Forever Young The Beginning (85 page)

“
I’ve been thinking about
our pending move to the Swiss Confederation.” Turning to Ian and
Alandra he said “I’ve explained to Jennifer the reasons for our
having to move from time to time.” Then to all of them he said “I
think we ought to consider moving sooner. There are going to be two
babies born in the springtime. We could move to Geneva after
they’re born and establish ourselves as the Laforges there. We
could still come here and be the Lafayettes and friends in the
wintertime for a year or two. When we finally do leave this place
for good, we just went away as we had for a year or two in
succession, but never came back. It might be better to do it that
way. In Geneva we’d be known to leave for the winter for a couple
of years. Marie and I would like to know what all of you think
about that.”

There was a general discussion among
the members then. Jennifer said “What about Thomas and his
son?”

Henri replied “They can come, or stay
here for a while as far as I’m concerned.”

Marie said “Don’t be too sure that
Thomas will want to come. He’s become quite interested in Celeste’s
Aunt Caryn.”

Celeste nodded her head in agreement
as all eyes turned to her. “He’s in Paris now because Aunt Caryn
doesn’t want him to leave, and it’s fair to say that he doesn’t
want to leave either.” she said with a twinkle in her
eyes.

Sophia said “Can there be any problem
with Jennifer seeing him whenever she’s in France?” Marie looked at
Henri and said “No. It shouldn’t be a problem at all. The worst
that can happen is that Jennifer has to say that she knows both the
Laforges and the Lafayettes. And that won’t be a lie.” At that
everyone laughed.

Marie continued “Well, even if this
next one is a wig generation, it will be more fun than we’ve had in
forever following a move. We’ll have the babies, and we’re such a
fine big family now. It will be a lot different than other wig
generations.”

There were questioning looks exchanged
among all present then except for Henri and Marie. Finally Liridona
spoke up and said “What’s a ‘wig generation’?”

The others all leaned forward a bit to
hear the answer to the riddle. Marie sipped her tea and then after
setting the cup and saucer down she said “Children, a wig
generation comes every second generation. We didn’t wear wigs
during our time as the Lafayettes, so as the Laforges, we’ll both
wear wigs in public during their twenty years.” There was a
scattering of laughter. Aimee held her hands over her mouth and
giggled. Marie looked at Aimee and laughingly said “Don’t laugh too
hard young lady. A six-year old child who never ages can’t be
explained away. That means that you’ll be wearing wigs too. In fact
you’ll be wearing them as much as us.”

Aimee rolled her eyes around looking
at the group then as they all laughed at her. Ian said “I think
that you’d be beautiful with glossy black hair, just like Marie’s.”
She giggled then, liking the idea of disguising herself to deceive
humans.

Liri then said “Do we have to wear
wigs too?”

“
Praise God, no! Henri and I
are nearly as old as dirt and have been bouncing around Europe so
many years now that we have to do this in case we run into an old
human that we used to know.” At that everyone laughed really hard,
but then Marie said “Don’t laugh too hard now because all of you
will have to do this when we move away from Geneva.”

Ian then spoke. “But what if we move
to America?”

There was silence then and finally
Henri spoke. “That will be a different kettle of fish
altogether.”

“
For Alandra and I it makes
no difference. We’ll adjust to whatever happens and will make it
work for us. We want to winter at Lausanne this year and to take
Aimee with us.” Turning to her he said “I have spoken to Marie and
Henri and have sent a pair of your boots to Lausanne already with
instructions to make you a pair of ice skates.”

She threw her hands to her cheeks and
squirmed. “Oh my! Oh my!” Then she looked at Ian and said “What are
ice skates?” At that everyone laughed as Ian explained to her.
Alandra added that she would get to ride in a sleigh while she was
there.

“
What’s a sleigh?” Everyone
laughed again at that as Ian explained to Aimee.

So it was settled that the
generational move would be done this way.

***

They spent a few days at the chateau
and went riding and swimming although the days were a bit cooler.
Aimee taught Jennifer to hand fish then, which she’d never done
before. She was completely taken with the waterfall and loved the
rope swing too. Everyone enjoyed the time spent there and all
agreed that Jennifer was a welcome addition to the family. She was
so naturally cheerful that she boosted everyone’s mood just by
being present. She and Sophia were always laughing and joking about
something it seemed. Mustafa and Louis had come through their
transition smoothly and had resumed their lives as if nothing had
ever changed. Their years of practice in martial arts,
swordsmanship, and firearms from their boyhood had the result that
after they had imprinted, they were both deadly additions to the
family’s fighting force.

One day in early October Alandra, Ian,
and Aimee were packed to go and said their goodbyes to everyone and
set off for Lausanne. They drove and let Aimee drive too, which
enabled them to stop anywhere they wanted for her to have a little
wild time that way. The trip was uneventful and Aimee was never
bored. She ‘ooohd’ the first time she saw a snowy peak in the
distance and loved the changes of types of trees and foliage. Ian
was silent as they passed the former site of the Francoise mansion.
He could barely look at it any more if he happened to be passing
by. The former staff was still living there though, as was evident
from the fields and livestock. No construction was evident at
all.

***

In Lausanne, they picked up her skates
at the blacksmith shop and Ian attended to getting a small herd of
goats for the winter. He had leased the same chalet for them on
Lake Geneva. They got to sail across Lake Geneva to Evian les
Baines on the last excursion ship that would sail that year,
spending two days there before sailing back.

