by DW Cee
My boyfriend’s next statement was his payback to Donovan. “She only said that when I offered her my bike after she was devastated upon hearing you tell Kate to use her keys to your place. Do you remember that morning when you spent the night at Jake’s house with Laney?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“You remember your conversation with Kate?”
“I think so...”
“You never saw Laney’s beautiful face completely crestfallen during your conversation? But then again, I don’t know anyone who could school his or her emotions as well as Laney. I’m not surprised you didn’t see the hurt in her eyes.”
“Fuck.” Donovan sighed.
“I spoke with her, today.”
“She called you?” Donovan and I simultaneously asked.
“She called to say hello, to wish me a happy birthday, and she sounded good. She sounded much better than the last time I spoke with her.”
“When was that?” Donovan and I had the same question again.
Max kind of did a bit of backtracking in his mind and answered, “She emailed sometime right after her visit to LA to see JR and the email read like a river of tears so I called her to make sure she was all right.”
Damn, Shit, Fuck...what other words can I use right now? Freakin’ hell! I forgot about that almost kiss. Damn it all to hell. Do I tell Max about this one and go back to square negative 100? Or has Laney already squealed to Max and he’s been waiting for me to confess? Shit! Were there any more sins committed by little ole me that needed confessing? I couldn’t look Donovan’s way and I was sure he felt just as guilty.
“What did Laney say when you talked to her after her LA visit?” I gingerly approached this subject.
“Not much. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she was homesick and she also told me about Michael and her decision to date him.”
My sigh of relief was internally deafening. Laney was a good person not to take revenge upon me for all my ill-will and for toying with Donovan.
“What did she say about Michael?” The normally confident Donovan Taylor was shrinking by the second. “What did she say to you today?”
“She was with Michael today when she called and I got a chance to converse with him. He told me he was taking her away to his grandfather’s country home for a month. He was as psyched as any man would be, taking his girlfriend away for a month. He sounded like a good guy. In fact, I liked him immediately.”
“I am so screwed.” Donovan finished off his drink.
“You better get over there fast. He’s taking her away on Wednesday.”
“What’s Wednesday?” Donovan asked.
“Her birthday.” Now how my boyfriend knew this when I even forgot...he was truly a good man.
“Ahem,” trying to break up the glum mood, I brought the attention back to my decision. “I’m staying in LA during the next year, but I’ll be working in New York, a lot. But, Gimpy promised that the firm would send me back home every weekend to spend with you.”
Max smiled and nodded, which made me think he approved.
“Sometime during the year, I’ll know whether I am to go live in New York, or move to London. So, can you apply to residencies in both places?”
“Of course I can. For you, anything, my precious gem.”
With dinner done, I figured it was time to go home and have another round of birthday fun, but that wasn’t the case.
“Davis, can you stay away from my sister for an hour and come have a drink with us?”
Max looked to me for approval, of all things. I suggested, “By all means. It’s your birthday. Go enjoy yourself.”
And that’s how I ended up alone, in bed, waiting for my boyfriend to come home from his men’s night out. I still didn’t get to ask him what had changed between him and Donovan, but I was just happy that all was perfect in my world right now.
August 12, 2013 Where is Platform Nine and Three-qwaters?
My life has been absolutely crazy! I am writing to you from London as this very moment, enjoying my time with the Davis brothers, Jake, Emily and the three kids. Laney and Donovan have been all over this part of Europe and will be here any day now. I have so much to tell you. Let me try and go back to my few days in New York.
If you’ll remember, we all got to New York very early Sunday morning and ended the trip with a nice dinner for my boyfriend’s birthday in midtown on Monday. Donovan left for London on Tuesday and somehow, hijacked Laney to Amsterdam before she could go away with her boyfriend for a month. I don’t know any of the details as they’ve been pretty much gone the entire time. We will see them here, very soon.
Max chose to use our birthday present from Donovan and booked us on a flight to London the day after Donovan left. He figured I could get a taste of the London office, he could help his brother get settled, and we could have a little vacation before our insane school and work schedule started up later this month.
Jake and Gimpy went home Tuesday morning, and by the end of the week, a plane full of Reids and Davises invaded Belgravia. Jake and Emily + three, Gimpy and Gram, Mom, Dad, Nick and Doug, and the two Davis brothers hopped on Gimpy’s plane and are now here making life absolutely crazy in the flat.
