By:
Phaedra Phelan
PG
Rated
E-mail:
PrissyBNY@aol.com
Summary:
It is 2002 and Remington makes a sudden trip to
Disclaimer: This “Remington Steele” story is not-for-profit and is purely for entertainment purposes. The author and this site do not own the characters and re in no way affiliated with “Remington Steele,” the actors, their agents, the producers, MTM Productions, the NBC Television Network or any station or network carrying the show in syndication, or anyone in the industry.
_____________________________________________________________
The next morning the Steele entourage
prepared to leave for
Remington bounced into the bedroom, full
of energy, dressed and ready.
He seemed to thrive on passion whereas Laura simply smiled
languidly from her pillow. He had come to bed very
late and in the early morning hours they had turned to one another
again and Laura was clearly still under the influence of those
intimate moments.
“Darling, we have just enough time
to get ready for our early afternoon flight. I didn’t want
to waken you till it was absolutely necessary. Esperanza has the
twins ready. Do you
want to nurse them now?”
“Yes, I am just tired this morning,
Rem,” Laura said, yawning sleepily. “I must be getting
old. I still enjoy
overdosing on you, but it takes its toll.”
“Darling, forgive me, but I find
you so stimulating. And I missed you so much when you were half
a world away from me.”
“You seem to thrive upon <iit/i>,
bouncing in here like you’ve had a dose of some miracle tonic,”
Laura said wryly.
“Yes, I do,” Remington said,
winking seductively at her as he bent to kiss her ‘good morning.’
“I’m still thinkin’ about yesterday in that
lovely glen. I couldn’t believe
it when those blasted cows surrounded us, mooing.”
“It was like that time we were trying
to kiss on Los Amantes Lookout in the
“Actually we were trying to do much
more than that. I
always look back on that as a ‘lost opportunity’ of
a special kind. We
were coming so close, and it took us a long time to get back to
that place in our relationship, didn’t it?”
“Yes, I was ready.
I guess my hormones were going at full tilt. And then I
came back to my senses and I was so scared that we had come that
close. And yet, deep inside, I
wished that we had not been interrupted up on Los Amantes that
night.”
“I never got to make up for that.”
“Till yesterday. I wonder what that
cow herder thought.”
“He thought that a man and a woman
were simply doing what men and women do.
You will find the French quite understanding when it comes
to matters of love, darling.”
Laura giggled girlishly.
“Bring me my babies.
I know they are hungry.”
Remington’s blue eyes widened as
she sat up in bed and the sheet slipped away revealing her swollen
breasts. Laura drew the sheet up and Remington caught her hand
so that the sheet fell away.
“Let me look at you. You know that
I love the sight of you when your breasts are full.”
Remington bent to gently kiss her breasts
with his pursed lips and then smiled the slightly lopsided smile
Laura knew so well, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled the scent
of her.
“I’m helpless, Laura.”
“Yes, you are,” Laura said,
reaching to stroke his hair. “But don’t ever stop being
the man you are. You know that I am always
here for you . . . whenever you need me.”
“Thank you, Laura,” Remington
whispered hoarsely, struggling to gain control of his passions.
“I’ll go get our sons.”
*
* * * * *
The flight to
By the time Remington and Laura checked
in and were ensconced in the Guiseppi Verdi suite with Esperanza
and the twins it was late afternoon and the twins were fretting.
After Laura nursed them, they promptly fell asleep and
Esperanza put them to bed.
“Well, these are some really fancy
digs, Remy,” Laura said as she surveyed the rooms with their
ornate furnishings and gleaming parquet floors.
“What does it remind you of, darling?”
Remington queried with a wink.
“The castle in
“That night you comforted me in
that . . . special way. Unforgettable, almost as unforgettable
as that first night at the Downtowner Motor Inn. Do you remember,
Laura?”
“Yes, I do. I remember every time
I see the look in your eyes that I see now.”
Remington drew Laura close and kissed
her carefully and thoroughly, letting his hands wander up and
down, cupping and squeezing her hips in his hands, pulling her
up close to him so that she could feel his need for her escalate.
“Laura . . .”
“Rem . . . Rem . . .”
“Let’s . . . let’s get
into that beautiful sunken marble tub and relax a bit. Then I
want to take you to one of the great restaurants of the world
not far from here.”
Laura nodded and they shed their travel
clothes and went into the bathroom together.
* * * * * *
Remington and Laura sat at a linen-covered
table at Nino’s on
“So, did it live up to your expectations,
darling?”
“Umm, yes,” Laura sighed. “I can’t imagine
that we are really here on business.
Are you sure?”
“Yes, unfortunately, I am sure. I think that tomorrow morning
is soon enough to begin to deal with that.
I have other plans for this evening.”
“Which are?”
“La Scala is just a couple hundred
meters away. Would you walk with me a while, and then we can go
back to our suite at the hotel. I have some rather specific plans
for us then, darling.”
Laura smiled and sipped her wine.
“You look stunning tonight, Laura.”
Remington absorbed Laura with his eyes. She wore a simple navy
silk dress, long-sleeved with a wide v-shaped neckline that showed
plenty of freckled cleavage.
Her hair was pinned up in the manner that still tantalized
Remington, making it difficult for him to resist the urge to remove
the pins and let it fall to her shoulders. She was radiant with the
peculiar radiance she always had when they were on a sexual marathon
and she knew it. No face cream or makeup could bring that glow.
She felt good and she had been ready for Remington every
time that he reached for her.
“I think that you must take responsibility
for that, darling. I
am forty-six years old.”
“You don’t look it.
You look thirty-five,” Remington countered.
“Then you’d better keep doing
what you’re doing for me, baby.”
“I plan to.”
Remington smiled and drew her hand to
his lips and kissed it.
As the handsome Remington with his silver-streaked
dark hair and his woman left the restaurant, they turned the heads
of even the jaded Milanese.
* * * * * *
The next morning Remington wakened early,
anxious to continue the search for his long lost cousin.
Although he was ready to finish the chase, so to speak,
he was distracted by Laura, snuggled under his warmth as she continued
to sleep soundly. He adjusted his position so that he could encircle
her in his embrace. As desire for her surged in him again, he
buried his face in her thick hair, groaning softly as the hard
length of his body sought congruence with her soft curves.
“Remy . . .” Laura murmured
as she gradually gained consciousness.
“Isn’t this where we left off last night?”
“Forgive me, darling. I don’t
know when I’ve been quite so randy.
I don’t wish to tire you unduly. When I wakened, my
mind was on the case, but,” his mouth sought hers, “I’m
finding myself quite distracted.”
