"Can you make sure that Richard took care of Antonio. I think I saw him settling our tab last night," Stellan stopped mid-sentence and let out this sound from his throat like he'd swallowed down a dry heave.
I didn't move at all, I didn't even open my eyes behind my sunglasses. Once the two of us had managed to make it down to the pool we'd collapsed onto loungers and passed back out, waking up intermittently whenever Anya got too loud or another wave of nausea punished us. I felt so awful I only made a meager attempt of covering up the bruises on my neck and wrists with a sheer top, and only for Anya's sake. Stellan's already haggard face had gone a shade paler when he saw what he'd inadvertently done to me. I hadn't had the heart to tell him those were only the ones you could easily see.
"Of course," Jack answered. It was followed by the sound of the lounge chairs being pushed across the tile toward me. Again, I didn't dare move because then Jack would start asking me questions and I did not have that in me today.
"Oh," Stellan croaked, "we'll have to get that car detailed because...it's basically a crime scene now."
"You two threw up in it?" Jack harshly asked, sounding very much like a beleaguered soldier.
"Ummm…" Stellan stalled and it took all of my concentration not to start laughing. "Sure, let's go with that."
"For Christ sakes," Jack hissed at him, but Stellan just laughed in response. Then I felt his head land in my lap and figured it was safe to pretend to wake up now. My fingers threaded through his hair and I looked to my right to see that he'd pushed all four loungers together to make himself a horizontal bed. He snuggled into my thigh, sighing relief.
"I talked to Elodie this morning," Jack continued and I frowned at him. "Everything is in place for the…"
Stellan turned around just enough to scowl and cut over him with, "stop. I can't. I'm too hungover. We can do this later."
"Later?" Jack's eyes bugged a little.
I appreciated Stellan giving us the break. Elodie has next day aired me a replacement phone, already reset with all my accounts. But once I'd seen the growing number of text messages I was behind on this morning I'd turned it off. It seemed like Stellan was finally getting the hang of this vacation thing too. And dealing with Circle bullshit would without a doubt test the limits of my gag reflex today.
"We should talk about this now," he pressed, trying to get Stellan's full attention. I closed my eyes and shook my head.
"Not happening," Stellan grumbled and turned back toward my hip, pressing a couple kisses to it before relaxing, I immediately started petting him in thanks. Jack scowled at us and then turned on his heel and left.
"I'm sorry," I yelled toward the dining room as I hurried down the final few steps. I could already hear the glasses and silverware clinking as I turned the corner and paused. I'd overslept. It didn't exactly help my grand plan to keep this trip in vacation mode, but it did help me get over the last of my hangover. I tried to corral my rapidly curling hair into a ponytail as I took in the room. We hadn't had a meal in here yet, opting to do everything at the pool so Anya could keep swimming. There were beautiful birds of paradise displays beside a few of the open windows, the bright orange making the views of the ocean seem that much deeper blue. Covering the majority of the circular table was a delicious looking breakfast, complete with huevos rancheros and exotic looking fruit. I crossed the green and white checkered floor to take the empty seat next to Stellan.
He was already done eating, just sipping coffee as he flipped through his phone. Jack was still picking at some bacon as he frowned at his phone and Anya was attempting to finish a pancake that was the size of a dinner plate, her eyes glued to some obnoxious YouTube video. No one looked up at me and my frustration grew. I let them out of my sight for a few hours and they all reverted back to Riberton settings. Maybe I should toss everyone's phones into the pool. Instead, I forced myself to settle and leaned across the table to grab the mango juice loudly clearing my throat. At least Anya to looked up at me.
"Any plans for today?" I brightly asked her.
"Swimming," she shrugged and took another bite. Jack and Stellan were nodding, their eyes still glued to their phones and I swallowed my outburst. Of course, more swimming would appease them - they'd secured that days ago. I grabbed a piece of toast and smirked to myself. They had no idea the wrench I was about to throw into their well-oiled Keeper machine.
"Actually, Anya," I casually started and relished the way they two boys flinched at my tone. "I had something else planned for today."
"You do?" She pushed her plate and phone away, her wide blue eyes matching the ocean displayed behind her.
