Although Maggie missed Paul, it felt good to spend six weeks at home in her own bed without him. Aden came home, and she lost herself in the ordinary pursuits of buying groceries and doing his laundry. It was a calming balance to life at the Ritz in Paris, and waiting to see what Paul would do next. Nothing new had emanated from the IRS, and just as he had said, it had become a high-stakes negotiation involving millions of dollars. That in itself had an unreal quality to it, as did life at the Ritz with all the luxuries it offered.
She had made a little progress with the business she wanted to start online, and had contacted a few artists who said they’d be interested in being represented by her. They were young and emerging artists whose work she’d seen at art fairs and galleries in Chicago when she had time, two of the artists were in London and one in Paris. The artists liked the sound of her online concept and the opportunity she was offering them. She wanted to sell the work at moderate prices, which was better than what they were getting now with no permanent gallery. Maggie wasn’t ready to set it up yet, but it was much on her mind. She was too busy with Paul to deal with it right now.
Paul had suggested that they could ship works to their clients on approval if the client had proper credit. The idea appealed to her, but the six weeks she spent with Paul in Paris and then the next six weeks spent at home with Aden kept her from making much progress. She was always either busy with Paul, or being available to Aden, which ate up her time.
She talked to Helen about it again when she got back.
“I don’t see how you can focus on starting a business, run halfway around the world to be with Paul between his car races and his battle with the IRS, come home to be a suburban mom, and then fly off again. I’m not sure how you’re keeping it all straight. Just hearing about it makes me feel crazy. Do you really think his mess with the IRS will turn out okay?” Helen asked her. She and Jeff had discussed it, and it was way over their heads too. It was financial manipulation at the highest level.
“It seems to be under control. I’m more worried about his races again now.” His race in France had gone well, he’d come in third, which he wasn’t happy about, but at least he hadn’t gotten injured. “I feel like a bullfighter’s girlfriend,” Maggie commented. “I worry about his getting gored every time. It was a lot easier being married to an accountant. My mother was right, the exciting ones will kill you. Especially Paul. The races aren’t enough for him, everything he does is dangerous. He’s either taking on the IRS, or wants to go skydiving with a friend, or goes mountain climbing to relax. I told him I’d kill him if he does anything dangerous with Aden this summer. He wanted to buy a special boat to take him paragliding behind the Lady Luck, and I wouldn’t let him. So he bought new high-speed Jet Skis instead. Aden is going to love them. It’s fun being with him, but too much fun at times.” She had gone from one extreme to the other, and yet there were other times when he was content to share some quiet time with her. They had spent a peaceful weekend in Switzerland before she left, and it was idyllic.
“Let’s face it. If you can stand the pace, it beats driving car pool as the high point of your day in Lake Forest,” Helen reminded her.
“I’m not so sure.” Maggie smiled at her, but she was looking forward to joining him on the boat and having Aden with them, and he could hardly wait.
“We’re taking the boys to a dude ranch in Wyoming this summer,” Helen told her.
“That sounds great to me.” Maggie and Helen had managed to stay in touch and see each other despite Maggie’s coming and going and the fancier life she led with Paul now. It hadn’t gone to her head, and she appreciated Helen’s friendship. She never forgot Helen’s getting her moving again after Brad’s death, and pushing her to take the trip to Europe, which had changed her life when she reconnected with Paul in Monte Carlo. It was hard to believe it was only nine months ago.
When Aden left on his backpacking adventure in Europe in June, Paul was already on the boat, working from there by phone and computer. Maggie flew to Nice and joined him on the Lady Luck in Monaco. They set sail the night she arrived, and took off for Portofino. As she stood on deck, feeling the wind in her hair, she could feel herself relax. Paul stood next to her with his arm around her. He looked as happy as she did. Everything else faded away when they were together.
“I missed you, Maggie. You were gone for such a long time.” He sounded wistful, and she nestled closer to him.
“It was only six weeks.” She looked up at him with his blue eyes and gray hair, and had the odd feeling that they had always been destined to be together. They were soul mates, despite how different they were.
