Chapter 26 - A New Chapter

I woke up to a coldly bright morning, seeing as I had left the curtains open, and the bright winter sunshine glared into the room, shedding light upon the bed, and the rest of the room. I stood up, and pulled off my pyjamas, and then pulling on a pair of black jeans and a red and white stripy strappy top, that showed off my pale complexion. I wrenched the door open, and jumped down all the stairs. I had left Honda fast asleep, as usual, ignoring the fact that he was meant to be at work soon. Actually, it was a Saturday, so he wasn't really.



I loved the summer, with its warm sunshine that stayed in the garden all day long. I skipped through the grass, and went and looked over the edge of the cliff, to see the beautiful blue sea glistening below me, waiting expectantly for me to reach it. I longed to go for a swim, but restrained myself, and instead ran back to the house, and into the bedroom once more. Honda was still fast asleep, so I climbed onto the bed, and began to poke him into consciousness.



I was then 27, and as full as energy as ever. Honda and I had moved to France the year before, and just finished sorting out the house. He had meanwhile bought a garage near the beach, at which he was manager, and chief mechanic, whilst I owned the stables down the road, and had turned it into an equitation centre, having got back into training my riding about a year after the operation.



Honda finally woke up, and I pulled him off the bed, and threw some clothes at him, making him change. He was 28, going on 29, and had recently been persuaded to let me restyle his hair. It was now longish, and a bit floppy, but suited him much better. I watched as he ran some wax through it, and styled it a little bit, but I stopped him before he could too much.



We had got married just before we left Japan, and moving to France had been a sort of honeymoon, although it had taken a lot of preparation. The wedding had been wonderfully unusual, as we decided to do it all in costumes, and had an extremely medieval wedding. The highlight had to be Marc dressed as a fat and balding monk. He had looked anything but pretty.



Mind you, we had been engaged for ages. I was 20 when he asked me to marry him, so we sure took our time getting married. Each time we tried to set a date, something would happen to make us change it. Our friends used to joke that it wasn't meant to be, until I got seriously upset with them.



So, after we had moved to France, and to one of my houses (after my father's death, Marc had inherited the big house, and I the summer house, and the one in the Pyrenees. The money had been shared between us, and both of us had used it to go into business, as Marc was now a top car manufacturer, of rare, yet beautiful, cars, one of which I owned.), the house by the sea, as it was beautiful in all weather. We had done it up nicely, but kept the same room as mine, after installing bigger windows with shutters, and blinds. The whole house had been decorated, and the garden extended, as well as us adding a heated swimming pool, and hot tub, that was nice in winter and summer.



Our businesses were both going very well, and I had many people working at my yard, where we took lessons, and treks out over the coastal paths, and along the beach, that we nearly always had to ourselves.



That day was going to be a special one, as we had most of our friends coming over from Japan for a short while, the house being large enough, just, to accommodate them all. They were all coming on the same plane, and would hopefully get to the airport at about 11 o'clock in the morning, and we were to meet them there. Sadly, though, out of all those invited, Ryou and Joey couldn't come, due to prior commitments. However, we were stuck with the other.



I was so looking forward to seeing them all, and told Honda so as we sped along the small roads, with me driving. The car, designed by Marc, was a black convertible, consisting of smooth line, and stylish ideas. Its roof was made of a sort of beige leatherette material, but the whole car was awesomely cool, and very modern. I sat in it, still wearing the black satin hot pants and now a sleeveless fitted whit blouse, with frills of material on it, making it look like a man's baroque show shirt. I wore a pair of big white vintage Chanel sunglasses, and also a pair of black Chanel wedge sandals, making me even taller. My hair was intricately pulled up on top of my head, and Honda was holding my hand that wasn't on the wheel. The car was an automatic, and so didn't need much concentration to drive, instead letting me talk to Honda and drive very fast along the roads.



