Andrew had engaged in his own form of fun in their absence. He was as much Shannon's son as Boone's and delighted in the same kind of mischief that she did.
"So your parents knew each other when they were kids?" Alicia asked recalling Shannon's comment, unsure how to carry on a conversation with a ten year old kid. Not having any applicable experience she broke the silence as his parents, quite oddly she considered, left him alone to fend for himself in a room full of, except for her father, unfamiliar adults.
Being the confident individual that he was, he wasn't the slightest bit cowed by the situation and quickly trotted out his favourite, the incest ploy. "Yeah, they did, really well in fact," he started. "Boone's actually my uncle as well as my dad."
"What?" Three of the four exclaimed.
"Well he's Shan's brother, so I guess he's my uncle and she's my aunt and my mom." He shrugged nonchalantly, as if what he was saying was the most normal thing in the world.
Warming to his subject, he played it to the hilt, glancing now and again at Frank, wondering how long the guy was going to allow him to continue the charade. It had all gone downhill from there, or uphill, depending on the point of view. Andrew was reaching the summit of Mount McKinley in his giddy estimation when Frank burst his bubble.
"You're quite obviously enjoying yourself way too much for this to be the first time you've done this." He commented casually.
Andrew smirked and raised an eyebrow, nodding slightly.
"You want to tell them the whole story now, before Rene expires in a fit of apoplexy?" His wife had become increasingly horrified while Andrew had embellished outrageously on the truth of his parent's relationship.
As he reluctantly followed Frank's instruction, much to the relief of the others, the two subjects of his conversation returned after their extended absence.
The first thing Boone did was open his notebook and extend it to Alicia, explaining that he'd made some notes about her reception and requesting that she read them over.
Andrew took in the self satisfied look on Shannon's face and the guilty one on Boone's and knew his intuition about his mother's intentions when she'd left the room earlier hadn't been wrong.
Frank was getting a decidedly odd vibe off them as well and wondered what they'd been up to. He was just starting to suspect the truth when Boone's next words dispelled it.
"Sorry we were gone so long, I was writing the notes; then we were snooping a bit. The panelling in the library is fantastic."
At that Shannon clued in on the reason for his whirlwind tour of the rear of the house and chimed in with the details she'd registered as well.
As they sat, Andrew frowned and leaned in, sniffing at Boone. "Why do you smell weird?"
"Boone had to use the bathroom on the way back. Thank god you had a full can of air freshener." Her quick mind automatically came up with an explanation that would embarrass him the most.
Bone flushed bright red in response and gave her a pleading look.
Andrew listened in on the conversation for a bit then lost interest, not really thinking that he had any ongoing obligation having been left to hold his own while they'd been off amusing themselves. He found his focus instead turning to the wall of built in and fully stocked book cases to the right of the bay window.
An avid reader, a trait he shared with Boone as well as Sawyer, much to their mutual respect on the numerous occasions when the man came to visit, he rose and wandered over to run his eyes across the titles on the exposed spines. He found his interest returning again and again to a most unlikely choice, and reached out a hand to pluck it from its' resting place. Considering at the last minute that he really should ask for permission, he silently requested it from Frank and gave him a glance. When he received a slight nod in response, he retrieved his intended prey.
He didn't know why this particular publication had drawn his interest with such insistence, but he'd learned to trust his inner voice implicitly. He thought the unerring direction he received from it must have something to do with his gift. He knew that Jack had also been bestowed with an ability to know exactly the right thing to do, along with his other abilities, and figured he must have received a measure of the same, himself.
He opened the glossy pages and quickly became captivated by the photographs of the lush landscapes, panoramic vistas and stately domiciles. This was a place he definitely wanted to see first hand. He flipped to the front of the book and was rewarded with a large scale map of his own home state, pinpointing the location of the site of the pictures as just several hours drive north of their current location.
"Hey Boone?" He called over his shoulder. At the summons his dad rose and crossed to stand behind him, his hands resting on Andrews' shoulders as he leaned over to look at the book.
'I'd really like to go here,' Andrew told him and then paged again to the front showing him the map. "A bike holiday!" he blurted suddenly, seizing on an idea. His eyes widened in pleasure, with an excited smile, he flashed his perfect teeth.
"I think you just lost your white water rafting adventure." Boone commented to Shannon.
The focus of the room shifted to the two standing in the corner.
"What?" she asked.
"The boy's got another idea. I think you'll like it." Boone smiled.
Wondering what the child had come across, Frank beckoned him over, as Boone returned to his seat, smirking.
Taking the book, Frank laughed in amusement and shared the content with his wife, who chuckled as well. Turning to a specific page he pointed at the name of the owner of the property pictured; it was his own.
"Yours?" Andrew's eyes gleamed with excited surprise, thinking that perhaps this was why he'd been drawn to that particular book.
"Yep," he confirmed. He'd bought the winery in the Napa Valley years before, caught up in a sentimental urge. He'd proposed to Rene while the two of them had been wandering through it's lushness in his first love: a cherry red convertible Mustang.
Vacation plans for the three Carlyle's for a week in the summer were quickly discussed. A hammer down bike trip up, a relaxing stay at Franks' Napa estate, which he and Rene would fly up for and a leisurely two day ride back, replaced the wet and wild interlude Shannon had suggested.
