Rogue

Blake picked the children up in the morning as promised, and Maxine didn't go downstairs to see him. She told the children to give him her love. She didn't think it was fair to intrude on him with Arabella. Sam clung to his mother for a moment, and she told him he could call her on her cell phone anytime, and warned the older ones to keep an eye on him and sleep with him at night. Daphne already looked upset, since her mother had told her that Blake had Arabella with him. “But he promised …” she had wailed, in tears, the night before, as Maxine reassured her that it didn't mean he didn't love her or want to spend time with her, he just liked having a woman around too. And they both knew that whoever Arabella was, she wouldn't be around for long. His women never were, and why would she be the exception to the rule? Daphne hugged her mom, and ran to catch the elevator where Jack and Sam were waiting.

The apartment was deadly quiet after they left. Maxine and Zelda tidied up together, and Zelda changed their beds before leaving for the theater for a matinee. And then Maxine called Charles in Vermont. He was anxious for her to come up. She was looking forward to seeing him, but nervous about their plans. She felt like a born-again virgin thinking about going to bed with him. And he had already been apologetic about his “cabin in the mountains,” as he called it, knowing the kind of luxury she had experienced with Blake. He said that his house in Vermont was spartan and very plain. It was near a ski resort, and he was looking forward to skiing with her, but he pointed out that it was by no means St. Moritz, or Aspen, or any of the places she knew so well.

“Stop worrying about it, Charles,” she reassured him. “If that was important to me, I'd still be married to Blake. Remember, I left. I just want to spend time with you. I don't care how simple the cabin is. I'm coming up for you, not the house.” And she meant it.

He was enormously relieved to be alone with her for a change. It was still stressful for him being around her children. He had bought them all CDs for Christmas, by bands their mother had suggested, and some DVDs for Sam. He had no idea what they liked, and picking out gifts for them had made him nervous. He had bought Maxine a serious-looking Chanel scarf, which he thought was pretty, and she loved it. He had given it to her the last time they had dinner before he left for Vermont, four days before Christmas. He preferred leaving town before people got serious about the holidays. That just wasn't for him, which she thought was too bad. But it was easier for her that way with the children. Daphne would have had a major meltdown if he'd been around for Christmas and expected to spend time with them, so everything worked out for the best.

Maxine had given him a Hermès tie and a matching pocket scarf. He put them on for dinner that night. It was a comfortable relationship for both of them, not too serious, with plenty of room for them to continue to pursue their own careers and lives. Maxine didn't know how much things would change if she slept with him. She couldn't imagine him staying at the house with her children, and Charles had already said he would never do that. He would have been too afraid Daphne would kill him in his sleep. And besides that, he didn't think it was respectable to sleep with her with her children around, and Maxine agreed.

She left the city at noon, and was planning to be away until New Year's Day. And she expected to be in Vermont by six o'clock that night. Charles called her on the road twice, to make sure she was all right. It was snowing north of Boston, but the roads were clear, although it got heavier when she got to New Hampshire, and by then she had heard from her children. Daphne had called her the minute they landed in Aspen, and sounded frantic.

“I hate her, Mom!” she whispered. Maxine listened and rolled her eyes. “She's awful!”

“Awful how?” Maxine tried to keep an open mind, although she had to admit, some of Blake's women had been pretty dicey. Maxine had gotten philosophical about it in the last five years. They never lasted long anyway, so it wasn't worth getting upset about, unless they did something dangerous for the children. But they were too old for that now anyway, they weren't babies.

“She has tattoos up and down her arms!” Maxine smiled at the vision.

“So did the last one, and on her legs, and that didn't bother you. Is she nice?” Maybe she was being rude to the children. Maxine hoped not, but she didn't think Blake would let that happen. He loved his kids, even if he liked his women.

“I don't know. I won't talk to her,” Daphne said proudly.

“Don't be rude, Daff. It's not nice, and it'll just upset your father. Is she being nice to the boys?”

“She did a bunch of dumb pictures for Sam. She's a painter or something. And she wears this stupid thing between her eyes.”

“What kind of thing?” Maxine envisioned her with an arrow and a suction cup glued to her forehead.