“Hi, I got a phone call to come pick up a parcel?” I stated to the woman behind the front desk.

 “What room please?” she asked kindly.

“Suite 3, uh…Taylor. It’s under Taylor.” I put my hands on the edge of the hardwood counter and watched as the woman behind the desk opened a drawer and began to flip through the daily mail.

 “Yes! Taylor. Here you go. Came for you this morning.” She gave me a smile and I took the large manila envelope from her, uncertain as to what it may be.

 “Thank you.” I gave her a nod and examined the envelope:

ATTN: MR. AND MRS. ROGER & LYDIA TAYLOR

C/O - MONTREUX RESORT AND SKI LODGE

9976 RESORT ROAD

MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND 1820

 Shit….this was the first time I had ever seen a piece of mail with my new moniker plastered on it. Actually, this was the first time I’d ever seen it in print on anything. My god! I hadn’t submitted the name change papers. Hell, need I recap how this holiday had gone so far? When did I have time to fuck with a name change? I wondered…since the country of England and city of London didn’t actually know I had become a Taylor…who sent this? I looked to the return address:

 GRISHAM AND ELLIE CAMPBELL

32 ROCKINGHAM DRIVE CAMPBELL FARMS ESTATE

CAMBRIDGE 

CB3 6AN

 UNITED KINGDOM

 “Oh mum.” I mumbled out loud as I smiled and returned toward the elevators. I hadn’t the slightest what this thing could be and so as I stepped into the elevator and jammed my finger into the button to take me back up to the suite, I couldn’t help but tear it open. The envelope was very thick and I gasped when I saw what was inside. Thank goodness the elevator hadn’t made any stops and it shot me clear up to the suite floor in no time. When the door open, I darted out and headed for our door; nearly bursting it open once I had reached the end of the hall. “Roger! Roger, look! Roger!” I was a little out of breath as I thrust a pile of papers at him.

 “What’s this?” Roger looked up quickly from his morning tea and the lyrics he was apparently working on. He left his glasses on and took the papers from my hand. He read the sticky note on the front page of the thick papers that were folded. His reaction was nearly as excited as my own as he read it:

 Baby - here are the blueprint choices for the yacht floor plan. You and Lydia look these over and decide which you like best. If you can decide on the floor plan, the paint and the fabrics by the end of the month; the yacht will go into production and be completed by May. Please consider the yacht a wedding gift. Can’t wait to see you and Lydia. When you return from Montreux, Grisham and I will join you and Lydia on for wine and cheese.

Love you baby, Love you Lydia – Ellie

Roger shoved whatever it was he was working on aside. His face lit up as if there would be no tomorrow. When Roger and I purchased the house, we had also intended on buying a yacht and it was a promise I had made to Roger upon picking out the house. Well, the yacht purchase had been delayed because of building a luxury barn for the cars and a stable with accommodations for six horses on our property. It was only now that we had begun to put our dream of owning a yacht and docking it in the port east of London into motion.

 “Oh shit…okay, okay we can do this in an hour, right? We gotta’ leave for the studio in an hour. I’ll be there all day.” Roger said a bit disappointedly.

 “Yeah, yeah…we can do it. C’mon let’s look at these. He spread out the blueprints and fabric swatches and paint samples before us. We immediately began to comb through everything and look at what appeared to be a never-ending array of choices.

 “Thank you…for the ring.” I said, seemingly out of nowhere. “I never expected such a thing. You didn’t have to do that.” I said as I flipped through the fabric swatches.

 “I wanted to do it for you. But, I didn’t wanna’ make it look like an engagement ring. I know how much you hate that bullshit. It looks just like you and I can’t wait until it’s done.” Roger admitted. I blushed a little. “I remember when I gave you this pearl…I was so happy to buy that for you…but deep down I knew it would never be enough.” He said, adjusting the pearl on my hand.

 “The pearl, a bottle of champagne and hard fuck woulda’ been fine.” I said.

