A Leap in Time (21 page)

From behind Charlotte stepped Mrs. Ashton and her sister Ester. I clasped my hands with joy. She’d made it!

“I wouldn’t miss your wedding to Marcus for the world, Lexi.” She kissed my cheek and turned to give Marcus a hug and a pat on the cheek. We chatted for a few minutes before she said she better go check on Ester, who had wandered to the buffet table. She handed us an envelope, which my mom graciously took to the overflowing gift table.

I blinked twice as a tall, balding, middle-aged man, smiling from ear to ear, headed in our direction. Adam?

“Lexi, congratulations! You make a beautiful bride. I’m so happy for you and honored to be included. It means the world to me that you wanted me here.” He kissed my cheek and shook Marcus’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marcus. Congratulations. I know you and Lexi are anxious to get back to Rome so I promise we won’t keep you here in LA for too much longer.”

I translated Adam’s sentiment to Marcus, which he returned with a broad smile and his own words, of course. “Thank you, Adam, and yes, heading back soon would be great although it will be hard to leave this great city of yours.”

“Lexi, I’ll have the details ready for discussion on Monday. You’ll be on a flight to Rome by Friday.”

“Great…and thank you for coming.” I felt grateful that Charlotte and Kate thought of including him.

He clasped Marcus’s arm fondly before leaving us to go to the bar.

We continued to our table for a much-needed cocktail. I sat, not knowing what to look at first. Every table had a magnificent floral arrangement of pale yellow roses subtly accented with deep oranges and browns, reminding me of the beautiful fall season that surrounded us. Even the tent poles were intertwined with deep orange and yellow leaves. It was easy to forget we were in a tent and not a botanical garden on the east coast.

“Lexi.”

I turned at the sound of my name and couldn’t believe when I connected the voice to its owner: Charlotte’s Dad, Martin Harrison, and his wife Linda along with Kate’s parents, Charles and Suzanne Lawrence. What in the world?

I jumped into their open arms to give a proper welcome. I haven’t seen either set of parents in years. I was so touched by their presence, tears trickled down my cheeks.

“We are so happy for you and Marcus, my dear. We wouldn’t have missed this for the world.” Mrs. Lawrence hugged me.

Mrs. Harrison kissed my cheek. “Now come along and have something to eat. The fun is just beginning.” She took her husband’s hand. Together they headed for the bar.

My mother touched my arm. “Your dad and I want to give you your wedding gift now before dinner and dancing begins.” We moved to the side of the tent.

“You and Dad have done enough. This wedding is our wonderful gift.”

“You’re our only daughter and the love of our life. We’re so happy you’ve met someone wonderful. Marcus, we couldn’t be more proud to call you son-in-law.” Dad clasped Marcus’s arm and pulled him in for a hug.

“We understand you two need to follow your own lives in Italy even though we’ll miss you dearly. We talked to Martin and negotiated a great deal to buy your apartment for you. Now you and Marcus can have a home in Rome close to Marcus’s parents and a home in LA, close to us. It’s only fair that we claim some of your time, don’t you think?”

My parents beamed with joy. I couldn’t believe they’d done this
and
kept it a secret this entire time. A mixture of love, gratitude, surprise and happiness had washed over Marcus’s face. His eyes glistened with tears as he thanked my parents in English.

What the hell?

I swiped at tears with the back of my hand, unable to choke out a single word. Owning the apartment changed everything for us. Mom fixed the loose strands of hair framing my face and kissed my cheek before leading us to our table.

The rest of the evening paled in comparison.

I know from Mrs. Ashton that we weren’t meant to tamper with history and major historical events regardless of their catastrophic outcome, but was there something we could do to help better mankind?

The thought lingered in my mind long after we said good-bye to the last guest. I needed to talk this through with Marcus. He’d have some ideas on the subject—that hopefully didn’t include transporting espresso machines across time.

We went upstairs to change then and drove the fairly short distance to the historical Mission Inn where my parents had reserved the honeymoon suite for us, continuing with the magical tone of the day.

