Choking On Sapphires

75 Just Like Heaven

In the midst of a room full of people, you have an introspective moment to yourself. Not only your dining room, which had been surrounded by a solid circle of mix-matched chairs to accommodate all the Jewish Families that surrounded it on this first Seder meal of Passover. You even brought in another table for their children to sit at to make sure everyone was included. As the children were an integral part of the holiday.

You had started planning this holiday meal weeks ago and had culminated that early morning with the burning of the chametz in the large fireplace in the kitchen. Then the people started to arrive. You had your girls who worked for you invite anyone they might have in their lives, the employees of Abeille and otherwise were to bring their entire families, extended and all to celebrate with you. You wanted to share the good fortune you'd been blessed with this past year and you thought giving back to those who helped you every day was a good start. You'd been blessed with record-breaking business profits, had the good fortune to travel and see old friends and Altar, you'd come out alive and still able-bodied after the violence against you and yours you'd endured. On the day of you found yourself most thankful for the man that had been tottering along beside you all day. The past year you had Alife intimately involved in your life and as you both managed the house as if it were jointly your own already, you couldn't help but feel a spirit of true gratitude that encompassed the holiday itself.

You had all your rooms in your guest wing, both up and downstairs fitted with enough amenities to house the families for the night. You'd gone through the rituals and now had eaten and sang, read and recited and taught the children and now with full bellies, hearts, and minds everyone was in a lovely warm lull of conversation in the dining room after the final prayers of ""L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim! – Next year in Jerusalem!"

As the non-Jewish staff show the families into the drawing room and the sleepy children to the nursery you sit with Alfie at the head of the table in your tall-backed, ornate chairs. You'd pushed them arm to arm and you have stayed that way the entire evening. Currently, the women were scooping up children and fussing over them as they followed your girls up the stairs but you stayed by your love's side. With your arm wrapped around his, your legs lazily crossed towards him, feeling the warm effects as the number of glasses of wine you'd had. Alfie was chatty and red-faced from the wine, his posture comfortable, legs spread wide in his chair as he laughed and gossiped with the other men. It seemed at first that there might be some tension, the appearance of a known gangster at a Passover Seder, but it was soon apparent he was there for the same reasons they were. His charisma overtook any hesitancy as it always could and everyone was put into a friendly state of mind as the rituals concluded and it was shown that both of you were, in fact, practicing and not only potentially bloodthirsty people of business. The men's laughter, particularly Alfie's so rough and loud was as warm as the recently fed fire to your left on the wall of the dining room. The dark night outside was a lovely backdrop for the orange and red hues dancing across the dimly lit room as it prepared to be put to bed, the same as it's occupants.

"The misses and I will be retiring for the night." Alfie announced loudly to a room of chattering people.

"I've been going all day and I must admit I am not the young woman I once was." you say with a charming laugh. "So I'll be stealing Mr. Solomons away with me, I'm afraid." you smile broadly. "It was lovely meeting you all. I'll be seeing you at breakfast in the morning. Shalom. Kol Tuv. (Peace. Be well.)"

"L'hitraot!" Alfie says with a wave as his hand rests on your back, seeing you out of the room first before making an endearing exit with a little bow that you found delightful.

"Of all my days I've seen this could possibly feel like the longest." you say with a soft chuckle, moving to lift your dress and lightly kick your shoes off your feet. You begin to reach behind you to undo your dress when Alfie moves in behind you and takes your hands.