Let me explain a few things about the plane and the flat. Gimpy does not own his own plane, not really. Think of it as a timeshare. He owns a fraction of the plane and shares it with a lot of other people. He gets so many hours, miles, days (not quite sure how it’s settled) and he uses his allotment whenever he travels. This time, he transported so many people, he got his money’s worth! And Gram’s flat, which has been in her family forever, is no ordinary flat. It’s massive! It has FOUR levels, and let me tell you—the twins are going nuts over the staircases. All day long, they go up and down the stairs and wear themselves out. What great exercise. Maybe I should join them. In any case, the house has six bedrooms, a couple of kitchens, and some big entertaining rooms on every floor.
Gram and Gimpy are in the master bedroom on the first floor. As Gram got older, she and my grandfather turned the ballroom on the main floor into a master bedroom. Jake’s family take up the entire fourth floor. They created a new bedroom in the large ballroom as their own (which technically makes this a 7-bedroom flat), the twins are staying in one of the bedrooms, Jake has an office / study in the other bedroom, and the baby stays with Jake and Emily for now. Jake and Emily quickly added a bathroom and a closet to their room. Actually, once they decided to move, Gram called her peeps and had them take care of that before the family got there. Mom and Dad are right below them on the third floor. Uncle Henry and Aunt Babs live in the bedroom next to theirs, though Uncle Henry had to go right back home and back to the hospital. With so many of us here, Uncle Henry would be back here in no time.
Nick, Doug, Josh, Garret and Max all share the second floor ballroom as their bedroom. Basically, they all got air mattresses and a rolling rack and are calling this big room a bedroom. Laney was already on the second floor, so I just moved myself into her life for the short time I’d be here. I didn’t think she’d mind. Luckily, there are two bathrooms up on the second floor. What will be comical is where Donovan planned to stay. Technically, his qwaters (I know, I know...my English accent is bad) are near the Square Mile, in the financial district. This isn’t that far from Belgravia, but it’s not exactly walking distance. We are all wondering whether he will stay in the comforts of a high-end company apartment, or slum it with the other five single guys and buy himself an air mattress. He’ll probably need three rolling racks for all the clothes he has. We turned the ballroom on the third floor into an entertainment room and put a tele, some random couches gathered from around the house, along with the billiard table and grand piano that already existed in the room.
Though the house was crazy, within a month’s time, most of us would be gone, and I figured it may seem almost empty once we leave. Before Laney left for Amsterdam, she was here to see construction on the fourth floor begin, but when she ge
ts home, she will be in for the shock of her life. Laughter spilled out of my mouth.
“Whatcha laughing about, Gem?”
“The fact that Laney left LA to get away from all of us and voila...here we all are!”
“I don’t think she left to get away from everyone...just one.”
“She really liked him that much?” Now I felt bad. When Laney got back, it was time for a heart-to-heart.
Max shrugged his shoulders. “Ask her.”
Fast forward a few days, we all settled into our space and Max stayed in my room and would go back to the frat house next door when Laney returned. Our gang of six went sightseeing and pubbing (is that a word?) every day. Of course, I went into the office, but since I wasn’t full time at this office, yet, there wasn’t much for me to do.
“Babe,” Max said while we were lounging around after I came back from work. “How about we give Em a break and take the twins out? She looks exhausted from the move, from trying to settle down in the new home, and Jake hasn’t been around as much as usual because he’s trying to get settled with the new hospitals and schools.”
“Sure!” I agreed. “Where should we go and what should we do with the little buggers?”
“I saw a great toy store the other day not too far from here. I believe both carseats have been installed, so why don’t we take the kids out for a ride in the car?”
“Ellie, James?” They were once again going up and down four flights of steps. It was a wonder that neither had broken any bones nor bruised themselves yet. “You want to go out with Auntie Jane and Uncle Max?”
They thought about it for a little bit, they looked at each other, and then they nodded yes. These two were a laugh-and-a-half. It’s not as though they fully understood what I said. I didn’t know why they looked at each other, and what silent communication happened in the split second before looking at one another and nodding yes. Who understood this world of twins?
Max got permission from Emily for us to take them out and we strapped them into their carseats and proceed a couple miles to the world of Hamleys. The kids were in awe from the moment we stepped into this marvelous store. James and Ellie were both pointing at every toy that caught their fancy, and each sound that made their heads turn.
