted to spend some time with you. You said you’d tell me how things were.”

“Where do you want me to begin, at the beginning, just random? One thing when you first came here, the first couple of hours, you were angry that you’d been invited. You seemed to think I’d brought you here for immoral purposes. I saw the same thing last night. I know I am dealing with the same man. We actually had a rough start. You wanted this place and what it had to offer after I’d explained myself to you, but you couldn’t tell me.”

“I still can’t.”

“You were always curious about me and my life before I came here. You asked a lot of questions.  I’m just going random now, no particular order.  I don’t think you understood how I could live here and have four seasons. If you want to know, it began because of John. I was deeply in love with him and if that was the only way I could have him, then so be it. I would do what I had to. And then there was Max. He and John were my anchors, and then you came the second year.  I don’t know if they mentioned the four elements to you last night but you, Terry, were fire.”

“They did. John was earth, Max air and Jack water.”

“Do you see how it all came about? You have to have the four elements to live. I lived this way for six years, magic time, but when I brought you out I’d been here only a little over a year. It’s crazy but it happened.  I had a problem with spring because I didn’t understand about the elements, and only one other fall the first year I was here. After that it was you, and while we hit the mark the first year, it was the second year that we really caught fire Terry, and it happened at the gazebo, in the grass, against the wall, all afternoon one day.”

“That sounds hot.”

“It was. I think we reached a new level of hotness that day. You used to say to me,  ‘drown me’ and you nearly did in my tub one night, drown me, that is. You held me under water until I was just about to burst and then brought me up. You were always taking me to the edge. ”

“I sound like a sadist.”

“Oh, no, you never caused me pain. You never hurt me at all. It was…I don’t know.” She looked over at him. “You turned me on, Terry. It’s like we couldn’t be in the same room without it sizzling. It didn’t start off that way. You had the same barriers up that you do now.”

“Tell me how you knocked them down.”

“I didn’t. I don’t think I did. It was you, you gave yourself to me one night after we’d been to Rockport for dinner. It happened in your room. It was…magical, Terry. The whole room shimmered. I’ll never forget it and it’s not like we hadn’t been sleeping together, because we had from day one. It was you opening that door.”

“I wish I knew where it was. I’d open it again right now. It’s not fair to you.”

“You’ve been holding yourself back from me and I’ve been doing the same thing, trying not to ...trying to give you time, because you don’t really know me.”

“I didn’t know you when I first came here either. What if we just skip all that and get to the drowning part? I like the sound of that.”

She stopped and looked up at him. “You would. You like to take it to the edge and not have it.”

“You know me so well.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her. “I want to know you.”

“Okay, so why are we walking around in the woods?” She bit her bottom lip and looked into his eyes.

“Because we didn’t know any better. Where does this path lead?”

“To the gazebo.”

“Are you up for it?”

Toni smiled broadly. This was her Terry.

Part 3:

Terry and Toni came back to the house hand in hand an hour or so later. Jack wasn’t back yet so they went into the kitchen for a cold drink.

“I still don’t remember, Toni. I wish I could remember every little thing we ever did together. It must have been wonderful.”

“It was, all of it, Terry, every moment I’ve ever spent with you. You married me in Cape Cod, took me down there and registered us in as Mr. & Mrs. Thorne. I didn’t have a ring so I stuck my hand in my pocket. It was a really nice B&B. When we got to the room you pulled out this ring and put it on my finger. We were magically married. It was wonderful, Terry, nothing fancy said except I love you.”

“That was it? That was our wedding?”

“I may have left out some details but, yeah, pretty much.”

“We aren’t really married then, and we have a child on the way.”

“I don’t know how much more married we could be.”

Terry turned his glass round and round. “I do. We’ll go into Gloucester and get a marriage license, a proper license not some magical piece of paper. Jack can marry us. He’s a ship’s captain. He signs the license and we get it filed properly. I don’t want to raise a bastard, Toni.”

“Terry, we couldn’t be more married if we had a big church wedding.”

“Yes, we could. It could be legal in the eyes of the law. Yes, we will do this.”

“Jack is waiting on his ship. He’ll be gone very soon, Terry.”

“Well then, there’s not a moment to lose.”

“Terry, where did you hear that?”

“I don’t know…Jack maybe?”

“Yeah, that’s Jack’s line.”

“Find me paper and pen.” Terry left a note for Jack: ‘Do not leave. You have a wedding to perform, Terry.’

“I need a shower, Terry,” Toni protested as they got in her jeep.

Terry grinned as he backed her jeep out of the garage. “You smell good to me.”

They had to go to Salem to obtain a marriage license and by the time they got back Jack was there, having a glass of port in the living room.

He picked up the piece of paper Terry had left. “What, may I ask, is this?”

“You can perform marriages, right?” Terry asked him.

“As the Captain of a ship, yes, I can, though I don’t believe I ever have.”

“Terry wants a legal marriage. We’ve been to Salem and got a marriage license.”

“Oh, dear Lord. Is this quite necessary?”

“Yes, it is. We’re having a child. Will you do it?” Terry looked at him.

“Will it be legal?” Toni asked.

“If it’s accepted in Salem I should say so. But why this sudden desire to have a piece of paper? You’re already magically married and that holds more weight than this piece of paper here.”

“Because of our child. I’d hate some day for him to look back and find there is no record of our marriage.”

“Well, Toni, I will do this for you but there will have to be witnesses and you’ve already sent them packing.”

“Do you know when your ship will be in?”

“No, I do not.” Jack rubbed his face, walked over and refilled his glass. He sat down in a chair and looked at Toni. “I’m only doing this out of love for you, otherwise I would not attempt it.”

“Have you never performed a marriage, Jack?” she asked.

“No, I never have. There are no women on my ships, not real ones anyway. What brought this on, if I may ask?”

“I told Terry about our marriage in Cape Cod. He says it’s not legal and he doesn’t want his son to be a bastard.”

“That word is relative.” He looked at Terry. “We’re having a son, are we?”

“I think it is. Max said he wouldn’t expect Terry to produce anything else,” Toni replied.

“A high compliment to you, Terry.”

“I don’t know what it will be. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“I hope you know you are going to have to share this child. He will have uncles.”

Toni smiled, “Special ones, too.”

Jack sighed, “Let me see this license thing. What a boring little piece of paper it is. We shall do this at sea just out there, far enough from shore for this to be legal.  I have no authority on land to perform such a ceremony. In fact, I am not sure it would be valid at sea, however I do have aboard a certain Reverend Martin. I suppose the two of you are sure about this? One must ask these things. “

Terry left Jack and Toni and went outside, his steps taking him to the bluff and he sat down on the bench. “Drown me,” he said quietly. What did that mean to him…something but he couldn’t grasp it. It had been in his mind since Toni said it to him. He’d been told about almost drowning at sea and Jack picking him up. The good doctor…Maturin, Stephen Maturin, flashed through his mind. He could see his face hovering above him. He’d remembered his name. Was that how it was going to be, a bit here and there? Why couldn’t he remember anything that Toni had told him about their relationship? Good God above, if anything he wanted to remember her!