It was apparent to Auggie when he woke and yawned and stretched that he'd gotten too much sun the day before – the skin on his face and back was tight and crinkling it was a bit uncomfortable. He rolled toward the center of the bed and scanned the other half of the king-sized bed with his hand. It was empty and, since there was no longer a heat signature, had been for some time. He rolled back and sat up on the edge of the bed and huffed a sigh. Listening carefully he determined that Annie, his bride now of four days, wasn't in the bathroom, nor was she in the room. A slight ocean breeze indicated that the door to the terrace that Annie said overlooked the town and harbor was open. With hands slightly outstretched before him, Auggie padded to the door.
"Annie?" he queried softly from the doorway.
"I'm here by the terrace wall. Before you come out, there's coffee in a thermal carafe on the right corner of the desk. My turn to obtain the coffee this morning."
After a moment's thought, Auggie continued onto the terrace. Annie didn't speak but hummed softly until Auggie reached her side. He reached out gently until the back of his hand touched his wife's side. Anticipating the embrace that was likely to come next, Annie placed her coffee cup on the stone cap to the terrace wall. Turning to fully face her husband, Annie guided his hands to her waist. Auggie ghosted his hands up to her shoulders and then cupped the sides of her face and tilted her head up slightly. This morning his lips caressed hers tenderly; there was restrained passion behind them.
Secure in her husband's embrace, Annie rested her head on his well-defined chest and he rested his chin on the top of her head. The stood like that for a few minutes then, Auggie pulled out of the embrace and turned to head back into the room. "Right side of the desk you say?"
"Yeah," Annie replied retrieving her half-full cup from where she'd set it down a few minutes before. She watched with a bit of sadness as Auggie veered off course a bit on his way back inside and found the wall to the right side of the doorway rather than the opened door itself. After a cursory scan to both the right and the left, Auggie sidestepped a bit and entered the room. Annie took another sip of her coffee and returned to her observation of the town and harbor below her. A few minutes later Auggie rejoined her with his cup of coffee in hand.
"What's on our agenda for today?" Auggie asked as he crossed the stone terrace.
"We have a massage each left in the spa, but I'm not sure that would be very comfortable with us both being slightly sunburned from yesterday's romps in the sun. And your mom texted me late last night that we need to go see the astrologer before we leave. She has us appointments at 6:00 this evening. She's said that it's a 'must do' sort of thing. That everyone needs to do it while they're here. I'm game if you are.
"You did what I wanted to do yesterday, so today is all yours. Whatever – within reason – you want to do today is fine with me." He came up behind her, placed his free hand on her waist, and leaned in and whispered, "I know yesterday morning was no fun for you. I know that you would have rather been anywhere else on earth than helping me bait hooks and watching my bobber. You have no idea how much I loved that you were willing to do that for me."
Annie turned around under her husband's tender touch. "Auggie, where on earth did you get that idea?"
"You played your part very well, my dear. That's why you are so very good at what we do. But, remember, I'm good at what we do, too. It was so subtle, that I almost missed it, but once I picked up on that one little thing …"
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response because you are so wrong. Would I rather have been somewhere else? Yeah, I can think of a couple places I would rather have been – asleep is definitely one – but was I unhappy being there? No. It gave me great pleasure to see you having what I think was the time of your life. Now," she said rising up on her toes a bit and kissing her husband, "if you'd like, we could go back to bed and … not sleep."
Auggie chuckled a bit at the coy suggestion. "Annie, my dear, contrary to popular belief, I am not a sex machine; I don't need that every day as enjoyable as that might seem. Today, anything is going to pale compared to what we had yesterday on the beach. I can wait for later or another day if you can."
"And what if I don't want to wait?" Annie replied guiding his left hand under her silk nightshirt to cup her breast – a breast that clearly indicated that she was aroused even if he wasn't.
Surprised by the state his wife was in, Auggie helplessly searched for a place to set his coffee cup down. Annie finally took it from him and set his full cup beside her partially empty one. Now freed from the encumbrance of a full cup of hot liquid Auggie's right hand snaked between his wife's legs.
"My god, woman. What has gotten into you this morning?"
"Nothing yet," she cooed pushing her husband forcefully back toward the open doorway. "Nothing yet, but thoughts of yesterday have me wanting more."
