Tudor Reunion Tour (11 page)

We discussed Scotland, and both of us
felt that making the adjustment to living with two virtual strangers as well as
grieving for his mother and brother were more than enough for a twelve year
old. It would be cruel for us to take him from the only area he’d ever known
and plop him down in a foreign country. No, we can all visit Scotland in the
summer. Peter’s left the door wide open as to whatever we decide, and it was
fine by him.

Of course let’s not forget the huge mess
Julia and Don Roberts left everyone with. Thank God for Zara and her
experience. She’s at least gotten it all under control. Everything is taken
care of and all we’re committed to is finishing the tour out. The attorneys and
cops have everything else handled.

There is talk of the three of us
recording together. It will happen, after the tour, after Julia’s mess is
behind us—or at a safe distance in the rear view mirror. Damien, Angus, and me?
We’ve been writing, plenty of it during the first leg, and a few times since
our return to Seattle.

Zara

Amadeus and I needed to sit down and
discuss some things. Like where we’re going to live now. Now that Logan had
come into our lives. It no longer was like it had been with a baby. Until she
was of school age, we were pretty much free to live where we wanted. I found
out where Logan had gone to school. I needed to know in order to obtain his
school records when it came time. Scotland or Seattle…what a choice.

I was also a bit curious about Logan’s
mother and what Amadeus remembered…really remembered. Thirteen years ago, I was
managing his fledgling band. A lifetime ago. He was a wild young buck, as most
young men are. True, Amadeus and I were attracted to each other even then, but
I maintained a professional relationship with him. I didn’t want to pry; I
simply wanted to see what he might remember about her.

Upon returning home, Amadeus met me at
the front door and informed me that he and Logan just ordered pizza for dinner
for Logan’s first night with us. They were trying to make things easy on me
after I had been out most of the day.

In the privacy of our bedroom later that
evening, I decided I would take advantage of Amadeus’s good mood and try to
discuss Logan’s mother and our living plans.

“Amadeus there’s a couple of things we
need to discuss and start thinking about,” I began, hard as it was to do with
him trying to nuzzle my neck.

“Later, Zara.”

“No, not later. We don’t have the
privacy we did before. Especially when it comes to talking.”

He let out a groan and threw himself
back on the mattress. He slung one arm across his face, shielding his eyes. “You
know, Zara, you can be such a spoil sport sometimes. You need to chill out.”

“Oh, do I? Well one of us needs to be
the adult around here. I’m glad you and Logan are getting to know each other
and are having fun, but we do have to make some decisions or at least lay our
options out.”

“Okay, miss spoil sport, what are you
talking about?” He let out a long sigh and faced me. Those seductive brown eyes
of his weren’t going to steer me off course either…at least not yet.

“Where are we going to live? Do we go
back to Scotland, and if we do, what sort of education would Logan get living
on the farm? I know nothing about the schools there.”

“We could ask Peter, or better yet, ask
Shawn and his wife. I’m sure they’d know more about the schools than Peter.”

“True. Our other option is staying here.”

“Where would we live?” he asked as he
ran a finger along my knee. “We both agreed raising kids in this type of
environment, meaning the condo, is not healthy. Kids need fresh air.”

“And therein, sir, lies our dilemma.”

“I see your point, but do we have to
make a decision tonight?”

“No, but we’re going to need to before
we get farther into it than we already are. My only concern with returning to
Scotland is that it’s going to be culture shock for Logan.”

“He’d adjust, Zara. He’s a boy. On the
other hand, if we stay in Seattle, we’ll have to worry that once he settles in
he may try to get back in cahoots with his buddies. And what we know of them
from what the school has told you, they’re not the best guys for him to hang
with. They’ll for sure get him into trouble as soon as they realize who Logan’s
father is.”

“I know.”

“If you do want to stay here, we could
see if Damien might still be interested in doing a swap. Let us live out on his
island, and he could stay here. It would be a lot easier for him physically. I
could take the Tudor Queen out there and moor her. Take Logan out sailing.”

