Kronos’ Estate

Titania, The Realm

Eos sat in Kronos’ sitting room not long after she’d returned from visiting her daughter.

“So you see she is fighting us,” Eos said. “She is convinced she wants the mortal for herself, so much so that she would be willing to sacrifice the mission to accomplish it.”

Kronos sat back in his chair staring at her not sure that’d he’d heard her correctly. “Surely you jest Eos!”

“But that I were,” the Goddess told him. She hesitated a bit and then said, “I told Thalia I would speak to you... that there might be something we could do.”

Kronos raised his eyebrows but remained silent.

“I remember back five years ago when this mission first came about,” the Goddess related. “After the mortal had been chosen. It was the very next day that you told me about some interesting information you came across while looking up his background, do you remember?” she asked him.

Kronos leaned his head back against his chair and thought back to that time five years ago, as Eos also remembered....

Five years previous, in Earth’s Timeline

Titania, the Realm

The Adonis Mission had been conceived in earth’s then current time line of 2002 and this new mission was similar to other missions that had been created through the ages.

On that occasion, Kronos, who was Supreme Commander of the council, did as he had done countless times before. He used his time traveler, a sophisticated supernatural advanced entity, named Scout.

Scout’s main purpose was to search and collect data throughout the ages. He had been created by Kronos and basically he resembled earth’s version of a small computer compact disc. However, when one held Scout up, displayed in the shiny gold disc was a face with dark hair and noble features. Scout did not have a soul or spirit being comparable to the angels that were described in the old Hebrew book that some mortals still worshiped. Angels, according to the book, were supposedly created beings by their God, and was theorized to be different from humans, having no soul, and it was this way with Scout as well.

Kronos at that time had been given his new assignment by the council and he had set Scout on a search beginning in recent earth years, at 1952 AD all the way through to 2002 AD.

He searched for any and all mortals which contained the specifications that had been voted on by the council and then logged by Kronos. Scout would search for a fair haired, blue eyed Caucasian male, magnificent of face and body, intelligent and who possessed strength of character, goodwill and was artistically inclined. The mortal must also be fertile capable of producing children. There were other variables as well, many quite complicated and relating to pinpointing a mortal’s uniqueness.

Scout was programmed to reject any deities who were or would be part of future missions, from the final results.

When he returned he had found a total of only 100 candidates over the last fifty years.

Scout produced images of all and at that point the 100 mortals were assigned a team of Gods or Goddesses to visit each of their time lines in history, for a short period of time, to gather more facts as to determine suitability.

These immortals results then narrowed the candidates down to 50, because many of the possible candidates were not quite suitable, lacking certain specifications. Among the rather extensive list of reasons were because some would die early in life, some were infertile, others were not quite handsome enough. Still others had mental illness in their futures, some would end up jailed because of bad choices and some were homosexual. Those were just a few of the reasons, why the list was narrowed as well.

Kronos and the same panel of Gods and Goddesses reduced the list even further as they visited those 50 mortals again and after they returned with their data the list was then down to 30.

That very next day was the council meeting to vote on the most eligible candidate or top two or three candidates from those 30. During that particular meeting the twenty most high officials from Titania and Olympus were in the Great Hall seated around a large oval shaped table.

At the head of the table was a small podium with the council’s High Commander Kronos who reported only to Zeus himself the council’s, Supreme Overseer. Zeus rarely attended council meetings finding them boring and the few that he had attended previously he’d been found to be sleeping, so eventually he’d had Kronos take over his duties.

There were three rows of images set upon the wall behind Kronos, which had ten images in each row. They were identical to Kronos’ blocks in his study and were moving visuals of each of the candidates. Each block was labeled at the bottom with a number, 1 through 30. Each block were studied as the council members listened and watched.

Then after the last block with number 30 had been studied, 9 voters were chosen randomly from folded slips of paper drawn from a cup with Kronos announcing each voter by name. Each of the voters at that point were then told they could begin voting, as a hush fell over the assembly.

They each closed their eyes and concentrated thinking of the number that was each of their choice.

In a short amount of time, one by one the numbers each floated out of their heads until they were suspended over each God and Goddess, as a nearby nymph counted the votes writing down the results. Then she rose and handed the tablet to Kronos.

