FYH Chapter 27

FYH Chapter 27

Sweet Paris

BPOV:
The actual flight from Madrid to Paris only took one hour. However, we ended up spending two hours in the airport in Madrid going through security checks and another two hours in the airport in Paris trying to get through the line at customs. UGH! How the hell does it make any sense that it took us five hours to get through a one hour flight. By the time that we got check in to the hotel and made it up to our room, we were both desperately in need of food, showers, and liquor. Yeah, I led the raid on the mini bar and I am not ashamed to admit it.
I was glad however that we would not be dealing with an airport again for a few weeks. When we sat down to decide what we wanted to see and do while we were here in Paris the list just kept growing and growing and growing and before we knew it we had made the decision that we were going to stay in Paris for the entire month of February.
After some more research with some horrifying results, where Edward and I learned the value of adding "five star hotels in…" to our hotel search we finally found one that we loved. Some of the listings were downright scary. We book the presidential suite at the Hotel De Vendome. Edward thought that it was a little expensive to book the suite for a month but I wanted to have a kitchen available in case we decided that we wanted to stay in some nights and cook for ourselves.
The first thing that either of us wanted to see was the Louvre. We were told that it was so huge that it could take a person over well a week to get through the whole thing so we were giving ourselves five days.
That is how we spent our first week in Paris. We would spend all day walking through the museum and then by the time that we walked the six blocks back to our hotel in the evening, we would collapse on our bed. The first night after we returned we made the mistake of collapsing on our bed for "just a minute" before we changed for dinner. Neither of us made it out of that bed. In fact, Edward was fast asleep within thirty minutes. We woke up starving the next morning and chalked it up to a lesson learned that we should eat on our way home from the museum instead of risking passing out again and not getting our supper.
But, oh, the week that we spent wandering around the Louvre looking at some of the most famous paintings in the world created by some of the most famous artist that had ever existed was beyond amazing. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and I am glad that we took our time to see everything that we could.
At the end of the fifth day of touring the museum we dragged ourselves into the room after deciding that we were too tired to stop at a restaurant for supper, I collapsed on the bed while Edward did not make it past the living room and ended up collapsing on the couch.
"What are you doing all the way in the living room?"
"One, I can't walk any further. My feet and furious with me and have staged a mutiny. And two, the room service menu and the phone are out here and I am hungry."
I told Edward all that I wanted was a sandwich, some fruit, and a large chocolate milk shake. While he ordered the food, I dragged my butt off the bed and made my way into the bathroom. There was something that I knew would make both of us feel better. I started the tub and ran us a nice hot bubble bath for us to share.
I started to strip off my clothes and grabbed for my robe to slip it on when I looked up at the mirror and noticed that Edward was in the doorway watching me. He walked up behind me and wrapped reached his arms around my waist, taking the sash from my hands, and giving me a kiss. Then he actually tied the robe shut. I raised my eyebrow at him. He merely laughed and responded with, "As much as I love seeing you naked, I think I prefer you covered up when we are expecting strangers to come to the door bearing food."
I leaned back into him, "I think that I could just sleep for the next week."
"As tempting as it is to consider keeping you in bed with me for a week we have plans for tomorrow."
"I thought that we were going to take a day to relax?"
"We are. I just called the front desk and scheduled us for a range of massages in the spa. That is going to take a few hours and then while you are having your hands and feet cherished and pampered I am going to go get a hair cut and stop by a store and we are going to cook for ourselves tomorrow."
"That sounds wonderful."
"First though tomorrow, we have a conference call at nine."
A little while later, we were both naked in the tub. We had eaten our ham sandwiches and fed each other fruit the fruit and now we were relaxing in each other arms. We had had to warm up the water a few times, as these old European hotels were quite drafty. I was lying back against Edward's chest and he had his arms wrapped around me. I knew that he had his head laid back against the wall and his eyes closed. It was a completely romantic way to spend an evening in Paris, even if we were both too exhausted to do anything sexual.
"What were you thinking about getting us to cook tomorrow?"
"I was just thinking simple. Something like frozen pizza and salad?"
"Um, no, I have a salmon dish that is great and easy. I'll make a list before you leave tomorrow of everything that I am going to need."
"Okay," he mumbled out. I knew that we were both going to need to get out of the water soon before we fell asleep and accidentally drowned ourselves. But for the life of me I just could not bring myself to extricate myself from my husband's arms. It was, after all, my favorite place in the world to be.
EPOV:
I woke up with a vague recollection of Bella urging me out of the tub and steering me towards the bed. I was still naked and so was she. Hmmm. This had potential. But one look at the clock told me that now was not the time to follow through with that thought. It was ten minutes to nine and my family's therapy session was going to start in ten minutes. I woke up Bella and made my way into the bathroom. By the time that I came back out Bella was no longer in bed. A quick search of the suite found her in the kitchen making a pot of coffee and looking at the room service menu. After calling in our order, she went back to our room to get dressed. The theme for the day was apparently 'warm comfort' because we both chose to wear sweat suits.