"Apparently," Auggie muttered as he allowed himself to be maneuvered backward. Partway into the bedroom he began to shower Annie's mouth with kisses. Soon the backs of his calves met with the edge of the bed and Annie gave her husband a firm shove so that he flopped back on the bed. She scrambled on top and then straddled his waist.
"Whatcha gonna do now, secret agent man?" Annie asked seductively.
"This," Auggie replied reversing their positions in one easy move.
For a few minutes they caressed each other with kisses and touches. Then Annie opened her legs and invited her husband in. By this time he was able to oblige her. As soon as he'd brought Annie to her peak he reached his own. While Annie softly moaned with pleasure, Auggie continued to lay on top of her for a bit, caressing her hair gently.
"Did you get what you wanted?" he whispered in her ear.
"Mmm," she mumbled and gently pushed on his shoulders. He complied by withdrawing from her and rolling to one side.
Annie snuggled into his side and they lay cuddling for the longest while. Finally Annie took her husband's arm from on top of her and rolled so that she could kiss him on the cheek. Then, while he moved to sit up, she padded quietly off to the bathroom to take a shower.
As Annie showered, Auggie called for appointments at the spa for later that afternoon, and then called to arrange for the car to pick them up in ninety minutes and show them the other parts of the island that they hadn't seen yet. Then he called room service for more coffee, croissants, strawberry jam, bacon and eggs for himself and a Greek yogurt for Annie.
It was mid-morning when the car and driver arrived to take them on a tour of the small island. First they drove around Gustavia a bit then to Nikki's on the Beach for a champagne and Russian caviar snack during the fashion show. Auggie endured the show, while Annie fidgeted endlessly as the scantily clad, rail-thin models tried to get her husband's attention. And then a brief visit to some of the small villages. Mid-afternoon found them in the small town of St. Jean, where the driver insisted that they needed to at least browse for a bit on the street with the high-end boutiques. As they strolled along the narrow street, Annie kept a running commentary on what she saw. Occasionally Auggie would smile broadly or laugh at his wife's comments. After picking up a few trinkets from one of the stores for Danielle, Katia and Chloe, Annie insisted that the driver take them back to Gustavia and their hotel – she was terminally bored and knew that Auggie must be also.
After dropping the few packages that they'd acquired along the way in their room, Annie and Auggie retreated to the spa for their last massages. As the masseuses worked on their backs, Annie commented to Auggie, "I have never felt so out of place in my life. I know that almost everything here has to be imported from somewhere else, but the prices in those boutiques today were unreal. I've mingled with these sorts of people for work, but this is my real life, and … Oh, Auggie, when are we going home? I want to go home to our boring middle class life in Reston."
"Yes, dear," Auggie mumbled lazily.
"Did you even hear what I said?" Annie shot back testily.
"Yes, dear, I heard you. You don't like it here and want to go home," Auggie answered. "I'll see if I can get us out of here tomorrow."
"I didn't say we had to leave tomorrow, I just wanted to know when we were scheduled to leave."
"Saturday. We're supposed to leave out on Saturday," Auggie responded quietly.
"Oh." Annie sighed and tried to enjoy the rest of the massage as she listened to the masseuses chatter back and forth in French.
"La damen'est pas contente ici. Elleveut aller chez elle.
Monhommen'est pasheureux non plus. Ilest devenu trèstendu quandla dame lui a dit qu'elle voulaitaller chez elle.
Ces deux, ils ne sont pascomme les autresqui viennent ici.
Non, ilsne le font pasparti comme les autres. Etils sont polis,pas hautain.
J'aimecette paire. Je suis tellement désoléqu'ilsn'aiment pas notrebelle île.
Peut-êtresi l'hommen'était pasaveugle, ilsouhaiterait que labeauté quiest notresurf etune végétation luxuriante.
Quelque part, jepense qu'ilappréciemême ce qu'ilne peut pas voir."
As they strolled, hand-in-hand, back to their room, Auggie asked Annie, "They were talking about us weren't they?"
"Who?"
"The masseuses while they were finishing our massages."
"Yeah," Annie reluctantly admitted. "I guess most of their clients don't understand French. They like us since we're not like most of the people they get to deal with. … Your masseuse said that you tensed up when I said I wanted to go home. Why?"