“I hate it when you leave,” he said softly.
“When you clear things up with the IRS, you can come with me.” But she couldn’t see him in her suburban life in Lake Forest. Maybe in Chicago or New York. Despite his even more humble beginnings, he had become far more sophisticated than she was. He loved the trappings of his life, and she was happy on the boat with him. When they reached Portofino late that night, after anchoring outside the port, they went for a moonlight swim together. There was a castle lit up far above them, an ancient monastery, and the tiny port looked like a postcard. His crew had floated candles on the water for them, and then left them alone to swim in peace. They took their bathing suits off once they were in the water, and left them on the ladder leading back up to the lower deck. He had a way of making everything seem perfect. He created magic for her.
They swam for a few minutes and then he kissed her, and she dove under the water and swam away from him. He chased her until they both had to come up for air and he kissed her again as their bodies shimmered like ivory just below the surface.
“How did I ever get lucky enough to find you again?” he said, looking at her in wonder as she put her arms around his neck and wrapped herself around him.
“If I hadn’t come to Europe, I would never have found you.”
“And you’d be leading a peaceful life in Lake Forest without me,” he said, kissing her neck, and feeling her breasts against him.
“And bored to death,” she admitted. It was the first time she had ever acknowledged it, even to herself. Her life without him would have been fatally dull, which it never was with him. A little too exciting at times, but most of the time, she enjoyed the life she shared with him. The past six months had been some of the happiest of her life. She loved coming home to him. They swam for a little while longer, and then decided to retire to his cabin, which was large and comfortable and beautifully decorated. They laughed trying to struggle back into their wet bathing suits, and laughed harder when they couldn’t get into them. Paul managed to put his on inside out, and the bottom of hers had slipped back into the water and disappeared when she left it on the steps. The crew had left towels for them, and she managed to wrap herself in one and get back up the ladder, as they laughed like mischievous children and scampered back to his cabin. Their bathing suits lay in a wet heap on the floor a few minutes later, and they celebrated her homecoming, and then fell asleep in each other’s arms, as the boat rocked gently. There was nowhere on earth that Maggie wanted to be, except with Paul.
They took the tender into port the next morning to have coffee in town and explore the shops in Portofino. Paul bought two enormous Super Soakers and an arsenal of water guns and water balloons, while Maggie bought two new bikinis and a pair of sandals.
“What are those for?” she asked him when she saw the bags full of water guns.
“They’re for Aden and me,” he said proudly. He had bought a pirate flag to go with them, and she laughed at him.
“He’s going to love you. I’m not coming out of our cabin with you two on the loose.” He showed her the water balloons he had bought too, and she was still laughing at him when they got back into the tender to return to the boat. “How old did you say you are? Twelve?” He had ordered new fishing poles for them too, and was going to take Aden diving. Maggie had said he could, since Aden was certified. It made her think that Paul should have had children of his own. He would have been good with them. She wondered if he should be with a younger woman. It wasn’t too late for him, although it felt far too late for her. He had just turned fifty and she was forty-nine. She didn’t want another baby, she was happy just being with him. Aden was enough for her, and she didn’t want to go through heroics to have another child. She was enjoying their adult life and the freedom that went with it, and Paul was definite about not wanting children and said he never had.
They floated around the coast of Italy for the next week, and then went back to France. He took her to Saint-Tropez, where she had never been. It was still early in the season and already crowded, but the shops and restaurants were fun, then they escaped to the boat anchored outside the port at night. The Lady Luck would have been too big for the port, and they liked being farther from the action and the crowds in port anyway. On one of their ventures into town to shop, the paparazzi spotted him and followed them, shooting photographs at close range. Then they followed them in a speedboat when they went back to the Lady Luck, and Paul had the crew drop curtains around the dining area on deck so they could eat lunch in peace. Maggie wasn’t used to that yet, and the onslaught of photographers had taken her by surprise. They shouted his name from the speedboat alongside, hoping he would appear, but he didn’t. He stayed discreetly concealed with her behind the curtains.