I nodded as I took a bite, "this is an animal preserve after all. I thought it might be fun to take a tour of the grounds. On horseback."
Anya gasped, her hands flying to her cheeks as she tried to collect herself. Jack and Stellan, on the other hand, both locked their phones and turned very annoyed eyes onto me. I took another bite.
"We're all going riding together?" Anya asked, each word getting louder in her excitement. I could practically feel Jack and Stellan's tension at the next words about to come out of my mouth.
"Oh, not Stellan and I," I gave her a little frown. "Mosquito threat is too high for my compromised immune system and someone has to babysit me."
"I see," she deflated a little, no doubt thinking she'd be doing this on her own. But I'd planned for that as well.
"But," I loudly continued and took a sip of juice as I paused, watching Jack scrunch his face into frustration because he knew what was coming next. "Did you know that Jack is excellent at horseback riding?"
"Jack!" Anya yelled, spinning toward him and crossing her arms in a pout.
"Yep. He plays for the royal polo team." I added, smirking into my juice.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Anya scolded him and he gave her a single pointer finger, which stopped her cold as he locked incredibly harassed eyes onto me.
"Is this a good idea?"
"Best idea," I nodded. "I set it up so you're the only two on the tour, you'll have an Order guard trailing in a Jeep, and they set up extra security along the marsh just in case. Miguel should be here in about," I reached over and pushed the home button on Stellan's phone to reveal the time, "five minutes."
"I have to get changed!" Anya exclaimed jumping up from the table, breakfast abandoned and made a beeline for the door.
"Kuklachka," Stellan started but I shook my head, grabbing a second piece of toast as I spoke over him,
"You should get changed too. Don't want to keep Miguel waiting."
"This is a horrible idea," Jack tossed his napkin at the table in agitation.
"It's going to be wonderful. You'll be thanking me at dinner when you two get back." I smirked, taking another bite.
"Dinner?" They said at the same time.
"There's a break for lunch in the middle of it. I arranged a picnic for you two."
"Absolutely not. I haven't vetted any of this. It's too high a risk." Jack stood, his chair scraping against the tiles and I felt the anger boil in my chest. The dangerous kind, the PCS kind that was hard for me to control.
I had expected some push back for this little stunt, but he was going to need to get used to it because I had all kinds of other things planned for this week. I would not just sit idly by the pool as we slowly died of boredom because Jack and Stellan didn't know how to loosen up. I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but from the angry flush to his cheeks and the way his chest seemed to be getting larger with each inhalation I threw out my trump card.
"You'll do it," I darkly warned him, "or I'll make it an order."
"Avery," Stellan whispered next to me, but Jack and I were locked into a staring contest that I was not about to lose. After what felt like five minutes of glaring he blinked, clenched his jaw, and with a curt nod turned and left.
I went back to my breakfast, serving myself some eggs and fruit as well as a cup of coffee as Stellan continued to sit in stunned silence next to me. Taking a deep breath between each bite was calming my rage, but I was still on edge. I could feel his eyes on me and finally looked over, surprised to find him smiling.
"What?" I snapped.
"Nothing," he pacified, throwing both his palms up toward me, "that was just incredibly hot."
"Really?" I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at him. He nodded, several times, his eyes raking over my bushy hair and the flush from my rage slowly ebbing from my cheeks.
"I take it you have plans for me as well?" He smirked and took a sip of coffee.
"Big plans," I smiled to myself as an ocean breeze fluttered the sheer curtains at the windows.
"You really don't want to go riding with them?"
This question was serious, and I took it into consideration for a moment. I worked through a bite of eggs as I weighed the pros and cons, finally deciding to stick with the plan.
"Oh," I paused as I took a bite of cantaloupe, "I'll be riding something."
He did a spit take into his coffee as I took another bite and relished every second of making Stellan blush.
When we'd come up for air at lunchtime Chef Mateo had offered me a beer to go with the shrimp tacos he was preparing tableside for us. But remembering how bitter Jack's beer had been I'd declined. He and Stellan had some kind of humorous exchange before the chef snapped his fingers in inspiration and returned with a blended strawberry margarita for me. I had initially been very wary to attempt tequila again, a mear 24 hours after almost dying from my hangover. But you could barely taste it with all the mixers, and it slowly unraveled all the residual tension I'd been holding onto since my morning spat with Jack. So, I had two with lunch and requested a third after our massages on our private balcony.
