It delighted Maxine to see Charles warming up to her children. It had taken a long time, and they hadn't made it easy for him, except for Sam, who got along with everyone and felt sorry for him. He thought Daphne was being too mean, and said as much to Charles.
“You think so, eh?” Charles said, laughing. He had been in great spirits ever since they'd been on the boat. Despite his earlier trepidation, he conceded to Maxine that it was the best vacation he'd ever had, and she had never seen him look more relaxed.
Blake had called them the second day out. He just wanted to be sure the trip was going well, and told Maxine to give Charles his best. She relayed the message, but a cloud crossed Charles's eyes again.
“Why don't you relax about him?” she suggested, and Charles nodded, and said nothing. No matter what she said to reassure him, he was still fiercely jealous of Blake. She could understand it, but it seemed so unnecessary to her. She was in love with Charles, not with Blake.
They talked about their wedding, and she got emails from the caterer and the wedding planner. Everything was under control.
They swam in beautiful coves off Corsica, and lay on white sandy beaches. And then they went on to Sardinia, which was far more social, and there were other big boats there as well. Maxine and Charles had dinner ashore, and the next day they left for Capri. It was always fun for the children there. They rode in a horse-drawn carriage, and did some shopping, and Charles bought her a beautiful turquoise bracelet that she loved. And he told her again on the way back to the boat what a good time he was having on the trip. They both looked happy and relaxed. Blake had given them a great gift with the boat. And the children were finally beginning to enjoy Charles, and not complaining as much about him to Maxine, although Daphne still said he was uptight. But compared to her father, everyone was. Charles was a grown-up to the core. But he still managed to have a good time, tell some jokes, and he danced on deck with Maxine one night, to some good music the crew had put on for them.
“It doesn't bother you to be on his boat with another man?” Charles inquired.
“Not in the least,” she answered. “He's been on board with half the women on the planet. It's been over between me and Blake for a long time. I wouldn't be marrying you if that weren't the case.” Charles believed that was true, he just felt that everywhere he went, Blake was looking over his shoulder. There were photographs of him everywhere, a few of Maxine, and many of the kids. They were all in beautiful silver frames.
The weeks sped by too quickly, and suddenly it was the last night. They had anchored off St. Jean Cap Ferrat and were going in to Monte Carlo the next day, to fly home. It was a beautiful moonlit night, the children were watching a movie, and she and Charles sat on deck chairs, talking softly.
“I hate to go home,” she admitted. “Leaving the boat is always like being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Reality hits hard after this.” She laughed as she said it, and he agreed. “The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy before the wedding,” she warned him, but he didn't look worried or upset about it anymore.
“I figured they would be. I'll go hide somewhere if it gets to be too much for me.”
Maxine was planning to work for two weeks, and she had a lot to do in the office and many patients to see, before she took August off, for the wedding and the honeymoon. Thelma and her practice were covering for her again, as they always did.
When they got home, the wedding would be four weeks away. She could hardly wait. Maxine and her children were all moving to her house in Southampton on the first of August, and Charles was coming too. So were Zellie and her new baby, and Maxine hoped that would be okay. It was going to be a powerful dose of reality for Charles, but he said he was braced for it. They were both excited about the wedding, and her parents were staying with them for the wedding weekend too. It would give Charles someone to talk to, while Maxine tended to the final details. The only time Charles wouldn't be staying with them was the night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner. She had made him take a room at a hotel, so he wouldn't see her the morning of the wedding. She was superstitious about that, which he said was a nuisance, but he was willing to indulge her for one night.
“It might be the only decent night's sleep I get, with all the people you'll have in the house.” It was a far cry from his peaceful cabin in Vermont. Maxine never wanted to go there because they couldn't take the kids with them, unlike her rambling old house in the Hamptons, which housed them all and still left room for guests.
The captain pulled the boat into port in Monte Carlo early the next morning, and they were already moored there when everyone woke up. They had a last breakfast on board, and then the crew members were going to drive all five of them to the airport. Just before they left, Maxine stood looking up at the beautiful sailboat from the dock.
“You love her, don't you?” Charles asked as she nodded.
“Yes, I do,” Maxine said softly. “I always hate to leave.” She looked at him then. “I had a wonderful time with you, Charles.” She leaned over and kissed him, and he kissed her back.
“So did I,” he said as he slipped an arm around her waist, and together they walked away from the Sweet Dreams, and got into the car. It had been the perfect vacation after all.
Chapter 22
The next ten days in her office were crazy for Maxine. When she left in August, she would be gone for a month, but most of her patients would be too. Many of them were away for summer vacations with their parents. But she had several of the more acutely sick ones to see before she signed off to Thelma, and Maxine wanted to bring her up to date.
The two women had lunch together right after Maxine got back from the boat trip, and Thelma asked her about Charles. She had met him twice, but didn't really have a sense of him, other than that he was very reserved. She had met Blake once too and commented that the two men were as different as night and day.
“You sure don't go for a type,” Thelma teased her, “and if you do, I'm not sure which one it would be.”
“Probably Charles. We're more alike. Blake was an early mistake,” Maxine said glibly, and then reconsidered. “No, that's not true, or fair. It worked when we were young. I grew up, he didn't, and it all went down the drain after that.”
“No, it didn't. You got three great kids out of it.” Thelma had two, and they were gorgeous. Her husband was Chinese, from Hong Kong, and the children had exquisite caramel-colored skin, and huge slightly Asian eyes. They were the best of both. Her daughter was a teenage model, and Thelma always said that her son broke every heart in school. As his mother had done, he was going to Harvard in the fall, and heading for medical school after that. Her husband was a physician too, a cardiologist and head of the department at NYU, and theirs was a marriage that worked. Maxine had been trying to get the four of them together for dinner for ages, but they hadn't been able to arrange it so far. They were all too busy.
“Charles seems very serious to me,” Thelma commented, and Maxine agreed.
“He is, but he has a sweet side to him too. He's very good with Sam.”
“And the others?”
“He's working on it.” Maxine smiled. “Daphne is tough.”
“God save me from teenage girls,” Thelma said, and rolled her eyes. “Jenna hates me this week. She has for two years actually. Sometimes I think she always will. I don't know what I do wrong most of the time, but as far as she's concerned, the minute I get up in the morning, I've fucked up. The only thing I do right is my shoes. She wears them all.” Maxine laughed at the description. She had the same problems with Daphne, although she was two years younger and not as angry yet. But she was getting there. It was going to be a long haul. “How's your nanny doing with her baby, by the way?”