Chapter 24 – Surprise

January 8, 2040

As Maura had planned when the alarm sounded, Jane said, "Five more minutes, Maur." Maura smiled and pushed the snooze button. She knew her snooze button was seven minutes but she didn't care. When it went off again, seven minutes later, Jane requested five more minutes again and Maura hit the snooze again.

At 6:14 AM Maura hit stop and rolled on top of her wife. Jane's eyes flew open when Maura lean down and kissed her very passionately on the lips. Jane was awake and smiling, Maura was naked and on top of her and she knew what that meant. She didn't waste any time as she rolled Maura onto her back and planted kisses all over her. When the alarm went off again at 7 AM, Jane was upset, she wanted to have more sexy time with her wife. Maura simply told her, "Detective, you have sixty seconds to get your cute butt into the shower."

"Maur, I liked that line better when it was sixty seconds to get into the hot tub, and my butt isn't cute. Wait, does that mean you only think my butt is cute and not the rest of me."

"I know love but the children will be here at eight as will our breakfast so we need to get in the shower and get ready. To be honest, I consider all of your body to be cute."

"Together!" Jane suggested as she raised her eyebrows suggestively at her wife."

Maura thought for a moment and a huge smile appeared as she said, "Yes, but a quick shower."

Jane smiled as she hurried into the bathroom to turn on the water so that it could heat up. "Maur, you know I am not a detective anymore, right."

"You will always be my detective." Maura said as she entered the shower and pushed Jane against the wall. Jane loved an assertive Maura. They managed to get dressed and go out to the living room right as their breakfast arrived. Gen and Steve were already out in the living room and Gen went to the kitchen to help Maura get everything ready. At exactly 8 AM Kate and Carina arrived. Kate's hair was still wet. Maura just closed her eyes for a minute and then told Kate to go finish drying her hair with her ma's hair dryer in their bathroom.

By the time Kate came back out everything was laid out buffet style for their breakfast. They each filled their plates and then sat down and ate breakfast together. Maura pulled out their list of places to go and asked everybody where they wanted to start. After a brief discussion their day trip was all planned with the exception of where to have lunch at. There were plenty of cafés near where they were going so, they planned on just picking one and eating there.

Kate was watching her watch, waiting for the perfect time to facetime with her sister, Lilly. Lilly was in New York, and there was a six-hour time difference. She didn't want to wake her sister up. But she was getting impatient, they had just sat down to have a light lunch in a café when Kate dialed her sister. When Lilly answered, Kate said 'hello' and then burst out that she had asked Carina to marry her.

Lilly was excited, she knew her little sister loved Carina. They had spoken about their relationships, multiple times. Kate had been so busy with school that it had been over a month or so since she had spoken with Lilly. Lilly didn't realize she was on speaker phone when she told Kate, "Sal and I got married on August 15th."

"Wait, what?" Jane shouted.

"Oh shit, Kate are we on speaker?" Lilly asked realizing the answer must be yes or her ma was sitting right next to Kate and could hear what she said.

"Yes, sorry, I was just getting ready to tell you that. Ma, Mom, Gen and Steve are here with us having lunch." Kate told her older sister as Jane snatched the phone from her.

"Lilianna Marie Rizzoli-Isles, did I just hear you say that you and Sal got married? Did you not think to invite your family to your wedding?" Jane screamed into the phone as Maura reached over to comfort her upset wife. Everyone in the café were looking over in their direction.

"Ma! We didn't want to wait. We love each other. We didn't want the big Italian wedding and all the fuss. We wanted a simple ceremony at the courthouse so that is what we did. I am sorry that we didn't tell you." Lilly said almost in tears, she loved her mothers but she knew her nonna would want to throw a huge wedding for them.

Maura took the phone from Jane and took it off of speaker. "Lilly, how about we plan a small wedding at the family church with just the Rizzoli's present?"

"Mom, you know I love you and Ma but I would want Kate there standing next to me and you know she cannot fly to Boston while she is in school. Sal and I have decided that we will renew our vows on our tenth wedding anniversary and if you would like you can throw us a Rizzoli-style wedding then, we would be okay with it." Lilly countered.

"Only if I can wear my best suit and walk you down the aisle." Jane added, the phone was back on speaker but Jane and Maura had moved away from the table so they could have a private conversation with Lilly.

"Ma, I would love for you to wear your best tuxedo and walk me down the aisle. I knew you approved of Sal already or I wouldn't have gotten married in this fashion."

"Okay, I guess I can forgive you for eloping. I do approve of Sal, he is a good guy and I know he loves you very much. I thought when he asked for your hand in marriage that there would be a wedding in the near future, I just didn't know that it would be just the two of you in the courthouse."

"Wait, when did Sal ask for my hand in marriage?" Lilly asked, she didn't know that Sal had done that.

"Right after our retirement ceremony, he took us aside and asked and we gave him our blessing. We thought it was so nice that he honored the tradition of asking for our daughter's hand in marriage." Maura replied. They talked to Lilly for a few more minutes and then returned to the table just as their meal was being served. Jane handed the phone back to Kate and they enjoyed their meal. Kate figured she would talk to her sister later.

They enjoyed the rest of their day touring Paris. Kate had class the next morning so she and Carina didn't stay out too late. They took a cab back to the apartment so that Jane, Maura, Gen and Steve could enjoy some of the nightlife of the city. Because it was Gen and Steve's first time in Paris, Maura wanted to make sure they experienced as much of the city as possible.

