The women arrived nearly two hours later after their hot drive from New York at the picturesque Cape Cod they had rented for the week just off the board walk along Ocean Avenue in a town called Spring Lake; the house facing directly out to the Atlantic Ocean.
The sun was blasting down on them from a cloudless sky as Olga, Bella and Elliott dragged the suitcases from the car and through the front door, dropping them just inside to look around, and catch their breath.
"Thank God! Air conditioning!" Bella said, turning the unit on.
"I will start cleaning," Olga announced, not even wanting to take a tour of the house.
Bella and Elliott looked at each other shrugging their shoulders and laughing as they took a good look at the interior of the lovely little house they would stay in for a long overdue vacation. Neither couple had ever gotten around to having a honeymoon and supposed this was going to be the closest thing to one, not that it really mattered. The Solos married four months ago, The Kuryakins nearly four years.
"Mama mama, there's a back yard, and swings and monkey bars can I go outside? Please, please?" Demya was nearly bouncing off the walls, having a fair amount of pent up energy from the long car ride.
Elliott walked through the kitchen, opening the back door, peeking out the back. The yard was fenced in and the gate was shut, satisfying her.
"That's may I..."
"Yes mama, may I go outside?" He was jumping up and down in excitement.
"Yes, ye may, but ye are not to step one foot outside that yard! Vy ponimaete meny_ do you understand me?"
"Da mama tebya ponimayu_ yes mama I understand you." Demya knew that when his parents spoke Russian to him, they were to be obeyed completely. There was to be no bending the rules.
"Go!" she laughed, "get out from underfoot so we can unpack then. And ye be careful on the swings please?"
"Da mama, spacibo."
Olga had already started scrubbing the bathroom while Bella and Elliott laid claims to which bedrooms they wanted. It was a three bedroom house and would be comfortable enough for the week.
Demmy had the choice of sleeping where he chose for once. Either his parents room or with Uncle Napoleon and Aunt Bella, though his mother had a funny feeling he would invade his Uncle and Aunt's bed," she thought, chuckling to herself at the idea. Illya had packed a small cot, just in cast the boy became too much.
Each bedroom had it's own air conditioner and there was another unit in the living room. There was a dining room and a small table in the kitchen so there would be plenty of space for meals.
"This is going to work out great," Bella called from her room as she finished putting the last of her and Napoleons clothes in the dresser and closet. The she pulled an iron from the suitcase, having packed it, knowing that her husband liked his clothes to be wrinkle free.
What was nice was then that Napoleon would iron them himself and not expect her to do it for him like a dutiful wife. He was accustomed to taking care of himself and that made her quite happy. She had enough work caring for sometimes demanding patients at the hospital, and didn't need a husband who liked to be waited on. Though he practically doted on her every whim at the moment. Bella would tell him that he was spoiling her but he would only smile. God she loved that man!
Elliott threw the clothes in the dresser, not worrying about if they needed to be re-folded. They could be pressed if needed as she had brought a small travel iron with her just in case. She and Illya were used to living out of suitcases and kept one for just that purpose. She stood in the doorway getting ready to tell Bella she had brought it when Bella stepped out with a full sized iron in her hands. The two of them saw what they each were holding and laughed.
"Oh yah, this is going to be a good vacation." Elliott called back.
"Great minds think alike, " Bella answered her.
They were unpacked organized and ready to relax. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to go into town to do some shopping it's a quaint little place from what I hear." Bella said.
"Tis,' Illuysha and I have been here before. We used to come down to a place called the Warren Hotel. Lots of kids came over from Ireland ta work for the summer and earn extra money there. They have great traditional Irish music sessions on Sundays."
Elliott suddenly realized she missed going to that place; it had been a long time since she and Illya done something so impulsive as driving down to the Warren for the weekend.
Being parents and home owners all made life a little more hectic and there were more assignments than ever pulling Illya out into the field.
That Elliott found she was missing that very much, but she had made her decision to leave the field. Her priorities had changed, her babies had become her life. Being a wife and mother were more important now, and besides being the chief of section III had it's perks. He schedule was nice, and she could come home from work everyday and not disappear on Demmy. That little bit of security for the boy was priceless. Since she was pregnant, Waverly would not send her on any Archangel assignment, and those as a matter of course were far and few between anyway.
The little one kicked again, making Elliott rub her belly, smiling. "Ye are going to be a heller when ye are born my littlest Kuryakin?"
"Then I guess we'll have to check it out tomorrow." Bella called," maybe we can eat dinner at this Warren Hotel."
Elliott grinned. "Now that sounds like a plan, I haven't heard some good music in a long time. Between working for U.N.C.L.E. and being a mother I don't have much time for anything else?"
"Wait until the other one is born, then you'll really know the meaning of not having time."
"Ah sure, looks who callin' the kettle black?" Elliott laughed. " Ye and Napoleon are catching up to us in one shot."
"I have to admit," Bella smiled, " I am a bit nervous about having twins, but I know I can handle it. I come from a big family with lots of kids, you know?"
"But sure it's different when it's yer own." Elliott smiled.
Bella grabbed her purse and a big straw hat, depositing it on her head.
