From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality" ...
As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting my and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.(And yes, faithful readers, Annie's back in this one!)
And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...
"Aren't you supposed to pick this up with the godfather?" They were at a small jewelry store in Sacramento, one that was well known for being specialized in antiquity, picking the gift for the few months old Tony, who, two days later, was supposed to receive the sacrament of baptism – and Jane, was still only thinking about his plotting, even if this particular occasion was helping.
"Tommy never had taste in jewels, if I left to him choosing, he'd probably ending with one of those horrible gangster chains. - she smiled, and her eyes moved from the pieces of jewelry she was admiring to Jane – when Annie was born, he wanted to buy her something really absurd, that didn't fit her at all… you know, one of those extravagant and giant jewels, with corals and many other stone? That's the reason I don't want him around. We don't argue, and as soon as I see him, I get his half."
"Then, I guess it was your choice the Mother Mary medallion?- He whispered in her ear, as he got closer, with those absurd smile of his still on, that turned her in jelly, and that she hated so much for this simple reason; Patrick had, literally, turned her world upside down.- any idea about what you could pick for Tony?"
"I was considering the idea of looking if I could find an image of Saint Antony, since it's kind of an inside joke- she looked at him amused, seeing that she had lost him, not strange, since, until the day before, she didn't know this thing either, until she had looked for info about Saint Anthony on Wikipedia – Saint Anthony of Padua is the patron of Lisbon, the city, among the other things."
She had just finished to explain him her "crazy" idea, when the salesman, a man his middles sixties, come back, with a red velvet box in his hands.
"I think that this could be what you were looking for, Miss – he opened the box in front of her, and Teresa skimmed gently over the material, looking at it to see if that thing was really what she wanted to give to her new godson – it's a round medal in 24K gold, with St Anthony and Jesus as a child. I had it for a while now; the papers say it has been done handcrafted in Italy in 1946."
"It's beautiful" Jane said, as he saw Teresa taken by the item, as it was supposed to be for her, or something more "special".
"I'll take this"
"Good – taking back the box and putting it in a simple red paper bag, he looked at Teresa and Patrick, with a smile – may I help you two with something else?"
"No, thanks"
"Actually, yes – as Jane said so, Teresa turned to look at him, stunned, trying to understand why he was grinning as the Cheshire cat again and why he needed help from the older man – My favorite and only watch decided to stop, and I was wondering if you could give it a look…."
Jane, still smiling at Teresa (who was giving him a "what are you planning" look), gave the item to the man, who answered him smiling, a knowing smile, a smile that Lisbon didn't like a bit.
"Well, I could give it a look, but there are other customers and I think it could need a while, maybe even an hour, before I could start working on it…"
"I'll wait – he looked at Lisbon, that sweet expression on, but, still, the same expression he had when he was trying something – we come with two cars, so it's no big deal, right?"
"I guess it isn't, just, stay out of danger, ok? I don't want to have to look after you for other 20 days. - She turned back to the man, and, still thinking they were both planning something, paid for her purchase before to live. Jeez, what was wrong with the world that day? – I'll see you this evening, then."
As Lisbon was out, the man served a couple of clients, then, come back to Jane; he crossed his arms over his chest, and made only a question, smiling "So, I think we were going to discuss business, right?"
Sunday come and Jane ended in a place where he hadn't been in a long time- a church. It was more like a chapel, though, so small it was, and it was intimate, both as place and as ceremony, since, thanks to Claire's involvement with the local church, Tony received his baptism not during a Mass, like it was common standard procedure, but during a private ceremony, with his family, Father Lucas and Jane.
The blonde consultant had already met Annie and Mick, and that day, outside the church, he had the pleasure to be introduced to Claire, Annie and Tony's mother, a blonde Pixie who shared with her daughter an easy going behavior, and Robbie and Tommy, the godfather; unlike Claire, who immediately welcomed him, hugging him ecstatic, Jane was quite sure that the looks he was receiving from the Lisbon's older brother meant only one thing: they didn't like him. Everything about them screamed that dislike, from the way they shook hands, to their glances, then, as the ceremony proceed, he could notice that they were behaving as Mick had done just few days before, once discovered of Teresa's secret relationship; both men were, in fact, laughing, and weren't even trying that hard to hide it. Yes, the whole Lisbon family was laughing at him, and, frankly, Jane didn't feel the need to blame them. He knew he looked like a fool, all focused only on his Teresa, the one that, he reconsidered, was totally to blame. How many times had he told her that she was always sexy, even if only in an old track suit? Countless times, that's how many. And for the ceremony, what had she done? Not only had she made extremely beautiful and irresistible overdressing, but she had put on his red dress… (Even if, this time, she had complimented it with a black cardigan and closed sandals). The woman really wanted to knock him out… Evil, his Teresa was really an evil pixie.
As this thought crossed his mind, for a brief moment, their eyes met, before she turned to face Father Lucas; in that moment, he saw a scene he had only imagined until that day: his sweet, caring, dreamy and a bit goofy gaze was locked on his Teresa, who, crying tears of joy, was holding in her arms a blond infant with green eyes. The few doubts he still had went away, as he understood that what he had few days before had really been an illumination. Mick couldn't have been more wrong, when he had told him that he was going to freak out; he loved that scene, he wanted to see it again, soon, for the rest of his life, only, he didn't want to see Teresa carrying in her arms someone else's baby. She had to have her child in her arms, their child… yes; it was time to convince Lisbon into taking the next step into their relationship…
"Ehy, are you ok?" she asked him sweetly, smiling, as they were leaving the church; Jane looked into her eyes, sweetly, taking back tears of joy, and started to walk hands in hand towards her car.