The first bar they went to, they found a group of couples their age that were participating in a bar crawl and they invited them to join and they did. Jane paid the appropriate wage for the crawl to the tour guide and they spent the rest of the evening with six other couples from the United States that were experiencing the Paris nightlife in style. They would visit a total of four bars that night.

They found out that the six couples were in Paris for just over a week, they had earlier that morning and had dinner together and now they were enjoying the bar crawl. The six couples had a full week planned and then two days to rest and make sure that they didn't miss anything before they journeyed to their respective homes.

At the last bar, the tour guide gave them their schedule for the week and told them if they wanted to join them again give him a call. Jane took the schedule and his card and put it into her pocket as they said goodnight to all of their new friends. They caught a cab back to their apartment. It was almost 2 AM when they arrived at the apartment. Both couples said goodnight and retreated to their respective bedrooms.

January 9, 2040

Gen was the first to get out of bed the next morning and make her way to the kitchen. She needed coffee and she knew the others would need it also. She couldn't believe she had stayed out that late drinking. She couldn't remember the last time she had done something like that and had so much fun. She was happy that Maura had reminded them all to drink plenty of water to reduce the effects of their hangover. She knew that they couldn't do this every night.

She looked down on the counter and noticed that Jane had placed the tour/party schedule on the counter. She picked it up and noticed that they were only bar crawling every third night. That was more like a schedule she could handle, it was fun and she enjoyed the company of the other couples. She wanted to ask if the others would like to join another crawl. Their tour included quite a few things on their list as well.

Maura was the next one to get up and she saw Gen looking over the list. "They have quite the trip planned, don't they?" she asked Gen.

"Yes, I was just thinking that it might be nice to join them on some of their activities. I really liked that group of people."

"The tour guide said we could join them on anything they have planned. All we have to do is give him enough notice to change the reservations. We can talk to Jane and Steve when they get up and see if they are interested. We all seemed to get along and enjoy each other's company. I know the way we were doing things, left a little flexibility but we know that Kate and Carina are not going to be able to join us during the day and they do have homework each night."

"Really, they have homework?" Gen asked surprised.

"Well, the school doesn't give them homework, but my daughter is a perfectionist and likes to make sure she has a grasp on what she learned so she comes home and practices the techniques until she is confident that she has mastered them. She doesn't like leaving anything to chance. She knows that with this training on her resume it will be easy for her to get a job so she wants to make sure she masters all of the techniques."

Maura paused, "Before they started school, both of them were working in a local pâtisserie. The owner loves Kate and she has been working there every summer since she was a young teen. Carina started working there the first time Kate brought her to France."

"Kate is a very talented chef. I just love her cooking."

"Yes, she has been cooking since she was about three years old. My sister-in-law, Chloe, took a liking to Kate's love of cooking and often had her helping her out in her restaurant."

"I bet Kate loved that."

"Yes, she did. Jane and I wanted her to enjoy other childhood activities but she always came back to cooking. I think she loves baking the best, and that is why she worked at the pâtisserie during her summer trips to Paris."

Jane and Steve came out of the rooms and went straight for the coffee pot. Maura and Gen just smiled at each other, they knew their spouses so well. Maura heated up some leftovers and after eating they talked about the tour schedule and called the tour guide to see if they could join them for the rest of the week. He told them where to meet them today and we would get everything set for them.

Kate and Carina got a kick out of the fact that the two older couples were doing bar crawls. They loved the idea that they had joined up with a tour group to see the sights of Paris. They had to pay a few late fees for some of the trip but they didn't care. Their time in Paris would be enjoyable and that is all that they cared about. They also didn't have to worry about where they were going or when as it was all planned out by the tour company.

Maura and Gen took so many pictures during their week tour and made so many friends. Steve and Jane just stood back and watched as their wives enjoyed each detail of the trip. Some of the times they were not even sitting together as Maura and Gen joined some of the other ladies while Steve and Jane stayed back with the guys.

The couples were from all over the East Coast and had been with the tour company for years, going on different tours each year. Next year they would be touring Italy and both Steve and Jane's eyes shot open. They gentlemen they were talking too emailed them the itinerary and said that they would love for them to join them.

At the end of the night, they said their goodbyes to their new friends and let them know that they would seriously consider going to Italy with them next year. When they got back to the apartment Maura and Gen both looked at Steve and Jane, Maura asked, "What is this about Italy next year?"

Jane replied, "The group goes on a tour each year and next year they are going to Italy. They sent me the itinerary and I think it is something we should consider." She showed Maura the itinerary and Gen looked over her shoulder. They nodded at each other, thinking it looked like it would be fun.

"I like it, those couples were nice. Do you want to commit two weeks each year to joining them on their tours?" Maura asked Jane, Steve and Gen.

"I think it would be fun." Gen replied immediately.

"The following year they will be going to Portugal and Spain." Jane offered.

Steve told them, "I am game if you are all game."

"Sounds like we have new tour partners for two weeks each year. I will call the tour guide and let him know that we would like to go to Italy with them next year." Maura said as she also sent a message to the ladies' tour group chat that they added Maura and Gen too. Immediately a few of the ladies replied how excited they were.

Gen then added, "Now if the weather would just warm up at home so we can start our Route 66 RV trip."

"I know," Maura said, "We might just have to wait until April or May for that. You know Georgia has a Wine Highway event each March. We could travel down there and visit the vineyards and stay at some of the wineries with our RVs. They have a program for RVers called, 'Harvest Hosts.' The program is nationwide and might be something to consider checking out before we finalize our plans for our Route 66 trip."

"That sounds excellent, let's look into that when we get home." Gen said and Maura nodded in agreement. For now, they have a few more days left in Paris before they fly back to Boston.