Emmy And Me

I passed a place that advertised take-out on the way back to the apartment tower, so I got three buffalo chicken burgers and fries (chips) to go. Unfortunately this turned out to be a bad idea, since they were truly horrible and none of us could eat more than a few bites.

Dulce volunteered to make us something better, and after looking over the available ingredients she fried some chicken and made rice and peas to go with it.

"My family owns a restaurant," she'd explained when I voiced my amazement at how quickly she'd fixed up something tasty.

The girls opted to stay at the apartment when it was time for me to go get Emmy and Jeremy from the airport, which made the logistics a little easier. The X7 George was driving was a good-sized car, but still…

On the way to the airport I checked out the vehicle a little more closely. I hadn't been to either of our dealerships since the first of our deliveries came in, so this was the first one I'd actually seen in person. I can't say I fell in love with the car, but I could certainly imagine having one in our garage once we had a baby and needed the room.

"I missed you so much!" Emmy said once she and Jeremy made it through passport control.

"It's been too long," I agreed, kissing her as we held each other tight. "Even two weeks is too long. Did you at least get good work done in the studio?" I asked as we followed George to the waiting car.

"This man," Emmy asked quietly, indicating the driver. "He is my father's, yes?"

"Yeah," I said, matching Emmy's volume. "Your dad is well aware of us being here. I make it a point to let him know when we step foot in your parents' territory."

"This is why I did not want us to buy a house in Paris," Emmy groaned.

"No, I know, and your dad and I have talked about it. He doesn't mind us setting up a household in London, but I think it's only common courtesy to let him know when we'll be here. And also, he's got his security apparatus keeping an eye on things for us."

"I hate that that is a concern," Emmy grumped as we stepped out into the late afternoon drizzle.

"Baby, it has always been a concern, since before you were born," I gently reminded her. "You never went anywhere when you were young without some sort of bodyguard."

Emmy looked as if she would protest it wasn't true, but her shoulders dropped. "Yes, you are correct. This has always been my life, until Fallbrook. I…" she said, searching for the right words. "I had hoped that I had left that sort of paranoia behind, but here we are," she said, tilting her head towards Tiny, who was eyeing everyone who wandered too close.

"So, anyhow, George- hey, wait, are all your dad's guys named George, or Georges, or Jorge?" I asked, suddenly realizing there seemed to be a theme. "He's our assigned driver for our time here in London, and I see no reason to turn down your dad's offer of protection."

"No, there is no reason to do that," Emmy agreed, if a bit sulkily.

Settled into the comfortable second row seats in the X7, I took Emmy's hand in mine. "The girls love the apartment," I told her. "Cecilia and her friend love the place."

"What is Dulce like?" Emmy asked.

"She seems nice," I said. "Very polite, and she wants to be helpful. She actually made lunch today- her family owns a restaurant in Cartagena, and she's been around kitchens her whole life."

"Is she pretty?" Emmy asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said. "She has these amazing eyes- they're orange. I've never seen eyes like hers before, but her dad has the same eyes. I guess they're not all that rare in the Caribbean."

"Is she of African descent?" Emmy asked.

"Well, at least partially. Her dad is Trinidadian, but he's barely any darker than I am when I get a good tan going."

"You do tan so very well," Emmy said, squeezing my hand. "I love it. You become like a some sort of golden… statue, I do not know. All I know is that you are the most beautiful thing in the world."

"There's no way I'm ever anything but second best in this relationship," I told Emmy, leaning over to give her a kiss. "You are the most beautiful thing to ever walk this Earth."

Relaxing in the master bedroom's big bathtub- big enough for three, as specified by Angela- Emmy said, "You are right about Dulce's eyes. They are very striking."

"Says the woman with the world's greenest eyes," I replied, holding her against me in the scalding hot water.

"She does not have the advantage of being moon-kissed," Emmy said, her voice thoughtful. "Being moon-kissed makes the eyes very… clear in their color."

"Em, we really need to talk about the moon-kissed thing," I said, doing my best to be gentle but insistent.

"Leah," Emmy sighed, taking my hand in hers. "I do know your feelings on the matter, and I also know that I have been…"

"Resistant?" I suggested.

Exhaling, Emmy said, "That is not inaccurate. I will admit that I have been… obstinate on the subject."

"I haven't wanted to say it, but yeah," I agreed.

Turning around in the tub to face me and moving her legs on top of mine, Emmy took my face in her hands. "I have done a very poor job of explaining to you what it means to be moon-kissed." She leaned forward and kissed me, long and deep. Leaning back but still holding her hands on either side of my face, she said, "It is a genetic condition, yes, but more than that. The white hair, the clear eyes, the other aspects that are throwbacks to our ancestral characteristics… these are but the physical manifestations."

"So every moon-kissed has these traits?" I interjected.