Kronos, very familiar with each of the thirty candidates, told the voters that their votes were evenly split between three candidates and all three were still living in earth’s current time line in the year 2002. He then proceeded to read the results.

The first of the three finalists was a mortal named Sir Jason Conners who lived in Scotland and was 30 years old presently. Widowed with no children. Knighted by England’s reigning Prince Charles for superb work in his humanitarian efforts for those handicapped and disabled in Great Britain, he was very attractive with pale blond hair and deep blue eyes and his artistic skill was that he played the violin professionally.

The second finalist was a mortal named James Eric Edwards. An American athlete who had achieved several Olympian medals in swimming and was currently living in the United States of America. He was forty years of age, but still healthy and very handsome with dark blond hair and gray blue eyes. He had done much charity work for the less fortunate as well. He was also a brilliant artist and recently held an exhibition showing his oil paintings. Married with 1 child.

The third finalist was a mortal named Bon Vincent Johnson. Another American, currently forty years of age living in New Jersey in the United States of America. Singer, musician, actor, model and humanitarian who was involved in various charity works. Extremely handsome both in face and body, having steel blue eyes and golden blond hair, and had a very large following of admirers due to his good looks as well as his musical talent. Married with 3 children.

Once the three finalists were announced the council meeting had come to a close then as all but the top four officials left. The four remaining were two Titans and two Olympians, Kronos, Gaia, Aphrodite and Adonis in which the latter two were life mates.

As Kronos briefly spoke to the other council members before they left, Eos gazed at the couple thinking they were the most beautiful and envied of the Greek Gods. She remembered the story of how Aphrodite had met the handsome Adonis which was legendary.

Aphrodite was the supreme Goddess of Love also known as Venus and was the daughter of Zeus. She had met Adonis when he had been human and had fallen in love with him and when he was killed while hunting, by a wild boar, she pleaded with Zeus to bring him back to life. Zeus agreed to get him back, but Adonis had to stay in the underworld during winter and could only be with Aphrodite in summer, thus making the vegetation die in winter and blossom in summer. When Gaia after a length of time took over the duties of that element of nature, Adonis finally died and he and Aphrodite were reunited in Olympus, in the Realm, never to be separated again.

Aphrodite seeing Eos’ gaze smiled at her. Her loveliness was breathtaking Eos thought, and there was only one other whose beauty was now greater than Aphrodite’s, her own daughter Thalia.

As the last council member left, Kronos quickly shut off all of the moving blocks of the now defunct candidates, leaving only the three finalists remaining.

The four Gods and Goddesses, then discussed their opinions regarding each of the three. It would be these four that would choose the final candidate for the mission which as of right now was unnamed.

Kronos asked the other three who they thought was the ideal candidate. Aphrodite had been staring at the block with Bon Vincent Johnson and even Adonis himself had been hardly able to tear his eyes from the mortal since he’d seen his image. They both said in unison, “Number three.”

Kronos looked at his Mother then.

Gaia said, “I’m having a rather difficult time as they are all three fine candidates, but I have to admit that number three seems to be the most logical choice.” She looked at Adonis and said, “He looks very much like you Adonis.” Then to appease him as Adonis was unique being the most beautiful of all the male Gods, she said, “He could be your brother.”

Aphrodite said, looking at him, “Me thinks you have a twin my love,” she reached up and caressed her husband’s face.

Kronos said then, “I concur. I think number three is without a doubt the most perfect in all ways for the mission. So we’re all in agreement then? All those in favor of number three, raise your hands!” The three then did so, as Kronos raised his as well.

Kronos then said, “I Kronos, Keeper of Time and High Commander of Council of the Realm, state that now and on this day forward, this new mission shall be known as the ADONIS MISSION!”

The other three applauded then and the four of them turned their heads and watched the mortal as he finished singing the last few lyrics to a beautiful love song. As the song ended amid thundering applause from his audience, he then smiled brilliantly for them all.

******

At the close of that meeting when Kronos had returned to his mansion he knew he had one more job to do regarding the mortal chosen for the mission. He needed to find out all he could about the mortal’s life, from birth to his current age.

