TIME TO PAY THE PIPER
Remington rolled to his back with a contented sigh, feeling truly rested for the first time in days.
Laura had awakened him with a soft touch, who knew how long ago, to tell him quietly…
"Get some sleep."
He'd hummed his answer then had quickly drifted back into oblivion to sleep the sleep of an exhausted and well sated man. He enjoyed every last moment of the hectic and chaotic holiday at their Vail home, but it came at the cost of sleep what between cooking the meals, entertaining, shopping, helping with the children and staying up half the night on Christmas Eve preparing Santa's arrival for the children.
Then, of course, there was last night. After bringing him to climax by mouth to provide him some relief, his creative, insatiable wife hadn't left a millimeter of his body untouched, had exploited all his secrets, had teased and taunted him endlessly until he'd finally broken, eliciting a somewhat desperate…
"Laura, please…"
To which she'd replied…
"My name is Naughty Jingle Bottoms…"
Then had informed him he'd have to ask her, by that silly name, to end this game, her wicked smile saying she knew he'd be horrified to do such a thing. He'd tried to hold out – he had – but need quickly trumped all else and he'd surrendered to the request, earning a glean of satisfaction in her eyes and a heated, world-rocking completion to their little games.
He laughed softly when Jefferies' complaint nearly a dozen years ago traipsed unbidden through his mind…
"…absurdly passionate…"
Bloody fool.
Sitting up and slinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he rubbed his face vigorously and gave his belly a little scratch. His brows lifted when he saw the necklace, bracelet and earrings Laura had been 'seeking' on his bedside table, along with a short note from her sitting atop an envelope.
I imagine there is a story behind these. I look forward to hearing it – L
A smile lit his face. Every piece of jewelry he'd designed for her had a reason behind it.
Opening the flap of the envelope, he removed its contents. His eyes widened when he held in hand two first-class tickets to Fiji, departing January 25th and returning January 31st. Nearly an entire week? Just the two of them? He was positively chuffed by the gift.
Setting envelope and note down, he picked up his watch and glanced at the face, then grimaced. It was just shy of noon, which meant Christos would, undoubtedly, be needling him all day.
Twenty minutes later he was showered, shaved, dressed and walking out of the bedroom. He hadn't even fully stepped into the dining room when his first born spotted him.
"Da!" Livvie launched herself at him. Catching her in his arms, he lifted her up and perched her on his hip. "Yaya and Lina and Granddad are making brunch like we do on Saturdays at home!" she excitedly announced. "And Uncle Murphy and Aunt Sherri and Nicholas and Zack and Mason and Matty camed!"
"My, my, that's a lot of 'ands'."
"I'm not done!" she scolded. A corner of his lips lifted.
"Oh, well, by all means, continue."
"And Aunt Bernice and Uncle Jason and Bo, too!"
"Sounds like a—" He didn't have time to finish the statement, the peel of the doorbell seeing Livvie wiggle out of his embrace and running towards the front door, yelling…
"Someone's here! Someone's here!"
He followed behind his blue-eyed, black-haired daughter, catching her around the waist and plopping her back on his hip before she could answer the door.
"Livvie Bee, what's the rule about answering the door?" She heaved a heavy sigh.
"Only Mommy, Da or a big person can answer the door," she replied, begrudgingly.
"Aye," he acknowledged with a smile. She may look like him, but inside, where it counted, she was all Laura. "Now, let's see who's come to see us, eh?" he suggested, swinging open the door. He was pretty sure she broke his eardrum when she screeched in his ear then threw herself out of his arms.
"Sophie! Kai and Damerae are here," she yelled up the stairs. "Holt! Elijah's here!" A herd of elephants raced across the upstairs hallway then down the stairs and cacophony broke out. In the middle of it all, Remington plucked up McKenna – Joceyln and Monroe's one-year-old – and offered his long-time friend, a handshake and Jocelyn a peck on her cheek. Fingering aside the blanket, he took a peek at the newest addition to the Henderson family: Two-month-old Kiara.