"So want to walk into town with me? If I recall from the brochures, there's a butcher and we can pick up something for dinner?"
"I'll go with ye, but let's not cook tonight. Let's make them take us out, after all it's a vacation isn't it?"
"You know Elliott, I like the way you think." Bella laughed.
Elliott opened up the back door, calling to Demya who was hanging upside down by his knees on the swing set.
"Yes mama?"
"Come we're walking into town."
"Aw mama, but I'm having fun?"
"Demmy, nyeeet."
"Daaaa, mama, coming." The boy trudged into the house obviously not happy about ceasing his playtime.
"But can't I stay with Auntie Olga?'
"No, it's a vacation for her too ye know. Auntie Olga can't watch ye all the time?"
They left Olga in her glory, scrubbing away, even though the house was immaculate. Elliott did't argue with the woman as that was her way and this was what she liked to do. "We'll be back in a bit Olga. Anything you want from town?"
"No dearest, not a thing. Spacibo."
Walking into the small town, strolling through the residential area that surrounded it was a treat for Bella, as she was a city girl and used to Brooklyn and now of course life in a penthouse with Napoleon. The houses in this town were big, beautiful and reeked of old money.
"I heard they called this place the Irish Riviera," Elliott said, "But fer the life of my I've never met any Irish that lived liked this?"
"Tell me about it, " Bella said, sounding very much like a girl from Brooklyn," pretty fancy schmancy if you ask me? The closest we ever got to the beach when I was growing up was Coney Island and there's nothing like this around there."
By the time they had reached the business section of the secluded town, Demya was getting peevish. The heat was beginning to bother him, as he'd been outdoors for quite while and was just not accustomed to it. He was becoming over heated and began to whine and complain to his mother.
"Mamaaaa, I'm hot. Can't we go home now?" Demya was not a fussy boy, prone to any fits of temper as he had more of his father's personality and just like his papa the hot weather was obviously getting to him, making him a bit irritable.
She looked to Bella who was eagerly window shopping. "Do ye mind me abandoning ye for a bit. I need to get the lad something cold to drink. To tell ye the truth I could use something myself, this heat is bloody awful. I don't know how ye are managing it carrying twins?"
"It's my Mediterranean blood Elliott, it loves the sun. You go ahead and take care of Demmy. I'll meet you later back at the house?"
"That would be grand." Elliott sighed in relief, " come on boy-o let's get something cold to drink alright?"
She and Demya wandered down the block in the opposite direction from Bella, when Elliott spotted an ice cream parlour across the street.
She took him by the hand, stopping to tell him to look both ways before crossing a road.
"Look Demmy ice cream, that'll be good won't it?"
"Yes mama, can I, no may I have chocolate?"
"Very good Demmy, just for correcting yourself you get two scoops, good lad!" She was happy that he remembered to ask properly and only wished that Illya were there to hear him, as it would have pleased him, since he was more quick to correct Demya than she was.
She ordered a double scoop for him as promised, and a small one of vanilla for herself and laughed when Demya's eyes opened wide when the man behind the counter handed him a huge ice cream cone.
"Yahblo ot yabloni nedaleko padayet_like father like son," she mused as she watched him dig into it, licking the ice cream with great relish. Elliott took her son by the hand, deciding to head back to the house as her back was bothering her again and the baby was kicking away. She needed to lay down and take that afternoon nap she had become accustomed to lately.
"Come on Demmy let's go back to see Auntie Olga now." she said as she took his hand. Elliott stepped off the curb, suddenly distracted as Demya pulled back on her hand, then he started to cry. She turned to him quickly, while they were both standing just in the street.
"What's wrong darlin?"
She realized he had dropped his ice cream cone, and was standing their wailing away at it as it melted to a puddle in the street."
"Jay-sus, don't cry Demmy, it's alright? Mama will get ye another one, just stop crying please!" she pulled a tissue from her pocket wiping the tears and the chocolate from his face and hands, handing him her own cone to quiet him.
"NO! I want chocolate!"
"Don't ye take that tone of voice with me young man?" Elliott was startled by the loud screech of tires, having just enough time to push Demya away onto the sidewalk before the dark car struck her, sending her through the air into air, landing fifteen feet away.
Agnes Schmidt was coming out of the ice cream parlor and screamed as she saw the woman thrown into the middle of the street as a car hit her.
"Oh my God, somebody call an ambulance!" she called as she ran past the little blond boy as he was crying. "Stay there honey, don't cry, help is coming for your mother."
Agnes saw the driver get out of the car that had struck the woman who's bloody red head, she now cradled in her lap. His facial appearance was frightening as it was hideously scarred, looking like someone had taken a blowtorch to half his face, melting it like wax, making him look almost skeletal; he was grinning bizarrely.
She thought that strange, and watched as he walked to the sidewalk, picking the little boy up his arms. Then a crowd of people gathered around her and she couldn't see them anymore.
An ambulance arrived on the scene ten minutes later as did the police department. Agnes was so excited about the poor woman when she realized she was pregnant that she forgot to tell the policeman about the driver of the car, and his hideous face. She only remembered the little boy standing there crying and now he was gone...