The days flew by and soon the passes
were snowed in. The cove had finally frozen so Ian and Alandra got
out their skates and after they’d gotten used to them again they
let Aimee come out on the ice with them to learn to skate. She took
to it like a duck to water and by the end of the day was a good
skater, but still didn’t know how to stop very well. She crashed
into some snow-covered bushes three times after gaining too much
speed. Ian and Alandra both laughed themselves silly watching her
antics. She was absolutely in love with ice skating and with no one
around to see her, she was a little blur out there at times. They
could hear her laughing no matter where she was.

Within three days she was a prodigy
who could skate backward and forward and took to jumping objects
with Ian. He had leased a Sleigh and horse for the winter and they
regularly went to Lausanne to eat or to skate there. He would let
Aimee drive the team and she was in love with that almost as much
as skating. Soon they had been remembered by the residents and
everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch little Aimee
skate. Ian had cautioned her very strongly about showing off and
true to form, she held herself in check. Ian told her that she
could skate flawlessly as long as she didn’t go too fast nor do any
jumps. When people would ask, she was told to say that she’d
learned to skate in Amsterdam.

One day when they were really snowed
in and were both playing violin together, Ian said “Aimee, do you
miss the others?”

“
Yes. I think that Jennifer
would like skating and riding in the sleigh. She doesn’t miss me
too much though.”

Alandra said “Oh, I’m sure she does.
Why do you say that?”

Aimee rolled her pretty eyes as if
anyone should know the answer. Then she said disgustedly “Because
she and Andre are always making moon eyes at each other. Yuck!” At
this Ian and Alandra laughed so hard that Aimee finally joined in,
not having any idea what she had said that was so funny.

Ian painted two portraits that winter;
one of Aimee and one of Alandra.

***

The winter flew by all too fast and
they were on their way back to France. The trip back was
uneventful. As they passed the ruins of the old Francoise mansion,
Ian saw a foundation being built back behind the remains of the
house, where the staff and caretakers lived. It looked like another
building was going to be built among that group of structures that
was well back behind the burned-out site of the original mansion.
Everything else looked the same. There were no signs that the
mansion was going to be rebuilt, and there was no one about in the
fields, but they had been plowed and livestock were present
grazing.

At the chateau they all talked and
caught up on everything that evening. Mustafa and Louis were both
gone on banking business. Li and Sophia had just returned from
Italy where they’d been looking after the property near Turin on
the river. Both Celeste and Liridona were quite big by then. Their
babies were due soon, so Ian and Alandra decided to stay until they
both were born. Marie had already taken care to have an experienced
midwife and her two daughters on hand at all times.

Aimee had been with Jennifer ever
since they had arrived. For her part, Jennifer was thrilled and
happy when the three had arrived. She and Aimee had been talking
and laughing and telling each other stories like two sisters might
do. Jennifer was really anxious to hear about the skating and Aimee
was only too happy to tell her

Li had been teaching Andre about
property management because Andre was soon going to be doing that.
There was an extensive network of Lafayette properties to be cared
for regarding collection of annual rent profits and paying of
taxes. Li handled all of the commercial interests such as the
facility in Dijon and the ceramics facility near Versailles. Andre
would be doing mostly the many farms and apartment buildings around
France owned by Marie and Henri.

Ian took Aimee after she’d fallen
asleep and carried her upstairs. While he was gone, Alandra
beckoned to the women to join her in the kitchen. When they were
all there, she said “I have something to tell you, but I want to
surprise Ian.” The ladies were all ears then, waiting expectantly.
She went on then “I’m crossing over when we join you in Zurich this
summer.”

Marie came to her first, hugging and
kissing her. Sophia, Celeste, Liri, and Jennifer all hugged and
kissed her too. Celeste asked “Why wait until then?”

“
I want to tell my parents
first about Ian and a little of what I’ll be doing. I don’t want to
keep all of it from them but I do so want to surprise Ian. Please
don’t tell him. He’s been so patient and has never once brought it
up to me.”

They were all happy for her, and all
agreed to keep her secret. The days that followed were filled with
the usual chateau activities and spirits were all high with the
expectation of the two new arrivals. The babies were born within
hours of each other. Liri and Mustafa had a son while Celeste and
Louis had a daughter. Both were healthy and the births were not
especially troublesome for either of the women. The midwife had
insisted on using old Hebrew-style birthing chairs in order for
gravity to assist the birth. None there had ever seen the technique
used, but it appeared to work quite well

Ian and Alandra took little Aimee
apart from the others after the two babies were born and counseled
her. “Aimee, when humans have a baby, they become focused on the
baby. That’s natural, and you’ll see that with Liri and Celeste.
Their husbands will be the same way, focused on their baby. Over
time this will modify a bit. But with these two babies here now,
you have to be like their big sister and help any way that you are
asked to.”

“
I understand.”

“
You may not always get the
attention that you got before these babies came along. That’s only
natural, but you mustn’t be upset or sad if it seems that way. It’s
just that you’ll no longer be the youngest in the house, so you no
longer get all of the attention that an only child would get. This
in no way means that anyone in this house thinks any less of you.
In fact, you will be more important than ever now.”

“
Really?”

Alandra took over then, saying “Yes.
You’re to be a big sister to the two babies. Who else can do that?
None of us can. We’re all too old, so it’s up to you. You’ll soon
see what their mothers do and how they expect their babies to be
fed, washed and cared for. You’re to learn all about that and to
help out whenever you’re near. That’s what a big sister does. We’re
so very glad that you’re a part of our family, Aimee. We need you
now more than ever, and now the babies do too.”

“
I’ll be their big sister. I
can do that.”

Gathering her into his arms, Ian said
“We knew we could count on you Aimee. You’re always so reliable and
so good. We do love you so very much. We’ll miss you while we’re in
Barcelona. But we’re coming to Geneva this summer to join
you.”