Cognac & Couture (The Passport Series Book 2) (32 page)

Lounging in the sitting room of the
suite we shared, we talked about tonight’s plans.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Hillary asked me
again. “We’re here for you, not to party in Aarhus.”

She and I sat side by side, so I leaned in and gave her a
hug, while I bobbled my head indeterminately. “Yes. No. It isn’t going to
change anything by staying in. Besides, I think we could all use a
distraction.”

“Do you think of him often?” Tiziana asked from where she
sat nearby.

I stared at her, trying to find the right words. “The summer
Mikkel and I spent together was unlike any other time in my life. In many ways,
I went from being a girl to a woman. I learned what it meant to love someone so
completely that my happiness gave way to his—his needs were as important, if
not more important, than my own. In those last weeks together, the world was
ours, and there were no limits, no impossibilities. Afterwards, after he died,
I would forget and see someone like him and get excited, or come across
something I wanted to share with him and then be jolted back to reality. I
still think of him, sometimes too often. I believe I always will. But now maybe
less, since I don’t have to hold it all inside.

“Sébastien
knows all this,”
I continued. “It’s important to me that all of you understand that I feel the
deepest love for
Sébastien. With him, I started out a
woman, after the world had lost quite a bit of its glitter, its shine. The
golden summer sunlight that engulfed everything while Mikkel and I were
together… I feel it again. I feel the perfectness of it. It’s impossible to
explain. All I know is that I’m genuinely happy, and I never thought I would be
again. That’s why I got so angry at the christening. I wanted to live. I didn’t
want to think about the fact that maybe I still had issues to work through. I’m
sorry.”

Charlotte launched herself at me,
squeezing me fiercely. “I cannot imagine one moment without Liam. I don’t know
how you did this. I’m so sorry.” She sniffed loudly, wiping tears away. “If it
matters, helps in any way, I believe love comes to us in many ways. I believe
both were meant for you. Seeing you today… I felt every ounce of your love for
Mikkel. I love Sébastien, and I’m grateful to him for the love and peace he
gives you.”

Her words made me radiate
happiness. When the other two dogpiled on the loveseat where Hillary, Charlotte,
and I sat, I knew I had the best friends ever.

Once the melancholy air had been replaced by laughter, we
set about glamming up for the evening. Not sure what sort of establishment we
would find, we picked “elegant-casual.”

The tall blond man working at the concierge desk looked
gobsmacked when we strolled across the hotel lobby, so dynamically different in
style and attitude. He cleared his throat and tugged his tie as we approached.

Marian, emboldened by the man’s behavior, did the talking.
Reading his nametag, she said, “Frederik, we are in desperate need of a drink!
Where would you recommend we go?”

Promptly, he recommended we visit Åboulevarden, the street
in Aarhus most famous for its nightlife. He managed to pull himself together
and mark a few bars on a tourist map, which he then handed to Marian.

Winking at him, she thanked him profusely. “If you get off
work anytime soon, come find us!”

Out on the sidewalk, Charlotte asked, “How far? Choose
somewhere close. These heels are killing me. My feet got wider with the
pregnancy!”

Long accustomed to Charlotte’s penchant for the highest
heels one could find, Marian and Hillary scanned the map while Tiziana and I
buttoned up our coats; Charlotte tottered around to keep blood moving through
her feet.

“Here’s one. Listen to the translation. ‘Down the street
from the Römer Bar, nightlife lovers in Aarhus find the Glazzhuset (glass
house) club at Åboulevarden 1. This is a fun place for everyone over thirty.
The Glazzhuset consists of several stories with very different styles of music.
There aren't too many youngsters at this nightlife location.’”

“Sounds perfetto,” Tiziana exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

***

A few hours and an equal number of
bottles of wine later, Marian was drunk enough to ask, “So, Kathleen, you
believe the two of you would have married?”

Hillary and Charlotte shot her a dirty look; the day’s
tension had only just begun to fade away. I patted Marian’s hand, letting
everyone know that it was okay. “Yes, Marian. I do. I think we would have
married and had a great life together.”

“Feck.”

I chuckled at her remark. “Yup.”

“Y
ou love Sébastien with the same
certainty. Amazing!” Marian lounged back against the bolster on the
faux-leather couch, propped up on an elbow with her legs crossed at her heels.
Any more alcohol in her and she would slither to the floor. “All I can say is
you are fecking lucky to have loved two men that much. Me, only the one. I’ll
die old and alone.” Just then the waiter passed by. “Oiy! We need another bottle
of wine.”