"Codladh cosúil le haingeal," Remington observed. "The spitting image of her mother." Monroe laughed.
"Fortunately for her, that is true," he joked.
"We might wish to move before we're trampled," Remington recommended drawing laughter from the couple as they sidestepped the converging children and moved towards the living room. He took in all those gathered there: Bernice, Jason, Murphy, Sherri, Christos, Marcos, Catherine, Mildred, Rusty and Frances, not to mention Murphy and Sherri's two-year-old twins who were playing with blocks, where many an adult eye was upon the mischievous pair. Still, it seemed to him a few people were missing, beginning with his Mrs. Steele. After greetings were made all around, Frances provided the answer to where she was.
"Donald will be disappointed he wasn't here when you arrived, but he and Laura have taken Mother to the airport. They should be along soon." Well, that ride with her mother fairly guaranteed Laura would need some time to decompress, time he'd happily give her. Sitting McKenna down with the boys to play, Remington took a seat on a nearby sofa.
"Abigail didn't want to celebrate New Year's Eve here?" Bernice questioned.
"She and her beau are taking a week in Maui," Frances shared in a conspiratorial tone.
"How nice for her," Sherri interjected, sincerely, as she stood and approached Jocelyn. "May I?" she asked, her eyes glued to the infant in the other woman's arms.
"Of course," Jocelyn replied, settling the baby in Sherri's arms. Sherri rejoined Murphy on the couch.
"I keep telling Mr. Murphy we need another baby, just like you," she told the baby in a soothing tone.
"And I keep telling Ms. Sherri, we never have just one baby, but two," Murphy mimicked Sherri's tone while leaning down to gaze at the baby.
"Then I remind him we both always agreed we wanted a big family and we both want a little girl."
Remington laughed warmly from where he sat in a chair across from the sofa.
"I've $20 on there being an announcement of a new Michael's on the way by this time the next year," he announced, holding up a twenty-dollar bill and grinning at Murphy. "Any takers?"
"When Donald said no more, that was it," Frances disagreed as she dug a twenty-dollar bill from her purse, siding with Murphy.
"If a child is meant to be then it will be," Marcos said sagely, adding his ante in favor of Sherri.
"Monroe's not won that argument yet," Jocelyn boasted, then elbowed her husband in the side, "Put a twenty on Sherri for me." He added forty.
"What can I say, my friend?" he directed the words to Murphy. "It's best not to disagree with a determined woman."
"I've you're back, Murphy," Christos tossed twenty on the table. "Helena's been trying – without success, might I add – to have another for the last two years and I've yet to be swayed."
On the sofa, Rusty and Mildred conferred with one another before Mildred added a twenty in favor of Sherri. Murphy looked at her as though she'd betrayed him.
"Sorry," she shrugged, "We need another baby around the office. You and Sherri are the best bet for that to happen." She gave Bernice a sly look. "Unless—"
"Nothing doing," Bernice denounced, immediately adding a bill in Murphy's favor.
"One and done," Jason agreed with his wife, adding another twenty.
The front door flew open, drawing everyone's eyes. Donald wore the expression of strained patience and empathy that he often did with the Holt sisters when Abigail had gotten under their skin, while Remington immediately recognized his petite wife was positively stewing. Excusing himself, he crossed the room, gave Donald a nod of greeting, and slipped his arm around Laura's waist, sweeping out of the sight of the others in the room.
"That woman!" she groused in a low voice.
"A pleasant trip?" he quipped.
"Just peachy!" she sniped. An amused smile lifted his lips.
"We can speak about it now or we can…" he touched his lips to the side of her neck "…discuss the rather remarkable Christmas present a certain someone left for me on my bedside table." Her mood picking up dramatically, she widened her eyes, feigning innocence.
"Oh, and who might that be?"
"A certain young lady who's developed my penchant for surprises over the years." She wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.
