Honeymoon in France (Part 4)

The next morning Kyle and I woke up bright and early and went to the general store.  Apparently that was the gist of the mysterious phone call.  Apparently the person who ran the store wanted to see us. 

Us?  Why?

When we got there, a dark-haired lady named Berthe Girard walked up to the register. 

"Sage Heilman?" she asked, in a lilting accent.  I nodded cautiously. 

"I looked on the guest list of the people staying at the base camp and your name came up."  She let out a nervous laugh.  "Leesen," she began, her accent becoming more pronounced.  "I need you to do me a favor."
My French isn't that great, I think I only barely paid attention to when Mom was speaking it at home.
"I need you to get me zees priceless object I left while in one of the tombs."
Are you kidding?  I thought to myself.  Me, go into the tombs? 
"I know zees is an unusual request.  But, it is quite important."

After talking it over with Kyle, he said he would go with me, and we were on our way.  I am not going to lie to you and say I wasn't scared out of my wits. 

"To say you're the daughter of a famous explorer," Kyle teased, "you're sure not looking forward to this trip."
"I usually left the traveling to others," I quipped.  The night before was still on my mind.
"Maybe you'll feel better once you actually do it."

My heart beat about a million times a minute when I saw the door leading to the underground tomb. 

With Kyle beside me, I decided to walk inside.  The place hadn't been touched in years. 

Maybe even since Mom had been here last.  Sheesh, I wished I could have called her.  But I definitely doubted that cell phone service could reach all the way down here.

- to be continued -

Honeymoon in France (part 3)

Well, I told you guys that there was a student group here from the university.  And there was one member of the student group in particular who definitely had her eyes on my newlywed husband.

 

We had just gotten married a few days earlier.  Needless to say, I was not happy.

She had the nerve to seriously eyeball him, right in front of me.

 

I looked on the visitor log and found out her name was Riley Woods.

 

Then, he started chatting to another one of the students about French cuisine.  Sigh.  I guess I'm going to have to accept that Kyle is an outgoing, friendly sort of guy -

- and I inherited the Plumb reserve in spades.  Another deep sigh.  

When I brought it up to him over nectar at the nectary, he did his level best to reassure me that nothing had happened.

But I still couldn't shake the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I mean, Kyle is a charming, handsome fellow - and the only person I've ever dated.  What am I supposed to know about this stuff?

 

I don't know... am I overreacting?  Probably... I hope I am.  

 

Whatever it was, Kyle finished his call and attempted to reassure me some more.

Honeymoon in France (part 2)

After we left the nectary, we drove through the countryside, split on what we wanted to do.  Kyle wanted to visit the cafe, while I wanted to see the art museum.

After talking it over, we decided to go to the cafe to get something to eat first, and then go to the museum afterwards.

Kyle came away from the museum inspired by the paintings and sculptures there.

But, apparently, the plasma nectar he'd had begun to have an effect on him.

Back at the base camp, Kyle met a fellow traveler, apparently from the university student group which was also visiting Champs Les Sims at the time, and began talking about French cuisine.

But we couldn't wait to get upstairs and get some, ahem, quality time, in.

You could see where that went.

Midway through, though, a rogue paparazzo walked through, and he decided to get an eyeful and a camera full.

I was clearly exasperated.  Calmly, I got up and evicted the gentleman (who clearly wasn't quite so gentle) from our honeymoon suite. 

Honeymoon in France - Part 1

Kyle decided that he wanted to honeymoon in Champs Les Sims.  He wanted to see the vineyards and nectaries.  I, on the other hand, was excited about the famous art museum there.

We arrived in Kyle's beat-up Big Lemon (nice change of pace from mom's limos, right, lol) and saw the French countryside.

Mom had been here once, as a younger woman, before I was born.  She used to tell me stories about the shop owners and the haunted museums.

I took a deep breath and a long look at where we would be spending the next three days.

After relaxing at base camp with books,

Kyle decided he would make the nectary our first stop.  The nectary was a small, cozy building with barrels all around.

But the real attractions of the nectary were the huge vineyard out back...

...and, of course, the nectar itself, kept on shelves and aged to perfection.  There are samples of it for anyone to try.

Poor Kyle mistakenly tried the vampire plasma nectar and got sick.  For some reason I tried the same nectar and nothing happened.  Must be the Plumb blood, I guess.

After sampling nectar we went back out and picked grapes from the nectary.  There are several different kinds, exclusive to this part of the world.  They're mostly richer and darker than the grapes found stateside - which is why the nectars taste the way they do.

It was early evening when we left the nectary and decided to go grab a bite to eat at the Catania Cafe in the town square.

Kyle chatted up the clerk while he grabbed our meal.  His French isn't great, at all.  But luckily, the clerk spoke perfect Simlish.  The little bit of French I know, I do because Mom traveled all over and made sure we had a thorough grounding in world culture.  

After our meal, we returned to base camp and goofed off a little bit before heading to bed. 

Wedding (part 2)

With night falling, Kyle whispered to me that it was time.  I agreed.

I'd handmade both of our rings with the jewelry maker in Mom's spare room.  Kyle decided to put his ring on my finger first.  It was a nugget that he'd decided to engrave with our initials and an herb around it.

Then my ring was next.

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Heilman!"

I could see Mom out of the corner of her eye standing and cheering.  Mom is not an emotional person by nature, so to see her smiling and happy automatically makes me happy.

Toward the end, when we were getting ready to do the first kiss, I could feel a few raindrops.

As the raindrops fell, my lips met his and he swirled me around.

 I saw my cousin Kaydence, who mom had gotten custody of a few months ago, out of the corner of my eye.  She's still very, very young, although she's seen more than most of us in our lifetimes, what with Uncle Bassy and Madison doing what they did.  She's a smart girl, though, so I've got hope for her. 

Someday, Kaydence.

Then I caught a glimpse of Uncle Bassy.  Who knows with Uncle Bassy, though.  When I was little he was basically like a big brother.  He's the cause I have Bitsy, my faithful golden retriever.   Anyway, I know that he got married on vacation and then had my little cousin Jazz Lyric (he's so cute with his blond dreadlocks) and then, I hear, he cheated on Jazz's mother and she filed for divorce.

Bassy, Bassy, Bassy.  I love you dearly.  I just wish you could be happy, too. 

I got a smile out of Grandma, though.  It's good to see her smiling again, ever since Grandpa died.

Even more miraculous was Mom and Grandma both smiling at the same time.  Just before the wedding, Mom had told me the story about how she and Grandma had a huge fight on her wedding day.

And Satis - yes that Satis - had been watching.

I asked Skylar to sing a ballad to end the wedding while people got their food for their reception.

Then Satis sat me down and told me that story.  She still remembered Mom and Grandma vividly, screaming their mouths off.   "You're lucky you didn't have that kind of drama," she said.

"Why were they arguing like that in the first place?" I wondered, curious to hear more.
"There was a lot Grandma didn't like," Satis said.  "Mom's job, for one."
I couldn't have imagined growing up any other way - without Satis and Imsety, or our Egyptian nanny Halima.  Yet, I was learning that if Grandma had had her way, none of this would have happened.

There was a question whether Sierra would show up or not.  Sierra, as you guys know, kind of does her own thing.  Always has.  Anyway, she actually did show - late of course - but she did come.

Even threw rice after we kissed.