Laura looked into those blue eyes and
saw that familiar hangdog look and knew that he was helpless.
“My poor baby,” she purred.
“In all these years I’ve never
become accustomed to waking with you in my bed.
You are my weakness, Laura.
You could make me do anything . . . just to have you.
Do you realize that?”
“I don’t want to take unfair
advantage of you. I don’t have to dominate
you. I enjoy the surrender too
much,” Laura said as she succumbed to his blandishments once
again.
It was nearly ten when Laura wakened
again. Her little boys were in bed with her enjoying their morning
feeding and Remington was sitting at the antique desk poring over
his notes on the case, fully dressed for the day.
“Darling, you’re awake. I have <icappuchino/i>
and some delightful pastries on the way. The twins have been nursing
for half an hour . . . should just about be finished.”
Laura saw her softened breasts and the
contentment on the faces of her sons and knew that it was true. She was always amazed when
her babies nursed while she was sleeping.
Remington came and sat on the side of
the bed and watched her cherish their chubby little boys at her
bare breasts, patting them, kissing them tenderly, as she gave
them what only she could give them.
“I love to watch you . . . mothering. You are quite beautiful
with your children.”
Laura smiled, but said nothing. She knew that she was a
very good mother. Successful mothering had given her a confidence
in herself that she would never have imagined in her single days.
“So where do we start today, Remy? You look as if you have
a plan.”
“Well, I thought that we might first
visit that mutual friend of Aunt Chlöe and get the latest
information on Sergio and his son.”
Remington paused for a long moment.
“Actually I believe that I know this woman.
The name fits and the occupation as well.”
“Who is it?”
“Constanza DiGregoria, the super-sized
diva I was involved with back in my wild days before I met you. I am sure you have not
forgotten any woman that I have ever confessed to.”
Laura’s eyes flashed in response
momentarily, and then she regained her composure.
“I saw that, darling. We are talking
about a woman who is seventy years old.
She was twenty years my senior when we were involved.”
“And how many times would you say
that you had intercourse with <iher?”/i> There
was a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
“I don’t really know, Laura.
I was somewhat at her beck-and-call. Probably thirty or forty
times at least.”
Laura fell quiet.
“You’re still jealous of all
those women, aren’t you?”
“I have a right to be jealous if
I want to be.” Laura wrapped her robe securely around her
as she got out of bed and prepared to go to shower and get dressed.
“Well, Constanza is our first stop.
You need to meet her. It
was a business arrangement for me, Laura.”
“One that you enjoyed I am sure. That was you once who described
her with ‘breasts like towers and thighs like the
“I was not in love with her, Laura.
Yes, I did enjoy the carnal pleasure of screwing her. That is
all that it was. Do you want me to lie to
you? You would know it if I
did. And I am not going to start
lying now at this late date.
Now will you please get dressed so that we can go get this
over with?”
Laura snatched up her lingerie and went
into the bathroom slamming the door behind her.
She was inexplicably angry, so angry that she was crying
as she stood under the warm water of the shower.
I
hate it when I meet one of those women from his past.
I just hate it. I just can’t bear the thought of it.
It has been a long time since one of them cropped up, but I still
feel the same disappointment. I try to let go of these
feelings, but it is so hard for me.
“You look lovely this morning, darling,”
Remington said when Laura presented herself ready to start the
day in a moss green pantsuit that showed off her slender, yet
now full-breasted figure. “The <icappuchino/i>
just arrived. It is
fantastic.”
“I don’t care for any.”
“No pastry?”
“Not hungry.
Are you ready to go?”
“You will regret not eating, love.
Your lovely lactation machines need priming with food.
I guarantee you will be ravenous by
“Don’t worry about it. I’m
going to speak to Esperanza about the twins.
Let me know when you are ready to go.”
Remington watched Laura march away from
him. She was completely changed from the amorous woman he had
been having his way with non-stop for the past several days, and
he was at a loss as to what to do to calm her ruffled feathers.
Remington hailed a taxi in front of the
hotel and in just ten minutes it dropped them at the address of
Constanza DiGregoria’s studio on a narrow side street not
far from La Scala. The studio was really an
apartment in a chic building.
Remington and Laura got into the tiny elevator and went
up to the sixth floor and found apartment number 12.
There was the sound of someone doing vocal exercises inside,
and a sign welcoming entry.
Remington opened the door and they found
themselves in a small waiting room with a couple of comfortable
chairs and several Italian magazines and newspapers.
Just as they were about to sit down, the student inside
finished and was escorted out by a large stately woman with thick
black hair streaked with wide swaths of white. She weighed at well over
two hundred pounds and her huge unfettered breasts rested comfortably
on her belly. She wore a black knit sweater
and long skirt and several bright coral and silver necklaces and
long silver earrings that emphasized her strong cheekbones and
huge dark piercing eyes.
<i“Mios
Dios! Paolo?”
“Si,
Constanza,”/i> Remington
replied as Constanza grabbed him in a bear hug.
Laura watched the whole encounter in
disbelief.
“I think I never see you again,
Paolo. You still are very beautiful man, as beautiful as any Italian
man I ever had.”
<i“Grazie,/i> Constanza.
I have someone I want you to meet . . . my wife, Laura,”
Remington said, drawing Laura to them.
“You . . . married? Paolo! <iFantastico!”/i>
Constanza took Laura by the shoulders
and looked at her intently.
“Laura, you know what man you got
here? The best!”
“I . . . I know.”
Constanza stood back and surveyed Laura
from head to foot and nodded in approval to Remington.
“Paolo . . .”
“I am Remington now, Remington Steele.”
“Rem-ing-ton Steele,” Constanza
formed the words carefully, rolling the ‘r’ in ‘Remington’
as if she were singing it.
“I am a private investigator . .
. in
Constanza began to laugh, her bosom and
belly shaking.
“I have children . . . seven children,
actually nine. We adopted two of them.”
Constanza continued to laugh in disbelief. She had to sit down as
she saw the man who had been her favorite dressing room lover
completely domesticated right before her eyes.
“Constanza, I came to see you today
because I need your help.”
<i“Si, si,/i> what
you want me to do, <icaro?”/i>
Remington sat down and let Constanza
collect herself while Laura watched both of them intently.
“There is someone you know . . .
actually a relative of mine . . . my aunt, Chlöe Chalmers,
from
“Chlöe
Chalmers . . . your aunt?” Constanza looked at Remington
in amazement.
“Yes.
And she is now looking for her son.
Her health is very poor. Actually she is terminally ill.
She says that you knew the man . . . the father of her
child.”
“Marco DiStefano.
I do have such knowledge.