Although the mortal was involved with his earthly mate, Kronos knew that this was not a stumbling block necessarily. He knew the divorce rate in the United States of America was high, and the plan was to send temptation his way in the form of a young Goddess who would amalgamate with a human female host and then try and tempt him to her. This might seem immoral to some but to the Gods and the good of their race it was perfectly sensible, Kronos had thought.

However he mused, as it turned out that part of the plan had changed slightly so no temptation was necessary. The man's marriage had dissolved of it's own accord. Which made things simpler.

But remembering with regards to him doing research on Bon Vincent, he had come across a startling piece of information. The mortal had lived a previous life. Reincarnation was a fact, Kronos knew, for certain mortals that were not already Gods or Goddesses. It was a system created for other chosen mortals, some theorized. This system was something else that had not been invented by the Titan or Olympian Gods either, at least not as far as any of them could prove.

Kronos’ own history was that he was the oldest of the most High Gods, other than his Father and had arrived before any of the others. He was Zeus’s father, and son to Heaven (Uranus) the most high God over all.

In that early ‘Golden era,’ Kronos and his wife Rhea produced five children. When his father Uranus told by him that one of his children would overthrow him and take his throne, Kronos enraged, seized power from his Father by mutilating him and cutting of his genitalia. Time then started when Kronos took over.

He then swallowed each child his wife gave birth to, making Rhea more and more desperate. When her fifth child was born, she wrapped a stone into a blanket and offered it to Kronos, who mistook it for a child and swallowed it immediately. The child, Zeus, unbeknownst to Kronos, she had brought up on Crete, in the holy cave Dicte.

When Zeus was old enough, he defeated his father and made him throw his five brothers and sisters up, as well as the stone, which was taken to Delphi. Zeus then declared war against the Titans, whom they then defeated.

Zeus and Kronos since that early ‘golden’ age had reconciled with each other and so the Titans and Olympians forgot their hatred for one another and became united, working together for the good of their races.

Kronos being Time was next in command after Zeus in their holy lands but Uranus his Father, whose other name was ‘Heaven’ was above the entire Realm, although he was seen rarely now. Some whispered that he was busy creating other worlds and universes but that was just speculation.

It wasn’t long however before Kronos had arrived in the Realm and had began studying the prophecies and along with his time traveling he then discovered the system of reincarnation.

He realized that the system was very old and had been around forever and at the early council meetings when Kronos presented his findings it was discussed and once again it was attributed to the same unknown Gods, or possibly their own greatest God, Uranus, though the latter was just a vague supposition. Whoever had created it, most of the Gods agreed that it was started by possibly the same Gods who had produced the prophecies themselves.

And so on that day five years ago that Kronos readied Scout to gather background data on the mortal’s life he had simply set the coordinates for Scout to search Bon Vincent Johnson’s entire life and bring back the data. When Scout returned, Kronos had connected him to his computer-like device which then revealed his findings.

He started reading the data and remembered feeling confused momentarily. After a minute he realized that there must have been an unknown variable somewhere along the way that had caused Scout to search back a lot further than the beginning of Bon Vincent’s life, long before he was born. Because he had brought back data from another lifetime a little over 1,000 years ago.

The results revealed that Bon Vincent Johnson had lived back in the time of 1000 AD. In that era he was known by the name of Bjorn Bontykir who was a strong, courageous, thirty-eight year old Danish Viking warrior. An extremely handsome man who was under the command of Leif Eriksson the Viking Chieftain Raider and Explorer and son of Earl the Red. The data showed that Bjorn was a widower whose 18 year old wife, Ana, one year previously had died in childbirth along with their child which had been a daughter.

Staring at the data, Kronos couldn’t help but wonder why this earlier version of Bon Vincent had not come up in the search that had produced the original 100, but instead only produced the mortal’s later time line.

The data said that Bjorn was living in Greenland in the household of Leif, his Viking Captain at the time. His skill with the sword was legendary Kronos read.

Then it showed an image of the man. He had long brown hair, a strong and well muscled body and his expression was somewhat fierce yet sensual at the same time.