"Yes. All of us throughout history have exhibited these same physical traits. We are also gifted with heightened senses and other physical gifts, but those are secondary."

"Secondary to what?" I asked, curious. Emmy had never spoken so freely about the whole moon-kissed thing, so I was definitely going to encourage her to tell me as much as she would.

"Secondary to… I do not know how to express it. Secondary to… the capacity to do great things- the drive to do great things. We moon-kissed have always been the manifestation of the heights our people can achieve."

My first thought was that it sure sounded as if she was assigning cultural expectations to genetics, but I didn't say anything. Emmy was finally opening up a bit about what it meant to be moon-kissed, so I wasn't going to do anything to interrupt. I'd literally been waiting for this conversation for years, after all.

"To be born moon-kissed- it is a gift, but it is also a burden," Emmy said, her voice thoughtful. "From the moment of our birth, we are marked as special… There is no hiding what we are. Not from others, and not from ourselves."

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"I still don't understand why you won't see if something can be done…" I said, trying not to push too hard.

"Being moon-kissed is not a gift that can be refused, Leah. It is as much who I am as anything else," Emmy replied, shutting the door on that line of discussion once again.

Up early again the next morning, Tiny and I were at the gym when they opened the doors at six.

"Good to see you again, mate," said Gabe (the gym's manager) to Jeremy. "You're looking good- healing well, from what I can see."

"Yes, thank you," Jeremy replied, pleased to be remembered.

"We only have this week, so I was thinking Jeremy could get in some good strength work, then join in on the eight o clock kickboxing class," I said to Gabe.

"Two hours of weights before class?" Gabe asked, disbelieving.

It took a bit of convincing, but eventually Gabe gave in with the caveat that if Jeremy was too tired after his weight session he'd skip the kickboxing.

I was pretty sure that the big guy would be up to the task, but had to admit that leaving room for adjustments wasn't a bad idea.

I kept Tiny company in the weight room, concentrating on arms and shoulders while he did his core work. When the kickboxing class started at eight, I took a few minutes to watch. I was confident that Jeremy was healing properly, but I wanted to make sure. If I saw any hitch in his movements that could be attributed to his injuries I was going to pull him from the class.

"He's doing good, for somebody that got stabbed eight times," Gabe said as he joined me.

"He is," I agreed. "It's a fine balance between giving him all the time he needs to heal, but at the same time encouraging growth. I don't want him to push himself too hard, but I also don't want him to get stale."

"He's Emmy's bodyguard, right? After you two came in last year I did a lot of reading about what happened," Gabe said in a low voice so we wouldn't be overheard.

"Yeah, that's right," I said.

"Mental, that's what that is. Attacked right in public like that, with all those people around."

"That's how they got so close," I told him. "Blending in with the crowd of fans."

"They won't be doing that again," Gabe said.

"No, they won't," I agreed.

"We need to work on your flexibility," I told Jeremy as we walked home.

"Yoga?" Jeremy asked.

"Yoga's great," I replied, "but I was thinking more range-of-motion work. But hey, you want to sign up for some hot yoga classes, I say go for it."

"Can you imagine me in a hot yoga class full of middle-aged WeHo housewives and househusbands?" Tiny laughed.

I laughed along with him, just imagining it. All those gay guys and botoxed women doing their best to ignore the midnight-black giant in their midst.

"You'd look great in Lululemon," I said.

"You think so? What color yoga pants should I rock?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, not black… You need a pop of color," I said thoughtfully as we stopped off at a local bakery for pastries.

Back at the apartment, the girls were up but still wearing what they'd slept in. The two were in the living room on the couch playing footsie and doing whatever it was on their tablets.

"We brought breakfast," I announced, setting the bag on the kitchen island counter.

"Is there coffee?" Dulce asked hopefully, sitting up and setting her tablet aside.

"Anything you want," I said, pointing at the Miele built-in coffee maker.

While Jeremy showed Dulce how to use the high-tech appliance, Cecilia asked me what we were going to do that day.

"No plans, as far as I know," I told her. "Why? Is there anything you'd like to do?"

"Dulce and I want to go out to see London," she replied. The view is amazing from the windows here, but it is not the same as being down in the street."

"No, it's not," I agreed.

"We want to see the changing of the guard. Dulce said she wants to go to the Camden Market, if that's O.K.," she added.

"I've never been, but it's on my list of things to see, too," I agreed.

"Which- the market, or the guards at the palace?" Cecilia asked. "The market doesn't sound all that interesting."

"Well, the market, but the guards would be cool, too," I replied. "Here's the thing," I said in a low voice so Dulce wouldn't hear. "You're gonna be back here at some point, maybe for weeks at a time once you come to live with us this fall. Dulce, though, this might be the only chance she'll get to visit. Maybe the only time she gets to see London, right? So if there's something she wants to see, you should be the good friend and support her on this."

