A short note to advise my regular readers that there will be no update next week, as I will be on a retreat, somewhere with no internet access. Normal service will resume in June.
And the Scheme Pays Off.
Shaking his head at his wife, Julian made his way to the door of the room that was in his opinion, misnamed as a closet. His mind still painted him images of emotional carnage, with two human casualties. Yes, he could not hear sobbing or screaming, but that meant so little when there was catatonia to consider. How would they explain to the doctors the fact that they were presenting them with two teenagers that were just staring blankly into space? Worse, how would they explain that to Constance's parents?
And then he was aware that there was a sound coming from the room, but it was that of soft laughter. He looked in then to see the young lady that had almost made him a grandfather this year sitting in a chair in the centre of the room, whilst his son was modelling a wide brimmed ladies summer hat and a chiffon scarf… "Now these would be most suitable for an older lady, given the floral design and pastel colours of the scarf, and the ribbon and floral decorations on the hat. Even your mother might appreciate these for Sunday wear…" Peter was saying, and he heard the young lady giggle again.
"I will admit that it is very much in her style, but the scarf would not be thick enough for her liking, and whilst the hat would be ideal for a wedding, it would never do for church wear week in, week out. Now my aunt might like the scarf, because she is also keen on pastel shades, plus she has actually heard of Hermes. She will appreciate the cache of having it. However, those are not cheap, thanks to the name, so I really couldn't take it for her…"
"Yes, you could. This closet is a legend, and it is all here to be given away. When my Uncle Sebastian had an awards ceremony, or an event to attend, Isabelle would let him come here to get a new suit, or shirt, or pairs of shoes. I've had quite a few things from this place too, like the Converse Hi-Tops I'm wearing just now. It will only end up going to waste if we didn't take it, because they can never send this sort of stuff to the goodwill… I mean, if you spotted a homeless person wearing this hat…"
"I don't think a homeless person would even want that hat - to be honest, it is a Jewish mother at a wedding sort of hat…" replied Constance. At the door, Julian smiled at that, recalling all the legendary hats he had seen and heard of that had graced the head of Mrs Wilson, Flint's mother. He wondered if they should contact Flint, get his mother's address in that other Manhattan, and have the hat mailed to her as a special gift…
He headed back to his wife then, who was looking at him expectantly. "Okay," he whispered, "I will admit that it is not a disaster; in fact, they seem to be having a lot of fun in there, destroying the style credentials of a hat…"
"Light pink, blue satin ribbon, white silk flowers? Yes, that is an interesting one; a definite Mrs Wilson special in my opinion, and how it even got into the building, let alone the closet, is a wonder to me. I know that doing what I did was a gamble, but we both knew that the two of them still loved each other very much, and that the only reason they split up was the pain of losing the baby. Constance said to me at the time that she had not stopped loving our boy…" said Isabelle.
"Peter said much the same at the time, but he had accepted that it was over," replied her husband.
"True love is never over, and she had not even been in the building for five minutes today when she was asking me about him; how he was, how he had done at Dalton, if he was dating anyone new… I will admit that when he walked into the closet and saw her there, he froze, and there was panic in his eyes, but then she smiled, and said hello, and how lovely it was to see him, and well, the colour came back into his cheeks, and he smiled… I did wonder where you had got to, but this was actually probably the best way that it could have happened…"
She stopped speaking as suddenly the laughter grew louder, and curious, she headed back to the door, stuck her head round it, and was laughing too. Julian followed, arriving just in time to see his very red-faced son slipping out of the pair of high heeled sandals he had been teetering around in…
"I don't think those are quite the right style for you, Peter, or indeed for Constance," said Isabelle sagely, heading over to the shelves, and started to search again. "There is a pair of the latest limited edition Converse Louis Lopez shoes in your size, Peter, somewhere in the room, and I also have a perfect pair of lace up shoes for you, my dear. They are flat and entirely practical…"
"And probably by Manola Blahnik," said Peter cheekily, which made the young lady's eyes open wide.