"I've never seen them up close before," Anya whispered.
"They're kinda beautiful don't you think?" I whispered back. Anya nodded and I leaned back in my lounger so I could grab my drink. She moved closer to Stellan's back to get a better look at the intimidating display he hid 90% of the time.
I hadn't been lying when I told him I had big plans for him today. It wasn't only sex I was after, though that had been a majority of the plan. I knew he was fully capable of showing his true colors if he could just relax. And since he'd revealed to me that his scars no longer hurt him when he was calm the very first thought I'd had was a massage. It had been a hard sell. He'd absolutely refused to let his masseuse touch anywhere below his belt line. But once she'd managed to unravel a knot on his shoulder he'd given me a smile so gorgeous I had to look away. Once I'd battled all my butterflies back down I looked over to find he'd passed out on the table.
"I didn't even know he had tattoos until I saw him change at Colette's house. What do they mean?" She quirked her head to the side in thought and before I could formulate an answer continued with, "his scars are worse than mine. He never showed me the ones on his shoulders before."
I nodded, not trusting my drunk mouth to keep Stellan's secrets to myself. If he hadn't told her about his giant back tattoos or the severity of his scars yet, there was probably a very good reason. I chased down the straw on my blended margarita and took another deep gulp.
"Do you have a tattoo?" Anya broke up the rhythmic swell of the ocean with her quiet question. "It seems like everyone does."
"What do you think?" I stalled, taking a final sip and putting down my now empty glass.
Anya thought about it for a long time, looking between Stellan and I and then shook her head, "it was supposed to happen on your birthday, but that was the day after I came from Russia."
I was stunned. I pressed my lips together so I wouldn't blurt out anything in my inebriation, but honestly, I was more worried than impressed. She knew way more about the Circle than I thought, and it gave me a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach. Anya moved over to sit on the end of my lounger and continued,
"The older girls at my school talk about it a lot. Where they'll get their tattoo on their birthday. One of them asked me what our family's tattoo looked like once."
The anger flared in my chest and I crossed my arms trying to stem it. What the hell was going on at that school? Why would she be anywhere near 16-year-olds? I was a moment away from calling the headmistress and giving her an earful when Anya laughed and said,
"I didn't know what to say so I just started saying nonsense in Russian."
We both shared a little laugh and from the corner of my vision, I caught Stellan's eyes flutter open, watching the two of us. I leaned forward and slipped my finger under the chain hiding just beneath her collar until my locket popped out and laid across the sparkly heart design on her shirt.
"We took your last name for our family," I started, running my fingers down the chain to the locket. That exact movement filled me with such an acute sense of nostalgia that I released the chain like it was hot. "This is our symbol."
"Would you get one now?" She grabbed the locket and pressed it into her fist, releasing it to show me the design it made in her palm. I traced the outside of the imprint in her hand and then took a deep breath, pooling all my swirling emotions back into check.
"No," I firmly answered, snatching my finger away. She looked up, her eyes startled and I added, "the Circle forced people to get tattoos to show ownership. We're not the Circle."
Her eyes immediately darted to Stellan's back, realization filling her face, and then her whole neck flushed red as she noticed he'd been watching us.
"Eto pravda?" She quickly asked. He nodded and sat up, patting the now empty space next to him. The questions started pouring from her in quick Russian I couldn't keep up with and his eyes narrowed as I watched him mentally keep track of every single one.
Watching the two of them - their blond hair shifting in the ocean breeze, their skin taking on a slightly reddish hue under all the building tan, so different and yet almost mirrors of each other - I felt like an outsider. I didn't want to slow this down, I didn't want to intrude on something so intense and obviously needed between them by making them switch to English, or barely following along in Russian. I stood and tried to quickly make my way back into the room.
"Avery," they both called out after me and I turned and gave them a big, fake, smile.