Honda himself looked smart in a pair of loose fitting beige linen trousers, and leather sandals. He wore an open shirt as well, showing off his ne mechanic muscles, and wonderful suntan, thanks to the glorious weather we'd had since June. It was too hot to move some days, like today, but we had to, and I was getting very hyperactive.



“Stop acting so childish,” Honda attempted to whine, as a joke.



I gave him one of my withering looks. It didn't work, through the black lenses of the glasses. He couldn't see my eyes, and so I just looked rather stupid, and he was sent into convulsions of laughter.



“You know, the others can't really call you Honda any more,” I said.



“Why not?” I could see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye as I concentrated on the road.



“`Cause I'm a Honda too, so really, they might be calling me.”



“But no one thinks of you as a Honda, do they?”



“S'pose not.” When we had married, I had kept my maiden name, and we had created a double barrelled name, which was actually quite funny, so we were now `the Osculaix-Honda's' which is always amusingly funny to watch French and Japanese people alike try to pronounce.



We finally drove into the airport. It was very small, and new, having only recently been built, but much more easily accessible as it did linking flights inter-France. Climbing out of the car, we waited at the end of the runway, and watched the small plane land, and then finally, our friends climb off it. I stood, uncertain now at what to do, having that old feeling that something might be wrong. Nothing was, though, and I needn't have worried, for as soon as they spotted us, Sakura, Yuula, Yumiko, Kaede and Tea ran over, leaving the guys to carry their luggage, although Honda did go to help them. We all had a massive Group hug, and glomping session, before going to retrieve their luggage from the plane, and check them in properly.



Back at the house, having lost Tenshi and Mokuba to their hotel, we all sat outside, enjoying a light lunch, prepared by the cook. It was simply cold meat, and fresh bread with salad, always nice on a summer day. Whilst Honda wandered around passing out drinks, we spoke of what everyone had been doing, and how hot it was here in France. I told everyone that the beach was a five-minute walk away; we could always go riding if they wanted, and then pointed in the vague direction of the swimming pool.



“But I'm sure you guys want to rest, right? I know it's a really long journey.”



They all nodded their agreement, and so we showed them all to their rooms. I had chosen them all according to the person, and added little home comforts for them all. I had given Kaede and Seto the biggest spare room, and the next biggest to Yuula and Duke, although all were about the same size. Marc and Tea shared their old room from before, Yumiko had a westerly facing room, that overlooked the sea as well, so that she could watch the sun set over the sea, and Yami and Sakura had adjoining rooms.



After leaving them all in their individual rooms, I decided to go and check on the stables quickly, and I told Honda where I was going, before jumping into the car, and quickly driving to the yard. My first stop was to see Daemon, who was now an old horse, nearing retirement. Well, he wasn't that old, but he wasn't used for hard work, mainly just for lessons. With some people he was a firm favourite, providing a bit of a challenge. He whickered as I neared him, and I stroked him down the nose, before walking on around the yard. The ponies tried to stick their heads over their doors, and whinny. They managed the whinnying, but not the heads over the doors.



I came to my new horse, a ton of a fellow, gelding, who'd come from England as a colt. He was an English thoroughbred, and was a very dark bay, well, eh should have been, for at the end of his mane, the colour changed from black to a very dark brown to an amazing gold colour. His name was Vacca, and he was a beautifully kind and gentle four year old.



I got the work I needed, and at the same time collected my dog and cats, that had been left here the day before, to get out of the way. As a bit of a joke, the dog, which was female, was called Chatte. I was one of the few people who found this funny. I'd let Honda name the two male cats, which was a mistake, as before long I had cats called Harley and Mitsubishi. Big mistake.



It could have been worse.



They could have been Volkswagen and Volvo.



I think their names were ok, I mean, Harley I could deal with, and Mitsu was a great shortening.



The guests slept for ages, and in that time I managed to do a lot of paperwork, and the like, whilst Honda took the dog for a walk. When he returned, we went for a swim in the pool, and were still in it when people gradually started to wake up.



Then the fun could begin.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment