Page 21 of A Mother’s Love

Valerie was already at the breakfast table outdoors when Olivia showed up, wearing dark glasses and a pink sundress over a matching bikini.

Valerie was wearing a darker pink one, and smiled to see her twin.

Their four friends had already eaten and gone ashore to shop before they left for their next destination.

Frank, Seth and Peter’s stepfather, was reading the newspaper.

Peter showed up, looking jovial, while Olivia ate her oatmeal, and said a vague hello without looking at Peter, and Valerie’s mother-in-law, Katherine, joined them, wanting to know more about their next location.

“Seth is talking to the captain about it now,” Valerie said pleasantly. Katherine wasn’t maternal, but she was a perfectly decent person, although Valerie could tell that she was self-involved, as Seth had said.

“What time do we leave here?” Katherine asked, as the steward set down a plate of waffles she’d ordered in front of her. “I want to go ashore one more time. There’s a bathing suit I didn’t buy yesterday, and I want it.”

“They’ll go with you whenever you want,” Valerie promised. They were all being waited on hand and foot, it was going to be hard to go back to reality afterward.

She turned her attention to her sister then, who ate half the oatmeal, and then sat back in her chair.

She felt Valerie tap her knee under the table, and she was looking at her pointedly.

Olivia raised an eyebrow with a quizzical expression, and felt Valerie slip something under her napkin, and looked down to see what it was.

It was the lace thong Olivia had been wearing the night before and had lost on the way back to her cabin.

She had realized it while she was getting dressed in the morning, and hoped that no one would know it was hers if they found it.

She glanced at Valerie, who was staring at her with a question in her eyes.

Olivia slipped the black lace thong into her bag, and smiled at her sister innocently.

Valerie gazed at her pointedly, and cornered her when they left the breakfast table and were alone.

“What is that about?” she asked Olivia in a whisper.

“Nothing. Tequila. No big deal. We went swimming off the boat last night after everyone went to bed.”

“Naked?” Valerie asked with interest, almost sure Olivia was lying. She always knew when she was. Olivia was a terrible liar.

“Yeah, no big deal. He’s seen it all before. He was so drunk, he didn’t even notice.”

“Oh my God, you’re lying to me,” Valerie said as she stared at her. “Do you like him?” She was desperate to know, and they never kept secrets from each other. “I told you he’s nice.” She wanted Olivia to like him. She loved the idea that she and her twin might be with brothers.

“He’s fine. He’s your brother-in-law. We’re just being friendly and getting to know each other.”

“How friendly, losing-your-thong-on-the deck friendly, midnight-swim friendly, or more?”

“Don’t get excited, Val. We’re not attracted to each other.” Olivia felt like Pinocchio saying it to her, and Valerie would know.

“You’ve never lost your underwear hanging out with a guy you weren’t attracted to before,” Valerie said suspiciously.

Olivia didn’t want her hovering, or pushing her and Peter, or making more of it than it was.

They didn’t even know themselves yet, except that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, as demonstrated by the sexathon the night before.

Peter saw them talking to each other from further down the deck and wondered what it was about, and then Seth joined them, explaining their route to Valerie, and Olivia went downstairs to get her phone.

She said she had forgotten it in her cabin.

Peter followed her down a crew staircase a minute later when no one was watching.

He let himself into her cabin, so no one would see him at her door.

Olivia looked up, startled, in her short pink sundress, and looked even more beautiful to him than she had the night before.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in surprise, whispering. “One of the maids will see you, they’re doing the cabins.” He quickly turned and locked the door and crossed the room to where she was standing, as a smile dawned in her eyes.

“You look incredible,” he said, and kissed her, and a moment later, the sundress was on the floor, and her bikini a minute later, and she stood in all her naked glory.

“I forgot my thong on the deck last night,” she said breathlessly, as he kissed her and pulled her toward the bed.

“Valerie suspects. I told her we went swimming,” she said and then forgot about it as he laid her down and put his head between her legs, and a few minutes later his bathing suit was off and he entered her, as she tried not to make any noise.