 “I know, Lyd! I know it would have! You never ask for shit! That’s all the more reason I wanted to buy you a ring worth talkin’ about. That way, when other people are envious of the rock on your finger, you can tell ‘em that a man who loves you very much put it there. And now, you’re gonna’ build a yacht….with me!” Roger said. “Can’t believe your parents are givin’ this thing to us as a gift.” Roger shook his head, examining the first blueprint. I stared at it blankly for a moment.

 “Roger, I never told mum about…what you and I dealt with the past couple months. He shook his head.

 “She’d think I was a worthless fuck wouldn’t she?” Roger asked.

 “No. It’s just…my mum adores you…you know she does. I don’t want to give her a reason not to adore you.” I said fingering the fabric swatches, already becoming partial to a few of them. Roger looked up at me with desperate, pleading blue eyes.

 “Lyd, sometimes I don’t understand why I managed to find a woman as good as you. All the more reason you deserve a diamond and the yacht of your dreams and…” I cut Roger off by leaning over and pulling his lips into mine and shoving my tongue in his mouth. I barely pulled my lips away from him.

 “It’s ‘cause you learned very early in our relationship that I could do that. And then I could follow it up with somethin’ even better.” I raised my eyebrows and smiled at him. I knew it would make Roger laugh. “I like this fabric. Feel this one and see what you think.” I said, shoving the fabric swatches at him.

 “Hey, by the way, I’m still gonna kick Brian’s arse today for what he did to you! Don’t think I won’t!” Roger insisted. I rolled my eyes.

 “Let it go. It’s settled now. They fixed what they needed to last night.”

 “He had his hand up your dress, Lyd!” When Roger got really excited about something, his voice always managed to enter a new register.

 “Well, slide your hand up there and we’ll see what happens. God, Roger! Just let it go! I’m over it! Brian’s obviously over it! If you tried to kick his arse it would be like picking a fight with a giant-haired Eiffel Tower!” I said.

 “He’s not that much taller than me!” Roger argued. I sighed and looked at him.

 “Can we just build a yacht?” I asked.

 “Yeah, yeah, let's get busy…I’m too tired today from that head whack to kick his arse anyway…You know, I’ll probably just buy him a beer later.” Roger said.

 “Tell her to put Robert on the phone!” John whispered to Veronica as he lay there in their bed beside her.

 “O…okay, okay, mum? Put Robbie on the phone. John wants to talk to Robbie.” Veronica said, holding the phone out before her so that John could also hear. There was some fumbling and of course, loud babbling in the background. Veronica watched John’s face light up in delight as he heard his son, babbling on the opposite end of the receiver. Naturally, they both laughed upon hearing him.

 “Robbie! Hi Robbie! Talk to your daddy, Robbie!” Veronica coerced him. She didn’t have to ask him twice although it seemed he wanted to talk to Veronica the most, yelling mummy into the telephone repeatedly. She continued to laugh at him.

 “Robbie! Robbie, listen to daddy now! Can you say daddy? Let me hear you say daddy!” Robert happily fulfilled John’s request.

 “You, know…I can say daddy.” Veronica said, looking over at John. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh at her or be wildly turned on. He was partially laughing at Robert and partially at Veronica. He covered up the speaking portion of the phone receiver.

 “Oh my god! He’s gonna’ hear you!” John was still laughing and still so happy to hear Robert on the other end yelling for his father.

 “That’s good Robert! Daddy’s so proud of you!” John encouraged him.

 “You like it when I call you daddy and I’m face down on the mattress don’t you?” Veronica continued. John covered the phone again.

 “I like it when you call me daddy and I’m face down on you! You cannot be over here talking like this! He’s gonna’ hear!” John was still taking a partial fit.

 “Oh yes John…our son just learned to say bubbles this week. I’m sure he knows the connotation of ‘oh yes, just like that daddy don’t stop’.” Veronica said sarcastically. That only made John laugh more.

 “You are…you are so terrible! When I hang this phone up, Veronica…I swear I’m comin’ over there and…” she stopped him.

