Such largesse, though almost expected of Edward, was nonetheless always welcome and surprising in both size and scope. Tia Aurelia asked if she could see the cashier’s check that Edward brought; all that money in one lump sum was still exciting, even if it wasn’t destined for her bank account. No matter, Edward also brought checks for all the ladies who worked so hard and complained so little. Their next family vacations would be all expenses paid, courtesy of Edward St. James. His only request and condition in return was that no family was to vacation in either Hawaii or London for the two weeks following the wedding.
The tias had known Edward for over thirty years and were intimately familiar with his quirky behavior and fearsome reputation as the patron of the Eight Families. Edward did not alarm them as he did most of the older men, including Carlos; the tias were simply chose to ignore the stories of Edward’s occasional acts of brutality which he could evince when motivated. The families were still old school; the men kept certain events and behaviors to themselves and so did the women. Crossing Edward was never a good idea and the occasional social disappearance of someone who had ‘not gotten the memo’ was sufficient to maintain good order.
That the couple was to detour to London got tongues to wagging as the plan had been for the newlyweds to have a solid two weeks of honeymoon on one or more of the romantic Hawaiian Islands. That London now came on the radar screen hadn’t originally been part of the plan. Maria casually mentioned to the ladies in passing that the young couple was expected at a high-level government conference in London at the request of the American Secretary of State. “Please keep that to yourselves,” Maria asked.
Nonetheless, it was common knowledge throughout the Eight Families by the following day. Nobody, however, confessed to spilling the beans. And, as it was patently false, it didn’t matter anyway.
Maria, whether by natural inclination, or simply because of too many years keeping Edward’s company, had learned to obfuscate and dissemble just as well as any in her extended family.
Chapter 57
The Barrows Bay crowd arrived in Seattle in the early afternoon of the Friday before the big event. Everyone scattered from there, with Adam and Misti taking up residence in their home in the Queen Anne District. Many of the new arrivals went with them, including Cindy and Rod, along with the girls and Cindy’s parents, Mark and Julia. Others headed for downtown hotels.
Edward peeled off in another direction and headed for The Beacons, where Adam’s friend and mentor, Marcus Aurelius Thierry, was staying along with his family. He wasn’t there to see them; he had been summoned by his new lover and old girlfriend, Bethy McQueen Outlander. He had called her as soon as they touched down at the heliport and she was anxious to see him.
“You made it,” Edward said as the taxi reached the hotel. “Where are you?”
“I’m up on eight, Room 804. Please come up straightaway so we can talk. I have something on my mind and I think we should discuss it right away. It’s important.”
Bethy didn’t seem upset but Edward always associated words like ‘we need to talk’ with something bad. Relationship break up, or ‘I’m in trouble’ bad – take your pick. They had been apart for several weeks, talking only by phone between Edward’s travels and meetings and Bethy’s otherwise tightly packed work schedule at State. She had occasionally mentioned to Edward that she was becoming less enthusiastic about their increasingly frequent separations and they needed to do something about it, and soon.
The month that Bethy had taken off following their reunion in DC had been therapeutic for both; it had allowed the pair to explore a new and real life together, free from the bonds and limitations of their romanticised past. What they had discovered is that little of their past joy of just being together had diminished over time notwithstanding other relationships and intervening children. It was like they had never been apart, although they no longer gossiped about high school classmates, teacher oddities and plans for the football game.
The two had focused on just a few important matters; family dynamics, work plans, where to live and how to be together. Then of course, there was the big project and all that it might mean for their rekindled romance. Edward had told Bethy he needed her to be a part of his life; to be his workmate and life mate in all that was about to unfold. He could do it alone but really didn’t want to. He felt stronger and less anxious with her in his life.
Both Bethy and Edward were happy, and that happiness was reflected in the thrill they felt just having one another near. Separation was becoming difficult for them both, so they made plans to buy a home and commute from somewhere convenient but comfortably close to DC. They considered Connecticut to the north and Northern Virginia to the south and Maryland in between. This would be the first time in two and one-half decades that Edward would live away from Barrows Bay, something he didn’t relish. He became increasingly anxious as decision time approached, something not lost on the more intuitive Bethy.
But Bethy had an amazing career and if Edward needed her contacts at State in the upcoming months and years, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make to accommodate her work and his plans. But like so many future plans, crafted at a distance and untested, they were easier to make than to actually live out. Bethy detected the reticence in his moods as they got closer and closer to deciding where they would need to reside. They had given each other until the wedding to finalize the decision, and Edward had resolved that whatever Bethy thought best is what they would do. He would ask no more of her.
Edward arrived at Room 804 and knocked. The door swung open immediately, revealing his flame dressed only in a short, pure white terrycloth bath robe and hair wet from a just taken shower.
“You look delicious,” Edward said, in his most lascivious tone. “I see I arrived just in time to unwrap this beautiful package. For me?”
