Seducing Montreux

Wild, Wild Love

It had been almost two and a half months since returning from Montreux and life was good. It was very good. Roger and I had never felt closer or more connected and we were greatly anticipating completion of our yacht. I had plans of meeting the girls for a quick luncheon and then I was off to an interview. It was only the second interview I had ever agreed to, the first having been on the road when we all went on tour. However, it was an equestrian magazine with whom I was interviewing and so I felt confident that my words wouldn’t be strewn or contorted in a way that was unpleasant. Oh, and also I was being paid 35,000 for the interview, hard to turn down in the name of horses. I would be talking about two things: life in my Surrey home and more importantly, my recent marriage. Veronica, Mary and I were at the café awaiting Chrissie’s arrival. She needed to have a dental procedure and so she was having routine blood work done just to ensure the local anesthesia wouldn’t cause her any trouble. I hadn’t seen the girls since we returned from Montreux. I couldn’t go even two weeks without missing them so.

 “Are you nervous for the interview?” Veronica asked, stirring sugar into her tea. I shrugged my shoulders.

 “No. Not really. I’m more nervous about the horse questions than the marriage questions.” I answered her.

 “Well, you look gorgeous! You could just go in there and sit across from the reporter and babble about the weather and she’d love you!” Mary said sincerely. I gave her a smile. I moved my espresso cup around on the tiny white saucer. This was one of our favorite café’s and a perfect stop to reconnect before I hurried off to this interview.

 “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I’m late!” We could all hear Chrissie as she came flying through the door. It’s true she was nearly twenty-five minutes late for our lunch and she typically beat all of us to anything we planned together.  “Oh, I’m sorry! I got held up at the office and traffic is a mess out there!” she explained, bumbling in behind Mary and knocking in to everything as she pulled her chair out. It clambered against the tile floor and she nearly hit the man seated behind her.

 “ S’okay. You’re here now. I gotta’ leave in a half hour but that doesn’t mean you all can’t stay here without me and then Mary will fill me in later on the gossip!” I said, picking up my menu. Mary, Veronica and Chrissie picked up their menus to look over as well. Sure we all had our favorites here, but occasionally it was nice to try something different.

 “Lydia, will you split the steak sandwich with me should I order it?” Mary asked.

 “No.” I told her very point blankly.

 “Figures. What about you, Veronica?” she asked.

 “Yeah, sure! I’ll split it.” She agreed happily.

 “Excellent.” Mary said. I could hear Chrissie’s menu hit the table in a rather audible slap from the plastic laminated cover. I shot my eyes up at her, as did Veronica and Mary. She had a frantic look in her eye. Her lip began to tremble.

 “I’m pregnant.” She squeaked.

 “WHAT!?” was my reaction.

 “NO!” Mary said. “Ooooh, Chrissie!” Mary reached out her hands to Chrissie’s shoulders, having thrown her menu down. Veronica reached a hand out to her. Happy tears began to streak Chrissie’s face.

 “I am! I’m pregnant! The dentist came in today and told me they couldn’t do the procedure because my blood test yielded positive for pregnancy hormones. I’m pregnant!” she squealed again. I gave Chrissie a kind smile. She was overwhelmed with joy. I had never seen her so happy.

 “How far along?” I asked her, genuinely.

 “Well, I need to make an appointment with my gynecologist to be sure, but the folks in the lab that did the blood work suggest about seven or maybe eight weeks…I’m pregnant you guys!” she exclaimed again. Veronica dug through her handbag to get Chrissie a tissue or two, handing it across the table. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t hold the news any longer.”  Her smile lit up the entire café.