“That’s so weird,” she said, musing about it, “and so invasive.”
“You get used to it, after a while.” He smiled at her. “Although it feels weird to me too. I’ll get the Super Soaker out if they come back.” She laughed, and they ate their lunch of langoustine, talking and laughing while they relaxed.
They went to a disco one night, after Maggie said it would be fun to go dancing. He put on a clown nose and a fake mustache as they stepped ashore, “so they wouldn’t be recognized,” he said, and she laughed even harder at that. But after a few dances at the Caves du Roy, the paparazzi spotted them again, so they fled and took a cab back to the port, where the tender was waiting with two of the crew. They hopped in quickly and took off, and this time the paparazzi didn’t have a boat to pursue them. They were back on the Lady Luck a few minutes later. Maggie tried the clown nose on when Paul took it out of his pocket, and he took a picture of her that they sent to Aden. He texted back a minute later. “What happened to your nose, Mom? Do you have a cold?” They were excited for him to join them, and he was too.
They spent the next few weeks floating around leisurely, and picked Aden up in Monaco in July, after he’d spent three weeks traveling with his buddies. He was planning to join them again for another two weeks at the beginning of August, and then they were going home and, shortly after, back to college.
Paul had been battling with the IRS for four months by then, but the debacle was far from over. The British tax authorities had declared themselves satisfied after seizing the penthouse and its contents, and had closed their files against him. The IRS was still in the heat of its investigation, but Paul seemed as unconcerned as ever, although every few days Maggie heard him talking to his lawyers. He was remarkably calm about it.
When Aden arrived, he had flown from Edinburgh, two of Paul’s crew members went to pick him up in Nice, and Maggie went with them. She was excited to see him, and Paul said he could hardly wait for him to get to the boat. She had a deep tan and looked rested and healthy. She’d been having a relaxing time with Paul. They’d pulled into port in Monaco from Saint-Tropez the night before, and the crew were busy washing the boat down all morning. Paul had assigned a large cabin to Aden, and Maggie had planned the dinner with the chef for that night with all of Aden’s favorites. Paul wanted to take him to the casino afterwards, and then they were going to Jimmy’z to dance if he wanted to. Maggie had brought nicer clothes for him in her suitcase, since he didn’t have room for them in his backpack, and she knew he wouldn’t bother to bring them if she didn’t. She thought he might need some decent clothes on the boat if they went out, as they were planning to that night.
Her face lit up the moment she saw him, and she smiled as he approached. He looked like a kid returning from camp in torn jeans, filthy sneakers that had holes in them, and a shirt advertising a bar in Scotland. His hair was shaggy and his backpack looked like it had been run over by a truck. She was laughing when he got to her in the airport.
“What’s so funny?”
“You look about ten years old, and I’m happy to see you.” He was about to turn nineteen, but he still seemed like a child to her. He slung an arm over his mother’s shoulders, and they walked out of the airport together, after he introduced himself to the two deckhands, who weren’t much older than he was. One of them was Scottish, and Aden told him on the way back to Monaco all about what he’d done in Edinburgh.
“Can we pick up some food on the way?” he asked his mother. “I’m starving. I didn’t get lunch.”
“We’ll get you something on the boat,” she promised, and he nodded. He’d seen a picture of the Lady Luck on the internet, but all he had seen was a big sailboat under sail, he had no concept of the comforts available, the size of the crew, the impeccable service, or the beauty of the boat. He looked thunderstruck when they reached the dock and he saw the graceful lines and the length of the boat. She was well over two hundred feet, and an impressive sight.
“Wow, Mom,” he said in a whisper, “I didn’t think it was this big.” Paul had the entire crew lined up to greet him, in their white uniforms with navy collars and the insignia of the boat, an elegant double “L,” embroidered on their collars, and gold epaulets. A well-known Italian designer had made them. There were twenty-four crew members on board. They were an impressive group as they greeted Aden when he came across the passerelle onto the boat. Paul was standing in front of them, smiling. Aden was awestruck as they shook hands and chatted for a few minutes, and then Paul excused himself, said he had to make a call, and he’d be back in a minute.