"Do I know her?" He pursed his lips.
"I hope so, elsewise my wife will undoubtedly take a pound of my flesh." He grew serious, his eyes soft. "Fiji, Laura? Just the two of us, for an entire week?" She smiled up at him while fingering the hair on the back of his neck.
"I seem to recall you once mentioning…"
"Reclining on a beach somewhere, azure seas, a long, cool pina colada…"
He hummed his agreement.
"Secluded villa on a private beach nestled in a cove; a sailboat at our disposal any time we wish to take it out; twenty-four hour room service…"
"You, all to myself…" Lowering his head, he melded his lips to hers.
"Mommy and Da, sitting in a tree…" Came two little voices from above their head, before several other voices joined in, "K-i-s-s-i-n-g…" Laura laughed against his lips.
"I swear, the two of them are worse than Mildred," he grumbled, then loosening his embrace on Laura, looked at the landing above. "Be away with you little vagabonds," he waved a hand towards their bedrooms and playroom. A half dozen giggling children ran in the direction he indicated.
Christos couldn't resist when the couple reentered the living room.
"K-i-s-s-i— Ow! What the hell, Xen?!" he protested the palm of Remington's hand connecting with the back of his head.
"Christos! Language!" Elena called from the kitchen.
"Apologies, Mama," he called back while scowling at Remington. His older brother smiled benignly at him before taking a seat at the end of one of the sofas, while Laura took a brief detour towards their room to put up her coat and purse.
"To think I nearly warned you of the little surprise heading your way," Christos groused, taking satisfaction in the lift of Remington's brow. Lina entered the living room as he was speaking, his words peaking her curiosity.
"And what surprise might that be?" she asked. Christos smirked.
"You'll find out soon enough, Lina," he evaded. The little hairs on the back of Remington's neck stood at attention – the odds were equally good that this little 'surprise' would be unpleasant as pleasant. Lina just smiled at her older brother, this time making those hairs on the back of Christos's neck stand at attention. "What?" he demanded to know.
"I've no idea what you mean," she replied, then turned towards the kitchen. "Oh, Mama said to let you know brunch is ready and to gather the children," she announced, looking back over her shoulder.
With those words, the room went into motion.
"Jocelyn, if you come with me, I'll show you to the room we've set up for the wee ones, in anticipation of just such an occasion," he nodded towards the napping baby.
"You've thought of everything, mona mi," Monroe praised as Sherri shift the sleeping infant into her mother's arms.
"Ah, the credit is all Laura's. She never misses the smallest of details."
"Exactly what is it I haven't missed?" Laura asked, overhearing her husband as she stepped back into the living room.
"The nursery," he supplied, drawing a secretive smile from her, causing his eyes to narrow, wondering what it was about.
"A room that'll be put to good use in the years to come, I'm sure. I'll get the children washed up while you show Jocelyn to the nursery…
After lunch, they split up into groups. The teens opted to give snowboarding a try under the watchful eyes of Christos and Donald, while Monroe, Jocelyn, Murphy, Sherri, and Jason hit the slopes. Rusty and Marcos opted to chaperone Holt, Alex, Nicholas, Zack, Kai, Damerae, Elijah and Bo on the kiddy slopes as Mildred, Catherine, Elena and Helena chose to spend the afternoon playing bridge and keeping an eye on the under threes, who'd just gone down for a nap. The remaining girls were herded into two Suburbans, along with Remington, Laura, Thomas and Lina, for an afternoon of ice skating in town.
"Laura—" Remington cast pleading eyes on her.
"Watch the road, Mr. Steele," she instructed, breezily, then turned to look at Livvie and Sophie in the seat behind them. "Girls, Da has a surprise for you."
"He does?" This from Sophie.
"What is it?" This from the more direct Livvie.
"Laura, please—" he tried again.
"Da is going to skate with you today," she announced.
"He is?" Sophie asked with a tilt of her head.