Now that Kronos saw the image he realized why the mortal hadn’t shown up along side his more recent self. His hair was the color of the earth. They had searched for fair haired men. Although this version of Bon Vincent still had an almost identical face with the same piercing blue eyes.

His thoughts returned to the present then, as he sat there with Eos and his head came forward as he said, “You’re thinking of Bjorn the Viking Warrior, are you not?”

“Yes,” Eos admitted. “Is there a way that Thalia could go back to his time and amalgamate with a mortal woman similar in looks to herself?”

“Yes, of course that is possible, Eos,” Kronos said. “You know full well we Gods and Goddesses can travel at will going to any part of human history that we desire. And of course we can amalgamate with anyone we choose.”

They both were silent for a moment as Kronos then realized her idea. He said, “I see now what you are getting at. If Thalia could go back into the warrior’s time line, being that he IS really Bon Vincent in a previous life, her affection might be transferred to the Viking.” He paused for a few seconds and then said, “I like your idea. But it all depends on certain things in Bjorn’s life right now.” Standing up he said, “Perhaps we need to take a look.”

They both got up then and went into his study, walking over to a block on the wall. Kronos reached and pressed a bunch of buttons, though they were not visible to Eos, only Kronos.

“I set the coordinates for his time and area,” he told her.

Soon there appeared a moving image on the screen. The visual showed a large room in what looked to be a great hall. They watched as a door opened and a medium tall, extraordinarily well built man entered the room. They recognized him from the image as being Bjorn Bontykir. His muscles rippled as he walked over to the far side of the room and stopped before a wall upon which was a large carved wheel made from wood holding small pegs. He was about to place his sword in a sheath hanging from a peg which is where the other Vikings kept theirs, when suddenly he turned around as someone else came into the hall.

A fair haired man with long shoulder length hair, dressed in a tunic and trousers, but barefoot, walked over to Bjorn as the warrior stood and waited.

The man bowed and said, “Sir, I bring you a message from your Captain. He says he will return in a short time and he will show you the plans then for the new expedition.”

“Very good, Oleg,” Bjorn replied and Oleg then left as Bjorn sheathed his sword.

As Kronos and Eos watched the magnificent warrior, Eos thought what a fine specimen of a man he was. Thalia couldn’t help but fall in love with him as soon as she saw him she thought for he was so like Bon Vincent, with the exception that his body was a bit more muscular and instead possessed long brown hair, instead of golden blond.

Bjorn left the hall then and Kronos pressed a button and the screen went blank.

“I’m thinking we need to pay a visit to the Viking, Eos,” Kronos told her. “What do you think?”

“I think you are correct,” she said. “For not only do we need to discover more about the man Bjorn Bontykir, but we need to find a mortal woman in his land that Thalia could amalgamate with as well.”

Kronos and Eos sat again, and she looked at him and noticed he appeared to be lost in thought. He looked up and said, “Yes, I agree, but rather than the two of us traveling back and searching for a suitable woman I will use Scout, for that will save us much effort,” he finished.

Rising he said he would contact her after he got the results, later that evening.

Eos nodded and then she bade him goodbye and headed back to her citadel....

Later outside her home, Eos sat in her gardens and thought about Thalia. She knew that if their plan was successful and Thalia did indeed become interested in Bjorn Bontykir, the fact that she would have to amalgamate into another host’s body should not be a problem.

Amalgamating was simply a way of merging with one’s host. When performed as part of a mission, once the mission ended and was successful, it would release the Goddess or God who would then return to the realm.

But amalgamating was also performed by their races for the purpose of simply mating with mortals who the deities desired or as a reward. In that case, the immortals chose hosts who resembled themselves as closely as possible. Once they amalgamated into the mortal’s body, the features of their hosts were further enhanced by whichever Goddess or God had melded with them and their host truly took on the appearance of said deity. Not only that, their personalities mingled as well, forming a duality. If a host’s personality was confused, or if it showed any signs of dementia because of the melding, the deity residing within her/him had the power to alleviate any fears their host might imagine, thereby the two personalities would live in harmony until the host then died. Then the soul of the host would go to a realm unknown by the Greek deities, but the deity itself would return to their Realm.