"It's okay, I have to go to the bathroom anyway," I lied. Anya smiled in return, but Stellan's eyes were suspicious. It didn't matter, Anya leaned forward to tap his shoulder and ask him more questions. He broke our eye contact and I made my escape, through our room and down the staircase to the first-floor living room. Only to almost trip over Jack as he sprawled across one of the armchairs, rubbing at the giant compass on his forearm. So I'd managed to upset everyone in one felled swoop this afternoon - lovely.
"I could have sworn the bathroom was only on the second floor," Jack groaned, kicking his shoes off and making himself comfortable.
"There's actually two on the first floor, though I'm not sure why." I cautiously affirmed and stepped over his dusty looking jeans to sit across from him on the bright white couch filled with blue and orange pillows. Once I was nestled in snugly between a mountain of them I finally met his eyes.
"Did you have any more tasks today you're willing to kill me for if I don't obey?" He rose a sharp eyebrow at me and I couldn't stop the flush of embarrassment.
"You know I had to," I grumbled.
"But you didn't," he sassed back, shaking his head in agitation, a plume of dirt and pollen rose up out of his hair. Where the hell had they taken them today? A dirt farm?
"Please," I rolled my eyes. "Neither of us were going to back down as normal people. I had to pull rank on you. I'm basically just burning piles of cash on this trip, and I need at least two days of Stellan acting normal for it to be worth anything."
"Stellan doesn't have a normal setting. He's either intimidatingly Russian or infuriatingly French." Jack snapped and I couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that rolled through me.
"Am I annoyingly American?" I joked.
"No," he narrowed his eyes at me. "You're a hypocrite."
"Jack," I sighed, shifting deeper into my pillow fort. The room was starting to spin around me from all the tequila.
"Don't tell Anya you're not Circle and then turn around and order me to go horseback riding or die." He steamed, shifting on the chair as another layer of dust shook off his shirt and onto all the white furniture.
"I was never going to kill you," I argued. "Do you think I'm insane?"
"That's what it means, Avery. Certain words have weight in the Circle and that's one of them." He stood, harassed, and I threw a pillow at him to stop him from leaving. He caught it before it smacked into his face and turned angry eyes onto me.
"You forced my hand!" I rose my voice and sat up, pillows spilling all over the floor. "If you just wanted to watch Anya swim in a pool we could have stayed at Riberton. I know this is a foreign concept for you two, but families go on vacations all the time so they can enjoy each other's company."
"What family?" He countered, hurling the pillow toward the mess of them on the floor.
I kicked a few back in retaliation and fumed, "no offense Jack, but Stellan, Anya and I are. I am legally a Korolov. I want them to be happy. And I know that's fucking weird for everyone else involved with all your warped Circle bullshit. But I have absolutely no problem throwing you under the bus to achieve that."
I started sucking in deep breaths, attempting to calm myself as Jack blinked hard a few times, seemingly paralyzed by my rant. It was so quiet in the wake of my outburst we both looked at the ceiling simultaneously knowing Stellan and Anya had probably heard every single word of that. We both slumped with weariness, our eyes meeting again and I shook my head in disappointment. Why couldn't Jack and I ever have a normal conversation? It always ended up in screaming.
"Okay," he nodded.
"Okay, what?" I snapped back.
"You're right," he answered, crossing his arms over his chest, a look of grim determination contorting his face. "You're not just the 13th Family, and I need to respect that space."
"Thank you," I tersely replied and we stared warily at each other for another beat. I was waiting for the but. I'm sure he was waiting for me to do something unpredictable and emotionally charged in retaliation as well. But then another beat passed, and we heard the Russian start up again above us and Jack cautiously sat back down in his filthy armchair and gave me a little nod as he asked,
"What else have you planned for this trip? Can you please just give me the itinerary so we don't have to resort to threats every morning?"
"Only if you promise you aren't about to make some kind of objection to every activity I've already paid for," I replied with a big, patronizing, smile.
"Lay it on me." He frowned and then rubbed at his face, smearing a blotch of dirt across his forehead.
"Did you at least have fun today?" I countered first. Maybe if I could get him to admit my plan hadn't been all bad he'd be more open to everything I was about to reveal to him.
"I actually did," he replied with a twinkling sort of smile that lit up his face. "Anya is a very good rider. And the grounds are unbelievable."