“It would be a better life than in the
city.” I agreed. “I know the schools are decent out there.”

“Well, it’s a thought, Zara. In the
morning, we’ll see if Damian’s still thinking along those same lines, and we’ll
bring Scotland up to Logan and see what sort of reaction we get. Okay? Anything
else?”

“Yes, there is, as a matter of fact.”

Amadeus groaned and this time sat up and
swung his legs off the side of the bed. “Let me guess. You’re curious about
Logan’s mother. Am I close?”

“Yes, you are. Can you tell me anything
about her?”

“Zara, the truth is, I don’t remember a
whole lot. You know how it was back then, and if she had been someone serious
in my life, I certainly would have remembered. And I most certainly would have
remembered her if I got her pregnant.”

He was getting agitated, and that’s not
what I wanted. He was right, though. He would have done the honorable thing. If
he had known. If that had occurred, he and I might not be where we are today.

“Okay. That’s all I wanted to know. I
was just curious, nothing more.”

“Well, why don’t you turn your mind off
for the night, Zara? Give it a rest. Let me show you how.”

“But this is important…”

Amadeus silenced me with a kiss. He drew
his tongue across my lips, tasting the moisture behind them when I parted them.
He continued to kiss across my lips, every inch of them. Then he moved to my
cheek, kissing the skin. From there he moved to the shell of my ear, brushing
it with the tip of his tongue. I caught myself making a noise from deep within
my throat as he closed his teeth on my earlobe, sending shivers through my
body.

He kissed his way back to my mouth, one
tiny kiss at a time, until he once again opened my lips and stroked across my
tongue. He trapped it with his teeth, then gently suckled it. Once again, I
heard myself groan in pleasure. He was seducing me.

He leaned down, kissing his way down my
throat, closing his mouth on my breast to suck. I clung to his shoulders as he
did, my legs wrapped around his hips. I watched him as he glanced down, the
sight of his cock disappearing inside me. He rocked inside me and our frenzy
began. Finally he groaned, unable to stop what his body wanted to do, the
shaking deep in his body that meant release. He lay on top of me, his breath
heavy in my ear.

“God, I love you, Zara.” He slowly
rolled off of me, wrapped his arms around me, pulling my body close to him as I
clung to him.

“I love you, too,” I whispered.

We fell asleep. For how long, I’m not
sure. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, pulled my robe around me,
and walked out into the hall. I opened Logan’s bedroom door…quiet as a church
mouse. Sound asleep. Next, Elizabeth. Again, sound asleep. I continued to the
kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. I pulled out a
chair at the small kitchen table and sat down. Opening the bottle I tipped it
up and took a swallow.

Just because you used sex to quiet me doesn’t mean we don’t have
some decisions to make, and soon.

****

Decisions were made. Sometimes we made
them, sometimes we did not. Sometimes decisions made themselves.

Our decision to do a swap of property
with Damien was temporarily put on hold. At least the legalities of it. As the
property on the island Damien and Julia owned was in both their names, Damien
could do nothing for the time being as far as selling the property, much less
trading it with us. It was a minor kink we knew might be a possibility. We
decided to go ahead with it, sort of making it as a rental agreement. The only
down side for Amadeus and me was we couldn’t begin renovations until the deed
was in our name.

Damien filed for divorce, but with Julia’s
disappearance—well it made it complicated and a lot more interesting than most
divorces. Papers were filed with Julia’s copy being served to the island house,
her last known address. With no physical address listed anywhere for the bogus
business she had started, the house was the sole delivery point.

The move was quickened after Amadeus and
I put Logan back in his old school. Our intention was to let him finish out the
school year. Until Amadeus went back on the road to finish the tour, either he
or I would take and pick Logan up from school. That all fell apart when Amadeus
discovered a couple of joints in Logan’s backpack. And no, we’re not like that.
Amadeus suspected it, and one day when Logan came home acting a bit goofy, he
confiscated the backpack in question. Time to sever the ties.

As for Scotland, we decided once the
tour was over, we’d make a trip back over, along with visiting London. Make a
family vacation out of it over the summer.