It was the only way an immortal had of mating with a mortal, because the immortals had no earthly bodies as they had left those behind when they had died. All amalgamating since the beginning of it’s inception had been successful. Now, Eos thought, hopefully Scout could find a suitable host for Thalia. Much depended upon that.

A short time later Eos still sat in her garden and was staring out over the Sea of Tranquility. Kronos appeared suddenly at the edge of the shore and then walked over to her.

She smiled as he approached and he said, “I have the results.” His expression was unreadable she noticed. He sat beside her and handed her a scroll.

Eos her hands trembling from excitement, opened the scroll and started reading. Her face changed from a look of excited interest to one of amazement then.

She closed the scroll and said, looking at him, “This is quite astounding Kronos! To think my daughter lived a previous life as well, and not only that, she lived at the same time line as Bjorn Bontykir!”

She sat there quiet for a few seconds. Then she said, “You are certain it is Thalia? Not just some other mortal woman who resembles her?”

“There is no mistake, Goddess,” Kronos replied. “Scout did the same search on Thalia that he had performed on Bon Vincent, those five years ago, of course with different coordinates. This time he searched from 500 years BC to 2007 AD.

It found a single duplicate existence for her. Her name is Tasha Dardenne’ and I admit I was quite surprised to find out her other life was in the same time line as Bjorn Bontykir’s.”

Eos said, “This is fate! Could this be what the prophecy was referring to when it said something of great magnitude would happen to one of the twins? Then saying a new event will come to pass that will impact the Gods themselves? Even though the prophecy of course didn’t name Thalia, just referred to it as possibly happening to one of the twins and in this case it would be Alexandria,” she finished.

“I’m not so sure,” Kronos said. “If that were the case, then why wouldn’t the prophecy state that something of great magnitude would happen to a Goddess, that would impact the other Gods? In addition, they could be two different events Eos, happening at different times even,” he speculated. He paused and then said, “Although with all of the thousands of prophecies I have read, the events they list all refer to them happening to mortals, not deities, so it is possible that what you suggest could contain some truth,” he mused. “I will consult the book tonight to see if anything new has turned up regarding this,” he told her placing the scroll inside his pocket.

“In any case our work is cut out for us,” Kronos told Eos. “What say we leave on the morrow? We will search out the girl, who lives among Bjorn’s clan on the Isle of Greenland.

When we return if we determine that this Bjorn is suitable, we will visit Thalia together and take her on the journey back to Bjorn’s time line and see if she makes an emotional connection with him. If she does,” Kronos turned his head and looked at Eos, “Then all that will be left is to let her amalgamate with Tasha and then hopefully form a bond with him.”

“But she cannot do this until the mission is deemed a success, Kronos,” Eos said frowning.

“Not so, Eos,” Kronos told her. “It is true she must stay with her host until the male child is born. But Thalia is already talking about giving up on the mission, so I have thought of something new regarding our plan.

I have come to the conclusion that we need to provide an incentive for Thalia. An incentive that will make her want to see the mission through to it’s end.” He paused and reached inside the pocket of his trousers and pulled out something small that was emitting tiny bursts of colors. He opened his palm and placed it in the center.

Eos stared. It was a tiny portal, like the one in his Portal room, that Thalia herself had passed through at the start of the mission.

“It’s a totally functional portal, just miniature size,” Kronos said.

“By Zeus’s beard, how did you do that?” Eos asked amazed.

“It is much too complicated to try and explain,” Kronos said, “but rest assured it works just as well as the larger model.”

“But it’s so small,” Eos said. “She could not even pass her toe through the doorway.”

“Not in her normal state, but upon doing a reversal of the amalgamation ritual it would cause her image threads to come forth first and once she concentrates on the portal and speaks the ritual words in reverse, the threads of her essence will enter the tiny portal. Then when the threads arrive at her destination they will coalesce into her larger image,” Kronos said as Eos shook her head smiling.

“You never cease to amaze me, my old friend,” she said.

“Of course,” Kronos said, “she will not be given this at first. I am keeping it for insurance. If comes the time during the mission that she insists on being with him, this will allow her to visit him for short periods of time, now and then.”