"Okay good!" I clapped and leaned down to retrieve all the pillows that had spilled to the floor. "Because tomorrow we're going deep sea fishing on a yacht."
"We're what?" He immediately asked but I continued barreling onward,
"Then the day after is surfing lessons at the swimming beach and I've arranged for a full mariachi to serenade us during our bonfire dinner," I answered. "Oh, and I can't forget the sea turtles."
"Sea turtles?" He blanched.
"And the fireworks." I nodded, trying to dig through my drunk thoughts to remember everything I'd arranged.
"You paid," Jack paused for emphasis, "for a fireworks display?"
"Shhh," I hissed at him, looking up at the ceiling, "it's a surprise for Anya."
"Avery," he grumbled looking down at his filthy hands.
"You're going to love it!" I emphasized by throwing another pillow at him. This time it smacked him on the side of the head, bouncing off to land somewhere on the floor behind him.
He glowered at me, "just how drunk are you?"
"Very," I tried to answer seriously, but a bubble of laughter snuck its way out. "Is there something you wanted to do while we're here?"
He shook his head, collapsing back into his chair, letting his feet slide along the plush rug as he relaxed and contemplated my question again. I forced myself to hold still, wanting to give him space to really consider all his options, though my drunkenness was urging me to keep talking.
"I want a day off," he finally answered.
"Granted," I immediately replied. "Just tell me the day."
"Clearly not tomorrow, or the next day, or the fireworks day." He grinned at me.
"I did schedule some free days next week," I gave him a genuine smile. "Pick one of those."
"Good plan." He nodded.
I stood, all the jewel-toned pillows falling to the ground again and started my teetering stumble back upstairs when Jack held up a hand. I stood in front of him, marveling again at just how dusty he looked when he said,
"All I ever need is to be looped into what you're thinking. I'm your ally, not your enemy."
I nodded, it was something he shouldn't have had to remind me of, but I was glad that he did. I patted his strong shoulder as I continued walking past, both of us laughing at the pollen that lifted off into the air.
"What will you do on your day off?" I wondered, pausing at the base of the staircase as I looked back at him.
"Sleep," he grumbled, and before I'd even made it up the flight of stairs I heard him snoring.
"I still think you should have flown out," I yelled toward my phone as I crawled along the floor of our bedroom looking for my lost flip flop.
"I wish. But I had to handle some things back at the villa before the next location on this project." Colette sighed.
I laid flat on the ground and pulled the comforter up so I could look under the bed, yanking out the missing white and blue flip flop and jumping back up to my feet. It made the room spin from the tequila left in my system from lunch. I sat on the bed with a thump and grabbed my phone, switching to FaceTime instead of a call.
"Look at you!" Colette cooed as I blew some hair out of my eyes. "You're so tan!"
"You should see Stellan!" I laughed.
"Show me," she urged and I stood up and walked to the window to see if they were still down at the pool. We were leaving for our excursion soon but I wasn't about to ignore a call from Colette. The pool looked empty and I shrugged,
"Sorry. Don't see them. But I have pictures!"
As Colette encouraged me I tried to figure out the way to share my screen with her. I'd seen Elodie do it a couple times before. My face disappeared and instead, the first picture from our group photo album popped up.
Even though I'd eventually received my new phone, I'd continued to abandon responsibility so I could ensure we all stayed in vacation mode. I was the only one that knew how to do it after all. So instead of answering emails, all I'd really been doing was taking pictures. Lots of pictures.
"Look at her!" Colette gushed. I smiled in response. The first one was of Anya mid-jump on our giant white bed, blue pillows floating in the air with her and a huge smile on her face.
We both let out little sighs at the next one. Anya, again, this time sleeping on one of the dark blue loungers, with a white umbrella keeping her in the shade.
"She is such a precious little thing. We are so lucky to have her," Colette said, a smile lighting up her face on the screen. I flicked through a series of photos I'd taken of the grounds, the rooms, the views of the ocean and so many sunsets.
"They really don't do it justice," I added as I flipped to the sunset picture I'd taken yesterday.
"I haven't stayed at Casa La Playa. I am so jealous." Colette gave me a little pout and I yelled out,
"Stay with us!"