“Of course, for you, and only for you.” Bethy wrapped her arms around her new man and gave him a long and deep welcome kiss, the kind that always signalled to Edward that everything was OK; that his absence and quirky behavior hadn’t cooled her ardor for him. Still his radar was on and he knew something was on Bethy’s mind. He hoped she wasn’t giving up on ‘them’. Not so soon, anyway.
“You wanted to talk? I assume it’s about our living arrangements. Have you changed your mind?”
Bethy said, “Don’t look so glum, Eddie. But yes, I have thought a lot about what we have discussed and the living arrangements we have talked about. There is no other way to say it other than bluntly and right to the point. This move, I mean your move, to the East Coast simply cannot work. For me or for you. I know you would uproot your life for me but then you’d be miserable without your family and support system around. No Institute and only me. And I’ll be working and commuting, so you’ll be alone a lot and our time together would be weekends, maybe. That’s if we’re lucky. And if you’re travelling, I might not even see you then. I just don’t see how this can work. For either of us.”
“I see,” Edward said, casting his eyes down to the floor, disappointed by what he was hearing and knowing the words that were surely soon to follow. This has been a lot of fun, she will say, but the real world is all too real. Time and circumstances have conspired against us. Blah, blah, blah. I’ll stay the weekend but then I’ll be going home. Alone.
Edward gathered himself, then continued. “What do you want to do then? I guess you don’t think this has any chance of working for us as planned. Are you saying we’re over? Before we even got started?”
Bethy searched Edward’s eyes for a glimmer of something other than the sadness and despair she saw. Her face was a snapshot of incredulity, as if Edward had heard her words but none of her real meaning.
“What? No, you dolt. God, some things change, and some things will always remain the same. You were this dense when we were in high school. You haven’t changed one iota, have you?”
Bethy’s tone was a little ‘disgusted’ and a little ‘you’re a
moron’. He knew this tone from before, as if they were kids again back in Iowa.
“I don’t follow. What are you saying Bethy? If this isn’t right for you, then I’m lost. Please tell me what I’m missing.”
“Ok, sit down. Let me explain what we’re going to do.”
Bethy guided Edward into the adjoining bedroom suite, while unbuttoning his dress shirt and gently setting him down at the edge of the bed. As she worked on him, she let the tie to her robe come undone. Bethy always had plans that Edward couldn’t see ahead of time; today would be no different.
“First, let me say that I love you madly and passionately and have no intention of letting you out of my life again. Not because of this little detail, anyway. And I have given this whole matter a lot of careful and considered reflection. I have thought about what I want, what I’m prepared to do and what is most important. Important for us both. This plan we had, well it was just ridiculous from the start. We can’t make a go of it in DC with me working and acting like nothing in my life has changed. Everything has changed. And I love everything about that change and having you in my life every day. Like normal people, which I know we are not. At least you aren’t anyway.”
Edward’s shirt was now tossed on the floor, as Bethy fully removed her robe and started on the clothes on the lower half of Edward’s body. Bethy kept talking as he sat motionless, letting his woman do her work, listening for the words that would salvage his perception of a twice doomed relationship. It sounded like Bethy had decided something for them and she was about to let him in on the secret.
“So, what I decided and what you will now agree to is the following: I will take a sabbatical from work for a year, maybe longer. That has already been arranged. It started last Friday. I will still retain my State Department credentials, so I can access what we will need there, if anything. I suspect you can pull strings to get whatever you need there anyway but I also get that I’m an insider and that might help speed things along. Probably much quicker too, if we really need to move something along and fast.”
Bethy paused, thinking, then continued, “And, FYI, I have put my place in Virginia up for sale, and we will begin cohabiting together right away. As in immediately. We will be heading back to Virginia to wrap things up there when your kids go on their honeymoon. You with me so far?”
“I am. But where are we going?”
“‘We’re not going anywhere, Eddie St. James.”
“I’m confused. Then where are you going?”
“I am moving to Barrows Bay to be with you while we decide what our lives will be like chasing vampires around the world. If you need me, and you say you do, then with you is where I want to be no matter what that means. I lost you once, but I will not let that happen again – not a second time. Not while I’m in charge anyway. Are we clear, St. James?”
“But …”
“But what. My kids are both grown, married with kids of their own and don’t live anywhere near me anymore. Besides they’ve turned out more like their Dad than me and what they want for themselves is the lifestyle that Phillip’s parents always envisioned for Phillip and me. Big house, country club living and weekends playing golf or tennis with Muffie and the rich and respectable crowd. It’s alright for them but totally wrong for me. I never wanted any part of that scene and that was always a big problem between Phillip and me. In the end, I don’t think I was his life partner as much I was his officially sanctioned baby maker. I popped out two heirs to the throne. I’m not sure he ever took me or my career very seriously. Oh well.”
“I see,” said Edward, beginning to grasp a glimmer of hope, as Bethy vented a little and unfolded her plan.
“I want adventure and passion and I want that adventure and passion to be with you. And I want it right now, before it’s too late and we’re both in wheel chairs parked in the Home.”
