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Made love again.
And then fell asleep on the floor beside the fireplace.
It was paradise and how I would always remember Amersborg.
Though Balduin and Gelula would probably remember it as the place where Odette and I finished two bottles of wine, overslept, and were found naked, wrapped in blankets ignoring the many calls from the door until they were so worried they came inside.
Either way, it was the highlight and turning point that changed the rest of our trip for the better. Even with the press in our face or having to do the meet-and-greets, I found myself unable to be brought down. We were finally enjoying ourselves.
By the next week, the tour felt more like a getaway. Odette was not a winter sports person. She knew how to stand on skis, but that was about it. So I ended up trying to teach her, which left us both falling in the snow several times. We laughed at each other as we tried to get up, only to fall once more. She was a view-the-outside-from-the-inside person. It was all right, though. She stunned people at every gala and evening dinner…
We danced to sixties blues in Charsir. And ate street ice cream in the freezing cold in Épilimar…which she also spent two hours on the train repeating the name over and over again, to make sure she was never caught dead making that mistake again.
Before I knew it, we were at our last event before we had to go back to the capital for Christmas, in the second biggest city in the country, Nereen…and she was taking her time.
I didn’t understand it. Her gown was already picked out, along with anything else she might need. And yet it still took her nearly three hours, sometimes four, to get ready for events, and she said she was rushing. And claimed it was really her hair that took the longest. And because I was getting smarter, I said nothing.
Instead, I sat quietly, watching Balduin check his watch again.
“Iskandar, it seems Mr. Balduin is getting a little impatient. Would you like to call and find out how much longer Odette will need?”
He looked at me, and if his hair weren’t already gray, I would have sworn the fear in his eyes would’ve made him age. Even he knew better.
“No need. We will still make it, sir,” Balduin said, though he was still a bit worried, I could tell. “Barely.”
“How long have you been married, Balduin?”
“Twenty-nine years this spring.” He smiled.
I felt a twinge of guilt. “Once we return, you and everyone else deserves a good long break. Don’t even think of showing up until after the new year.”
“There are some things—”
“No. Spend some time with your family,” I ordered and then looked at Iskandar. “Are there any plans on starting one for you?”
“Maybe after I retire, sir.”
“Iskandar, guards can have families.”
“I am fine, sir. Content. Truly,” he said sternly, and that clearly shut that down.
“Okay then—”
“We are ready.”
I got up off the couch, turning back to the marble stairs of the penthouse hotel we were now in.
Gelula stood at the stairs with a darker-skinned woman I hadn’t seen before. Both of them were grinning as they stepped out of the way and…let the goddess who was my wife come down the steps. Her strapless green-velvet dress, which hugged the top of her, had a split at the thigh exposing her leg, pouring over the stairs like a waterfall as she came down. Her brown skin shimmered with gold, hair in a crown curled with gold leaves inside, bounding with each step she took toward me.
I was told to match with some deep green, but I didn’t think I stood a chance next to her.
“Wow,” I said when she got to me.
“That’s what I was looking for.”
“Mission accomplished,” I said, giving her my arm. “Let’s go dazzle them and end the trip on a high note.”
“With pleasure.”