"Da can't ice skate," Livvie replied, doubtfully.
"Oh, but Da signed up for ice skating lessons," Laura explained, making Remington wince. He was supposedly taking lessons, he corrected, silently. The idea of falling on his arse over-and-over before an audience had simply been… unpalatable. So, while Laura had believed him to be at those lessons, he'd instead gone to the movies, figuring what she didn't know wouldn't hurt him and that he'd come up with a viable reason for being unable to skate when the time came.
The problem was, he'd forgotten to devise a believable excuse and was now slightly panicked as they drove nearer and nearer to town.
"I'm sure he can't wait to show you how much he's learned," Laura continued, taking perverse pleasure in watching him squirm.
A little more than a month ago, as she'd prepared their clothes for the dry cleaner, she'd found a theater stub in the pocket of one of his suit jackets. While this wasn't exactly unusual, it was the date on the ticket stub that caught her eye: Tuesday, November 15th. Every Tuesday and Thursday for a month – Thanksgiving the exception, of course – he'd diligently left the office at 3:30 for his 'lessons.' Ha! Immediately suspicious, she checked their credit card statements, the man who found cash 'too bulky' not considering the trail he'd be leaving behind and there it was in black and white: Movie theater charges every Tuesday and Thursday for a full month and nary a charge for skating lessons to be found. She'd allowed him to play out his little game, even going so far to praise him when after a month of "lessons" he'd announced he had a natural affinity for those blades of steel and no further lessons were needed.
Now, it was time to pay the piper and she was only too happy to watch.
He groaned inwardly, under no illusion Laura hadn't uncovered his little… misdirection… and intended to see to it he suffered for it. He should have known better, he recognized, for he'd never been able to get one past her. What annoyed him was the discovery was inevitably due to some oversight, some mistake on his part. He didn't have time to figure out where he'd gone wrong, not now, because by his estimation he had less than five minutes to come up with something, anything to get out of what lay ahead.
By the time they pulled into the parking lot and had unloaded children and adults, alike, he'd come up with nothing… absolutely nothing. So, it was in a moment of desperation that he'd pretended to stumble, then had upped the ante with a loud groan and topped the performance off by hopping on a single foot to a nearby bench.
"Son, are you alright?" Thomas asked, rushing to sit near his offspring's side. Remington peeked out from beneath his lashes to gauge whether Laura was buying the little ruse. The answer was no, if her crossed arms and tapping foot meant anything at all.
"Lina, would you mind taking the girls to get their skates?" Their eyes met and Lina had to squelch a smile: Xenos was in trouble once more and she could not wait to get the details from Laura.
"It is no trouble," she answered, then ushered the girls towards the skate shop. "Come along, children, we must get you outfitted."
"I think I've sprained it," Remington complained, hoping to sway Thomas's sympathy his way.
"Is Da okay?" Sophie asked, worriedly, looking back over her shoulder at him as she followed behind the other girls. Lina lay a hand on the sensitive child's shoulder.
"He's fine," she assured, then looked back over her shoulder as well, "Although we may well wake to find him on the couch in the morning." Sophie sighed, then called to her sister.
"Livvie, Da's in trouble again…" Livvie turned around, walking backwards.
"He is?" she asked her sister. Sophie nodded her head emphatically. Livvie shook her head and rolled her eyes much as her mother often did. "Is Mommy going to put him in time out?" Laura muffled a laugh as the girls walked out of hearing range.
"Perhaps a run round to the emergency ward would be wise," Thomas suggested. The thought made Remington cringe. He despised hospitals, most especially emergency wards, where you were poked and prodded, jabbed with needles and, worst of all, were forced into one of those gowns that gave one and all a good look-see at your backside.
"The only thing your son needs examined is his head," Laura assured her father-in-law, before looking pointedly at her husband. "Are you going to tell him, or am I?" Remington's eyes shifted back-and-forth between his concerned father and annoyed wife. With a sigh, he raised the white flag of surrender.