She laughed and then we both stopped as the next flick revealed a short video instead. It was of Anya, holding something in her hand, and then throwing it up in the air as Stellan leaned across the table to catch it in his mouth. He gave the camera a grin to show a grape between his teeth as we all started cheering and clapping.
I flicked to the next one and started laughing, explaining through my giggling, "I told them 'say boy band!'"
Colette cracked up, this belly laugh that made me laugh even harder as I looked at it again. It was from our fishing day, on the yacht, the deep blue water sparking behind Stellan and Jack as they gave me dirty looks from the bow of the ship. But I hadn't been able to stop myself. They had their Oxford shirts open, and Bermuda shorts on, with their hair whipping wildly in the wind - it could have been on some lovesick girl's bedroom wall.
Our laughter calmed down as I flicked through some more from that day, Anya frowning at her empty hook, Jack reeling in a giant fish, Stellan sleeping on a padded lounge chair.
"Just how many things did you arrange?" Colette wondered as I flicked through the next set. These were of Anya on our couple days at the swimming beach. Of her building a giant sand castle with Stellan, doing cartwheels on the wet sand, a rogue wave slamming into her back as she let out a surprised yelp.
"God, too many things. Jack was so mad at me." I chuckled to myself.
"He always seems harassed but he loves it. He and Oliver were always going here and there, getting into trouble." Colette lamented and then stifled a yawn. "They basically lived in Monte Carlo for half a year."
"That's the kind of stuff I need to know so I can blackmail him!" I scolded her. She nodded,
"Remind me when I get back and I'll tell you about the time they came to Vail with Liam and me."
"Deal," I smiled and flicked through the final few from yesterday. Stellan giving me a skeptical look as he attempted to milk a cow, Jack holding a baby chick in one hand and Anya's determined face as she cupped her hands to be next, Anya putting a giant hibiscus flower behind Stellan's ear as he smiled at her, Anya's outstretched hands as she walked through a field of lavender. Then there was my favorite thing I'd managed to capture so far on this trip. It was a short video of Anya holding onto Jack's finger as she did pirouettes down a row in the nursery, exotic looking orchids and gardenias on either side of them, pollen catching the sunlight in the air.
"Oh Avery," Colette sighed and I looked at her face in the tiny box on the corner of the screen as her eyes poured over the video again.
"Right?" I whispered back.
"It's so magical," she continued. "I don't think I've ever seen Stellan smile so much. And I've known him for years."
"Must be the tequila," I joked.
"It's not the tequila," she chastised me. "But where are you in all these?"
"Keepers don't take photos," I grumbled. She laughed in response. "I've had to really pick some battles here."
"Surely they've taken at least one picture of you?" She asked, astonished, and I was about to say no when I noticed there were more pictures in our shared folder. I had Stellan set it up so everyone could have them on their phones as soon as someone added them to the folder, even Elodie stuck in France. But there were at least six more than there was yesterday.
"Hold on," I distractedly answered and flicked to the first one. It wasn't framed exactly right, a bit overblown from the high afternoon sun, but it was of Jack walking along the edge of the pool, dipping a toe in as he talked on his phone, a huge smile on his face.
But it was the next one that made me quietly gasp with realization, "Anya."
It was Stellan in one of the giant armchairs in the living room with myself sprawled across his lap, laughing, as he said something into my ear. Then a blurry one of Stellan and I on our surfboards at the end of our lesson, waving toward the shore from the ocean. And another, this one just of me with a giant smile across my face, a drink in my hand, the sunset behind me and the entire mariachi band circling me as they serenaded us during dinner.
"What a little sneak!" Colette laughed.
I'd been taking hundreds of pictures, only sharing the best ones to the album with the knowledge that there probably wouldn't be a single one of myself. But there I was wrapped up in a yellow and blue blanket with Stellan holding me to his chest, the sun setting behind us. And then leaning across the table to plant a kiss on his cheek as he grinned. On the verge of laughing at something out of frame in my tiny black bikini as Stellan was rubbing in sunscreen on my back already laughing.
It was the first time I realized that despite having my picture taken constantly I didn't have any pictures of us. There had never been physical evidence of our real relationship, the one we protected from all the paparazzi, the one that was still building and forming as we fell deeper in love. The rest of the world knew what our Circle marriage looked like, or my Saxon heiress antics entailed. But these pictures proved that it had become more than that. It was something I'd always wanted - evidence of a life being lived.