Cecilia looked as if she was about to object, but she swallowed her words and nodded. "You think we will come back here?"

"I'm sure we will," I said.

"Then you are right- we should go to the Camden Market," Cecilia agreed. "And see the guards, too."

When Emmy finally woke up, she said she wasn't feeling all that well and just wanted to stay home, so after making sure Emmy was fine with it, I took the girls out touristing. The day was a lot colder than they'd expected and by the time we crossed the Westminster Bridge the two were just about turning blue. They had been trying to play it off, but there was no way they could hide how cold they actually were.

I flagged down a taxi and had the guy take us to Harrods, since it was the first place that occurred to me. I bought both of them clothes suitable for the cold English spring weather. Dulce protested that she had money and could pay for her own clothes, but I waved it off.

Bundled up in the long coats and knit hats pulled down over their ears, the two girls were adorably cute, but happily warm.

"Thanks, Lee," Cecilia said as we walked towards the palace.

Our timing was tight, so Dulce was making sure we kept up a very respectable pace. We did manage to catch the ceremony, but not from up close, since a crowd had already gathered.

Still, it checked that item off the list.

Watching the guards in their big bushy hats, I thought of Katrina and her dad correcting her on who the Beefeaters were. This led to thoughts of Katrina in general, and wondering what we really were to each other.

Once the ceremony was over I checked on my phone and saw that it was three miles to the Camden Market, so we opted to take the Underground. Well, honestly, I was the main proponent of the idea. "You want to see London, right? Walking is the best way to do just that," I pointed out. "And the Underground is a key part of the London experience."

We spent hours wandering around the market, which really wasn't what I'd expected at all. Somehow I'd gotten in my mind that it would be a sort of flea market, maybe even like Paris' Marché aux Puces but it really wasn't like that at all. Still, the girls loved it, and both spent some of their money on what I would consider touristy crap, but whatever.

When they finally ran out of steam I called us a cab to take us back to the apartment, happy to be off my feet.

The apartment smelled great when we returned. Jeremy was cooking dinner, and the aromas wafting from the kitchen got me salivating immediately.

"Que rico huele!" Cecilia said, echoing my thoughts.

"Dinner will be a while," Jeremy announced. "You have plenty of time to relax before we eat."

"Where's Em?" I asked.

"In her studio," he replied as he continued to sauté some shallots or whatever they were. "She's been working pretty much since you guys left this morning."

The 'Recording' light wasn't on, so I just let myself in. Emmy was in her composing mode, with an acoustic guitar in her lap and her note paper beside her on the soft leather couch.

Happy to see the smile on her face when she looked up at me, I leaned down and gave her a kiss.

"I have been working on my own music," she explained indicating her music notebook. "Back in Los Angeles we have all been so focused on Jackson's album that I have simply not had any time for my own."

"Is this why you stayed home today? Em, you know I never mind when you tell me that you want to do your music."

"I know that," Emmy admitted. "But I really did feel… melancholy this morning, and could not face being out in crowded places." Changing the subject, she asked if the girls and I had fun today.

I told her that it started out with the two of them freezing their little tropical asses off, but once I'd gotten them bundled up they had a much better time of it.

"I remember when you and Ange took her family to New York. She told me that was the coldest she'd ever been in her life- well, this might have been Cecy's second coldest time ever."

Emmy laughed in that musical way of hers. "I don't think it ever drops below twenty-five degrees Celsius in Cartagena, but the high here today was nine degrees. That would be a shock to the system for certain!"

I gave her another kiss, pleased to see that she was in a good mood. "Tiny says that it'll be a while before dinner is ready. If you want to keep working, just go ahead."

"Thank you," she replied, leaning forward for one more kiss, which I gladly obliged.

The girls had already unbundled themselves and were back to wearing their comfy around-the-house clothes. Cecilia was lounging on the couch wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and a comically oversized (and very familiar) Stanford hoodie. I thought about making a stink about that being my hoodie, but thought better of it. Angela had stolen it from me for sentimental reasons as much as anything, and I had to imagine her little sister had done just the same for very similar emotions. Cecilia might have known that it had been mine in the past, but the only person she'd ever seen wear it was Angela, after all.

Dulce was lying on her belly near the fireplace, reading the London tourist guidebook she'd picked up while we were out.

"Hey, that place over there," she said, standing up with her book in hand and making her way to the giant window. "That one. With the four big white things. Battersea, right?" she asked, pointing.

Cecilia got up and joined her, looking out to the southwest.

"Can we go there, Lee?" Dulce asked. "Tomorrow?"

"What's there?" I asked. All I knew it from was the classic album cover, after all.

"It's being changed to a shopping center," Dulce said, looking down at her book.

"Is that what you want to do here in London? Just spend all your time shopping?" I asked.

"What else is there to do?" Dulce asked.