Auggie sighed slightly before he began to speak. "I wanted this time to be wonderful for you. It's not and I don't know what to do to make it so."
"Oh, Auggie, it's not like I'm not having a good time. It's just that today pointed out how big the gap is between the way most visitors to this beautiful place live and my .. our … lives. We don't belong here. …"
Auggie stopped walking and pulled Annie back to him. "We'll finish out today. It's probably too late to try to change our flights back to the States tonight. First thing in the morning … I wish I had my team to put to work on this. They'd extract us in a heartbeat."
Annie laughed heartedly. "Yes, I'm sure you do. They have worked wonders for me more than once. Let's see what happens tonight and in the morning. I'm feeling less uncomfortable right now."
After pulling Annie into a hug, Auggie whispered, "Whatever you want to do, my dear."
"Right now, I want to go get dressed for the evening and go find this astrologer that your mother insists we visit."
# # # # #
Hostellerie des 3 Forces nestled in the shadow of a ridge between it and the sea. Annie took in the look of the small intimate hotel and described it to Auggie who smiled slightly at the succinct description of the layout and the setting – just enough to give him a sense of his surroundings. After the car had pulled to a stop under the portico, Auggie slid out of the back seat and held out his hand to his wife; Annie slid over and swung her legs out of the vehicle and accepted her husband's assisting hand. Pushing the car door closed, Annie assumed the role of Auggie's sighted guide seamlessly.
Promptly at 6:00 Annie and Auggie strolled into the decidedly Caribbean lobby of the hotel owned by the Astrologer H. de la Motte. Monsieur de la Motte met them in the center of the lobby and looked them up and down with a critical eye.
"Mr. & Mrs. Anderson?" he asked coming toward them with outstretched hand.
"Yes," Auggie responded offering his hand.
After another quick observation of the couple before him, H. de la Motte took Auggie's offered hand and shook it firmly. "Yes, of course you are. I would know you anywhere." Then he took Annie's hand and touched his lips to the back of it. "Follow me," the astrologer said as he dropped Annie's hand.
H. de la Motte led the way down a short hallway and into an eclectically furnished office. He took a seat behind a medium-sized round table draped with a colorful fringed scarf and the requisite crystal ball in the center. After gesturing to the wing-backed chairs that flanked the table, H. de la Motte gathered up the sheets of paper scattered on the tabletop. "Madame, first?"
"Yes, of course," Auggie replied settling back into the chair.
"What do I need to do?" Annie queried.
"Nothing at the moment," the astrologer said as he sorted through the papers in his hand. "When the appointment was made I gathered most of the information that I needed to do your charts."
For the next few minutes he went over, first Annie's chart and then Auggie's noting the planets and 'houses' that ruled each of their destinies. For the most part both Annie and Auggie were mildly amused with things that they were told. H. de la Motte had a way of phrasing the mundane that made it sound new and exciting; prophetic even. He'd 'seen' a long prosperous union between them; two children – a boy first and then a girl; ups, and downs, but mostly ups, in both of their work worlds and in their personal finances; and other basic things like that. As they were preparing to leave, the astrologer looked at them both with concern, "I see danger in both of your worlds. Things are not always what they might seem to be. Right now both of you are in the dark, but one day Mr. Anderson will come into the light. Shortly thereafter you will suffer a tragedy; you will lose someone close to you. Not a parent, but someone closer to you. Both of you must be careful or the other things cannot happen." Then he brightened, "Now you must come to the dining room. I will grill you my famous Spiny Lobster."
For the next almost two hours, de la Motte and his wife/hostess Ginette plied them, and a Russian tycoon and his entourage, with fine wine and regaled them with the story of their lives and how they came to own the small hotel.
As the evening progressed, the wine and other spirits flowed freely and the party of Russians began to talk freely in Russian. Some of the conversation between the Russian tycoon and another man he seemed to be entertaining for the evening, began to pique Annie's interest, but she worked hard to keep any indication that she understood them from her bearing, although she did curtail her consumption of alcohol while making it appear that she was growing more inebriated along with the others. If Auggie realized what was happening, he did not let on.
Finally the evening wound to an early close and Annie and Auggie took their car back to Gustavia and their hotel. Their driver was surprised, and expressed it, that the pair wanted to return to their hotel rather than hit one of the many night clubs scattered around the island to drink, dance and be seen.
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