Colette grew quite as well, sensing my change in mood even without being able to see me. I flipped to the last picture and stopped breathing, my eyes burning with the threat of tears. It was of the two of us sitting on the dark beach, stars filling the sky above, a dwindling bonfire in front of us causing us to appear as shadows, with my head resting against his shoulder.
"C'est la perfection," Colette's voice wrapped around me as I tried to work through my shock. Because there was no way Anya could have taken this one. She's fallen asleep and we'd stayed on the beach as Jack carried her back.
"Jack took this one," I quietly said and then had to wipe at my face from the rush of tears that had suddenly rolled down my cheek.
"Jackie did?" Colette's shock shook me from my daze and I took a deep, shaky, breath as I composed myself.
"He did," I replied, just as shocked. Colette said something in French I couldn't quite catch and then followed up with,
"You deserve this, Avery. Enjoy the moment."
"Thank you," I sheepishly replied, and took one last look at the picture before switching back to the FaceTime. My eyes were a little red but otherwise, I looked fine. Colette yawned again and I looked at the clock, "what time is it there?"
"Bedtime," she smiled. "I'll be back in town after Christmas."
"Talk to you soon!" I smiled back and she gave me a little wave and hung up.
I immediately flipped back to the pictures, pouring over every detail until I heard my name and poked my head out a window to see the group waiting for me at the pool.
"We're going to miss it!" Anya yelled up and I tucked my phone into my back pocket and shoved on my other flip flop, hurrying down the stairs. Tonight was sea turtles night.
Cuixmala had been running their turtle release program for almost thirty years now. It was one of the highlights of a trip to their resort. Tonight marked the last batch of baby turtles they were going to release to the ocean for the season. And if I hadn't been burning so much money at this place we would have had to share this moment with other people that wanted the opportunity. But the resort had caved when I'd pushed for us to be alone for it. It seemed like a very snobby, rich person, thing to do at the time, but watching Anya crawl across the sand, encouraging them in Russian as Stellan squeezed my hand made me know I'd flexed my power the right way for once.
We still hadn't been allowed to touch them, of course, but had given Anya the honor of tipping the five-gallon bucket slowly against the sand. Their tiny little bodies could not have been bigger than a quarter as they slipped and slid all over each other to find a small patch of sand to start their journey toward the ocean. The staff had even urged Anya to chase off a couple birds that were waiting at the edge of the water. Her bright laughter when she'd accomplished it made everyone smile at each other.
There were about fifty in all, and as the last twenty or so slipped into the surf Anya yanked out her phone and made a call. I turned to Stellan, his hair whipping in the wind and grinned,
"Two guesses who that is."
"Oh! She answered!" Anya hollered and then hopped along the beach back to us, squishing in between until we could all be seen on the screen together. Elodie's puffy looking face and bloodshot eyes blinked a couple times in confusion, before frowning.
"This better be good," she grumbled. Stellan and I laughed and then Anya hit the button flipping her camera out to reveal the last peek of the sun slipping under the water and the twelve baby sea turtles slowly flopping their way out to the ocean. Their tiny black bodies were speckled with the light grained sand and Elodie let out the girliest sounding sigh I'd ever heard her make. It must have been the sleep deprivation.
"We thought you might like to see it." Anya tried to zoom in on a few of them making it to the edge of the water.
"It's wonderful. Worth waking up for," she yawned, rubbing at her face and then smiled at the camera as she watched a couple more slip into the surf and disappear. Anya flipped the camera back.
"I wish you could have been here," Anya huffed and then pulled her bright white hooded jacket closer around her shoulders. In the fading light of the sun it made her tan look even darker, and her hair almost platinum blonde.
Elodie frowned, "me too."
"You've been getting the pictures, right?" Anya turned and started walking back up the path to the Jeep and our waiting Order security guards. We followed suit, our excursion over now.
