The Clocks

On the way back the three of them were so excited that they wanted to shout for joy. However, having been forewarned by their mothers, their fathers, Paolo, and, finally Sara, they struggled to control themselves.

As they walked, Sara marveled at how hard the children were working. She could only imagine what it would have been like had she fallen for Paolo two years earlier than she had. All she could do was shake her head in admiration. These three were very, very special, and, as Paolo had earlier, she vowed to do her best to protect not only them but all other twins with special needs.

"Just listen to me for a while. You don't need to answer. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but you need to give me at least enough of your attention that you understand what I'll say."

They all nodded and moved a bit closer to her.

"Right then. First of all, both of your mothers will be escorting you to school tomorrow, separately. Since you've missed the first four days of classes, they'll tell your homeroom teacher that you've been ill and have seen the doctor, who has now cleared you to return to school. They'll make sure that at least some of the other kids are around and can overhear them, so the gossips will let everyone else know why you missed the first days of the new term."

Sara chuckled as she remembered one particular gossip, but that was for later reminiscence. "Don't be surprised if someone asks you how close to death you were. Gossip always worsens as it spreads. Just tell them that it was nothing more than an early summer cold and that you feel fine now. Don't all of you say exactly the same thing though. That would be suspicious.

"I'm sorry Jason but this is one of those times you need to tell a lie to protect someone. Do you understand."

"Yes Sara, I do. I learned about those last fall. I'll do as you ask."

"Beyond that, just do what you always have. Now, girls, since it's safe for you to touch him, be careful not to overdo it. No 'making up for lost time'. That will be more suspicious than anything else. You two are older than almost all your classmates, but girls at 14 aren't stupid. If you act overly clingy they're going to start trying to figure out why. Even if they're wrong, any conclusion they come to will cause you problems.

"If you can tolerate it without getting sick, move your desks about eight or 10 centimeters away from his instead of having them touch like you've done so far. Your classmates will unconsciously think that you're 'growing up' and becoming more mature and less dependent. That will help your reputation and enhance your safety."

She smiled at all of them. "I know. I know. That's a lot to remember. Consider it homework. And, speaking of which, I have your work from the days you've missed. Your Homeroom teacher sent it home with your mothers. So, all three of you will have dinner at our house tonight. Afterwards will be study time, until I'm satisfied that you've mastered it.

"Then, since we're not pretending any more, you may kiss Yoko and Hibiki once each, and only once. No hormone attacks allowed until next week. Capiche?"

They all nodded, feigning disappointment. A real kiss without being stressed out from worrying if someone might see them? That wasn't a restriction. It was a treat!

After that they all chatted normally about nothing in particular, mostly practicing sounding and acting normal. They only had six more days to practice before the real test began. Like all important tests in life, the passing grade would be 100%. 99% would be failure, and probably catastrophic.

Dinner was enjoyable. Jason even had fun playing with Consuela and Stavros for a bit before homework called. As they were themselves almost 11, they understood and left without complaining. Their homework took less than an hour and a half. When they had problems, Sara had a knack for quickly helping them find the answers, which shortened the work significantly.

Finally it was time to go home. This time each girl was able to be alone with Jason for their kiss. As promised they limited themselves to one each. However, Sara hadn't said how long the kiss should be, and they took full advantage of the loophole.

Akane met Jason at the door. Truth be told, she'd been hovering. She'd heard through the Mimi-vine that things had gone swimmingly at the Cathedral of Whispers, but she wanted to hear the details directly from Jason. Once he was inside, Jason looked casually left and right, then upstairs, scanning for other people. Seeing none he stepped forward, picked his mother up and swung her in a circle. Then he put her down carefully, gave her a hug, and took himself upstairs before she could recover and say a single word.

She was beyond surprised. He'd never been spontaneous like this before. She hadn't even known that he could be spontaneous. What surprised her most was that he had easily picked her up. When had her little boy grown so tall and so strong?

Kaho was still not back from work, and Rebecca was in her room finishing up her homework. Sebastian had gone to bed immediately after dinner, as always. He needed to be up by 4 A.M. so he could be at the main shop to start on the day's baking. That being the case, she hurried upstairs after Jason so she could catch him before he took his bath. She wanted to hear what had happened while it was still fresh in his mind.

An hour later she had what she felt was a good understanding of the situation, including Sara's advice -- with which she wholeheartedly agreed. By the end of her interrogation, Jason was looking a little draggy. She excused herself so he could get his belated bath before bedtime.

---------------

After dinner that evening, Miranda had pretended to supervise as things were cleaned up and neatened. With Mimi and Sven there, she was completely unneeded, but the children wouldn't interrupt her while she was standing in the dining room, which gave her time to think. What she was thinking about was weddings, or rather one particular upcoming wedding.

She'd already received two letters from Mario, ostensibly discussing the lovely spring weather, the flowers on the hillsides, and, not so incidentally, some rather vaguely worded comments about the flow of certain trade goods. Interspersed were comments that would be meaningless to a stranger, but were clearly meant to refer to Eugenia. In his cautions and round-about way, Mario was exploring the possibility of receiving her consent, and Robert's, for them to be married.

For Miranda it had been a foregone conclusion before Mario had left town. She didn't doubt for a minute that Robert felt the same. It was probably going to take some time before he'd admit it though. They were lucky in that when Paolo had married, he'd brought his wife with him. By the time Eugenia was ready to leave the house, there'd be his first grandchild to help distract him.

Let's see. Mario said he would be gone another two months. He expected to be back around the eighth of August, give or take a week. It would depend on whether or not a shipment arrived in Rimini on time. Until it did, he'd be stuck there. It would be much faster if the ship captain would deliver his cargo to Venice, but there was apparently some history of problems with certain officials there. Ever since then, this particular captain would only land cargos at Rimini, so to Rimini he would go. He closed his second letter by saying that a third would follow within the next two weeks.

That night, before he could fall asleep, Manda rolled over and snuggled close to Robert. "Sweetheart, it's about time. We need to decide what to do about Genie and Mario."

"Tonight? He won't be back for at least two months. I need to be up early to get ready for that meeting with the Austrians. It looks like the Hapsburgs are expanding their territories again and that's going to impact demands for loans."

"Um, yes, probably tonight would be best even so. So much is happening that we'd best get that settled before something else comes up to distract us."

"Hah! You're extremely distracting already. Ouch! You didn't need to pinch me."

"Then keep your hands to yourself, at least for a while. We need to talk first." Just in case she grabbed his free hand to keep it in one place.

"There really isn't much to say, is there? She loves him. He loves her. She's smart, inquisitive, impulsive, and has a travel bug.

"He's smart, inquisitive, steady and calm, and he travels constantly. They fit together extremely well, just like we do. There's really not much to think about. Start making wedding plans as you see fit. Frankly I'd rather grab him now, before some flashy, sweet-talking idiot convinces her to do something stupid."

"While I don't see that happening, you're right. It is at least remotely possible. I'll get started on the preliminaries some time in the next week. Oh, and I suppose I should tell Eugenia that she's getting married, don't you think?"

"That's my wife. You always think of everything."

"My but you know how to sweet-talk a girl. Now that we've decided on what to do..." She let go of the hand she'd been restraining and nuzzled his neck. "Feel free to continue from where you left off."