"Yes, they are," retorted Isabelle, "but that means they are extremely well made as well as practical. Every lady needs a pair of shoes like these…."
As Isabelle went off in search of the shoes, Peter finally realised that his father was there too. "Hey dad, so well, this is Constance…"
Julian stepped into the room, and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you." He smiled, and resisted the temptation to say more, not wanting to risk saying the wrong thing at this crucial moment.
"It is nice to meet you too, Mr Smythe. Peter had told me so much about you, and how good a father you have been to him," she replied with a smile too.
"I wasn't always," admitted Julian.
"But you were there when it mattered the most, and not just once," his son replied. "Now, if I know how your mind works, you will have been wondering how this meeting is affecting the two of us. Well, it was a shock, but we have both moved on from the events of the past. You have to do that in life; tragedy touches you, but you can't let it rule your life forever. You can't spend your entire existence in sorrow, because that isn't healthy at all…"
"He's right, Mr Smythe," said Constance. "I knew that one day my path and Peter's would cross again, and before I talked to the counsellor, I will admit that I was dreading it. She made me realise that it had to happen, and that it was not a bad thing at all if it did. To start with, I would just like for Peter and I to be friends, but then, in time…"
"I have never stopped loving you," Peter said then, softly.
"That makes two of us, but for both our sakes, it needs to be baby steps for now. Our lives are going to change a lot now that we are at college, and having each other as a friend will be helpful; a rock of stability and familiarity in a swirling ocean of change…"
Julian glanced over at his son after that statement, and he allowed himself to smile as broadly as the two young people. Constance was obviously not just smart, a fact confirmed by the fact that she was attending medical school, but it seemed that she was also blessed with an abundance of common sense. He looked from one to the other then, and saw in front of him two people with the same sort of expression on their faces as they looked at each other as he saw between his brother and Dave, and so many of their friends. It was obvious that the two young people had a close connection, and a deep love for each other.
Although they were proceeding with caution for now, he had a feeling there and then that one day he would be sitting in a designer suit, his wife next to him dressed in a similar fashion, as they watched their future daughter-in-law approach to meet their son at the front of the church. He was pretty certain that it would be in a church, given that her father was a clergyman, and would probably not entertain a ceremony in some public office or other venue…
He let that train of thought go once more as he saw his beautiful wife returning, carrying with her two shoeboxes. She handed the top one to her stepson, who opened it at once, and then gasped in delight as he realised that the shoes in question were some of the most coveted online. She then handed the second box to Constance, who seemed more reluctant to take it, but she did and opened it carefully, peeling back the tissue paper on the top…
"Oh, my, these are so beautiful!" she gasped. "They are definitely practical, but they are also something you would see worn by a model on a catwalk…"
"They most certainly are, and most importantly of all, they are comfortable. That is why I allowed myself to take a similar pair to them, but in crimson. I thought that the black would better suit someone in a profession such as your future one."
"Well, yes, but I don't think I would ever wear these to school, and certainly not in a hospital environment. No, these are shoes for days of celebration, and for special events, like my eventual graduation," Constance replied. Then she sighed, and said, "I still feel so guilty for taking all of these things, but having rationalised it, I think that I can live with it. However, next time that I come to visit you, it is highly likely that my aunt will want to be with me!"
"She would be more than welcome to come with you," said Isabelle. Then, recalling an earlier part of their conversation, she continued, "I think that you said it was her birthday the week that you will be moving into your accommodation at college, and she has agreed to drive you here with all your belongings? Bring her down then, and we will see if we can find her a few extra special birthday gifts…"
Julian was not in the least surprised really to then discover that the tasks that his wife had wanted Peter to help her with were already more or less complete; he was happy to help with the moving of the multiple file boxes to the nearby storage closet, and to then assist his son in carrying another filing cabinet into the room. Even with all of the extra furniture, the office was large enough to not look overcrowded. Constance helped too, although initially Isabelle tried to stop her. The young lady replied that she saw it as a fair payment for all that she was taking away with her…
He noticed that his wife slipped away for a few moments after that, and he smiled to himself, knowing that she was probably up to something else. She returned, smiling and he chuckled, wondering what she had done now. The task done, they returned to the closet to find that next to the small pile of items that Constance had agreed to take there was now a gorgeous Louis Vuitton travelling case. "I suddenly realised that you would not be able to fit everything in that holdall of yours, and we don't have any paper carrier bags available," Isabelle said as the younger lady examined the leather case with something a little short of awe.