Bethy paused for effect, then continued, “I know who you are, quite possibly psychotic and certainly sociopathic but then that’s what comes with the package. I want all of you. And I want you every day, not some days. Not between work and travel schedules. I want something real. I want to be with the man I love and who loves me. Just me. As I am, warts and all. We can’t do that with the old plan. So, we need a revised plan. The old plan would have been too painful for us both and, well, it was just plain dumb.”
“Are you sure? Barrows Bay is small and there’s only us to keep ourselves occupied. A lot of family and that means a lot less privacy. We won’t be anonymous.” Edward looked at Bethy, encouraged. “And, no big city, no plays or professional sports and definitely not much excitement. Even less to do.”
Bethy said, “Will you be there?”
“I will.”
“Do you love me? More than anything in the world?”
“You know I do. I always have.”
“Then Barrows fucking Bay it is. I’ll be Bethy the Vampire Slayer. You’ll be Eddie, my sidekick. Tell me you love me and say yes. Say yes to everything I want most for the rest of my life.”
“I love you and yes. Yes, to everything. When do we start?”
“Right after I’m done with you. That may take a while. Then we have to get ready for that dinner tonight. Then you’re going take me home and tell me what a fool you’ve been for the last million years and how you’re going to fix that. And I mean pronto.”
“You’re the boss.”
“I know. Now you do too.”
***
Bethy had already spoken to Maria about her plans to move to Barrows, to gauge her reaction just in case. Maria immediately said she and the Clan couldn’t be any happier for Bethy and for Edward. Maria told her not to worry about a thing, she would handle all the arrangements while the two lovebirds headed back to DC to finalize the sale of her place in Virginia and tie up any loose ends. By the time they got back to Barrows Bay, Maria said, all the old furniture in Edward’s home would be gone. Maybe the recliner could stay but it would be banished to the non-existent basement workshop that Edward had been planning to build for the better part of the past twenty-five years. She would arrange for a local construction crew to tear down the interior to the sheetrock and floorboards. When they arrived, the house would be ready to remodel all over again. Then they could remake the house into their very own new dream home.
Bethy would be the first, last and only woman to cohabit in the Barrows Bay residence with Edward. There were no ghosts of relationships past, Maria assured her; no reminders of any others who could make Bethy’s new residence uncomfortable. Only the silence of Edward’s many years alone would remain, punctuated by the memories of two little boys growing up around him, his two sons. It was a happy home filled with good memories. And Maria was sure Bethy would be happy there too.
“His stuff is old and mostly junk. It’s high time he got a clue about hearth and home. The place will be completely empty when you come back. But I know you’ll have fun filling it up – together and making it yours. Just yours.
“He’s happy, Bethy. Happier than I have ever known him to be since we moved to Barrows from LA. I hope you are too. And, if there is anything you need, or need to know, I will help you in any way I can. All the old secrets have been flushed out, and, with our new and improved family, we all have a chance to start over and be happy.”
Maria continued, “All my boys are happy now; the entire family is whole again.”
Chapter 58
The rehearsal dinner had gone off without a hitch, complete with a chorus of crying tias, who were touched by the sentiment of the speeches and their acknowledged central role in getting this young couple married and legal. The giving of gifts of appreciation was another beautiful touch that was deeply moving for the ladies and they left the dinner feeling greatly honored and blessed to have such wonderful and generous relatives. All fits of pique were forgotten and forgiven; the tias were satisfied that they and their work had been sincerely appreciated.
And they were appreciated. Wi
thout the unflinching and endless support of the ladies, the wedding would never have taken place. The appreciation of all the Barrows Bay contingent for the work of the tias, most especially by Misti and Adam, was genuine and deeply felt.
Adam was delighted with the intricacy and detail of the wedding plans, as the tias explained in excruciating detail to the young couple. He loved the solemnity and sacred spirituality that a big, formal Catholic wedding evoked. For Adam, he felt closer to the God he never doubted had infused his body and soul and was integral to his life and happiness. Men could believe that their power and money controlled the lives and events of mankind, but Adam knew that it was God who ruled over all things between heaven and earth. God had revealed himself to Adam at an early age and the dialogue had transformed his life.
Only Father Rodriguez knew of Adam’s mystical experiences and Adam’s account of his journey to the infinite and back. The Vatican had been forewarned of the penitent and devout Adam St. James and the comparisons of his spiritual experiences to those of Santa Teresa de Jesus and San Juan de la Cruz were already circulating among a knowledgeable few in Rome.
Misti, by contrast, had no time for incessant chattering about weddings, wedding plans or magical mystery tours. Like her father, Misti was deeply suspicious of the motivations of the Church and would have gladly let her membership lapse. Adam would have none of it; in his mind once you were born into a Catholic family, your soul was forever Catholic. It was a membership determined at birth, inspired by God and inculcated organically into the daily lives of each of those chosen for the path.
Adam had once said to Misti that he was a good man who occasionally did bad things and for those things he truly was penitent.
Misti’s response was unkind and immediate, “You’re a girl Adam. You have way more in common with the tias than the tios. And I doubt the Church would welcome me had any my transgressions been revealed over all these many years. More likely I would have been excommunicated.”
Discovery Page 100
