Chapter 40 – Time for two, time for tea.

Martin and Louisa spent two more days in their rental cottage in Wijk aan Zee. Those who saw the remarkable couple strolling or biking through the streets or the dunes, might raise an eyebrow, because it wasn't very common to see a grumpy man, sometimes even dressed in a suit, completed with cufflinks and tie, accompanied by a beautiful woman in casual clothes, mostly jeans and a warm pullover, with their baby in the stroller or in the baby seat on the bike. But that was all, they weren't ever stopped by the villagers for either a medical advice or a mother wanting to speak about little Ronny's difficulties with memorizing the multiplication tables. It did them a lot of good and even Martin seemed to become more and more relaxed. Except for the holidays in his early youth, spent at aunt Joan and uncle Phil's farm, he had never experienced free time as a pleasure, but now he started to understand the meaning of it.

On one of the two days, they finally understood what Martinus had meant to say when he explained to the other M's "In the Netherlands, you can have four seasons in one day". The morning started windy and grey.

"It feels like autumn outside", Louisa said to Martin, when she entered the house after having bought fresh bread for breakfast. The weather became worse and really wintery by eleven a clock, with hail and melting snow. Louisa and Martin were glad they hadn't made specific plans for the day and stayed at home. Louisa tried to challenge Martin with a game of Rummikub, without much success. Louisa thought by herself "he can learn", since for sure, he'd have to play a lot of table top games later, when James would be seven or eight.

Her reasoning already proved to be true for the games they played with James now. Martin developed a particular patience with James and built an uncountable number of towers with the stacking cups they had brought for James. James knocked the towers down as soon as they were finished, but James's endless giggles kept Martin going. Six months earlier, Martin probably would have left the room because of the noise, but now he seemed to enjoy it as much as his son. Louisa noticed that Martin became increasingly adept at catching the stacking cups before they rolled through the living room or under the couch. "They both gain motoric skills", Louisa thought, but she was wise enough not to mention it out loud.

Even if the weather was bad all morning and they had to stay inside until after James's nap, they had a great time together. They discovered that they had more shared interests than anyone would assume at first sight. Martin discovered that Louisa knew a lot about literature and poetry and on the other hand, Louisa found out that Martin wasn't only interested in the fine machinery of antique clocks, but also looked forward to seeing the big machines that were used for restructuring the Hondsbossche Zeewering. He searched the subject on the Internet and tried to analyse how they worked.

"Did you ever consider becoming an engineer, Martin?", Louisa asked.

Martin hesitated before answering.

"Well, uncle Phil and auntie Joan bought me a Meccano box when I was eight years old. I loved creating things with those green and red plates you could screw together. The box even contained a device that you could use to "motorize" the vehicle, or machine you made. Of course it wasn't a real motor, but a wind-up tool, but when you connected it correctly to the Meccano-vehicle, it could move properly for a few moments. I remember that I made a tractor that looked just like uncle Phil's. He kept it on a bookshelf for years! …It slipped through my mind at that time, that becoming an technical engineer would be so much more pleasant than become a cardio-vascular surgeon… But an Ellingham should become a doctor, so I became a doctor… It was never discussed… "

"And a brilliant one too, Martin!", Louisa said. She tousled his hair and gave him a kiss on his cheek and continued,

"I had a very smart boy in my class, years ago. When I met him recently and asked him what he would study at the university, he told me: "Well, I like politics and history, but also everything related to information technology and electrical engineering… So I will study computer science." And when I asked him if he couldn't combine everything in a double or triple study – I'm sure he would be capable of that - , he answered me that it was also good to have hobbies. Wise boy!"

"Hmm, yes.." Martin knew that it was his turn to keep the conversation going, so he looked for a proper question to ask.

"And you? Have you ever thought about another career?" Afraid of spoiling the moment by asking the wrong question, he added,

"I mean, you are a perfect teacher of course, but.."

Louisa took a moment of reflexion before answering.

