Abbey was talking on her cell phone outside the cottage when Jed got back, and while he waited for her he had a quick look at the silver grey car that had been delivered while he was in the village.

"The girls?" he asked when she clicked the phone and closed it.

"I thought I ought to call them to tell them where we were. But they already knew."

Jed followed her into the cottage. "Yeah, I told Charlie to tell them. Are they mad at me for missing their party last night?"

"Nope, they're okay about it. I think they actually like the idea of us having a second honeymoon. Liz sounded almost envious, Ellie was amused and Zoey thinks her Dad is just an old softie!"

"Yeah, well, I am, aren't I? Maybe not so much of the old, though."

"Anything in the newspaper?"

He handed it to her. "Page 5, top third."

Abbey scanned the short article about the Santos inauguration and then looked across at him. "Poor babe, you only got one sentence at the very end."

Jed looked rueful. "I don't mind the one sentence, it's the word 'retired' that I'm not crazy about. Anyway, what do you want to do today?"

"Not a lot, I'm still jet-lagged."

"Want to take a stroll along the beach then?"

"Okay – let me just go get my jacket."

"Did you find my fleece?"

"Yes, it's on the hook on the back of the bedroom door."

A few minutes later, they were walking down the narrow path between the limestone outcrops that led down to the pebble and sand beach which was strewn with dark seaweed. Once on the beach, Jed's hand automatically went out to clasp Abbey's and they walked along in companionable silence, broken only by the soothing sound of the small waves breaking in soft white surf on the shore, and the occasional shrill cry of a seagull.

After they'd stopped to watch a couple of terns plunge-diving for fish, and some oyster catchers at the water's edge, Jed picked up a flat pebble which he skimmed across the surface of the water.

"Four bounces – not bad, Bartlet!" Abbey bent to pick up another stone, and whooped with delight when it bounced five times. "Five! I win!"

"That last one was only half a bounce, it doesn't count!"

"There's no such thing as half a bounce, jackass!" Abbey called out as she went searching for another flat stone, and then flung it across the water.

"Hah!" Jed called back, when her stone sank after three jumps. He skimmed another one, said 'Dammit' when it bounced only once, then tried again. "This is a good one – watch," he called to her. "One – two – come on! – three – four – aw, screw it! That wave knocked it out."

He turned to see Abbey standing watching him, a knowing grin on her face. "What?" he asked, then again, "What?"

"You just can't bear to lose, can you?"

Jed tilted his head to one side. "Don't you mean that I always think I'm gonna win?" he asked. "And ain't that the reason I got to be President?"

He turned back towards the sea and skimmed the stone he was holding in his hand. When it reached its sixth bounce, he raised both hands triumphantly. "Yessss!"

Abbey came towards him and slipped her arm round his waist. "And now you're the Galway Bay Stone Skimming Champion."

He laughed then turned to her. "You know, this is what I always dreamt of being able to do – those other times we've been in Ireland. Just to be able to walk along a beach with you like this."

Abbey nodded. "Instead of having every minute of every day scheduled for meetings or speeches or receptions." She leant against him and smiled. "Remember that time we tried to sneak out? Where were we?"

"Yeah, somewhere near Dublin, I think – Killiney, wasn't it?"

"Can't remember. All I remember is that we had so many agents and Irish police following us that you said you felt as if you were leading the St Patrick's Day Parade down Fifth Avenue."

Jed laughed. "Yeah, either that – or the Pied Piper of Hamelin!"

Abbey glanced round. "Where ARE the agents, Jed?"

Jed looked round too. "They'll be back there somewhere, with binoculars fixed on us, I guess. But I did ask Charlie if they would give us some space."

"And he agreed?"

"We made a deal. I promised him we'd always have our panic buttons with us."

Abbey's eyes widened. "I haven't brought mine with me."

Jed grinned and then bent slightly to give her a quick kiss. "So if the tracker is telling them that you're still in the cottage, they're gonna be wondering who I just kissed!" He looked down at her. "Aw, what the hell? Let's give them their money's worth!"

He pulled her closer and brought his mouth down more firmly on hers. Abbey brought her hands up to the sides of his face, stopping him from breaking away and then parting her lips for him.

"Mmm," Jed murmured as her tongue teased his lips and then his tongue found hers and the kiss became sensuous and arousing, lasting for several minutes as they both delighted in its gentle eroticism.

Eventually Jed pulled back. "Sweetheart, much as I would love right now to strip you naked and make mad passionate love to you on the shores of Galway Bay, a – the agents ARE within viewing distance, b – we'd probably both end up with hypothermia and c – any erection I might have at this moment would be killed stone dead – because, even though this is not New Hampshire, it's still too damn cold to be doing this out here!"

Abbey, still with her hands up to his face, started laughing. "Your ears are cold," she said.

"Yeah, and that's why I don't want any other part of my anatomy exposed!"

She looked over his shoulder. "Jed – look – the sun is turning those clouds to gold – is this going to be a Galway Bay sunset?"

He glanced round, then led her over to one of the larger rocks at the edge of the beach and they sat down. With arms wrapped around each other, they watched as the half-broken bank of dark cloud turned from gold to orange. Occasionally the clouds parted enough for them to see the deep red orb fleetingly, and at the very last they were rewarded with the final segment of the sun slipping below the horizon, turning the edges of the dark clouds into a riot of orange and gold which was reflected in the waters of the bay.

Jed sang softly:

"You will sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh,
And watch the sun go down on Galway Bay."

"What's Claddagh?" Abbey asked, as they started to walk back to the cottage, still with their arms around each other.

"It's a small fishing port – used to be a separate village, but it's now part of Galway City. We'll go and see it when we visit the city."

It was almost dark when they arrived back at the cottage. They stacked up the stove with more peat, and then made themselves a simple supper of vegetable lasagne with a green salad.

