“Not at all,” she said, wondering if she really knew him. There was definitely a piece missing in Charles, when it came to kids, and she thought it was too bad. Maybe it was the piece that made her hesitate about him even now. She wanted to love him, but she needed to know that he could love her kids too, and surely not by lobbying to send them away to boarding school. The very thought of it made her shudder. He could see that, and immediately backed off. He didn't want to upset her, although he thought it would have been a great idea, if she were willing. She wasn't. That was clear.
They went skiing that afternoon in Sugarbush, and it was easy and fun skiing with him. She had never been as proficient as Blake, but she was a good skier, and she and Charles were at the same level and enjoyed the same runs. They were both relaxed and happy afterward, and she had put aside their little disagreement that morning about boarding school. He was entitled to his own point of view, as long as he didn't force the issue with her. She didn't hear from her children that night, and Charles was relieved. It was nice spending uninterrupted time with her. He took her out to dinner, and when they got back, he made love to her in front of the fire. She was amazed at how comfortable and at ease she was with him. It was as though they had been sleeping together forever, and that night they curled up in his bed. It was snowing outside, and Maxine felt as though time had stopped, and they were alone together in a magical world.
In Blake's house in Aspen, things were less peaceful than they were in Vermont. The stereo was blasting, Jack and Sam were playing Nintendo games, friends dropped by, and Daphne was determined to make Arabella's life as miserable as she could. She made rude, cutting comments, and snide remarks about the outfits Arabella wore. And whenever Arabella cooked, Daphne refused to eat. She asked her if she'd been checked for AIDS since she got her tattoos. Arabella had no idea how to deal with her, but she told Blake she was determined to hang in. He insisted they were good kids.
He wanted it to work with his kids. Daphne was doing everything possible to see that it wouldn't. And she was trying to rile the boys up against Arabella, but so far it hadn't worked. They thought she was okay, although her tattoos and her hair were a little weird.
Jack paid virtually no attention to Arabella, and Sam was polite. Sam had inquired about the bindi, and his father had told him that Arabella had worn them since she lived in India, and he thought it looked really pretty. Sam conceded that he did too. Daphne shrugged and told Arabella that they had seen so many women come and go in their father's life that they just couldn't be bothered anymore to get to know them. She assured Arabella he'd get rid of her within the next few weeks. It was the only comment she made that actually got under Arabella's skin, and Blake found her in their bathroom in tears.
“Sweetheart… baby… Bella darling… what's the matter?” She was crying as though her heart would break, and the one thing he couldn't stand was crying women, particularly those that he loved. “What happened?” Arabella wanted to tell him that his bitch of a daughter had happened, but she restrained herself, out of love for him. She was genuinely in love with him, and he was crazy about her too.
Arabella finally repeated the comment Daphne had made that had reduced her to tears. “It just scared me, and all of a sudden I was wondering if you really were going to dump me when we get back to
London.” She looked at Blake with huge eyes and started crying again, as he put his arms around her.
“No one is dumping anyone here,” Blake reassured her. “I'm nuts about you. I'm not going anywhere, and if I have anything to say about it, neither are you. For a long, long time. I hate to say it, but my daughter is jealous of you.” He talked to Daphne about it later that afternoon, and asked why she was being so mean to Arabella. It really wasn't fair, and she had never done that to any of his girlfriends before.
“What's it about, Daff? I've had lots of women around, and let's be honest, some of them were just plain stupid.” Daphne laughed at his honesty. There had been some really dim-witted ones, beautiful but dumb, and Daphne had never gone after them, or even made fun of them.
“Arabella's different,” Daphne said reluctantly.
“Yeah, she's smarter and nicer than the rest of them, and a more reasonable age. So what's your problem?” He was annoyed at her, and it showed. She was making Arabella's life miserable for no reason.
“That's the point, Dad,” Daphne answered. “She's better than the rest of them… so I hate her…”
“Explain that to me.” He was completely baffled.
Daphne spoke in a soft voice, and suddenly looked like a child again. “I'm scared she might stick around.”
“So? What if she does, as long as she's nice to you?”
“What if you marry her?” Daphne looked sick at the thought, and her father looked stunned.
“Marry her? Why would I want to do that?” “I don't know. People do.”
“I don't. Been there, done that. I was married to your mom. I have three great kids. I don't need to get married again. Arabella and I are just having fun. That's all. Don't make such a big deal of it. We're not, why should you?”
“She says she loves you, Dad.” Daphne's eyes were huge. “And I heard you tell her that you love her too. People who love each other get married, and I don't want you to marry anyone, except Mom.”
“Well, that's not going to happen,” he said matter-of-factly. “Your mother and I don't want to be married to each other, but we love each other like this. And there's plenty of room for a woman in my life, whom I don't want to marry, and all of you. You don't need to worry about it. You have my word, Daff. You won't ever be seeing me get married. To anyone. Is that better?”
“Yeah. Maybe.” She still didn't look sure. “What if you change your mind?” She had to admit, Arabella was pretty good looking, and smart and funny. In some ways, she seemed like the perfect woman for him, which was what terrified Daphne.
“If I change my mind, I'll discuss it with you first. I give you my permission to do whatever you have to, to talk me out of it. Is that a deal? But you don't need to be mean to Arabella now. It's not fair. She's our guest, and she's having a miserable time.”
“I know,” Daphne said with a victorious smile. She had worked hard at it.
“Cut it out. You can be nice to her. She's a nice girl. And so are you.”
“Do I have to, Dad?”
“Yes, you do,” he said firmly. He was beginning to wonder if Daphne was going to do this to all his women now. She had made several unpleasant remarks about her mother's friend Charles too. She seemed to want her parents staying solo these days, which was not very realistic. Blake was happy that Maxine finally had someone. She deserved a little comfort and companionship in her life. He didn't begrudge it to her. But Daphne sure did, and was willing to do almost anything about it. He didn't like seeing her behave that way. She had turned into a little bitch overnight, and he wondered if Maxine was right about the age. He sure wasn't looking forward to a lot of this. It was going to make it hard to take her on vacations, since he almost always had someone with him, and it didn't even occur to him not to.
“I want you to make an effort with her now. For me,” he admonished her, and Daphne grudgingly agreed.
The results of his talk with her weren't obvious on the first night, but two days later, she had improved slightly. She answered when Arabella spoke to her, and she had stopped making remarks about her tattoos and her hair. It was something at least. And Arabella hadn't cried about it in days. The trip had turned out to be stressful for him, which it never was when he was with his kids, and he was almost sorry he'd brought Arabella along, for her sake, not for his kids'.
He was skiing peacefully with Arabella one afternoon, and he had to admit, it was nice to get away from the children. They stopped several times to catch their breath on the harder runs, and he leaned over and kissed her. And they went back to the house that afternoon to make love. Arabella confessed that she could hardly wait till they got back to London, although she was glad to have met his children. But a little went a long way, and she felt as though she was constantly organizing things for them to do. It was also obvious that she and Daphne would never be friends. The best she could hope for was an uneasy truce, which was what she had gotten so far. It was still a vast improvement over Daphne's behavior in the beginning. But Blake didn't envy his ex-wife if this was what she had to deal with whenever her current boyfriend was around. He was amazed the guy put up with it. He suspected Arabella wouldn't have for long, if Daphne hadn't finally backed off.
For the first time ever, he was relieved to take them back to Maxine in New York. She had driven down from Vermont that day, and had just gotten home when Blake dropped them off at the apartment. Arabella was waiting for him at the penthouse, and they were leaving for London that night.
Sam immediately threw his arms around his mother with a shout of delight and almost knocked her down. And Jack and Daphne looked happy to be home too.