"Nothing, just…"
"I didn't make you remember bad things, right? – She stopped, worried, and put a hand on his cheek, looking into his blue eyes – God, Patrick, I'm so sorry, I had to understand that you could have thought about…"
As he had done the first evening, he took that hand in his one, and brought it to his lips, kissing each finger "I just loved what I saw, Teresa, that's all. I'm happy."
In silence, smiling at each other, they drove to Claire and Mick's house, where a quick brunch was waiting for them; they had just parked in front of the house, when Annie run in their direction, jumping in Jane's arms, crying an enthusiastic "Mr. Patrick!" before to let him take her in his arms.
"Ah, look, look, look who we have here!" smiling and laughing, really, as he did not so often, Patrick took the giggling girl in his arms, lifting her from the floor.
"Annie, what did I told you? I thought we said you were going to behave…" Claire was complaining, as they entered in the living room with her daughter in Jane's arms, the little creature holding firmly at his neck.
"But last time, Mr. Patrick said he didn't mind!"
"Annie, how many times do we have to explain you…?"
"No, it's ok Claire, really, I don't mind. Besides- he said putting hr on the floor, near a fireplace that wasn't working – she can call me just Patrick, ok? Mr. Patrick makes me feel so old!"
"But you are old! Daddy's old and you are a way older than him!"
"Annie!" both Teresa and Claire were a bit indignant, but it wasn't like it was unexpected: Annie had come out with worst things in the past.
"No, it's ok; I like her and her attitude. - He said smiling, on his knees to be at eye-level with the child, ruffling her dark hair. – I'm kind of fond of this little pixie!"
"Yeah, because she is so much likes you…." Lisbon was looking at crossed arms the scene, laughing a bit, having the same expression she had few days earlier, when she had told Mick why Jane and Annie were getting along – and she was more sure than ever that they really were doing 5 years old bonding…
"Daddy says you are dating Aunt Tessie – she said out of the blue, still looking in to Jane's blue eyes, hands at her back – does it mean that you're going to become my uncle?"
"Annie!" Lisbon was no longer too mad, but the fact that Annie was still pushing the issue was annoying her a little, and it didn't mean that she didn't almost spitted her iced tea or that her brothers didn't suppress their laughers, as they heard the sentence or when they saw Patrick giggling ecstatic and proud, so full of himself.
"Well, honey, I don't know. It's indeed true that I'm dating your aunt, and it's a well known fact that I love her more than I love my own life, but at the end – he took a deep breath, serious, as Lisbon had fallen into silence at his back, standing against a doorframe – it's only her decision to make, don't you think?"
He regained his composure, and looked at the girl, nodding in silence in front of him, biting her lips like she was waiting for something.
"Now, back to serious business, Annie, would you like to know a secret? – She nodded, and he got closer again, whispering something in her right ear, grinning – now, that's the game, pay attention and see what happens – he did the trick of the coin again, and then, revealing it to be hidden behind her right ear, put it in her tiny hands – now, let's show aunt Terrie what you found!"
Still on his knees, Jane just turned, and looked at Annie, running to her aunt, hugging her knees.
"Aunt Tessie, Patrick wants me to ask you something" she said with the innocence that only a kid could show, giggling a little, biting the nail of her right thumb, the hand where the coin was still hidden.
"Of course, let's hear, what Patrick wants this time?" smiling, Teresa went in the same position Jane was before, looking with love and curiosity at the kid in front of her, her eyes shining like real emeralds.
Giggling a bit, Annie opened her tiny fist, reveling what Jane had put inside previously.
"He wants to know if I can be the flower girl at your wedding"
Lisbon remained at open mouth, as she saw that, inside the fist, there wasn't a coin like she expected, but a ring: a white gold ring, with a diamond at the centre and six oval rubies around it like petals, and leafs carved in gold between each petal and at the side of the flower; it wasn't an extraordinary ring with giant stones, but, yet, it wasn't that simple either. It was perfect, what she had always pictured for herself.
"I painted it, and sold the house. It was time I did it. And it's time I take control of my life again- he just explained that, no need of further words, because he knew, he knew she understood; pausing a little, he smirked, ending the sentence with a hint of humor, like the Jane she had met many years before usually did – C'mon Teresa, how did you think I would've react, seeing you with a baby who seems a mix of us?"
Waiting for few, interminable instants after ending his "speech", Jane looked at her with adoration and expectation, as, still at open mouth, Teresa took the ring form Annie's hands to study it, with tears in her eyes; Patrick had already seen her cry in the past, but her eyes were always dark and sad, this time, however, they were brighter than ever. Reaching her, he got again on his knees, on one knee, to be more accurate, without stopping to look at her, who was still at eye-level with Annie but looking at Jane, the whole time.
"Yes" she didn't stop to cry, but started to smile as well, a light laughter in the air as she pronounced the word.
"Yes, like, Annie will be the flower girl once I'll get married, or, yes, she'll be the flower girl because I will marry you?" he wasn't really asking her that, he already knew the answer, but, still, he wanted, and needed, to hear it from her lips, because it was the only way to make it real, to know that it was really going to be that way.
"Yes, I'll marry you" as she said so, she stopped to cry, and, while Jane put the sign of his promise on her left ring finger, she cupped his face with her free hand, kissing him; they felt the salt taste of their tears as they kissed, but, for once, they were good tears.
P.S. if you which to give a look at the ring Teresa's one is inspired to, you can find it at www. saleinfostore. com/images/ RingJewelry258. jpg