As I unpacked my wedding night lingerie, I noticed an embroidered silk bag with a small note attached in my mom’s handwriting:

Darling Lexi,

I thought you might want to read some of the sweet and heartfelt sentiments from everyone. Your dad and I have a tradition of re-reading our wedding cards on each anniversary so I thought to include your cards in case you want to start a tradition of your own.

We love you!

Mom and Dad

Her thoughtfulness touched me immensely. She’d truly considered every last detail. I found their tradition endearing and decided to start the same one for Marcus and I—right after our wedding night, of course.

I put on a long sheer white nightgown with spaghetti straps and a slit on each side that revealed my toned thighs.
Thank God for years of yoga
. The beaded bodice accentuated my bust line and tapered around my small waist before it flowed freely to my ankles. I wore nothing underneath. I giggled to myself thinking about Marcus’s reaction. I’d be lucky if he didn’t just rip the gown off me.

I walked slowly into the master bedroom to find he had poured champagne, dimmed the lights, and was waiting in his boxer briefs by the window overlooking the quiet street. The sight of him set my insides on fire. I smiled. I’d achieved the exact reaction I’d hoped for. I stood in the doorway admiring his incredibly fit body.

Within seconds, we were all over each other, arms and legs tangled. To his credit, he didn’t rip the nightgown off, but instead slipped it over my shoulders and let it fall freely around my ankles. He later confessed that the only reason he didn’t tear it off was because he wanted to see me in it again and again and again.

Our happiness was complete. My mind, body and spirit soared with joy at finally having it all. Every part of me pulsed with need for him. By the look in his eyes, I knew he felt the same. He left no part of me unexplored or unattended and I returned the favor with matched passion and enthusiasm. We screamed each other’s names, before collapsing on the bed, spent.

Later, we chatted about the wedding and the enormous heartfelt gestures from everyone there. I suddenly remembered the bag of wedding cards and lazily got up to retrieve it, telling Marcus about our new tradition.

I emptied the cards on the coverlet. I read each one out loud in Latin, commenting on the sentiments and feeling genuinely touched by everyone’s well wishes, checks and gift cards. At last, only one card remained. Marcus handed it to me with a grand gesture making us both laugh at his silliness. I opened the light cream color envelope; a small blue card the size of a business card fell onto the bed. Marcus picked it up while I read the wedding card to him.

Lexi and Marcus,

Congratulations on your nuptials. May your life together always be filled with love and endless adventures. I’ve included a little something to help open another door of opportunity...

Lots of love to you both,

Claire Ashton

PS Thanks for reminding me that love does conquer all!

Marcus handed me the blue card. I knew immediately what it was. A brand new social security card with his name. I sat there, speechless.

I detailed its significance to Marcus. My voice cracked at the exceptional out-of-this-world gift Mrs. Ashton had bestowed on us.

“I thought you said I couldn’t get one of these.”

“Mrs. Ashton must know a way around the system, or she knows someone capable of bending the rules. I can’t believe she did this. I couldn’t believe she
could
do this.”

Marcus kissed me on the cheek before gathering the cards and placing them back in the embroidered bag. He tossed the bag on the nightstand and pulled me to lie on top of him. Clearly he wasn’t sleepy, and neither was I, despite the glimpses of dawn peeking through the wide window.

“That card means we could have a baby and I can actually add you to the birth certificate. And Marcus, you should get a drivers license. I’ll find you a class with a private instructor. Then maybe you could go to college.” I rambled, my mind racing a million miles a minute at what this all truly meant.

“You want to have a baby?” He arched one eyebrow.

Seriously, from everything I spewed off, this was the detail he held on to? The idea of having a baby with Marcus did sound exciting, just not at this very moment. I wanted to enjoy married life for a while.

“Well, yes, someday. In the near future, but we could practice a lot in the meantime,” I half-joked, treading lightly. I wasn’t sure where he stood on this issue.

He sat there as if in deep thought. Suddenly he broke into gales of laughter. “Lexi, you should see the look on your face.”