 “Oh yes…just like that daddy…don’t stop.” She raised her eyebrows at him and snatched the phone back from John through her own laughter.

 “Mum, how’s he been?” She asked. John leaned over closer so he could hear Veronica’s mother.

 “Oh, Veronica! He’s talking so much! He’s saying mummy, daddy, grammy, pap pap, want food, want milk, bye bye, cat, horse, fish, this, that, cow, dog! Oh god, that’s only the beginning! He just started saying elephant! Can you believe it!? Elephant! It’s so cute because he says lelephant!” Veronica’s mother shared. They were so very happy to hear he’d been talking so much. “He’s been so good! We’ve loved having him so much, sweetie. Every night he’s been runnin’ around in the yard with your father. Tomorrow we’re going to take him to the park for a picnic! Isn’t that fun!?” Veronica looked at John with ahopefulness in her eyes. It was quite reassuring to hear that Robert was well and having a wonderful time with his grandparents.

 “Thanks for checking in with us, mum. We won’t keep you. I know he’s got you and dad occupied.” She assured her mother. “Okay, yes…yes mum. Yes. Alright, see you soon. Bye.” Veronica reached over and hung up the phone.

 “Sounds like things are goin’ smoothly with Robert.” John said.

 “Yeah, they’re having fun together it seems. So, daddy…you wanna’ have some fun or what?” Veronica gave John the most deliciously playful of winks.

 Later that morning, Roger and I had done it. We had made our decisions for the yacht. He needed to leave for the studio so I agreed to take everything to the front desk and have it all overnighted back to my mother. After he left the resort, I organized all the papers we had been looking at, stacked it all neatly together and prepared to take it downstairs. Just as I was about to leave, the phone rang. I left everything on the table in the entryway of the suite and hurried back to grab the phone. I was certain it was Roger calling from downstairs having forgotten something.

 “Hey.” It was a sweet, and solemn voice.

 “Well, hello there.” I answered.

 “I need to talk to you.” It was none other than Chrissie.

 “I’ll tell you what. Give me five minutes, come up to the suite. We’ll open a bottle of wine.” I assured her.  And that is exactly what happened. I hung up hurried downstairs to the front desk, appropriately addressed a large envelope to my mother, jammed everything inside, paid for the overnight postage ad hurried back upstairs to meet Chrissie. I called to her room again to ensure I had returned. It didn’t take her long to arrive.

 I opened the door before she even had a chance to knock as I had heard the elevator. I could hear her footsteps coming down the hall, appearing in front of my door. She was smiling all over, a very sincere and frankly rather satisfied looking smile. Chrissie had her hands behind her back. “You said wine….so…” she pulled a bottle from behind her back, and then another bottle from her other hand. Before I could even react, Chrissie threw her arms around me. She didn’t need to say a single word. This hug said it all.

 “I’m so sorry. I mean, I am so, so sorry.” She still had her arms around me.

 “You don’t have anythin’ to be sorry for.” I told her.

 “Yes I do! Lydia, I judged you. I judged you hard when we were at the bakery the other day. I thought I was immune…that there was absolutely nothing wrong in my perfect marriage. In fact, I even…gloated to myself that Brian and I had the perfect relationship and that you and Roger…didn’t. You were right and I always hate admitting when you’re right! I can never understand why someone like you who has never really taken a relationship seriously aside from Roger, ends up having the best advice when it comes to relationships!” Chrissie confessed.

 “Oh, so Brian told you about the thing? Good. Come in, let’s start drinkin’. Tell me all about it and spare no details about the hot sex but I know it had to have happened!” I said.

 “LYDIA!” Chrissie was appalled as she playfully tried to swat at me.  “Hey! Should we call Mary and Veronica and turn this into a wine party!?” she asked excitedly.

 “Damn right we should!” I laughed with her. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get us all together in the suite and make the announcement about the yacht that Roger and I had built.

Aagghh! Sorry about the spacing everyone!