Aden glanced around and sat down with his mother in the dining area on deck, as they waited for Paul to come back. Aden was grinning and impressed by the activity around him.
“This is incredible. And he’s really a cool guy. I knew he would be.” As he said it to his mother, something whizzed just over his head, and Aden ducked as a water balloon exploded and splattered against the mast ten feet away from them. Aden looked up and Paul was grinning from the wheelhouse deck as Aden burst into laughter and stood up, waving at Paul.
“I’ll get you for that later,” he shouted as another one just missed him, and he scampered up the stairs to where Paul was standing. Paul pointed to a basin full of them, and the two of them threw water balloons at the crew members, who ran away, and lobbed a few onto the dock, narrowly missing visitors to a motor yacht next to them. Then the two of them ducked into the wheelhouse laughing like two naughty kids.
“I got some great guns too,” Paul told him, and the two of them went back downstairs to Maggie a few minutes later. There was a plate of sandwiches waiting for Aden on the table, a large pitcher of lemonade, and a plate of homemade cookies that smelled delicious. “We’ll go out later, and you can try out the Super Soakers then,” Paul promised him, and Aden couldn’t stop grinning. He could tell it was going to be a wonderful trip. He spotted the pirate flag a few minutes later as he ate the sandwiches.
One of the stewardesses showed Aden to his cabin after that, and he couldn’t believe that either. He looked around the saloon and explored the boat for a few minutes, then half an hour later, they motored out of port and headed toward Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat to go swimming for the rest of the afternoon. Inevitably, Paul brought out the water guns, and they had a water fight with the crew before they went back to port. Maggie sat just inside the dining area, so she didn’t get drenched. And then they all swam again, and decided to stay in the area while they ate dinner, and not to go back to the dock in Monte Carlo until afterwards, since they weren’t going to the casino until late. The time on the boat was all about having fun and being spoiled and pampered by the crew. It was a wonderful life, which Maggie had adjusted to quickly.
By the time they sat down to dinner that night, Aden and Paul were fast friends, and he felt as though he’d been there forever. The water fight Paul organized had been great. Aden had talked to several of the crew, who were mostly young and very personable, and very well behaved while on duty. Paul asked Aden questions about his trip, and school, over dinner. Aden shyly asked him about racing. Maggie was surprised how much Aden knew about it, and had obviously studied Paul’s history. Paul was touched by that too.
“I understand you’re a hockey player,” Paul said as they ate the steaks Maggie had ordered for them. The one Aden put away was huge. She knew how much he ate, and it never showed. He was tall and slim with huge shoulders.
“Yeah, I love it,” Aden said, “but I don’t want to play pro hockey after I graduate. I want to do something else, but I haven’t figured out what yet. Maybe sports management, or sportscasting for a network.” Maggie was relieved he didn’t want to do anything more dangerous. “I want to take flying lessons too,” he added. She didn’t like hearing that.
“I think you’re smart not to want to join the NHL,” Paul commented. “You’ll end up with no teeth and bad knees by the time you’re twenty-five.” Aden laughed and agreed with him.
“How did you start racing cars?” he asked Paul.
“I raced motorcycles first, when I knew your mom, when we were in high school. I did it in Mexico for a few years after that, and then I got some lucky breaks and started racing cars. It just happened, and one thing led to another. I won some important races and got the sponsor I still have now. Racing has been good to me. But I just have to warn you, your mom will kill me if you start racing cars,” he said half seriously, and Aden laughed.
“I know. She’s not so keen on planes either,” he said, and they all knew why. “I’d like to try hang gliding. I have some friends who do it in Vermont. It looks cool.”
“And dangerous,” Paul said. Aden nodded but seemed undaunted.
“Could I go up the mast tomorrow?” Aden asked him. “One of the deckhands said you have a seat that goes to the top.”