James wanted to get down to a magnetic board that held these spinning cogs. They were called Clever Cogs and five different-sized cogs moved in various ways and made unique sounds without breaking apart. At first, James and Ellie stood behind the older children and watched in wonder. Soon, I saw both kids inching closer to the board to touch the cogs and to move them around in different formations as they saw the other kids doing. Quite a few kids bumped one another to get closer. The twins were the youngest ones there so I was about to jump in and pull them out of the fray when Max stopped me.
“Let’s see what happens. I don’t think James and Ellie are in any danger.”
As soon as Max finished his words, the twins methodically pushed their way to the front of the board, with James leading, holding his sister’s hand, and soon they were front and center. I cringed when I saw them touching the cogs that had been touched by so many little booger hands. As soon as they were done looking, I’d have to take them to the restroom, wash their hands, then sanitize them again! They were having a fantastic time playing with the cogs but I just couldn’t stand the possibility of them getting hurt by the older kids, and also the possibility of them contracting the staph disease with so many germs in this toy store.
Using my own bit of cleverness, I picked up two boxes of cogs and a magnetic white board and lured the twins with the promise of their own set. After thoroughly cleaning their hands, Max and I bought them a few other items and put them back in their car seats.
“That was fun!” I exclaimed looking back at my beautiful niece and nephew. They were itching to tear open the box that contained the cogs.
“That was fun.” He agreed.
“Today I think I kind of understood the joy Emily gets from being with her kids, everyday. I won’t experience that kind of joy if I work all the time, huh? If I’m on this track to partnership and I become part owner of the firm, when will I have babies, let alone get a chance to play with them and watch them at a toy store?”
It was unfair that being a woman, I had to choose between staying home and watching my kids grow up, and working. And if I married Max, it wouldn’t be kosher to ask a medically trained man to stay home. But, then why was it kosher to ask the woman to stay home? Why couldn’t the man sacrifice?
“It was beautiful watching you with the babies, Gem.” That made me feel so good! If the twins weren’t in the car, I’d make Max pull over and give him a kiss or two. “You’re an accomplished woman and a clever one as well. When we get to that stage in our life, we will figure something out.”
“But what choices are there for a woman? Either I stay home, the kids get a nanny, or go to daycare all day while we work.”
“There are tons of options if you’re willing to be flexible.”
“Such as...?”
“Maybe while the kids are young, you can do a four-day week and I can do a four-day week. Then there’s your mom and dad who’d be willing to help out a day, and my parents who would love to do the same, and that last day...a babysitter? Until they are of school age, we can both work a little less and stay home more with the kids, if that’s what you want. We don’t need the money. Between the both of us, we will live fine.”
I guess there were options out there I’d never thought about, since kids were never on my radar.
“You think we’ll be able to handle you as a doctor, me as a lawyer, and still have a few beautiful children?”
“If they look like you , they will be beyond beautiful, Gem!”
We took two sleeping kids up to their beds and decided to have a little bed time of our own. Max and Jane were definitely back and stronger than before.
August 15, 2013 Rolling Hills of Tuscany
“Gem,” a sexy someone whispered in my ears while it was still dark outside. “Get up. We have to go.”
“Where are we going at this hour?”
“Surprise, my beauty. Now get up,” he slapped my ass and got me up at the crack of dawn.
We got to Gatwick Airport with a small overnight bag Max had packed without my knowledge, and flew into Florence. He kept mum about today’s plans and all I heard was that we were staying at Gimpy’s villa in Florence.
“It’s so great to have family members who have homes everywhere.”
“It sure is, Gem. As soon as we drop off our stuff, we’re headed to the Uffizi Museum, the Accademia Gallery, lunch somewhere in between, then to a surprise in the evening.”
“What’s the surprise?”
“I can’t tell you, my precious Gem. If I did, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
We did all Max promised and stayed a bit longer at the Accademia, staring at the statue of David.
“David is almost as anatomically perfect as my own man,” I said while goosing him.
“Keep that up naughty girl and you will not be receiving your surprise tonight.”
“Is it still considered a surprise if I know what’s happening?” This time I grabbed him full-on rather than a childish goosing. “There’s no element of surprise when something happens in the dark between you and me.”
“Keep talking like that, young lady. You’re going to have to get a spanking after I give you your surprise.”
I turned around and faced him, put both my hands on his butt cheeks and brought him right close to me. “We’re never going to finish this museum if you keep talking like that.”
“We have to finish. We are meeting some friends for an early dinner.”