Tiziana and Charlotte were sitting
upright in their chairs, eyes gleaming brightly with curiosity. “Marian! Who’s
the
one
?” Charlotte gasped.

Knowing she’d let the cat out of
the bag, Marian sat up straight, ready to do battle. “Declan Parker. We have a
longstanding tradition of hooking up once a year for a weekend whilst attending
the concert at Slane Castle.”

“So, not Michael?” Hillary asked softly.

Marian reached over and squeezed
Hillary’s delicate hand. “Never Michael. He’s a handsome bastard, that’s for
sure. Sadly, I’ve been in love with Declan for forever, and he sees me as his
bit of stuff, once a year.”

Not letting it go, Charlotte asked
how long it had been going on. “Seven years.” Marian kept her answer brief, as
the waiter had arrived with the bottle.

“Seven years!” Hillary squawked uncharacteristically
then stopped herself from saying more until glasses were filled and the waiter
had fled Marian’s leer.

Tiziana cut to the chase. “Do you
really love him, or is it just sex?”

“Love or sex? Both obviously. But
love? Must do. I told him so last August.”

“You told him?” Charlotte asked.
“Marian, I swear to God, quit making us pull teeth and tell us the salient
details.”

“Well, I would love to tell you
more, but just after I made my grand declaration, I fell asleep. When I woke
up, he was gone, which wasn’t at all good, since we were meant to spend the day
together. And before you ask, I’ve not heard nary a word since.”

“What are you going to do, bella?”
Tiziana asked in a tortured voice.

“Hope he shows up in June for the next
concert.”

“I cannot fucking believe it,”
Hillary exclaimed, surprising us, as she and the word “fuck” did not often cross
paths. “You have an on-going ‘weekender’ with a man, never tell us, plus, you
fall in love with him, and you’re content to sit around and wait for
June
to see if he shows up?”

Charlotte put a restraining hand
on Hillary’s arm, as though Hillary might throw herself at Marian.

“What can I do? He left me after I
told him I loved him.”

“Are you sure he was even awake?
Maybe he’d fallen asleep,” Hillary snorted at her.

Marian bolted upright and said,
“Christ and all that’s holy!” Her eyes darted back and forth. “I never thought
of that. But then, why did he disappear? Never respond?”

THE LAST OF
the picnic
supplies were unloaded by the crew while the guests lingered on the deck for
one last afternoon cocktail. Tiziana called to the hard-working men, “
Grazi!
Take a break, have some wine or beer. Relax. Grazi, grazi!”

The men called their thanks, and, from the looks on their
faces, it was obvious they were completely smitten and devoted to her.

Sprawled on lounge chairs, the rest of us, sun-kissed from a
day of playing in the sun, sought the shelter of the shade. Sean, now ten
months old, crab-crawled across the deck as fast as his little body could move.
Liam sat at one end, leaning against Charlotte’s legs, while Des sat in the
shade by the bar. Both called for him to come to them.

Marian whispered to me, “Heard any more on the Canadian
woman and baby?”

“They’ve just finalized their agreement. He’s paying child
support and bought her a house or something like that. Visitation rights are in
place. Not exactly ‘happily ever after.’”

She looked pensive.

“What about you? How are you feeling?” I dared ask.

“Getting there.” But I knew she wasn’t. The concert hadn’t
taken place, and there hadn’t been so much as a peep from Declan. She
continued, “I should say, I’ll
get
there. There’s a bloke out there for
me.”

Further conversation was interrupted when Tiziana announced,
“Dinner is at 8:00. We should meet here around 7:15.
Ladies! Dazzle your men.”

***

I was
settled in the shadows of the deck, leaning against the railing with Sébastien
nuzzling my neck, when Tiziana strolled onto the deck. I put my finger in front
of my lips to warn him. We slunk further into the darkness and watched her
wander around, checking the Champagne bottles sitting in ice, each green glass
bottle wet with condensation. She went to each table, fiddled with the elegant
bouquets of brightly colored flowers, and made sure the chairs were neatly
organized around the deck.

We overheard Hillary say to her,
“It’s beautiful, Tiziana.”