I have kept this knowledge myself for many, many years,
Paolo.”
“And you know her son, Sergio?”
“Si, but Marco does not know that
he has son from Chlöe.”
“I believe that he has a right to
know this.”
“He is alone these days. His wife died two years
ago. He is craftsman. He make violins.”
“Do you know where his son, Sergio,
is now?”
“Yes, he was student of mine when
he was nineteen, twenty years old.
Sergio Montopoli. He was adopted by Montopoli family.
We were . . . close.” Constanza gave Remington a significant
look and shrugged her shoulders. “Then he went on to become
understudy at La Scala. Now he is voice coach. Even Bocelli work with
him.”
“You were involved with him,”
Remington stated it as a fact.
“I was involved with many beautiful
young men. I was involved with you,
yes? I did not know he was son
of Chlöe until much later.”
“Is he married . . . children?”
“He has had many women. No marriage.
No children. His studio is nearby, Paolo.”
“I think that I want to speak to
his father before I confront him.
Sergio always wanted to find his birth parents.
He wrote the nuns who ran the orphanage and asked for the
information twenty years ago.”
Constanza turned to Laura and scrutinized
her carefully.
“You must be good woman to keep
this man. He look very satisfied,
si?”
“I think I know what he needs and
I see that he gets it, Constanza,” Laura said directly.
“He always needed very much woman,”
Constanza said with a sly wink.
“He never get tired.”
“Nothing has changed,” Laura
said, trying to keep from smiling.
“Eh . . . is it necessary for you
two ladies to analyze me in my presence? I will gladly leave you
two to yourselves to have a cup of <icappuchino/i>
and go search for my lost cousin.” Remington flushed, unaccustomed
to facing two women discussing his sexual prowess right in front
of him.
“It’s not necessary for you
to go off on your own, darling,” Laura said to Remington,
smiling sweetly as she took him by his arm, and then to Constanza,
“I don’t dare leave him off on his own.”
<i“Si,/i> take care
of your man, <icara,”/i> Constanza said with a chuckle,
writing down the information they were seeking on a slip of paper
and handing it to them.
<i“Grazie,/i> Constanza,”
Remington said.
<i“Ciao, Paolo.”/i>
“You and your cousin both were screwing
the same woman,” Laura said bluntly as they walked away from
Constanza’s studio.
“Laura, crude language does not
become you.”
“Well, maybe I just don’t like
to have to stand by and watch a woman that you were once involved
with flirt with you. Has that occurred to you?”
“She is seventy years old. That
was a long time ago. You know all this.”
“She’s huge . . . and . . .
she looks like a gypsy with all that makeup and jewelry,”
Laura said, lashing out in frustration.
“Laura,” Remington stopped
in front of her, effectively pinning her to the wall. “Do
you want me to tell you that she was so passionate that I forgot
how huge she was when I was on her, that the scent of her perfume
and the sound of her voice when she made love to me was the most
unforgettable experience in my life up till then. Do you want me to tell
you that she taught me the glory of big breasts, that she was
so strong that she could handle all of me as often as I wanted
her? Then I tell you
that it is true. Now,
are you satisfied?”
Remington was angry, and wished immediately
that he had not spoken so bluntly to the woman he loved when he
saw the look of pain on her face, but he resolved not to turn
back.
“You are so . . . so awful!”
“No, I am not awful, Laura. I am good for you and I
am good to you. You lust after me just
as much as I lust for you, and as soon as I get to back to the
hotel I will prove that to you. Now are you going to just
stand there fuming about something that happened twenty-five years
ago or are we going to find the people we’re looking for?”
Laura gritted her teeth and fell into
step beside Remington without another word, even though her eyes
were brimming with tears. When Remington glanced at her and saw
that she was crying, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk
and caught her hands in his.
“Laura, I’m sorry.
Forgive me.”
“Remy, I . . . I can’t help
it. I try to absorb it all
. . . but I . . . just can’t.
I am so insecure sometimes.”
Laura broke down completely in his arms
and Remington just held her, smoothing her hair, trying to calm
her.
“It’s my fault. My formerly
reprobate ways seem to always rear their ugly head at the most
inopportune time, don’t they?”
Laura nodded, trying to fight back tears,
trying to regain her composure.
“It’s me too.
I’m so silly to think that a man I met at thirty wouldn’t
have some kind of history. I’m
sorry, Rem.”
Remington bent to kiss her hands and
then hugged her close.
“We will have to continue this later. I think this is where we
will find Marco DiStefano.”
They were in front of a small shop with
violins on display in the window.
On entering the shop, it became evident that it was the
entrance to a small factory actually.
A slightly built still handsome man in
his mid-seventies came to greet them.
His hair was full and mixed with grey and his brown eyes
were still able to give Laura an admiring appraisal.
<i“Buon giorno.”/i>
<i“Buon giorno.
Parle inglese?”/i>
“<iSi/i> . . . yes,
I speak English. How may I help you?”
“My name is Remington Steele and
this is my wife Laura. We live in
“I don’t know anyone in
“My aunt is Chlöe Chalmers
and she would have known you in the early 1950’s, 1952 or
thereabouts.”
“Ah! Chlöe . . . of course
I knew Chlöe. I think I have found love of my life when I
meet her. We spend
time together. I think
that we have future together and then I come back to
“Not at all.
She is quite ill with lung cancer, not expected to last
more than a couple months.
At this point in time she wanted to resolve certain matters
and that is why I am here. She gave birth to a son
in the spring of 1953. That
was your son. She called him Sergio.”
The man blanched and reeled upon his
feet for a moment.
“I must sit. This news . . . this
incredible news. She
did not tell me.”
“She did not want you to feel responsible.”
“But I was responsible. We . . . we were intimate
without a care in the world, madly in love.
I loved that woman. Do you know where this child is?”
“He is a man, nearly the same age
as I, and he lives here in
“Dear God!”
“He wrote to my aunt twenty years
ago asking to see her, wanting to meet his birth parents, but
she did not have the strength to face him.
Now she wants to see him, wants you to know about him.”
“Have you seen him?”
“No, not yet. I wanted to give you
the opportunity to be a part of this if you wish.”
“Of course.
A son with Chlöe. She I loved more than any other
woman I have known.”
“Do you have children, Mr. Steele?”
“Yes, my wife, Laura, has given
me seven children and we adopted two more.
I know what it means to be a father.
I also know what it means to be without a father and then
to find him one day.”
“Give me a moment, please.”
Marco DiStefano left them in his office
and retreated into a small lavatory that was nearby for several
minutes.
“Well, it appears that you have
found what you’re looking for,” Laura said quietly.