"Well… with my loving and caring parents…" She saw Martin's famous frown appear on his face and quickly interrupted her own reasoning.

"That was meant to be cynical, Martin", after which she continued,

"So with my loving and caring parents and never knowing whether they were at home and in what state of arguing together I'd find them, I loved being at school. I always tried to stay longer and do some tasks for the teacher, like sorting the colour pencils or emptying the bins. Just to stat a bit longer. Later, when I was in the fifth and the sixth grade, I loved to help in the kindergarten section, after having finished my own work. I loved to read stories to those little ones. I guess it helped me find my calling. We will never know if something else would have come up, if my social environment would have been different.. Anyway, I never regretted it, I love my job!".

"That's good, fine", Martin answered.

Half an hour later, James woke up from his nap and much to Louisa's surprise a watery sun broke through the clouds when she opened the curtains.

"Look James, we'll be able to go for a little stroll and get some fresh air!". James liked everything they undertook, as long as he got the attention of his mummy or daddy.

As Martin was completely absorbed by his study on the Internet, Louisa suggested to go for a walk alone, with James. She leaned over to give him a kiss.

He looked up from the screen for a moment, softly stroke her cheek and said "Thank you Louisa".

Louisa walked to the village. James happily babbled and waved to everyone he saw. Much to Louisa's surprise, the sky turned blue again with some of the white cumulous clouds that made Jacob van Ruysdael famous. The weather turning fine, she decided to make a long walk. After all, it was their last day in this nice village. She strolled through the streets, from time to time stopping at a local shop to admire a painting at a gallery, or to brows the shops for a new pullover.

At the end of the main street, she turned left, in the direction of the dunes and the beach. She just climbed to the top of the dune row on the street leading to the beach and took a deep breath. "I wouldn't be able to live far from the sea, she thought. Without really being homesick, she longed for the narrow streets of Portwenn, with the shrieking seagulls, the smell of fresh fish and the cool breeze, even on the hottest days of the summer.

"Come on, James, let's go back to daddy!", she said to her son and turned back southwards over the dune path. As the sun had appeared from behind the clouds, it was a really fine moment for a walk. Many other villagers or tourists had the same thought so Louisa saw a lot of other persons on her way home. James continued his game of waving to them and most of the people waved back or gave him a smile.

In the meantime, Martin had finished his study on the Internet. He decided to make a start with packing their suitcases. That would save them time in the morning and it would save Louisa the stress of finding place for everything in the bags. Martin, organized as he always was, started to sort out all James's clothes and things. He refilled the nappy bag with nappies and spare clothes and then filled James's suitcase. After that, he started to pack his own things neatly in his suitcase. The suits were put in the special suit-bag. He kept aside some clothes for the next day. He wanted to make a start with Louisa's bag as well, but he was completely oblivious to what she'd still need that evening, so he abandoned the idea. He went downstairs and started to prepare tea. He cut a banana in slices for James, filled his son's sip-cup with freshly pressed orange juice and diluted a bit with some water. On a small plate, he put two chocolate digestive for Louisa and some small crackers for himself and James.

Then, Martin took everything outside. The garden furniture on the terrace was partially in the sun and the house protected it from the wind. It felt like summer, so they could take their tea outside. The grass was still wet from the rain, but otherwise dry and sunny. Just at the moment Martin brought outside James's highchair outside, Louisa and James came through the garden gate.

"What a nice surprise to have tea outside, Martin!" she said from a distance, giving him her widest smile. She parked the stroller near to the house, lifted James out of it and brought him to the table, where she installed him in his highchair.

"Oh!", she exclaimed when she saw the chocolate digestives. She embraced Martin and kissed him. "that's really nice, Martin, thank you".

"Hmm.. you have been physically active, so.."

Louisa shushed him by pressing her lips against his again and after that ,she said,

"Martin, don't spoil the moment. Let's enjoy tea".

To be continued

Thanks to all loyal readers that have waited so long for a new chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is also nearly ready, it will be published later this week.