Eos was impressed and thought she didn’t see how Thalia would be unhappy with this plan. As long as her and the Viking made a romantic connection their problems would be solved.

Kronos told her to meet him tomorrow morning at his estate and they would be off on their journey. He then bade her farewell and disappeared with a tiny pop.

Sunday, July 15th

Cape Neddick, Maine

Alexis woke at 8am that morning to find Bon caressing her breasts his fingers playing with her nipples, as she lay there on her back. Seeing that she was waking, his mouth then covered hers, his tongue trying to gain entrance into her mouth, but she pushed him back pulling her mouth away, as he lay back on the bed barely awake himself.

“Morning mouth,” she mumbled and staggered out of the bed grabbing her robe, heading for the bathroom.

Bon turned on his side then and yawned, his eyes focusing on her backside as she walked across to the master bath. He felt his prick respond promptly as her full ass swayed back and forth, and he reached down and caressed his hard length and swollen balls briefly so wanting to be inside of her at this moment.

He sat up on the edge of the bed then, and reached for his pants. Pulling them on he picked up his pack of cigarettes and lighter from the nightstand, and removed one and lighting it walked over to the balcony door.

As he opened the door he shivered as the cool morning breeze hit him. He turned around suddenly and went to Alexis’ closet and pulling a leather jacket off it’s hanger he put it on. It fit him tightly and he couldn’t zip up the front, but it would do, he thought. He then walked outdoors.

A minute later Alexis walked out of the bathroom and then not seeing him in bed looked and saw the balcony door open.

“Where’s that sexy guy I woke up with this morning?” she asked as she stepped outside.

She turned her head and saw him sitting down on the floor with his back leaning against the house as he smoked a cigarette. Smiling at her then he pinched off the fire from the cig and then stuck the butt behind his ear, pulling his legs up to his chest, as his arms hugged his thighs.

She sat down cross legged in front of him and suddenly with a grimace leaned over and grabbed the cigarette and then tossed it over her shoulder and the balcony railing where it fell landing on the ground below.

’Hey!” Bon said, giving her a scowl. “I’d barely smoked that and cigs are expensive!” He sat there trying to look annoyed, his hair sticking up here and there which looked very sexy Alexis thought, as she stared at his gorgeous tanned chest visible in between the coat. He was barefoot as well.

She ran her finger lightly over his toe as she said, “Expensive? I didn’t think that was a word in the vocabulary of a rich man such as you!”

He said stubbornly, “It doesn’t change the fact that they still cost a lot of money!”

She said, “So I owe you a fucking cigarette then okay? Put it on my tab.”

He stared at her beautiful face loving her mock look of annoyance and their little mock argument. His eyes then trailed to her almost naked body. She was wearing nothing but her robe and a tiny g-string, and he felt his cock stir as he stared at the small piece of material barely covering her pussy.

“And what are you doing wearing my leather jacket?” she demanded, staring at her coat briefly.

“It was chilly out, and I needed something to keep me warm,” he told her. “Should I have asked first?” he said with a slight smirk.

She said, “No... but well I’m here now so you don’t need it any longer. I’ll keep you warm.” She leaned forward then as his knees came down.

He started to say something else but she said, “Shut up and kiss me.”

He pulled her onto his lap then as his mouth covered hers, his tongue poking its way inside, insistent and demanding.

He tasted of cigarettes and musk Alexis thought and then had no further thought as the kiss heated up. A minute later as his hands started wandering and began to caress her breasts and then her mound, she pulled away and they both stood up. She grabbed his head fastening her mouth to his again. His hands went under her thighs as he hoisted her up then, her legs encircling his middle as he carried her back into the room and over to the bed. He quickly removed the jacket and his jeans, as she took off her robe. They both laid down again and began to make love to each other.... again.

******

Ronnie finished her coffee and croissant which Marie had laid out and then told Marie to let Alexis know once she had gotten up that she was going over to her house to get a few things.

She walked outside then and got into her corvette and ten minutes later she pulled into her driveway. She saw a strange car parked there and wondered if Adelle had gotten a new car. It was rather expensive though being a brand new Mercedes, she thought and then she climbed out of her car and walked to the door. Removing her key she unlocked the door and then went inside.