It was over faster than they expected, and she looked up at Peter with a grin.

They were having fun with their secret love affair.

Peter didn’t see how they could hide it for long.

“We have to go,” Olivia said, and they took a quick shower together and put their clothes back on. “I told Valerie I’d be right back.”

He kissed her one last time and slipped out the door of her cabin, and Olivia found her sister having a cup of coffee with Seth, looking relaxed.

“What took you so long?” she asked Olivia.

“I couldn’t find my phone,” Olivia said blithely.

“Maybe you forgot that on deck too,” Valerie said with a raised eyebrow that Seth didn’t notice.

“Very funny. I left it in the purse I wore last night. Ready for some sun?” Valerie kissed Seth, and the two sisters went to the top deck to the sunbeds and stretched out.

“Do you think we should call Mom now?” Valerie asked her.

“She just arrived in Paris this morning. Give her time to settle in. You know how she is when she arrives anywhere. She likes to get everything put away immediately, and she won’t have her bearings yet. I hope the house is decent.”

“She should have stayed at a hotel anyway,” Valerie said. “She can always move if she needs to, or go home. I still think it’s crazy, her being there alone, not knowing anyone, in a strange house for two weeks. I don’t know why you suggested it to her. She’ll be miserable and lonely.”

“I suggested it because it’s too depressing for her to just sit there at home without us.

Maybe this is what she needs, something new and different.

She hasn’t gone anywhere since Robert died, and she never travels now, or goes away alone, even for a weekend.

She’s fifty, for God’s sake, not eighty, and now we’re gone.

Who knows, maybe she’ll meet a handsome Frenchman,” Olivia said, lying on the sunbed with her eyes closed, talking to her sister, and thinking of Peter.

“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not Mom’s style. What would she do? Pick him up on the street?” Valerie snapped at her.

“Destiny intervenes sometimes,” Olivia said mysteriously.

“You watch too many series on TV. And on those shows the hot guy always kills the woman, or tries to.”

“There’s a cheering thought.” Olivia smiled.

“We should call her later. She’s going to be lonely in a strange house. After two days of shopping she’ll go home. I’ll bet you she’s in New York by New Year’s Day, and back at her desk.”

“I hope not,” Olivia said. “That would be sad for her. I hope she stays.”

“Well, just don’t lose your thong again. You’re going to give Peter the wrong impression, and that’s not fair.”

“I’ll try to remember,” Olivia said chastely, grateful that her sister’s eyes were closed and she couldn’t see the grin on her twin’s face.

—

Halley unpacked all her hanging clothes, after she made a cup of coffee and had another look around the house.

It was beautiful and the owners had fabulous taste.

She was surprised that they were renting it for three months while they were away.

It wasn’t the kind of house people usually rented to strangers, but it was through a very high-end realtor, and even two weeks was expensive.

But she had decided to follow Olivia’s advice and do something crazy and fun and out of character, and she had a feeling that Robert would have approved.

Being alone for the holidays, once she knew the girls weren’t coming home, was just too depressing.

It reminded her of her lonely youth with no family to spend it with.

She was alone now, but being in Paris made it special.

The house had a warm, inviting feeling. It didn’t seem scary or ominous, other than the creepy-looking guardian, but she didn’t need to interact with him. The housekeeper had left her croissants and orange juice for breakfast, and salami, cheese, and a baguette for a snack, and some macarons.

She finished unpacking in the master dressing room, had some of the salami and cheese for lunch, and thought about calling the girls, but it was still early for them, so she sent them both a text, and one to Millie, to say that she had arrived safely and the house was lovely.

She had even noticed Porthault sheets on the bed, and felt silly for having brought some of her own towels with her.

The house was luxuriously appointed, impeccably neat, and well stocked.

It was better than the Ritz, and well worth what she’d paid for it.

This wasn’t camping, it was heavenly extravagance, and the treat she had hoped it would be.