“Yes, and I feel for this man. It is fairly obvious that
Chlöe was the love of his life.
A man knows when he finds that one woman, Laura, the one
that makes him forget all the others. If I had lost you, after
finding you, I should never have forgiven myself.”
Remington’ nostrils flared gently
as he reached for Laura’s hand and held it.
When Marco DiStefano returned, he was
red-eyed and wiping his nose with a white linen handkerchief.
“Mr. Steele, who directed you to
me, if I may ask?” Marco asked as he put on a finely tailored
jacket.
“Actually it was an old friend .
. . of Chlöe and of me, Constanza DiGregoria.”
“Ah, Constanza, I do know her well.
She has given me much comfort over the years.
You understand.”
“Yes, I understand.
Many have been recipients of her gracious gifts. Suffice it to say that
I knew her when I was a young man.”
Laura raised her eyes in mock disbelief
as yet another man was added to Constanza’s ledger.
“That was before I met Laura, my
wife, and the love of my life. I have never felt the need to turn
elsewhere since the first day we met.” Remington said the
words to Marco, but he was looking at Laura, his cobalt eyes speaking
to Laura who blushed in response.
Marco realized that there was some subliminal
communication going on and smiled knowingly.
They left the violin shop and headed
to the studio where Sergio Montipoli coached his students.
It was nearly time for siesta and shops were closing as
they approached the door.
“Sergio? Sergio Montopoli?”
Remington found himself looking directly into blue eyes not unlike
his own. They were the eyes of the
Chalmers gene pool. The
extremely handsome man he faced was of similar build with coal
black wavy hair and Florentine features. There was also a certain
world-weariness in his eyes that told volumes about his state
of mind.
<i“Si,/i> I am Sergio.
You are?”
“I am Remington Steele. I am the nephew of Chlöe
Chalmers in
Sergio stopped in his tracks.
“She never answer my letter,”
he said bitterly. “She does not want
to see me.”
“She wants to see you now. That
is why I am here. She wants to tell you herself
why she did not answer your letter.”
<i“Che diavolo!/i>
I’m going to be sick. Excuse me.” Sergio went pale with
nausea and disappeared into his studio for several minutes.
When he reappeared, Sergio was composed,
but still pale.
“I know this is quite a shock, Sergio,
but I knew no other way to tell you this news.”
“And I will tell you this thing. I do not want to hear it. She never want me.”
“Listen, man, I know how you feel.”
“You cannot know,” Sergio said
bitterly. “Do you know how hard for me it was to write letter
twenty-five years ago, to ask for my mother?
She never answer me! Never!
My mother never answer me!” Sergio sobbed.
“I too am an orphan.
I understand the hell you’ve lived through.”
“You?”
“My mother died when I was born
and I never found out who my father was till the day he died.”
“The day he die?”
“And not knowing he was at death’s
door, so to speak, I wasted precious moments being angry with
him for not revealing himself sooner. By the time my anger had
cooled, it was too late.
Yes, we reconciled, but that hour of anger I could not
retrieve. Do you understand
me? Your mother is
dying! She wants to
see you. That is all that is important
at this point in time.”
Sergio looked at Remington as if really
seeing him for the first time.
“Man, your father is here as well. His name is Marco Sergio
DiStefano, a violin maker from here in
<i“Mio padre?”/i>
Sergio was stunned
at this additional news.
<iSi/i>, your father.
Can you handle this, Sergio?”
“I never thought that I would find
my parents. <iMio genitori
addotivo/i> . . . were good to me, but they die when
I am just a boy in a boating accident. I have been on my own since
then . . . wanting to know.
I found the records of my adoption after death of the Montipolis.
And you would be ‘cousin?’ ”
“Yes, and my story is like yours
in many ways.”
“Remington . . . cousin.”
“Are you ready to meet your father?”
Remington’s voice was husky with emotion.
“Yes, I am.”
Sergio nodded and tried to collect himself
at Remington went to the reception area of the studio and signaled
for Laura to bring in Marco DiStefano.
As the two men caught sight of each other
their connection was immediately apparent.
Sergio looked at him with the recognition of a blood relative,
hugged him, kissed him on both cheeks and fell into his arms.
The two men cried together, overwhelmed by the impact of
this emotional meeting. Remington and Laura left
the men in the studio and went back into the reception area to
give them privacy.
Remington was visibly shaken and Laura
just caught him by his arm and held it tightly.
“It brought it all back, didn’t
it?”
“Yes, I realized how much I wished
that I’d had just a bit more time knowing Daniel as my father
before he died. After all these years,
I still miss that man so much, Laura.”
“I know that you do,” Laura
said, kissing him on his cheek, “I’m sorry that I was
. . . difficult earlier today. I love you so much.”
“You are my strength, Laura. You were the first thing
in my life that was absolutely true.
Do you know that? Daniel was not who I thought
him to be, but you were reality.
You are reality to me.
You brought reality into my life that first day when I
walked into your office, and that truth sustains me every day
of my life.”
Remington lifted Laura’s hand to
his lips and kissed it as Laura stroked his thick sliver streaked
hair. That is how Marco and Sergio
found them when they came out from the studio some minutes later.
“Thank you for coming today, my
cousin, and for bringing my father to me.
I am ready to meet my mother.
I cannot change the past.
Come, we must celebrate this good news.”
They all went into Sergio’s studio
where Sergio got out wine, part of a huge wheel of provolone,
a <imortedello/i>
and a long loaf of Italian bread and they ate and drank
together, all the while talking, collecting information, bonding
together for the rest of the afternoon.
Finally Remington and Laura took their
leave, after arranging for the two men to meet them for dinner
later at the hotel. Laura was quiet, pensive as they rode a taxi
back to the hotel. Finally she simply reached
for Remington and he drew her close into his arms.
“Did you see those men . . . each
one needing so badly to be loved . . . so far apart and now finally
. . . together. God, that was beautiful,
Laura.”
“Yes, it was.
I thought about my own father, how hard it was to accept
him leaving when I was a teenager, and how hard I wanted to be
when he came back after all those years.”
“But you couldn’t stay angry
with him, could you?”
“No, no more than Sergio can hold
resentment for Chlöe.
And Marco . . . not having a clue that he had a son by
Chlöe all these years.”
* * * * * *
Laura found her little boys waiting for
her to attend to them. He
never tired of seeing his tiny woman with her breasts swollen
full, her mature nipples erect and ready to be suckled.
Remington sat and watched her shed her clothes down to
lacy panties and then slip on a robe. All of her freckled shoulders
and breasts were revealed as his sons clambered onto her for their
evening feeding. Laura met the heat in his eyes and seduced him
completely with her own eyes before turning her attention to her
sons, cherishing them and talking to them as they nursed.