Always looking for a way to make his time productive, Boone added that they could sample a selection of the local wines, with the intention of setting up accounts for the business, providing them with some direct supplier sources. Frank, of course interjecting that he hoped his own vintages would be considered as well.
Dinner was announced shortly thereafter and they all headed into the dining room. Boone automatically pulled Shannon's chair out for her, causing Rene to give Frank an annoyed glance initiated by the younger man's courtesy, and waited impatiently by her seat for her husband to do the same.
The meal was excellent, and the conversation lively, even Todd, who had remained mostly mute in the living room, participated, especially when the subject turned to Frank's stable of exotic cars.
Not immune to the typical guy fascination with powerful vehicles, Boone enthusiastically endorsed the offer of a guided tour of the private collection, of which they'd only gotten an enticing glimpse when they'd arrived.
When the predominantly male dominated topic of cars petered out, the women took over, turning once again to Alicia's wedding.
They were going to be married on site; a minister had been secured for the day to perform the ceremony by the pool, which was going to be followed by the reception in the back yard. Alicia had reviewed Boone's notes and thought that he'd gotten the relaxed air she'd planned for the day down perfectly. Sangria, terra cotta serving dishes, a rustic tapas buffet with over fifteen suggested nibblers as well as neatly penned notes for ingredients meeting his standards for her paella had all met with a smile from her. He must be a mind reader, she'd reflected. And, while unknown to her he was, hers was a mind that wasn't open to him. He'd just been in the business long enough, first with his mother, and now with his own company, to be able to get a feel for a bride's vision without too many errors in judgement.
The discussion sparked Boone's imagination further, and his thoughts turned inward, an idea for a salmon and blood orange ceviche swirling through his brain.
"May I have Boones' book, please?" Shannon asked Alicia with a bit of a chuckle.
"Sure," she shrugged, "but why?"
"Because he's about to ask you for it himself," she glanced again at Boone. Even without the ESP she could almost hear this thought processes working.
Alicia handed the book to Shannon just as Boones' head came up, his eyes flashing in excitement. He opened his mouth to speak at the same time as Shan reached in front of Andrew and put the book in his hand. He took it with a quick nod of acknowledgement to her and opened it, pulling the pen from the spine, furiously starting to write in it.
The conversation continued around him.
Frank watched him closely, amused when he put the pen down and reached out blindly for his water glass, not raising his head as he reread his notes.
Andrew caught the movement in his peripheral vision and moved the glass into the spot Boones' fingers were closing around, no where near where the glass had actually been.
Frank speculated on the type of man who inspired such fierce love and care from the two exceptionally independent people he knew Shannon and Andrew were. He remembered a five-year old Andrew, who, without hesitation, and alone, had boldly approached a total stranger ten times his age to start a conversation. He could tell from the boys' actions tonight that his impression all those years ago hadn't been wrong.
Shannon's personality had come shinning through in their business meeting earlier in the week and her self assured confidence had only been reinforced by her manner this evening.
Boone Carlyle must truly be a most remarkable man he thought. He didn't know the half of it.
"How long have you been married?" Alicia asked Shannon.
"Too long," Boone muttered, the timing of him completing writing his last reminder coinciding with the question. His mouth working before his mind had time to think, he flinched a bit away from her, but with Andrew seated between them at the long table, Shannon didn't have the reach to be able to smack him on the head.
"It was nine years last November." She shot him a nasty look over Andrew's head.
"You must have had a huge gala wedding." Alicia commented.
"No, actually it was anything but." Shannon laughed at her assumption. "Why would you think that?" They'd never even considered a traditional wedding with all the hoopla, the irony of that hadn't been lost on either one of them though. She remembered the simple pink shift she'd worn the day of their official marriage and his plain black suit. They'd both been garbed in elaborate wedding gear many times for the photo shoots that Sabrina had cajoled them into, but when it came to the actual event, something they would never have foreseen in a million years actually occurring, that just hadn't been a consideration. So many of their pre-crash friends and family had thought their new relationship, and a five month old Andrew, just too difficult to wrap their heads around, they'd only invited a handful of people to share in the day.
"Well, seeing as Boone is Sabrina Carlyle's son and her being in the wedding business, I just thought that it would have been. Why wasn't it?" She looked puzzled.
Boone and she exchanged glances. There were so many answers to that question Shannon didn't know which one to offer. "Things between us are…" She didn't want to say complicated, though they certainly were that, so she settled for "different."
"Why?" Alicia persisted.
Shannon looked at him again, she suddenly wanted to touch him so badly, the thoughts, feelings and memories racing through her head. Boone at ten, shyly meeting her for the first time, Boone at fifteen, his made up face inches from her own, his desire clear, Boone at twenty, flying back to LA for her father's funeral, Boone at twenty-two, his slack, dead face terrifying her. He was out of his seat in an instant, many of the same memories overwhelming him. He stood behind her, his hands solid and reassuring on her shoulders. Andrew regarded them both with concern.
"We've just been through a lot together." Boone lightly explained away their angst filled lives, the tears welling in his eyes giving the clear message that she should seriously consider dropping this.
Even with his limited ability Frank could feel their pain, and quickly called for desert and coffee.
Once the tour of the automobile packed garage was concluded they bid farewell to the Jackson's and Todd, climbed back in their own car and headed home.