"My aunt is going to think that I came to New York and went on a spree of petty theft in a department store," Constance replied, before she started to laugh as Isabelle handed her a handwritten list of all that she had given to her guest, on a sheet of headed Vogue notepaper. At the bottom was her signature, which was the same as the one that was printed under her editorial in every issue of the magazine.
"My phone number is on there as well, so you can get her to call me if she still doesn't believe that you weren't pilfering in Saks or Bloomingdales," responded Isabelle, before changing her tone. "Now, I have a couple of things that I need to do, and my husband will need to assist me with them, so it falls to Peter to take you out to lunch I'm afraid. If you go now, you will make the 1.30pm reservation that I made at a nice little Italian place that is ten minutes walk from the Port Authority Terminal. I'm assuming that you won't have a problem taking Constance to lunch on the company account, Peter…?"
"I think I might be able to manage that," her stepson replied. There was laughter, and then it was time to say a few goodbyes…
Julian waited until the elevator had closed and started to descend before he turned to his wife. "So what does Mrs Cupid have in store for me?"
"The only task I have in mind for you right now, my love, is heading to the bagel place a couple of blocks over and getting us a couple for lunch. Once we have eaten them, we can head for home. Matchmaking and repairing relationships is a tiring and hungry business…" Julian shook his head, before he took her into his arms and kissed her. That done, he headed for the elevator and Isabelle found herself alone in the office again. She headed to lock up the closet, and noticed that Peter had left his new shoes. Sighing, she realised exactly why he had done so, as it saved him carrying them around, especially as he was already carrying Constance's new case…
As she picked them up, she felt the draught that she had wished for earlier, and looking across the room, she found herself in the presence of the creator of the KEH Collection. "You took a big risk their Isabelle. You got lucky in that they both wanted to see each other, but it could quite easily have gone the other way, and even Wes had no idea how it would pan out…"
"I felt that the risk was justified, give the circumstances. I can spot a pair of soulmates a mile off. In any case, I was pretty certain that had there been any real danger of disaster, then I would have received an angelic warning…"
"Well in this case, that assumption could have been dangerous, as we had no idea what was going to unfold," warned Kurt, before he smiled at his former boss. "Anyway, leave the light on; I want to explore for a few new items for myself and Blaine; maybe for the others too. I will leave a note of what I took in the usual spot on your desk…"
Isabelle chuckled, and headed out, locking the door behind her. Of course, there could be an issue in the near future, as Gideon was a much more observant person than her current PA. He might easily notice that there were items disappearing from the closet, and if he did, it would be tricky to explain what was going on…,
Meanwhile, Peter and Constance took the subway uptown, something that Peter was familiar with having visited the city so often whilst growing up in New Jersey. They found the restaurant Isabelle had booked a table in no problem, and it came as no great surprise that the table was booked in Peter's name. They enjoyed their lunch, resisting the temptation to order the most expensive dishes on the menu, and sharing a dessert. Then, with time left before they needed to head to the Port Authority Terminal to ensure Constance caught her bus back to Allentown, they took a stroll through the quieter streets in the area. They avoided Times Square, especially when they were carrying an expensive case, and the number of panhandlers in the vicinity.