After they'd finished their meal, they moved over to the sitting area. "Hey, there's a chess set here," Jed said after looking in the drawers of the dresser.

Abbey, sitting on the couch with a glass of white wine, held up her hand. "No way. I refuse – totally refuse – to take you on at chess!"

Jed grinned. "You know I'll win?"

"It's not the winning that bothers me – it's the 'ah, that's the Kandinsky tactic' every time I move a piece."

"Don't you mean the Konstantinopolsky opening?"

Abbey raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're making that up!"

"No, I'm not," Jed protested, then went on, "Admittedly it's a rarely played opening, but Alexander Konstantinopolsky introduced it in 1956. It starts with–"

"Oh, for heavens' sake!" Abbey groaned. "Isn't there a Chutes and Ladders game in there instead? Though it wouldn't surprise me if that had a Konstant-whatsit opening to it too!"

"There's a cribbage board and a deck of cards."

"Yeah – yeah, okay then," Abbey said. "I seem to remember I beat you last time we played that!"

"Pure luck," Jed said airily. "It was only because you happened to turn over His Heels as the start card!"

"And only because I was about twenty points ahead of you anyway!" Abbey laughed.

Their banter and laughter continued as they started playing. They managed to win a game each and were nearing the end of the final and deciding game. Abbey studied her six cards intently and also glanced at Jed's face. It was his crib which meant that she would show her hand first – but whichever of her cards she gave away would give him some points in the crib. The question was – which cards was she going to keep to ensure that she got to the 121 score before he did? And just how confident was he looking?

"Did you know that cribbage was attributed to a Sir John Suckling in the seventeenth century?" Jed said casually, pretending to study his cards while all the time knowing the dilemma that Abbey was in. "He was an expert at cards, a notorious womaniser and a complete scoundrel in addition to his day job as a poet."

"Jed, do be quiet," Abbey said. "I'm trying to do some complicated math here."

Jed suppressed a grin as he went on. "Of course, it's far more likely that cribbage was an extension of the Tudor game of Noddy, which means fool or dimwit, and the upturned Jack was known as Knave Noddy."

"I'm gonna upturn you in a minute if you don't shut up!"

"Promises, promises!" Jed chuckled then threw two cards down. "There, that should do it!"

Abbey made her decision and put her two cards down. "You sure of that, pumpkin?"

"Yup! Now let's have the starter card."

Abbey turned over the ten of clubs, and looked at him, keeping her face as straight as she could. "You absolutely sure of that, pumpkinhead?"

"Absolutely. Your lead, I believe?"

Still watching him, Abbey slid a card out and put it down. "Ten."

Immediately Jed put his card down. "Twenty – pair for two." He moved his peg to the third hole before the end.

Abbey smirked. "Thirty – pair royal for six," she said, putting down another ten and moving her peg to the tenth hole behind him. Then she held her breath.

"Ah," Jed said.

"No ace?" Abbey grinned.

"Nope."

"Oh dear, how sad!" she said, totally unsympathetically, then leant forward to the peg board again. "Okay, one for last – that's another one for me. Still confident, Bartlet?" She knew now that she could win with her hand – if only she could stop him getting his last two points.

"You've not won yet!" Jed replied. He looked at his three remaining cards for a few moments, glanced at her over his glasses, then put the two of spades down.

Abbey weighed up her options, put down her five of hearts, said "Seven" and held her breath again. If he had another five or an eight, she'd lost it. Then when he didn't immediately put down a card, she leant back slightly and allowed herself a small smile.

Jed's lips tightened and he drew in his breath. "Ten," he said as he put a three of hearts down and watched her.

Abbey tossed down her final card, the Jack of diamonds. "Twenty."

He looked across at her and started grinning. Abbey's eyes widened. "If you've got another Jack there, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Just kidding," Jed said with a chuckle as he threw his remaining card down, the four of spades. "One for last."

Abbey punched the air triumphantly. "Yesss!"

"You gonna add up your cards?" he asked.

"Do I need to? Three tens, a Jack and a five – that's got to be at least – oh what the hell – it's over 121 anyway!"

"It's 124," Jed said. "You're only over by three."

Abbey waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Yeah, yeah – and you were under by one. Just live with it, honey, you lost!"

Jed laughed as he started to gather up the cards. "You remember, of course, that the loser gets to choose tomorrow night's game?"

"Hey, that was just the rule we had when the girls were small, so that they didn't mind losing."

"Yeah, and it still applies!"

"I don't recall it being a rule for grown-ups!"

"I just made it into one! You want another drink?"

Abbey glanced at her watch. "Okay, but just a small one." She stifled a yawn. "I think jet-lag's catching up with me again."

Jed went to get the drinks and then sat down on the couch next to her, slipping his arm round her shoulders. "You know, I think we've laughed more today than we've done in the whole of the last year."

"It's been fun," Abbey agreed. "No NSA briefings, no world crises, no phone calls, no knocks on the door – I think I just died and went to heaven!"

"Yeah, me too. Though it's a bit strange without a TV."

"You want to find some news on the radio?"

He shook his head. "It's not up to me any more, sweetheart. I guess I'll just have to get used to that now."

"Yeah." She yawned again. "Sorry, Jed, I'm going to have to go to bed."

He nodded. "You going for a shower first?"

Abbey sighed. "I don't think I've got the energy."

"Okay. You want some malted milk or something?"

"No, I just need a bed and a pillow. Shower's all yours, babe."

By the time Jed came into the bedroom after his shower, Abbey was sound asleep. He climbed in beside her, and kissed her cheek gently. "Night, sweetheart, I love you."

In her sleep, she turned and snuggled against him. Jed slipped his arm around her and smiled contentedly.

TBC