When the little boys were sated and falling
asleep, Remington picked up the boys one by one and carried them
to the adjoining rooms where Esperanza would care for them for
the balance of the evening and went back to attend to Laura.
There was still some amends to be made after the tiff over
Constanza. There were several hours
before they were to meet Sergio and Marco and he intended to use
them well.
Lord,
my woman never ceases to amaze me. Just when I think we are so
settled into our relationship that nothing can rattle her, she
is upset at the sight of a seventy-five year-old former paramour.
Constanza must weigh nearly three hundred now. If Laura
knew the things Constanza taught me, she would jump out of her
skin for sure. Some things are best not
said for the sake of peace and harmony.
Laura’s imagination is powerful enough as it is.
Now all I want to do is lie between her beautiful breasts.
And she knows it. She has pushed all my buttons
this afternoon.
Remington opened the door to the bedroom
and saw Laura waiting for him.
She was wrapped in her robe sitting on the brocaded couch.
“Laura, I think we have a personal
matter to take care of, don’t we?”
“What matter?” Laura was intentionally
making him suffer.
“You need me, darling.
You need me to need you right now . . . to reassure you
that you are the only woman in my heart and in my thoughts.”
“I don’t need you. I’ve
had enough. You are the one that is always so . . . randy.”
“We are two of a kind. You are so
hot now that you are about to melt.”
“No . . . I’m not.
I’m just fine.”
Remington came to her and sat beside
her. He had shed his clothes in favor of a dark navy silk robe
that fell open, revealing him at full tilt.
“I want you, Laura.
Look at me. This
is yours. You know that this belongs to you.
I don’t ever pretend that I don’t need you to
take care of me. You don’t have to worry about anyone else
ever touching me as long as you live. If I touch you, Laura,
I will know the truth. But
I know the truth about you and me already . . . before I touch
you.”
As Remington’s hand slipped up her
thigh, Laura gasped and capitulated, unable to resist him.
“Remy . . . Remy. . .”
“Just tell me how much you need
me and we will resolve this problem, darling,” Remington
said as he caressed her intimately. “I need to hear you
say the words.”
“Yes! Yes!” Laura moaned helplessly. “I just don’t
want anyone else to ever have had you.
Remy, I’m sorry. I can’t ever get enough of you.
Please, don’t torture me like this.”
“Then we’re even, darling.
Forget Constanza, forget every other woman I ever had, because
I have forgotten them all. When I think of woman,
I only think of you, of what I am touching at this very moment.
Do you believe that?”
“Yes, Remy!”
“And this?” Remington turned
his attention to her breasts, kissing and suckling them over and
over, taking his time to woo her.
“Your breasts are so lovely, Laura.
You have no idea how lovely.
And you enjoy this pleasure, Laura.”
“Remy, don’t talk to me. Just
make love to me right now,” Laura said, planting a passionate
kiss upon Remington’s lips. “Don’t wait another
minute!”
Remington picked her up in his arms and
carried her off to bed.
* * * * * *
At ten Remington and Laura were to meet Marco and Sergio
for a late evening supper; but by eight-thirty Remington and Laura
had hardly slept.
“Remy, I am so tired. I think that
I am not in any shape for any company tonight.”
“Forgive me, darling, for exhausting
you, but . . .”
“You couldn’t help yourself.”
Remington nodded and drew her close.
“I couldn’t stop, and you .
. .”
“You make me crazy, Remy. I love you so much.”
“And I love you, babe. Why don’t
you sleep this off? I’ll get dressed and go to meet my new
found cousin and his father. I’ll make the appropriate
excuses for you.”
Remington went in to the shower and when
he came out, Laura was fast asleep.
She was still flushed from their evening of lovemaking,
her thick chestnut hair loose upon her pillow, and Remington knew
that he had never seen her more beautiful. He fought the urge to get
back into bed with her and finished dressing.
Remington, Sergio, and Marco met shortly
past ten and immediately began a conversation that lasted well
past
“Remington, you must tell me how
you manage to find woman like Laura.
You seem to be real family man,” Sergio said.
“I guess that I am . . . a family
man. It didn’t come easily, but Laura and I, we work at it.”
“You look like you would not be
easily a family man, Remington,” Marco said.
“I wanted to be family man, but that one woman was
the woman I lost in
“Everything was good till my, my
. . . parents . . . die when I was only fourteen.
I find the papers saying I am really adopted and everything
change for me. I was very wild boy . .
. many women.”
“Constanza DiGregoria mentioned
you in that special way, Sergio,” Remington offered with
a wink.
“Si, she taught me many things when
I was a young man.”
“Me also, cousin.
I knew her very well when I was here in
“Her day is not finished yet,”
Marco DiStefano added with a slight smile. “She is a woman
who still gives much comfort to an old man.”
“Well, it seems that we have had
other things in common, haven’t we?” Sergio said wryly.
“Yes, apparently we have. I was thirty-four years
old when I found my father. Actually I had been around him since
I was fourteen, but I did not know him to be my father.
Consequently things happened that would have never happened,
had I known he was my father. Things such as being involved
with the same . . . generous . . . woman.”
The men chuckled knowingly.
“How did you find Laura?” Sergio
asked.
“Quite by accident.
I was quite a rake in younger days, supporting myself in
a life that was not exactly on the right side of the law.
I went to
“A ‘Langston Drewes?’
” Marco asked.
“Yes, a name we use for a man who
cuts a swath through a woman’s life and then leaves her in
the dust. That was what I had been with every woman I’d been
with. But Laura made
me wait for her . . . nearly four years, before she let me have
my way with her. By
that time I was hers completely.
I couldn’t think about another woman.
Now after nearly fifteen years of marriage and seven children,
I am as passionate for her as the first day we met.”
“Amazing!” Sergio whispered.
“I was going to take you with me to celebrate in some place
I know. Beautiful
girls, you know?”
“Not for me, cousin,” Remington
said. “I’m strictly monogamous.
I found Laura and that was the end of my tomcatting about.”
“Tom-cat-ting?” Sergio tried
the unfamiliar word.
Remington explained with a descriptive
gesture that they all understood.
“Amazing!” Sergio whispered,
almost in awe at the import of Remington’s words. “What
you have is either very special woman or you are a man who does
not have great need.”
“I do have great need, Sergio. Actually great need is
a hallmark of the Chalmers men. But Laura is very special.
Before her I had easily been with a couple hundred women
in my life, women from every place on the globe, but I had not
found the happiness I was seeking. It was purely physical. With Laura I discovered
that physical satisfaction can still leave you missing something. I hope that you find that
one day.”