Tiziana, clearly startled, drew in
a sharp breath at her friend’s greeting. “Hillary! You scared me. I thought I
was alone. Well, except for Kathleen and Sébastien. You look utterly
beautiful.”

It was my turn to take in a deep
breath of surprise. Grinning, we came out of our hiding spot.

Hillary wore a long, strapless,
midnight blue chiffon gown; a diamond choker sparked at her throat. Her hair
was carefully coiled up, with a few wispy curls dangling down toward her golden
skin. “Thank you. You look ravishing, as always.”

Tiziana wore a Proenza Schouler
gown with canary-yellow vertical bands down the cups of her snug bodice and a
ruffle of sorts at her feet. “Thank you, darling. Ted picked it out for me when
we were in Paris. I love it!”

“He has great taste,” I said.

We all jumped when Ted’s deep
masculine voice announced, “Yes, he does.”

“Darling! If we keep surprising
each other, we’re going to be so agitated.” He looked at her in confusion but
didn’t get to find out what she meant before she asked, “Everything ready?”

He nodded. “We’re ready when
everyone else gets here.”

No sooner said, than Marian and
Charlotte arrived, followed by Des and Liam, who were laughing hard at
something Des had just said.

“
Ha
! For once we aren’t
last,” Charlotte announced to Liam, not seeing Sébastien and me. We had sunk
back into the shadows to enjoy the moonlight.

Grabbing his wife’s hand, Liam
said, “We’ll be back in five minutes!” Charlotte’s cheeks flushed, but she took
his teasing in stride as he placed a warm kiss on her knuckles.

“Not true,” I called from the
corner.

A crewmember was already doling
out glasses of Champagne. We strolled forward and took a glass.

When everyone was accounted for
and had a glass of bubbly in hand, Ted and Tiziana stepped into a small circle
of light at the bow of the ship to join the captain. Ted joked, “The captain is
going to say a few words, none of which most of us will understand, since he’s
been drinking.”

The captain chuckled heartily, as
did the rest of us.

Ted turned to Marian. “I think I
forgot to mention, he’s new to the crew. From Hungary. Close enough to Belarus?”
I felt sorry for the bewildered captain as we laughed harder.

Once we settled down, the ceremony
began. The captain began by reciting the poem “The Boat” by Rabindranath
Tagore.

I must launch out my boat.

The languid hours pass by on the

Shore—Alas for me!

A few minutes later, all that
remained was the unveiling of the new name. We huddled around the bow as Ted
and Tiziana grappled with an enormous bottle of Champagne, discussing how to
break it against the boat.

They counted backwards from ten
and we joined in. At “one,” they swung hard, and the bottle glanced off the
boat, not shattering as expected. Surprise and laughter followed. The second
time, they swung harder, successfully breaking the bottle.

“What’s the boat’s bloody name?”
Des called down to Ted.

He shouted something up, his words
lost on a gust of the wind.

“Did he say teats, as in a cow’s
udder or a woman’s ti—?” Des’s voice stalled in surprise when Liam elbowed him,
gesturing over his shoulder at what he expected to be an indignant group of
women. Instead, the four of us were keeled over, laughing.

Des bravely pursued the matter
when Ted and Tiziana appeared. “Sorry, mate, we missed out on the name. Am I
right? Did you actually say
teats
?” Des asked incredulously.

Tiziana gasped. “Why not? He
wanted to call it
La Belle Teetz
, but this one is better, don’t you
think?”

Des openly stared at Tiziana’s
breasts and asked the only question he could. “
Er
, in what way?”

Marian jumped in. “It’s a play on
words—”

Tiziana elbowed her, shushing her to
be quiet. She was clearly enjoying the discomfort.

Des, Sébastien, and Liam, still
perplexed, looked from Marian to Tiziana, who smiled as if everything was
crystal clear.

Des admitted, “I’m sure I don’t
understand.”

Ted glanced
pointedly at
his wife’s cleavage. “What don’t you get about
Knotty Teaz
?” The men
heaved a synchronized sigh of relief. “Knotty for nautical, Teaz for Tiziana
and Ted. Two T’s. I would have thought it abundantly clear.” He looked at them
as if they were idiots.

Des said quietly to Liam, “He did say
teats
, right?”

Tiziana looked over her shoulder and winked at us.

“Jaysus, she’s got balls!” Marian sputtered through her
laughter.

“Nope, she’s got tits,” Charlotte retorted.