"Laura insisted I take the girls ice skating this year and signed me up for lessons. The indignity of being sprawled out on the ice – many times I suspect – was more than I could bear, so I went to the movies instead." He looked at his wife and found her no happier than the last.
"And…?" she hinted, with a nod towards the ankle he was rubbing.
"I faked twisting my ankle to get out of it," he confessed, the words tasting like vinegar on his tongue. Thomas looked from son to daughter-in-law, then burst out laughing. Remington took offense.
"How would it look for Remington Steele or, even more importantly, for the Earl of Claridge to end up on the front page of the paper, lying face down on the ice?!" he protested. Thomas lay a hand on his son's shoulder.
"This is not about pride, son, it's about the memories you're making." His eyes lost focus as he found himself lost in the past. "I would have given all I had for just one such day with you." Remington frowned.
"Forgive me, Father, but I can't see you strapping on those… those…-"
"Skates," Laura provided helpfully, attracting a glare from her husband for her troubles.
"…knowing you'd collect who knows how many bumps and bruises for—"
"Oh, but intend to do just that, should my granddaughters wish me to join them upon the ice," Thomas cut in. Remington's complaints ground to a halt, and he looked at his father, positively gobsmacked.
"What will the public think should the Marquess Westmoreland be caught falling on his backside? Think of your—"
"They'll either think I'm willing to make a fool of myself, should it mean making my granddaughters happy or they'll simply think me a fool. Either matters naught, for the only opinions that matter to me are those of my family." Standing, he patted Remington on the shoulder a pair of times. "If you'll excuse me, I'm sure Lina could use a hand."
Remington stared at his father's departing back, with parted lips and widened eyes. Bloody hell. He'd been ensnared by his father as easily as he was by Laura when she was of a mind. Now, should he refuse, he'd have not only his wife's wrath to face, but his father's disappointment… not to mention that of Marcos and Elena as well, for Lina would surely rat him out. Heaving a heavy sigh, he lifted and dropped his hands in surrender and stood up.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" he asked, making no effort to hide his pout.
His traitorous wife didn't even bother hiding her mirth, tittering beside him as they followed Thomas towards the rink.
The quiet house exploded with activity when Olivia raced through the door, running full tilt for the women sitting at the table playing bridge, with Sophia and the other girls not far behind.
"Grans!" Livvie chirped excitedly. "Granddad skated with us and he didn't fall down, not even once!" Catherine turned in her chair to regard the little girl.
"Your Granddad has become quite the adept ice skater since we met," she shared, reaching for the zipper of Livvie's snow jacket. Livvie tilted her head.
"What does adept mean?" Catherine smiled.
"It means he has become quite good," she provided, as Olivia turned in a circle, removing her arms from the sleeves of the coat.
"Da, skated, too!" Sophie added excitedly, as Elena took her hand then began helping her out of her outerwear, while Helena and Mildred gathered Eirene and Daphne to assist them.
"Xenos knows how to skate?" Elena pondered aloud. "This I did not know."
"Me either," Mildred noted with a shrug of her shoulders and a curious look on her face. Sophie nodded her head.
"He kept pretending to fall down, making us laugh," she added. "YaYa what does gamóto mean?" the little girl wondered, rattling off the Greek word her father had uttered often. Christos laughed as he stepped out of the kitchen, a mug of hot tea in hand.
"It means he'll be seeing a trip to the confessional in his very near future," he jested.
"This, this is a word you need not know," Elena addressed all four girls, "And must never use. Do you understand what it is I say?" The girls nodded, Livvie and Sophie's eyes widening.
"Is Da in trouble again?" Sophie worried.
"Again?" Christos inquired. Livvie and Sophie nodded their heads in tandem.
"Thea Lina says Da might have to sleep on the couch," the dark-haired little girl replied woefully.
"Again," the little blonde added. A wide smile split their uncle's face.
"This day just keeps getting better and better," he commented with glee.