“You are young man still, but I
know it is true, Remington,” the older Marco said.
“This is why I must see Chlöe once again.”
* * * * * *
It was very late when Remington got back
to the hotel and Laura was fast asleep.
Remington simply shed his clothes and crawled into bed
beside her, kissing her cheeks and rubbing her thighs till she
wakened.
“Remy . . .” Laura murmured
sleepily.
“I just want you to know how much
I love you, darling. I
had to tell you . . . now.”
“I know,” Laura whispered as
her exhausted husband fell asleep in her arms.
“I know.”
* * * * * *
The next morning Remington awakened to
the sight of Laura bustling about their room, sorting and packing. Much to his chagrin, she
was wrapped in her long silk robe, her long hair down on her shoulders.
“Darling, there’s no need to
rush about. We’ve solved our case.
Don’t you want to come back to bed?”
Laura stopped and regarded her husband,
his hair tousled from sleep, his overnight’s growth of beard,
his naked body only barely covered with the sheets and caught
her lower lip in her teeth as she sensed her flesh warming involuntarily
at the sight of him.
“Remy, darling, I would love to
come back to bed, but we have to get ready to go.
Our work is finished here.
We must get back to
“Er, yes, he wants to see Chlöe. It is quite amazing, Laura
and quite tragic . . . my father Daniel and Margaret, Aunt Chlöe
and her Italian violin maker, Marco . . .
people doomed to a few passionate weeks or months and then
loss, terrible loss. If that had happened to us, if somehow we
had not ended up together . . .”
Remington’s eyes revealed a certain
melancholy, and Laura came and sat on the side of the bed.
“Did you mean it when you said that
you would love to come back to bed with me?”
“Yes, I was hoping this morning
. . .” Laura could not continue.
Remington took her hand, kissed it and
placed it on his bare chest so that Laura could feel his heart
beating.
“Do you know how much I love you,
woman, how thankful I am that I found you and that you were willing
to have me? I don’t take you for granted, darling, when I
am on you making love to you, when you give me that marvelous
gift that you give me each time. You are never just flesh to me.
I want you to know this.”
“You
told me that once before a long time ago and I know it’s
true. Sometimes I find it difficult to handle your past . . .
activities . . . but I never forget for a moment that you are
the man I love more than life.”
Remington caught her other hand and drew
her down into the bed with him to kiss her. His hands tangled
in her long hair as the kiss went on and on, as first she was
on top of him, and then continued as he rolled over so that she
was under him.
“May I, darling?” Remington
groaned as his lips claimed hers again and again.”
“Yes . . . yes . . . oh, yes!”
They were completely involved, Laura
losing her robe as they caressed each other till suddenly they
came together with jolting force under the satin sheets of the
bed in the Guiseppi Verdi suite. The union was perfect,
overlaid as it was with the realization that they could have ended
up without one another if they had not finally come to terms with
their feelings so many years before.
“Babe, babe, I . . . love . . .
you!”
“Yes, Remy, yes, I love you too
. . . so much!”
They both cried as the rhythm of coitus
carried them along. And then there was no more intelligible speech.
The climax struck them powerfully, simultaneously just like flashes
of a bright kaleidoscope in front of their eyes,
Laura wailing softly and Remington grunting with each pelvic
spasm that delivered his ejaculate deep into her.
“Laura . . . woman . . .”
Remington felt her trusting him completely
as she gave in, surrendering in his arms, overwhelmed by the contractions
in the pit of her own belly, trembling helplessly, teeth clattering.
“I don’t think we will be ready
to go anytime soon, do you, love?” Remington murmured, as
he smoothed her hair back and kissed her tenderly.
“I guess . . . not.
You always know . . . what we need . . . what’s best
. . . don’t you?”
“This was what you needed, darling,
wasn’t it?” Remington asked, his languid blue eyes looking
into her very soul.
“Yes, I think it was.”
“There is no time like the present,
nothing more important that we could do this morning than be together,
me inside of you, you bein’ my woman, my wife.”
“Rem . . . Remy, darling,”
Laura moaned, fluttering helplessly as she felt his power reasserting
itself deep inside her.
“Take it easy, old girl. It’s all right . .
. all right. Babe, we’ve got all the time in the world.”
* * * * * *
It was nearly
Marco and Sergio smiled at one another
knowingly as Laura and Remington shot passionate glances at one
another between managing their energetic young sons.
Remington was obviously distracted by his petite full-bosomed
woman, his unabashed stares making it clear that she was the focus
of all his passionate energy; and Laura smiled the secret smile
of a woman who has been completely satisfied. Both of them had
the radiance that these two men of the world knew came from only
one thing and they envied Remington for it.
“So it looks like we could leave
as early as tonight for
“You don’t think that it will
be too much for Chlöe . . . seeing me, Remington?” Marco
asked.
He was in some trepidation at the prospect
of seeing his former lover <iin extremis./i>
“Actually she is completely lucid. I spoke to Jacqueline last
night and she said that her condition has seemed to stabilize
at the prospect of seeing both of you again,” Laura said
encouragingly.
“It is certainly good to see you
with your children, cousin,” Sergio said.
“Hard to believe you were such a bad boy in the old
days, but Constanza says that it is true.”
<i“Si,/i> and that
is why I do not wish to overstay my time here in Milano. Paolo Fabrini was a completely
different man from what I am now and I don’t want anyone
from my past to confuse the issue. No need to attract too
much attention. I have too many responsibilities
to be careless.”
“It is true, my son,” Marco
agreed. “We will be ready
to leave for
Rhett and Reade were climbing onto Sergio,
curious to examine this newest member of the family.
Sergio was obviously overwhelmed by the sturdy little boys
with the blue eyes of their father and the chestnut hair of their
mother and Remington reached to retrieve them from him.
“No, it is good.
This is family, yes?
They will always know their father and their mother.
That is what family is all about.
You must know who you are to be anybody, yes?”
Sergio’s eyes filled as he let Remington’s toddlers
climb over him.
* * * * * *
By
six-thirty in the evening Remington and Laura, their children,
Esperanza, along with Sergio Montipoli and Marco Feruzzi were
boarding the British Airways flight from Milan to London.
As they went through the final check point, the security
agent looked hard at Remington’s passport and then back at
him.
Remington gave him a blank look and smiled.
“Is there something?”
<i“Parla
Italiano?”
“Parlo
un po,”/i> Remington
replied.
“You look like someone I know many
years ago, very much. But
he was something else, not man with wife and children.
Not that man!”