“I’m glad you think it’s funny.” I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t set on having a baby just yet, and remembered Catina saying that Marcus and Julius lived for playing pranks on their friends. Right! Now I was the butt of them too.

“So you want to practice, do you?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

I floated into work feeling like a different person. I was surprised to see the plaque on my desk and matching one on the left of my office door:
Alexandra Cassius
. I sat smiling from the afterglow of it all.

Adam’s voice jolted me to the present moment. “Good morning, Mrs. Cassius! Give me five minutes and then we can review your new contract.”

It would be fantastic if whatever arrangement he had in mind worked in my favor, but I didn’t dare dream too much; we were so blessed already.

Admittedly, my priorities had changed. I wanted more than a glamorous career, I wanted a life with Marcus most of all. And I wanted to do something meaningful in my new home.

Six minutes later, Adam closed his laptop and waved for me to come in. He walked around his desk and sat in the leather chair next to me, wiggling a sheet of paper in the air. “You look radiant. Marriage suits you very well.”

“Thanks, Adam. I wanted to thank you again for coming to my wedding. It meant so much to me. And I agree, married life is amazing.” I was reminded by how much I admired Adam as a boss and mentor. I’d had my nose to the grindstone for so long I never paused long to take stock of how much I’d learned from him and how much I appreciated him trusting me with big responsibilities over the years. If our working relationship came to an end, I would really miss him…and this place.

“I’ve been giving a lot of thought around your new role with the company. Clearly, it no longer makes sense for you to oversee clients or manage a team. The time change would be an added layer of stress and taint your feelings about a job you once loved. So, here’s my proposal. Help us expand our client list by forging a relationship with companies who don’t think they need our help. Joanna will help by researching Fortune 500 companies. She’ll give you a summary on each with contact info. Then you can write a proposal to them on why we are the best firm to help them increase visibility among their target audience. It’s a combination of cold calling and trusting your gut.” He paused, anxious for my response.

“Okay, let me just summarize to make sure I didn’t miss anything. For three weeks out of the month, I’m on my own writing proposals based on summary reports emailed to me by Joanna. I’m assuming that by the end of the month, I’m to send her the agreed upon number of proposals completely written and ready for printing and mailing. Is that right? How many proposals are you expecting per month? How often do you need me in the office?”

“Ideally, we’d like you here once a month for a couple of days. You can decide on the days. And yes, that’s how I imagine the process will work. We can give it a try for six months and if it doesn’t make sense, we can institute changes. In truth, we were going to hire a new business director, but giving you that position makes the most sense. No one knows our business better than you do, and no one sells us better than you. You have a knack for identifying the gaps for our current clients, and frankly we need that insight for potential new clients.”

“It sounds amazing.”

The arrangement was almost perfect…

“What’s not working for you?” He leaned in wanting to move mountains to make me happy.

“Well, the place where we’ll be living is a small town outside Rome. They’re sort of behind the times and there’s no easy access to email or even telephone. It’s more like a village than a thriving metropolis so I’m a little concerned about being accessible while I’m there.”

“That’s not a problem at all. With the time difference between here and there, I didn’t think we would have real access to you anyway, which is why I thought this would be perfect. We can just agree to a timeframe when you are available for questions, client calls and follow-ups. Maybe that timeframe is while you’re at the office… Otherwise, you’re working solo.” He sat back again, waiting.

“It sounds too good to be true. I-I accept. And, like you said, if after six months it’s not working, we will reassess. I want to be fair to you and the firm. You’ve been so good to me. I can’t thank you enough.” I sighed in relief.

Was this really happening? The last piece of the puzzle nestled safely into place. I shook hands with Adam to seal the deal, gladly signing my new contract.

“I assume you’re heading back to Rome end of this week?”

I nodded.
If only he knew which Rome I was heading to.

Marcus and I spent the rest of the week planning our return to Pompeii—in light of recent events, feeling more secure with our futures. We’d joked about him getting a driver’s license and I couldn’t help but remember his reaction the first time we got in a car…

“Lexi, do you ever wonder why things have been so easy?” he asked.