****

We arrived at our new home quietly. I
dropped Amadeus and Logan early that morning at the marina where the Tudor
Queen had been taken out of dry storage and made sea worthy. The two of them
sailed the Tudor Queen across the sound to her new home. I was surprised when
we pulled up and saw the two of them walk out of the house to greet us. The day
was perfect for sailing and Amadeus took advantage of it. He looked happy as he
hadn’t had the opportunity to sail his craft in quite a while. His sable brown
hair was windblown, sticking out wildly from under a turned around baseball cap
he wore.

“How did you beat us?” I asked as I
handed him Elizabeth, who was demanding her daddy.

He leaned over and brushed his lips over
mine, taking the kicking and demanding baby from my arms. He hadn’t shaved in
days, and he made sure to brush the roughness against my cheek.

“The wind is perfect for sailing today.
I headed her out and sailed her hard.”

“Zara, he had the boat over on its side!”
Logan exclaimed, running up to join us. “It was awesome! I want to do it again.”

“He did? Did you sit outside and on the
high side?”

“Yeah, I did everything he did. I’ve
never been on a sailboat before.”

I could tell, and was grateful, that he
and Amadeus were getting close, not that there wouldn’t be tough times ahead; he
was a budding teenager. I walked to the back of the SUV and began to grab
things out. I took them to the house.

Once the vehicle was empty, we all
collapsed in the living room. I knew I had to make a run to the grocery store
for some serious shopping, but what Elizabeth and I had grabbed at the local
market would suffice for the day. Unless I got a second wind…

It was a good day, everyone finally
getting some time to relax. Amadeus had placed his baby grand in what we dubbed
the music room. It was an oversized room overlooking the sound with floor to
ceiling windows, just like he liked. What we didn’t know was that Logan could
play, and play very well.

I had put the baby down for a nap and
decided I would make a run to the grocery store while she was down. When I
descended the staircase I found Amadeus standing outside the music room
listening. Listening to Logan play the piano. He had a vague smile on his lips
of a proud papa who had just discovered something wonderful about his offspring.

He put his finger to his lips so I
wouldn’t say anything and cause Logan to stop his playing. I stealthily
approached Amadeus and wrapped my arm around his waist. I recognized the piece
Logan was playing. It was classical, Mozart if I wasn’t mistaken. No wonder
Amadeus was smiling.

“He’s good, Zara. Damn good!” Amadeus
whispered in my ear. He kissed the shell of my ear afterward, pulling me
closer. We stood there like that until Logan finished the piece. When he did,
Amadeus and I strolled into the vast room. By the look on Logan’s face, he was
surprised to see us.

“That was excellent, Logan. I didn’t
know you played classical,” I said, smiling.

“Well,” the youngster hedged. “I know a
lot of people think classical music is for geeks…”

Amadeus ventured to the piano bench. “Oh,
well, if folks think classical is just for geeks, I must be one of them.” Logan
got up and let Amadeus sit in his place. Amadeus lit into one of his favorite
compositions. Logan stood there, his mouth hanging open in awe.

“You…you play classical, too?”

“Yep, long before I ever started fooling
with rock music. I still do. Zara and I even came up with a new addition to my
shows where I play classical and acoustic versions with some of my rock music.
People seem to love it.”

“Well,” I interrupted proudly, watching
the two of them. “I’m going to go make a trip to the grocery store while the
baby is sleeping. Amadeus, don’t forget to check on her. You know she doesn’t
always cry when she first wakes up.”

“Yes, Mother,” he joked looking up at me
from the piano. “We’ll be fine, Zara. Go enjoy yourself for a while.”

“
Hmmmph
…” I
replied. “Funny, I never saw grocery shopping as something enjoyable. I’ll be
back shortly.” I approached him, leaned over, and kissed him square on the
lips. He returned the kiss with his tongue—until we heard the sound of Logan
clearing his throat. Then Amadeus pulled away, grinning. I quickly turned and
left the room. Grocery store, here I come!

****