We followed close enough to keep an eye on Anya on our trek back, her speakerphone conversation with Elodie mostly just noise against the roar of the ocean behind us. It really had been the end to a perfect day. I was surprised when Stellan threaded his fingers with my own and squeezed - nope, now it was perfect. I looked up and gave him a lazy smile, the sun and booze and slow pace all day had lulled me into a level of relaxation I hadn't felt in a very long time. It made me feel sleepy and I wished I would have been smart enough to remember a jacket like I'd told Anya to. The evening was cooling rapidly and it was going to be an open-air Jeep ride back to the villa. I scooted closer to my own personal heater instead, releasing his hand, so I could tuck against his side. It slowed our steps down, but when he squeezed me closer I knew he was enjoying it too.
"Today is his day off." Anya quibbed back to Elodie. We both chuckled at the sound Elodie made, though we couldn't catch the words. Anya answered, "Avery did. If you were here I bet you'd have one too. It is a vacation after all."
Anya started skipping up the dirt path and I shook my head in disbelief,
"Boundless energy. No wonder Jack's exhausted."
Stellan laughed and I could feel it reverberate against my side, he leaned over and kissed the top of my head,
"Tell me something, wifey."
"Summer, pizza, invisibility," I answered, a grin filling my face as he jerked us to a stop in the road, confused.
"Did you just have a stroke?" He looked down at me, concerned until I started giggling as the realization dawned on his face. Just to be sure I clarified,
"Summer over winter, pizza over pasta and you always choose invisibility over flying."
He pressed his lips together, contemplating my answer, and then shook his head.
"Becoming invisible is incredibly easy. Being able to fly on a whim...that would be a useful skill."
"What?" I laughed back, "not assassin invisible. I'm talking see…"
The rest of my sentence was lost when he ducked down and pressed a kiss against my lips. I was still laughing a little as I kissed him back, thinking he'd done it to shut me up, but then his fingers were in my hair, and my arms were around his neck and when his tongue brushed against my own I pressed my hips into him as I pulled him closer. Quickly everything faded away to just breaths, kisses, the swell of the ocean, his warm hands, my cold nose, and the smell of earth and salt. From behind my closed eyes, a bright light illuminated ahead of us and we broke apart to see sunset had been replaced by twilight and the Order guards had turned the Jeep's brights on.
"You're adorable," he murmured and kissed my forehead. I grabbed onto his shirt and tugged, closing my eyes and holding him close to me for one final, perfect, moment before we'd have to entertain Anya for the rest of the night. Fair was fair. I had given Jack the entire day off, as we'd been abusing him as our nightly babysitter up until now.
With a sigh I let go and took a step back, grabbing his hand and tugging him along on our walk back to Anya and the waiting Jeep. "What were you trying to ask me?"
"I was just wondering what it was that you wanted to do on this trip." He swung our hands between us and glanced over at me as he added, "you've even given Elodie her heart's desire."
I shrugged, "surfing was nice."
"We sucked at it," he countered with a grin and I stepped closer to him, the chill from the evening getting to me again. I released his hand and he slid his palm across my shoulders to pull me against his side.
"We did," I laughed pleased that we found something as a family to be collectively bad at. To be fair before now I didn't think Stellan could be bad at anything athletic, I was proven wrong. I smiled, "I've had a great time," I pacified, nodding as if that would make it more convincing.
"Tell me. Anything at all. I will make it happen for you." He squeezed my tricep in emphasis and I took a breath and held it as we continued to make our way up the gravel path toward the car.
I didn't want to disappoint him. The truth was no amount of money or power could ever make this trip perfect for me. That was something I'd just have to reconcile on my own, over time, as the weight of my grief slowly eased away. He continued to wait patiently for my answer as we closed the final few yards of our walk and this small part of me wondered if he already knew that. I didn't know how he could have, but he'd always been able to read me so well. He hadn't once pressed me about my mood swings whenever something we did triggered a memory of my Mom over the past two weeks. He squeezed me close again, as if he was going to drop it, and the urge to tell him overruled my hesitation.
"Anything at all?"
"Avery," he smiled, that beautiful one that was even more attractive in the twilight surrounding us. "I blackmailed a Russian hacker to grant me access to Netflix's entire library so you could watch your girly show in Ibiza. I can handle whatever it is." He tugged me towards the Jeep as my jaw dropped at the wonder that was my husband.