They were the first at the bus boarding point, and the driver allowed the passengers on in good time. Constance and Peter parted with smiles, and with her new cellphone number stored on his. She insisted that he did not hang around until the bus departed, but that he set off to do what he had originally planned; he agreed, anxious not to upset her now that they had found each other again. He headed out of the terminal with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He pictured her as he walked, sitting on the bus, with her new case stowed at her feet, safer than in the overhead rack. As he headed into the subway to catch the train north to the Columbia area, he sent her a text, wishing her a safe trip home, before he descended to catch his uptown train…
As soon as he regained the street near Columbia University, he received a response, thanking him for everything, and hoping that his mission that day would be a success; there was also a promise to text him again when she was safely back at her aunt's place in Allentown. With that in his head, Peter headed towards the address he had for the dorm building in which he had been offered a place, not with trepidation it had to be said, as he still had visions that the building would be a wreck. He entered the street, and almost let out an audible sigh of relief at what he saw - a group of contractors dismantling the scaffolding from the top down on the building in question, which now looked very modern and sleek. It was clear that the absence of exterior photos was down to those renovations being ongoing at the time, and nobody wants to see a building shrouded in scaffold. He wondered how bad it must have been, however, if they did not want to post a before photo. He took his photos, then headed in the direction of the subway again, stopping off to explore a few of the more interesting parts of the campus on the way…
He was back home in Maplewood just before 9pm, having just missed the previous train at Penn Station. He headed for the kitchen and fixed himself a sandwich, before he headed into the lounge to join his parents, who were having a night in front of the television. They did not ask how his day had been, nor did he offer them a clue. He knew that Constance was back home, safe and sound, and that when she had arrived, her aunt had indeed suspected that she had been on a spree of pilfering. It had taken the note, and a photo she had taken in the closet of Isabelle holding one of the items she had in the case, to get her aunt to calm down. Then she had presented her with the Hermes scarf, and she had been back to the same level of excitement, as she loved it. She had then told her that Isabelle had suggested that they could pay a visit together in the fall, and the older woman had gasped at the very prospect…
Peter would eventually mention those reactions to his stepmother when she had announced that she was heading to bed, before he then hugged her close, and thanked her for arranging everything that day. She had just shrugged, and said it was nothing. Then she was gone, leaving Peter alone with his father. Julian had smiled at him, then said, "She is a really nice girl. I could not have wished for anyone more appropriate to be the one that you fell in love with, my boy. Your stepmother is a great believer in the idea of soulmates, and she sees that in you and Constance. I will admit that the two of you do appear to have something. My advice is to take your time, and see where it all leads…"
Peter smiled, and replied, "That is exactly what I intend to do. I'm not sure about the whole soulmate concept either, but if they do exist, then she might well be mine. I feel so much happier now that she is back in my life again…"
The next day Peter found himself alone in the house, and he used the time to make a call to his Uncle Sebastian, knowing that he would be free all day, as the theater in Columbus did not perform on a Saturday afternoon like so many of the Broadway stages, but in the evening. His uncle answered after only a couple of rings, and after a little of the usual small talk, Peter said, "So I wanted you to know that I spent part of yesterday afternoon with Constance. It was a set up; Isabelle knew that she was in New York for a college orientation day, and so she invited her to visit the Vogue closet before she headed home; she then asked me if I could help her move some stuff in the offices, and scheduled my arrival for an hour after Constance was due…"
Sebastian chuckled, and said, "I was unaware that my sister-in-law could be so scheming and devious, but she must have felt that she was doing it for the best of reasons. So, how did it feel to see your young lady again?"
"It was so good; she wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see her. We had a good chat, and have made tentative plans to see each other again before we start college, but just as friends for now. I am hopeful that in time we will be more, but that is entirely up to her…"
"That is a very mature and wise move. Things between you will still be awkward and strained at times, no matter how much better you are both feeling now."
"I know, not that I told her that was the way that I felt. The truth is that I could tell by the way that she was looking at me that she might have been feeling much the same."