“You can if your mom says it’s okay.” He looked at Maggie then. “It’s safe. I do it all the time. He can’t fall out.” She hesitated and then nodded.
After dinner, they motored back into port. They showered and dressed, and after a glass of champagne, which Maggie didn’t object to, they headed for the casino, and Aden loved it.
Paul sat down at a blackjack table, with Aden and Maggie standing behind him, and Aden watched avidly. Paul won ten thousand euros in a few minutes, doubled it and then got up before he got too serious about it. He didn’t want Maggie to think he was corrupting her son, but Paul could see that Aden was a good boy, bright and full of life and eager to discover the world. He wasn’t as wild and fearless as Maggie had said, but he wasn’t meek either. He seemed sensible to Paul, and was exactly the kind of son he would have wanted if he had one. He had his mother’s integrity and values. He spoke respectfully of his father, and he thoroughly enjoyed being with Paul.
After the casino, they went to the disco, but didn’t stay long. Paul quickly spotted several very pretty young hookers, who in turn spotted Aden, and Paul decided not to let things get started, so they left after a short time. It was almost three in the morning by then, and was late enough. He knew the disco would go till five or six a.m. It had been a fun evening for all of them.
The next morning, Aden and Paul were up early, and Maggie had just gotten to the breakfast table when they hoisted Aden smoothly up the mast, and he loved it. When he came down, he said the view was fantastic. They sailed out to swim after that, and Paul and Aden went out on the new Jet Skis, and then went fishing that afternoon.
In the end, Aden stayed almost three weeks and said it was the best time he’d ever had. He hated to leave, and would have stayed, but he didn’t want to disappoint his friends, who wanted to finish the trip with him.
They had a massive water war on the last day, with full-on water balloons flying, and all the Super Soakers and water guns that Paul had bought in use. Everyone got drenched, including the captain and first officer, and even Maggie, and both sides claimed victory.
Aden looked genuinely sad when he had to leave, and he and Paul hugged each other. “Come back soon with your mom,” Paul said in a gruff voice. “It’s going to be damn dull around here without you. And take care of her when I’m not around. I have a race coming up in September, and she gets mad when I get banged up. You’ll have to come see a race sometime, if she’ll let you.” But he doubted that she would.
“I’d like that,” Aden said, and looked like he was about to cry. Maggie hadn’t realized how acutely he missed male companionship, and Paul was everyone’s dream father, the perfect hero to look up to. They’d played with every toy on the boat, watched movies at night, swam, sailed, fished. Aden had gone parasailing behind the boat and water-skied, and so had Paul. They had had several long talks about Aden’s future, and Paul’s philosophies about life. Paul told him that he had some regrets about not settling down, but it wasn’t in his nature, and he was lucky to have run into Maggie again. A more settled life wasn’t a bad thing, if you found the right woman. He hadn’t at the right times, and now he was just enjoying his life and playing it out until the end.
“Be careful,” Aden had said to him, and they hugged one last time before Aden left the boat and waved from the dock. Maggie rode to the airport with him, and was sad when she came back.
“He loves you,” she told Paul in a tender voice. “I mean really loves you. Thank you for being so good to him.”
“I love him too. He’s a great kid. He misses his dad a lot. I could never take his place. I’m not that kind of guy. You two brought up a wonderful boy and taught him all the right things. But I can be his friend now. I’d be honored to.”
“He thinks you’re the greatest thing that ever lived.” She smiled at him. “And I kind of agree with him,” she said and leaned over and kissed him. He pulled her onto his lap and hugged her as they watched the sun set over Monaco. They were setting sail for Corsica that night. He liked sailing at night, and she had come to love it too. They would motor part of the way because it usually got rough in Corsica on the way to Sardinia.
“You’re an incredible woman, Maggie,” he whispered and then kissed her. “I understand better now why you don’t like crazy risks. Aden needs you. And so do I.”
“I need you too…try to remember that,” she said in a serious voice, and he nodded. But he made no promises. He never did. He knew that the forces that drove him were stronger than he was, maybe even stronger than his love for her.