"And exactly why is that?" Remington demanded to know, as the four adults trouped through the door, one a little more stiffly than the rest.
"You wouldn't want me to spoil the surprise, would you?" Christos evaded with a smirk in his brother's direction. A pair of blue eyes narrowed on him.
"As a matter of fact, I'd like you to do precisely that." Lina approached her youngest brother and patted him on the arm.
"Be careful, brother. You may wish you'd not found so much joy in whatever it is you have planned for Xenos, before a surprise of your own befalls you," she warned with a smile. Alarm made him straighten his spine. His sister's surprises were never of the pleasant variety.
"Lina," he drew out her name, "What are you—"
"Christos, take Daphne and Eirene upstairs and pick them out some dry clothes," Helena interrupted to direct, "After they may join the older children in the screening room for hot cocoa and popcorn."
"In just a moment," he put off, turning his attention back to his sister. "The surprise is not for Xen but you, tarachopoiousa mikri mia aderfi."
"Christos, you will do as asked so we may continue to enjoy…" She turned to Mildred "How to say it?"
"Girl time," Mildred supplied and Elena nodded.
"So we may continue to enjoy our girl time," she finished. Christos shirked before her formidable stare.
"Yes, Mama. Girls, come along." Remington slapped his brother on the shoulder as he passed.
"Yes, do be a good soldier," he taunted, regretting the quip as soon as it came out of his mouth.
"Xenos, you will help our Olivia and Sophia," Elena ordered. His jaw slackened. His eyes traveled to the stairs to his laughing wife to Elena then back at the stairs.
"But—"
"Xenos, you will do as you are told," she interrupted sternly. His face fell and his shoulders slumped, the flight of stairs seeming as daunting to climb at the moment as Mount Everest. Swallowing hard, he nodded his head.
"Yes, Elena." He didn't even need to tell Sophie and Livvie to join him, the girls racing past him to join Eirene and Daphne as they ran up the stairs.
"Olivia, Sophia, no running in the house," Laura called the reminder after the girls. Both immediately slowed down, although Olivia bolted the second she reached the top of the stairs.
"I'll give Christos a hand," Lina volunteered, already imagining what kind of mismatched concoction he'd come with if left to his own devices.
"Lina," Christos turned around to hiss at her, as they climbed the stairs, "Exactly what is it you have up that sleeve of yours?"
"What have you up yours?" she retorted. Christos openly laughed in relief.
"You've nothing at all planned," he accused. "Just trying to stir up trouble, as always." She gave a careless lift and drop of her shoulders.
"Think what you will."
"Leave it be, Christos. Hounding her has never done any good," Remington reminded his younger brother.
"Tell me, big brother, did you enjoy your afternoon at the rink?" Remington's eyes flickered to his wife, who'd moved to sit on the couch near where the ladies were playing bridge, then discounted the notion she'd said anything given she'd come inside at the same time as he.
"I always enjoy time spent with the children," he replied, evasively.
"Hmmm," Christos pretended to mull the response, "What is that expression you Yanks enjoy so? Ahhh, yes… A little birdie told me you spent most of the afternoon falling on your arse—"
"Christos! Language!" Elena barked, without so much as looking up from her cards.
"Yes, Mama. Sorry, Mama," he apologized out of habit.
"Your birdie was singing the wrong song," Remington lied through his teeth. "I never—"
"I took pictures," Lina announced with a wide smile. Christos guffawed, loudly.
"You didn't!"
"Oh, but I most assuredly did," she replied with a definitive nod towards Remington.
"I'll give you a thousand pounds to destroy that film, Lina," Remington croaked.
"It is not your money I desire, big brother, but a bit of your oversized pride," she refused, gaily.
"Seems she's got us both in her clutches, little brother," Remington addressed Christos. "Now, I doubt we'd be able to find some lizards running about this time of the year, but I'm willing to wager the pet store in town is stocked full of furry little rodents, just wishing for a warm place to sleep…"