Room service knocked on the door at the same time that my phone went off. I went for the food while Bella answered my phone. This time I would not be the only one to attend via conference call. Alice had sold her place and she and Jasper were officially residents of New York City.
That is what today's session was going to be focusing on. How everyone felt now that Alice and Jasper were gone. We had had a similar session when Bella and I closed on the house and the bookstore.
Mom's response was the one that surprised me the most, "I have always been proud of my children, but I have never been prouder of them than I am right now. I have never seen them this happy before and I know that is my fault. I held them back. I kept them from chasing their dreams. I am so sorry that I hurt them."
We all made a point of telling her that, while her behavior in the past had been horrid and unacceptable, we all had to accept that as adults we could have put our proverbial feet down and stood up to her. Well, technically I did, and that is why we were participating in these therapy sessions at all and it was the reason that my family was about to be scattered across the United States. I could be worse. We could have ended up scattered around the world. But all three of us kids were going to live relatively close to each other and for that I was grateful.
Dad was the only one that had a problem with Alice and Jasper living in New York City. And that just stemmed from the high crime rates. After a fifteen minute debate on which was better; Alice taking a self defense class or carrying a taser in her purse. It was decided that she would enroll in some form of martial arts class, she would carry a taser, and carry pepper spray.
As soon as I could get off that call with my family, I went back to finalizing and acting on the plan that I had been considering when I woke up naked in bed with my equally naked wife. Needless to say, we were a few minutes late getting to our spa appointment.
I had scheduled us for four treatments. The first was a "satin skin scrub". All I really understood was the word exfoliating. Then there was this thing called "draining care" it was supposed to be good for the circulation in the legs and I added the "Foot reflexology" given the amount of time that we had spent on our feet lately and how badly mine still hurt. The last one was the "relaxing ritual" which was the body massage. Yes, I totally got my girl on today, but my feet and back felt a hell of a lot better by the time these girls were done with us. After all that was done, Bella was off to get a manicure and pedicure while I went for that haircut.
On my way out of the barbershop, I passed a little chocolate shop and decided to stop in. Sure enough, they had Bella's favorite truffles so I bought her some. I also took the opportunity to order us a cake to be delivered to the hotel for Valentine's Day, which was coming up fast. I also took the opportunity to stop by the florist and order her two dozen tulips to for Valentine's as well. Tulips were most definitely her favorite flower. She was already planning on planted a row of tulips outside our house in Maine. I know that roses are more traditional for Valentine's but really, wouldn't any girl prefer her favorite flower to the normal standby? I certainly hoped so. I had specially ordered her gift and that was going to be delivered to the hotel as well. I could not wait to see how it came out.
By the time that I got through the store and made my way to our room, Bella was already back and lying on the couch watching a movie and talking to Angela on the computer. Bella smiled when she saw me enter the suite and quickly ended her conversation with Angela.
She walked over to where I was standing and I leaned down and kissed her, "You could have kept talking to Angela. I don't mind putting these away myself."
She looked a little sad when she said with a sigh, "She had to go anyway. She and Ben were heading to a frat party tonight."
"Do you regret missing out on all of those college experiences with them?"
"No. I really don't. If I had gone to college with them I wouldn't have you and that is infinitely better than the frat party part of the college experience. I just miss them."
Hell, even I was missing Ben and Angela. They were good people. I did not need to vocalize, however, the truth that I saw in my wife's eyes. She and her best friend, a woman that she had considered her sister for most of her life, had new lives that were moving in vastly different directions in a rapid pace and it was hurting her. Even I could tell that the frequency of the calls between the two of them had dropped off at a considerable rate. I made it a goal to encourage her to call Angela more often. I knew that part of the reason was Angela's school schedule and the time zone differences. But I was not about to stand idly by and watch those two lose touch.
The next couple of days we spent casually wandering around some stores and boutiques near the hotel. We found some gorgeous cufflinks that we bought to give Dad for Father's Day. That was about all that we found that we thought that our family would like, but Bella did find a farmer's market. She had a great time buying out the place. I had a good feeling that we were going to be eating in a lot for a while and that was just fine by me. I would choose my wife's cooking over going out to a restaurant any day.
A/N:
Okay. I sat here for three days with this doc open and neither one of these two would talk to me then BAM we had cuddling in the bubble bath time. I intended to include the whole month into this chapter but scenes started getting away from me. The wait should be as long as it was for this one. The research is done and I know appr+
oximately what is going to happen. Valentine's Day! Any guesses on what Edward ordered for Bella. PS. I prefer tulips to roses any day.
Okay…disclaimer and citing now. SM owns it all except this plot and the current location of these two nutty love bunnies!
http:/www(.)hoteldevendome(.)#suite-presidentielle-ambiance(.)php
http:/www(.)lonelyplanet(.)com/france/paris/sights?affil=ask