“I guess not,” Remington said,
meeting the man eye-to-eye as he held Reade in his arms and Laura
held Rhett in hers and tried to maintain some control of the extremely
active little ones while Esperanza attended to checking the paraphernalia
they carried with them.
When they were finally settled on the
plane and it was taxiing out to depart, Laura turned to Remington,
but when she saw the anxiety in his face, she simply caught him
by the hand and said nothing. They were an hour into
the flight when she saw him begin to finally relax.
“That man was from your past,”
she stated as a matter of fact.
“Lord, yes!
What I did when I was in
“Were you involved?”
“Hell, yes! He was a Fascist who
had stolen the pieces from unfortunate Jews during the Second
War. I felt no conscience
at takin’ his ill-gotten gain and profitin’ from it.
But that escapade could have cost me my family today.
The price was too high, the risk too great.
I was a fool then, Laura.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Everything changed in my life when I met you and became
Remington Steele.”
“Why did you admit to speaking some
Italian when he asked you?”
“It’s an old trick of immigration
agents. Get you to lie and say
that you do not speak the language.
Then they will speak to you in the language and you automatically
respond in kind. You will have ‘cooked
your goose,’ as it were.
That is what happened to two escaping British war prisoners
in “The Great Escape,” United Artists, 1963. A response to a simple
“Good luck” by Donald Pleasance as Lt. Colin ‘The
Forger’ Blythe cost them their freedom and ultimately their
lives.”
Laura took his hand and, placing it on
top of hers, palm to palm, traced up and down the back of each
slender finger with her other hand.
“We’ve become very comfortable
with our life, haven’t we? It’s like you never were
that fellow who walked into my office back in the day.”
“I know.
But you must know that I would never allow you risk your
safety and security or that of our children because of my past.”
“I think that what we are talking
about now is my decision to make, Rem.
Do you think that I would let you sacrifice yourself like
that without fighting for you?”
“You’d take that kind of risk?”
“I’d fight like hell to keep
from losing you,” Laura said resolutely. “I’m not
leaving you anywhere.”
Remington caught Laura’s hand up
to his lips and kissed it.
There was nothing else for him to say.
The look in her brown eyes was a look that he rarely saw.
It was the fierce look of a lioness protecting her den.
Remington brought her hand across to his heart and held it there
as their plane hurtled through the dark sky.
When they arrived in
David Chalmers did not find it difficult
to connect with Marco and Sergio on a number of levels.
Chlöe was still wakeful and anxious and so they decided
to bring Sergio and Marco in to meet her.
“Do you think it is wise in her
state of health?” Laura asked.
“Do you think that we should risk
having come all this way and then lose the opportunity that all
of these people need to settle things in their minds, darling?”
Remington asked.
The answer was obvious and it was reinforced
when Remington and Laura brought Sergio into Chlöe’s
bedroom.
“I can’t believe it. It is
really you . . . my son?”
Chlöe took his face in her hands
and traced all of his features.
“Yes, it is,” Sergio said as
he broke down in tears and fell across his mother’s breast.
Marco stepped from behind Remington and
came forward close to Chlöe’s bed. When she looked up,
it was evident that she instantly recognized him. Chlöe extended
her free hand and he took it without a word and kissed it and
sat down beside the bed opposite Sergio.
“I think that we can safely leave
them, Laura. There is much for them
to catch up on and they do not have a lot of time.”
Remington accompanied Laura back to their
bedroom arm in arm. They
were both very tired, but happy that they had been able to accomplish
their task.
Back in Chlöe’s room the three
quickly bonded. Chlöe just watched
the two most important men in her life interacting easily as father
and son. Finally Marco turned to
Sergio and Sergio knew that his father needed time with his mother.
“I think I go to bed. This day .
. . so exciting that I will never forget.”
After Sergio kissed his mother ‘good
night’ and left the room, Marco sat back down beside Chlöe’s
bed and gazed at her. She was still a stunning
woman in spite of her illness and the years that had passed. The
flush in her cheeks caused by the sickness in her lungs only heightened
her beauty.
“Chlöe, did you ever know how
much I loved you?” Marco asked.
“I knew that I loved you. You were
my first man. I threw caution to the
wind when I met you. That summer . . .”
“That summer I meet this English
girl at the Sorbonne. I
think she must be so stiff and proper.
I do not know what to say to her. While I am trying to
think of what to say, you take my hand, pull me into corner and
kiss me hard.”
“I did that, didn’t I?”
Chlöe said. “I didn’t know
what else to do.”
“I think this girl knows about man
and woman.”
“But I didn’t know anything. I went with you to your
rooms.”
“You were virgin girl.
I was your first man.
God knows I fell in love with you, Chlöe.
When you suddenly leave
Chlöe’s eyes filled as Marco
slid from the bedside chair onto her bed so that he could embrace
her and tenderly kiss her lips.
“Take your shoes off, Marco, and
lie here with me for a while.”
Marco DiStefano lay beside Chlöe
and held her just as he had held her so many years before when
they were lovers. It was as if all the time
that had passed vanished and they were lying in bed together after
making love, whispering the same passionate words again.
* * * * * *
Remington and Laura went to look in on
their little boys before turning in for the night and then went
to their own room to try to calm down and review the events of
the most unusual day over a nightcap.
“You realize that you do look amazingly
like Sergio,” Laura said. “He is not quite in such good
shape as you, but the resemblance is striking.”
“Well, he hasn’t had a good
woman to take care of him like I have. I owe it all to you, darling.
You helped me find myself, my identity, and you gave me
our children. We have
a very good life,” Remington said as he poured a glass of
Scotch for himself and wine for Laura.
“We could have been like Marco and Chlöe or Daniel
and Margaret Ann<i—/i>in love, but losing one another
in some way or other.”
“I got such a fright when that security
agent seemed to recognize you. I tried to not react.
I know what you’ve taught me . . . about running a
con.”
“You did well.
The situation was dicey.”
“I was not going to leave you there. If they had detained you,
I would have stayed behind with you.”
“You say that, Laura, but if they
had detained me, you would have gone ahead with our children and
I would have come later. Please do not argue with
me on this Laura. It’s
not just you and me. You understand that.”
Laura nodded reluctantly, accepting his
statement.
“I just don’t know what I would
do without you,” Laura said, turning to face him and stepping
into his embrace. “I love you so much. Just the hint that something
could take you from me earlier tonight sent such panic through
me.”
“Well, we survived that one. That is all that is important.”
Remington kissed her tenderly with his
open mouth, savoring the taste of the wine on her lips, exploring
her with his hands, catching her hips and drawing her up close
to him.
“Laura . . . when I found my cousin
and took a long look at him, do you know what I saw?”
