The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looked like he was going to start talking. Maybe launch into an explanation for why they chose to do it the way they did it.

But when sound finally came out of his mouth, all he said was "......Yeah," squeezing Edrisa's hand back.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa leaned into Malcolm, smiling, her sheer joy at being his wife plain on her face.

"Oh my god!" Ainsley exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

"You got married," Mrs. Whitly repeated in exasperation. Then she turned and headed for the kitchen. "I need a drink."

Edrisa glanced at Malcolm. "That wasn't totally terrible?" she said softly.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm closed his eyes for a second. "It's not over yet," he murmured, bringing her hand to his mouth to press a kiss to her knuckles before letting it go to approach his mother.

"What? You can't still want me to go out with Eve instead," he pointed out, leaning over the counter, deciding to start with arch and see where that took them.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa squeezed his hand, then let it go and sat down again, watching Malcolm go to his mother.

Jessica had retrieved a tumbler from the cabinet and was pouring herself some whiskey. She stoppered the bottle and turned, glass in hand.

"Don't be disingenuous, Malcolm. Of course I don't want you to go out with that woman. Thank god for your stubbornness." She took a sip of the whiskey.

[abrightboy]

"Then why can't you even pretend to be happy for me? It is so unbearable that I do what I want for myself for once?" he asked. "You can't face me taking any ownership of my own life without a drink in your hand?"

[thatsfascinating]

"We're your family, Malcolm," she answered, her tone exasperated. "Doing what you want is one thing. Cutting your family out of life changing events is something else."

Edrisa was wringing her hands as she listened to Malcolm and his mother talk. Ainsley came over and sat next to her, patting her arm.

"It's okay," she said. "Mom's just like this. She'll come around."

[abrightboy]

"It's not a change that affects you. It's not something I need anyone's permission to do. But if you'd like to get together, have a little party, invite our friends... I'd like that. We can do it at the house; you were always a great hostess," he pointed out. "They don't know yet. We were always intending to call you first."

[thatsfascinating]

"Of course it affects me! You're my son. Not to mention you've just added another member to our family." She moodily took another sip from her drink as he suggested a party, clearly somewhat mollified but not wanting to let on. "I suppose I could put something together," she allowed. "Have to get my caterer on the phone."

[abrightboy]

"You can't honestly tell me at this point that you didn't expect her to be officially in this family sooner or later," Malcolm chided her. He pushed off from the counter. "Let us know when it's convenient for you and your caterer," he said. "And we'll be there."

[thatsfascinating]

"I expected to be there to welcome her into the family," Jessica chided right back. "She is a lovely young woman. This isn't about her."

Edrisa raised her eyebrows, noting Jessica's words with not a small amount of relief.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm sighed. "Mother.... I say this with the utmost love and respect but... sometimes, it is not about you." He glanced over his shoulder at Edrisa and Ainsley sitting together, then looked at Jessica again. "We had to do what was right for us at the time. I would love it if you would welcome her into the family now."

[thatsfascinating]

Jessica sighed and set her empty glass down. "Yes, you're right." She squared her shoulders, clasped her hands, and smiled, making her way over to Edrisa. "Edrisa, dear," she said to her, holding out her hands. "I am so happy to have you as part of our family, and as part of Malcolm's life."

Edrisa accepted her hands and smiled as she stood...then hugged Jessica enthusiastically. Jessica blinked, then raised her arms to wrap them around the smaller woman in kind.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm started to raise his hand to maybe explain that they weren't so much a 'hugging' family, but then Jessica was already in the enthusiastic embrace and.... well, it was probably good for her. He still winced a moment, glancing at Ainsley, until Jessica reciprocated the gesture and he relaxed.

[thatsfascinating]

Ainsley had stood up as well, and when Edrisa hugged Jessica she ducked her head to hide a smile of amusement. She glanced over at Malcolm and flashed her eyebrows playfully.

Edrisa pulled back, beaming, totally missing Jessica's taken aback look. "Thank you. So much. I'm so happy to be part of your family, too."

"One thing about being a Whitly," Ainsley said. "It is never boring."

"Edrisa Whitly," Jessica said. "Or did you keep your name, dear?"

Edrisa opened her mouth and looked at Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

"She took my name, mother," Malcolm piped up from behind Jessica. "And my name isn't 'Whitly'."

[thatsfascinating]

Jessica's jaw clenched, but she gave Edrisa a tight lipped smile.

"Well then, Edrisa Bright it is," she said.

[abrightboy]

"How many times are we going to have this argument?" he asked frankly, spreading his arms. "I can't work in law enforcement with his name. I can't... spend my life being his son before I'm anything else."

[thatsfascinating]

"I'm not arguing, Malcolm," Jessica said. "I merely..."

"Ummm," Edrisa pipped up. "Isn't there something else we need to talk about right now?"

"Yes, there is," Ainsley said, shooting a look at both her mom and brother. "Can we put the fight on the back burner, please?"

[abrightboy]

"My mistake. Your face looked like an argument," he pointed out.

He turned to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove.

"So..." Everything had gotten derailed. "What do you want to do about Eve? Do you want me to talk to her?"

[thatsfascinating]

Jessica followed him and went for the alcohol again.

Ainsley rolled her eyes at her mother, then turned to Malcolm. "You're probably the one most likely to help her. Unless she talks to the Surgeon."

"Ha," Jessica laughed bitterly, pouring another glass.

[abrightboy]

"If she does talk to the Surgeon, I don't think she should do it alone," Malcolm said. He looked at Edrisa. "What do you think?"

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa thought about it for a moment. "You should talk to her," she said. "Definitely. She might be able to tell you more about the girl in the box. And...I think you should bring her to talk to your father. If she does know the girl...then I think she has a right to face the person who killed her."

[abrightboy]

He looked over at Jessica.

"My wife says I should talk to her. Do you have her phone number?"

[thatsfascinating]

Jessica sighed and pulled out her phone. "I hope you find what you're looking for," she said, finding the number and putting it into a text. "At least you're going into it with your eyes open."

She sent the text to him.

[abrightboy]

"You mean unlike if she was, say, my girlfriend right now?" he said pointedly. He checked his phone that the message came through. "Anything else exciting happen while we were away?" he asked.