Page 61 of The Explorer
“Oui.It’s our specialdélicatesse.” She smiled from ear to ear. “Bon, non?”
Laura’s smile was strained. “Not my favorite, but I can just eat these.” With her fork, she pointed to the vegetables on her plate.
We continued talking and after five minutes the waiter came back with a new plate for Laura.
“Try this instead.” The waiter put down the plate and flapped her arms. “It’s bird.”
Once Laura dug in, her face softened. “Wow, this is delicious. Such richness and taste.”
The waiter took the plate with the deer heart away and left with a polite smile.
“Tell us, what are your favorite things about Old Europe so far?” My mother asked.
I couldn’t tell them about kissing Aubri so I focused on talking about the work and the adventure before I exclaimed, “Also, there’s a place we need to take you, mom.” I told her about the repair shop and saw the lights in her eyes shine bright.
“Sounds magical.”
An hour later, I enjoyed Christina’s reaction when she walked in and saw all the old, reclaimed toys, paintings, jewelry, and knick-knacks. It made my mom tear up. “Are these all antiques or are some of them replicas?”
“It’s all antiques.”
The hours passed way too quickly as we spent the day with Laura, Pearl, and my mom. We had a lot of fun, and at least three times my mom spontaneously hugged me. Each time I kissed the top of her hair feeling grateful she’d come all this way to see me.
At nine that night Aubri and I walked them to the landing place and saw Victor waiting for us.
“I thought you were too busy to handle our family visit,” Aubri said in a dry tone.
“I am. But for some reason, I keep getting dragged into everything Northland-related against my will.”
Pearl came over and reached out her hands to Victor. “Thank you, Monsieur Victor, for coming to our rescue when the guards wouldn’t let us off the drone.”
Aubri scoffed. “You wouldn’t thank him if you knew what vile things he said to Freya.”
Pearl’s polite smile stiffened a little, but she kept her hands outstretched.
Victor took her hands and gave a curt nod before he let go fast. “I’ve taken the liberty of filling the drone with some of Belle’s personal belongings. It’s mostly her paintings.”
“Thank you. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
“Good. Now, I would also ask that you carry back with you the message that Old Europe isn’t a tourist destination. Further uninvited visits won’t be tolerated.” With his nose in the air, Victor turned and left us.
My mother sighed. “The others will be disappointed to hear that. Jones, Dina, and Sparrow were begging to come.”
“Tell them all that we miss them and that we can’t wait to see them this summer.” I hugged my mother tight.
Saying goodbye was hard and I felt a huge knot in my stomach when the three women got into Khan’s large drone and looked back at us with sadness.
Pearl was standing in the door opening with her hand on the doorframe when she turned her head and said, “You know, I once sacrificed myself as well. Officially it was to save Athena, but in my heart, I saw it as an opportunity to make a difference and change the world for the better. It was hard living out of my comfort zone and Khan was obnoxious and confrontational.” A small smile played at the edge of her lips. “Funny thing is that today, Khan and I talk about that time in our lives asthe good old days.”
With those words she waved a last time and pushed the button to close the door.
We stood watching the large diamond-shaped drone lift at a slow pace. Once it was fifty feet above the ground it took off toward the Atlantic Ocean, which separated us from our family back home.
Feeling emotional, I watched until the drone was nothing but a small dot of light in the distance.
“Come.” Aubri placed her hand in mine and squeezed. My gaze met hers and for a moment I recognized the young girl who had always wanted to join Mason and me on our adventures when we were children. This time, Aubri’s sense of adventure had landed us in our greatest challenge yet. What came to my mind wasn’t river rafting or discovering underground caves. It was being in a small shower with Aubri naked on my hips.
Great explorers had returned home after dangerous expeditions with mountains named after them. My mission in all of this was to claim one major territory: Aubri’s heart. If I could succeed in making Aubri Aurelius agree to become Aubri Boulder, then I would ask for nothing else in my life. I smiled at her and kept a firm grip on her hand. “Let’s go, my young grasshopper.”