Laura waited for him to continue.
“I saw myself. Thank God he seems
to have stayed on the right side of the law, but other than that,
he is what I would have become . . . an aging roué, a decent
looking chap who floats from one woman to another, never putting
down real roots, never finding out that life is not about just
finding a woman to use when you need one, but that it’s about
finding the woman who completes you, makes you a whole person.
Now that he has found out who he is, perhaps he will begin to
resolve the rest of his issues.”
“Do you realize that you have become
a very wise man, Mr. Steele?”
“Have I indeed?” Remington
said, smiling down at Laura as he moved in to find her lips again.
END
EPILOGUE
It was two months later when Remington
and Laura came back to
As the service at graveside concluded,
they all stood silent for a long moment.
It was spring, a beautiful day, and yet a sober melancholy
swept over them.
Sergio cried as he finally walked away
from the grave, heartbroken at the loss of the mother that he
had just found.
“Now, now, my son, come,” Marco
comforted him, dropping into the Italian of his birth. “Be
glad that we have all found each other. I have found you, my son. I have found again love
of my life.”
Remington was quiet, but his eyes were
full, at the point of spilling over.
“Is there anything that I can do,
Rem?” Laura whispered, catching him by the arm.
“Why is Daddy crying?” Tabby
asked.
“Come here with us,” Cassie
said, assessing the situation and taking her little sister by
the hand.
Remington took a few steps away from
the grave toward a relatively new marker in the Chalmers family
plot and stood there, looking down at his own mother’s grave.
“It’s the first time I’ve
visited this place since we laid her to rest here, Laura.
I know that it was right to move her here from
“Yes, it was right to bring her
here,” Laura said, holding his hand tightly.
“Who is this, Dad?”
Michael asked, looking down at the elegant headstone. “Is this our grandmother?”
“Yes, son, this is Margaret Ann
O’Sullivan, my mother. She died giving birth to your Aunt
Harriett and me. Were it not for her, I
would not be here.”
“Is that why Uncle Sergio is so
sad?”
“Yes, he just found his mother and
now he has lost her again.”
“You never got to know your mother,”
Michael got the full import of the family history. “I’m
sorry, Dad. I don’t know what
I’d do if I didn’t have Mom.”
“I don’t know what any of us
would do without your mother, Michael,” Remington said, drawing
Laura close with one arm and his son with the other as his tears
slid down his cheeks.
* * * * * *
After Chlöe Chalmers was laid to
rest, the Steele’s took all the family to Sous Une Orchidée,
the family property in the south of
Sergio was altogether fascinated by the
rollicking family life of his cousin. He came with the Steele’s
for a few days in
Just before Sergio prepared to leave
“Darling, we are supposed to be
sampling this vintage,” Laura giggled, as Remington took
her hand and kissed it. “And you’re distracting me.
You look . . . well the way you look.”
Laura’s good skin and mature beauty
was complemented by her olive green turtleneck sweater and well-cut
khaki shorts. Remington’s jeans clung to his well-formed
derriere and a soft blue twill shirt opened several buttons down
revealed a generous portion of black and silver chest hair and
the silver medallion that he still wore that bore Laura’s
name; he hadn’t shaved since arriving in France so his beard
was completely out as well.
“Actually
I’m having the same problem trying to concentrate on the
wine when I’m looking at you. We can do this in the spirit
of togetherness, don’t you think?” Remington said, drawing
her from her chair and onto his lap where they attempted to drink
from each others wine glass with limited success.
“Will we ever learn to do this?”
Laura asked.
Remington took her glass and set it down
on the rustic table in the tasting room.
“Actually there is something else
much more interesting that I want to sample this afternoon,”
Remington said, puckering his mouth and moving in for a kiss.
“You are especially fetching today. You know I love
to see you like this . . . shorts showing off these knockout legs,
turtleneck sweater boldly showing off these gorgeous unfettered
breasts, hair down on your shoulders, no makeup or artifice, the
veritable picture of an earthy countrywoman.”
“You
find me ‘earthy.’
That’s a description I haven’t heard before.”
“I have descriptions in my heart
that it will take the rest of our lives to share with you.”
Remington touched her lips gently and
brushed them back and forth with his.
“My goodness, darling, you are overwhelming
me.”
“That is absolutely my intention,
love,” Remington said, as the kiss that had started soft
and tender quickly became wildly passionate.
They were so deeply involved in the kiss,
frantically rubbing each other, that they were unaware of Sergio
approaching.
<i“Scusi,”/i> Sergio cleared his throat, embarrassed
to have stumbled in upon them in such an intimate moment, but
unable to retreat.
Remington and Laura attempted to untangle
themselves a bit as Sergio turned his back to them to give them
privacy.
“Sorry, Sergio, we’re just
a bit involved in our own mysteries here,” Remington offered
as he attempted to compose himself.
“Rem, I . . . think I’ll check
on the children,” Laura said, also somewhat flustered as
she started to back out of the tasting room.
“Laura,
I will be along in a few minutes . . . after I bid farewell to
Sergio. You know where I will look
for you.”
The look in Remington’s blue eyes
left no question that this interlude remained to be finished as
he caught her by the hand and kissed her lightly before she got
away.
Sergio watched his cousin almost literally
panting after his wife of nearly eighteen years with amusement
as Remington struggled to pull his thoughts back to matters at
hand before he finally poured each of them a glass of wine and
sat down.
“Yes,
Sergio?”
“I see you . . . so strong with your woman
. . . your children and I wonder that you are not as me . . .
no attachment.”
“I was like you before I met Laura. Oh, I lost track of how
many women. It was just like going
to a restaurant and picking out something to eat.
You eat it and you leave and you forget about it.
It was either good or bad, but you go on to the next meal.”
“Yes, it is like that.
I have not been a good man for women.
They like me, but I cannot stay with one woman.”
“Do you have children, Sergio?”
“No, I am very careful. It is terrible to grow
up without father. I
know this to be true, yes?”
“Yes, it is true.”
“But you, you and Laura, I see that
it is very good still for you. There is much passion between you
. . . many years . . . many children.”
“To see your woman carrying your
child is a beautiful thing, Sergio.”
“I have not seen it, Remington.”
“I want our children to know what
love between a man and a woman is all about.
How will they ever find happiness or know how to make another
person happy if they have never seen this with their own parents?”
“True.
This is true, cousin.”
“Is there no one special in your
life? Now that you know who you
are, you need to find that special woman before it is too late.”
“I think about it.
I promise. And
now I drink to you and to your lovely Laura!”
Sergio lifted his glass to Remington’s.
END