She didn’t see anyone and she headed for the kitchen. Adelle was there and was in the middle of cleaning out the oven. The woman hearing someone enter turned around sharply and then stood up with a rather startled look on her face and said, “Morning Miss Williams. I was just cleaning the oven as I hadn’t done it in a while.”

Ronnie said good morning to her and then said, ’Who’s here Adelle? I saw a car out front. Is that yours?” she asked her housekeeper.

Adelle hesitated then said, “No ma’am. ” She started to speak again but broke off as the both of them then heard voices coming from outside the room.

Ronnie turned as the owner of the voices walked in the room. She felt the blood drain from her face as she saw it was Jimmy. And with him was his former ex-girlfriend Toni.

Jimmy stopped with Toni bumping into him and all three of them were so shocked no one said anything for a few seconds.

Then Ronnie finding her tongue said, her tone cold, “What are you doing here Jimmy?”

He said, “I came back because I’d left a few of my things and also I wanted to return the key to you.” He avoided staring at her in the eyes directly as he held out the key.

“Just put it on the island,” Ronnie told him and then looked at Toni. What he saw in this woman was beyond her, Ronnie thought. He had supposedly left her the first time because she’d cheated on him, and here he was again, going to marry her this time.

Toni stared at Ronnie and said, “Don’t worry we’ll be leaving soon.” She stepped close to Jimmy and put her arm around his waist.

Jimmy said, “Well we got the rest of my stuff so I guess we’ll be going then.” He started to turn, but Ronnie said, “Wait.”

He stopped and turned back looking at her face for the first time.

She didn’t know what made her ask this, but suddenly she found her mouth forming the words. “I want to know one thing.”

He looked at her waiting.

“Did you ever love me?” she asked. “I want the truth Jimmy,” her eyes pleaded with him.

He opened his mouth to answer but before he could say anything Toni said, “I can answer that. No, Ronnie he never loved you, the entire time you were together, he told me!”

Ronnie felt like she had been kicked in the stomach and she said, “Is that true Jimmy? You never loved me?”

He didn’t say anything, he just stood there with his head down and Ronnie pretty much had her answer. She wheeled around then and walked out the back sliding door to the terrace shutting it behind her. She sat down at an umbrella table feeling shock and pain all over again.

A minute later she vaguely heard the sound of a car engine and realized that the couple were leaving. Then she put her face down on her crossed arms and broke into tears.

Ronnie sat there for awhile and finally getting herself under control she sat up. Wiping her tears away, she got up from the chair and walked inside the kitchen, depression weighing her down. Adelle was vacuuming in another part of the house, Ronnie heard and heading upstairs to her bedroom, she grabbed another large suitcase and packed a few other pieces of clothing inside. She also packed her folder containing recent photos she had taken for the newspaper she worked for which had already been published, and then packed her expensive camera as well.

She was planning on traveling to Portland today and taking some pictures there on the South beach for the Newspaper she worked for. She had taken many photographs since they’d hired her and had traveled all over New England as well as the East coast, but strangely had not taken any from the state she lived in.

As she grabbed her suitcase and headed downstairs she told Adelle she would see her later and then got inside her car and went back over to Alexis’ estate.

A few minutes later she had unpacked and then sat down on her bed and picked up her cell phone. She had a lunch date later on with Dane and still feeling depressed was planning on canceling it.

He picked up the phone after a couple of rings. ’Hey Ronnie,” Dane said, “How are you lady?”

She said, “I’m kind of down Dane, listen I don’t know if I’m up to having lunch with you today.”

“What’s happened?” Dane asked, the gaiety gone from his voice then.

“I really don’t want to talk about it over the phone,” as she struggled to keep her voice from breaking.

“I’ll be right over,“Dane said.

He hung up then not giving Ronnie any opportunity to tell him no. Ronnie realized that she needed to see him.

She grabbed her tote bag with her camera and film and went downstairs. The house was still quiet and a minute later as she looked out the window by the front door she saw Dane pull up in his rental car.

She opened the door and walked outside waiting for him near the front door. Dane got out and walked over to her, and took one look at her face and opened his arms. She walked straight into them as he held her tightly, her sobs muffled by his shoulder.