"They say that time is a great healer, and fortunately, that is something that the two of you both have. If you are truly meant to be with each other, then the moment will come, but only when it is ready. I am pleased for the pair of you though, and next time that you speak to each other, tell her that I was asking for her." Peter agreed, then rang off, deciding that he needed to get out and enjoy the day…
The summer was now well under way, and under the blue skies that they all anticipated, life was carrying on in the usual pattern. Routine was always preferable to the unexpected and dramatic after all. On that Sunday, a newly married couple woke up for the first time in their shared bedroom in their new home in Cobble Hill, having arrived back from Europe the previous evening. For Mitch and Gideon, their working honeymoon had been everything that they had expected and more; yes, there had been work for Gideon, but it was not taxing, and had taken up very little of their time, leaving them free to explore and experience life on another continent…
They had arrived in Paris first, to find the city basking in the summer warmth, and as was traditional, very quiet in terms of locals. The bulk of the citizens of that most romantic of capitals still headed for the coast in the same few weeks, leaving the place to the tourists and those that catered for them. There had been plenty of time for them to visit all of the tourist hotspots, to marvel at the historic and the landmarks known the world over. They had even managed to attend the Louvre on a quiet day and see the Mona Lisa, that lady of the enigmatic smile. She had been smaller than they expected, but they left with the knowledge that they could say that they had seen her.
They had found François was still in the city, and had shared a long dinner with them one evening in their home. The meal was traditional, and tasted all the better for being home cooked. Of course, there was that unspoken connection between Mitch and the Frenchman, in that they had both slept with Sebastian in his youth, not that the topic came up. They were staying nearby, in a suite in a comfortable hotel, so it was easy to accept François's offer to take them out to Versailles, as he had done with other American visitors. That had proved a fertile hunting ground for the fashionable people that Gideon had been sent to photograph and speak to. Mitch had loved the architecture and the sense of history, knowing the fate of those that had last lived here as monarchs…
It had been François that had suggested that they take a trip to the coast if they wanted to capture the fashions of the day properly, and so it was that they took the train north to Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, the last word being beach in English. The resort was within two hours of the capital by train, and they found it charming, a mixture of old and new, and full of exactly the kind of people that Gideon needed to interview. They ate in a charming bistro, and had time for a stroll down to the sea before they headed back to Paris on the final train of the day…
Their sojourn in Paris was followed by some time in London, and again they divided their time between the tourist visits that they naturally wished to make, and the task that Gideon had been set. They stood in awe in St Paul's Cathedral, and went past the British Crown Jewels at the Tower of London on the moving walkway, which still did not stop the determined from attempting to linger. The adjacent bridge was open when they emerged, a rare occurrence in these modern times, to allow a sailing vessel to pass through, and that in itself had Gideon snapping away. Then it was back to their accommodation near the Millennium Bridge, an apartment hotel, which looked out over the Thames to the Tate Modern; small, but perfectly formed.
They made time for the National Gallery, and stood in front of all of those great works that were displayed there, marvelling at the fact that there was no fixed admission, that all that was requested was a donation. There was time too to head west to the trio of museums in Kensington, the collections inspiring them both, particularly the eclectic mix of items in the V & A. They had tea with Miss Frobisher that afternoon, the lady only too pleased to be asked to share a traditional English meal with them.
She was herself just back from Germany, where she had spent a few days in Baden Baden, reminded of her childhood visit there by Nick and Jeff. Her steps had brought her back to the Duval bakery, and stepping inside, she had been delighted to find it just as she remembered so vividly. That the family should realise who she was from a few words of conversation was a shock, but she had found herself spirited through to the tea room in the old bakery, and had been treated to afternoon tea on the house, as a friend of the family…
Coming home was a wrench in some ways, but it also marked the start of their married life together properly. The minutiae of normal life would now take precedence, and they would need to adapt to a new way of living, where both of them worked full time, and often longer than that. Isabelle had made no promise of short office hours for her new PA, and he knew that she worked long hours, and would need him at her side. For his part, Mitch accepted that without qualm, knowing just how important this role was to the man he loved. His own work would keep him busy too, which was why, for now at least, they had shelved the idea of children. They did both want them, but now was not the time, even with the age difference.
For now, on that Sunday morning, such things were forgotten, both of them just enjoying being together, as husbands, in their new home; a home that was like their married life together, just starting to come to perfection…