Follow Focus
18
I’ll Drink to That
I WAS NOT EXPECTING to be met at the gate by Patricia. No kids. No Anna. Just Patricia. She ran to Ronda and me and wrapped us in her arms as she tried to kiss us both at the same time. That’s something we sometimes do when we’re all sitting or in bed, but I’m nearly a foot taller than Ronda and was getting bent double as Patricia pulled on my neck.
“What a wonderful surprise!” I said. “How did you manage to come to the airport by yourself? Does Anna have the kids?”
“Anna’s been working so hard she just needed to collapse for a while. I left the kids with the nanny,” Patricia said.
“The nanny? We have a nanny?” Ronda asked.
“You’ve been gone for three weeks! Anna has been working five days a week and overtime. Tax season! We wanted living children when you got home, so, yes, the nanny. We decided not to tell you until you got home, so you wouldn’t worry.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “I think it’s a brilliant idea. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
“You’ll love her.”
That was all Patricia would say about the nanny. We had plenty to do in getting our bags and getting to the car. Patricia wanted to know all about Japan and how our visit with my sister had been. That seemed to take the forty minutes from the airport to the house. We got out of the car and started toward the back of the house with our bags when our little terror came running around the corner and jumped into my arms.
“Daddy! We made madeleines! All out of the oven now.”
Patricia picked up one of my bags and I hefted the camera case in one hand while Toni occupied the other arm.
“What are madeleines?” I asked.
“Cookie,” Toni said. Then she began to recite, carefully pronouncing each word: “In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in three straight lines. The littlest one was Madeline.”
“That’s a very pretty poem,” I said.
“Book. Aunt Addie give me.”
“Did Aunt Addie send you a book?”
“Daddy! Aunt Addie here.”
What? I looked up as we entered the house from the deck overlooking the water. There, to my great surprise, was Adrienne, holding my baby daughter.
“Adrienne! Are you our nanny?”
“Only for a couple of weeks, master,” she replied. Miss Anna invited me.”
“How wonderful. I see you are acquainted with my littlest daughter.”
I set Toni and my camera case down. Adrienne handed me the precious little bundle.
“She just ate and has the gas,” Adrienne said. I shifted Alex to my shoulder where I could rub and pat her back as I kissed her. Adrienne deftly pushed a burp cloth between the baby and my traveling suit just in time to catch the liquid part of her burp.
“Well, now. That’s an interesting way to greet your daddy, little one. Oh, I’ve missed you! You’ve grown!”
“She’s thirteen pounds now, and has grown almost two inches according to the pediatrician,” Patricia said. “She’s so healthy, I’m jealous.”
“Have you been ill?” Ronda asked after having hugged and kissed Adrienne.
“No. Just tired. You remember how it was with Toni. I didn’t get a full night’s sleep for three months. But it’s been so wonderful to have Adrienne come to help each day. I’ve managed naps and she’s fed us incredible meals. I know I’ve lost most of the baby weight, but I can’t help but feel I’m gaining weight from all Adrienne’s good food.”
“I felt that way from just a single meal that our Fifi cooked,” I laughed. I did finally manage a kiss for our mistress, but my attention was fully occupied by Alex and Toni. Toni, of course, wanted to dance.
“Daddy, can you cha cha-cha-cha? Aunt Addie teach me!”
“That’s wonderful, sweetie. Let me give little Alex to Mom Ronda so you can show me. Do you have cha-cha music?”
I handed Alex to Ronda, who was waiting eagerly for her turn with the baby. Toni went to our record player and carefully took a 45 from its sleeve and put it on the turntable. When it started, I remembered hearing the song on the radio, but I didn’t think we had a copy. Apparently, Adrienne had acquired it so she could teach Toni to cha-cha.
We started dancing and in a few seconds, Ronda was dancing with Alex. Adrienne and Patricia joined in.
“Oh, my! We don’t have an old oak tree,” Anna said from the bedroom door as the song ended. “I had to tie the yellow ribbon around myself.”
I turned to look at her and she had a yellow ribbon tied around her waist. That was all she was wearing.
“Anna, my love!” I said, pulling her into my arms. “Did we wake you up?”
“Oh, no. I’ve heard Tony Orlando so many times in the past two weeks that I’m quite capable of sleeping through him. Welcome home, lovers.”
I kissed her soundly and then Ronda kissed her. Toni was starting the record again so she could continue dancing with her stuffed fox.
Madeleines were not the only things Adrienne had cooked. As soon as we’d stripped out of our travel clothes and made the rounds kissing all our girls again, she had a lovely beef stew she called Bourguignon, served over mashed potatoes. It was wonderful and I could well understand why Patricia would feel like she could gain weight from Adrienne’s cooking.
Madeleines and coffee for dessert were wonderful.
“Are you staying in the nursery next to us or upstairs with Toni?” I asked as Adrienne cleaned up the dishes.
“Oh, no, master. Do not worry about your Fifi. There is a lovely motel in town and I have enjoyed my time there. Not as fancy as the hotel downtown or the one in Stratford, but everything I need. I will fly back to Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.”
“But I won’t get to spend time with you!”
“My loving master, I have been delighted to help Miss Patricia and Miss Anna handle the children and cooking while you were gone. But they have missed you more than you can imagine. You will spend time with them and not with your mistress.”
I kissed her and walked her out to her car.
“Perhaps I could have a little time free tomorrow afternoon,” I said.
“If you do, you will find your obedient Fifi at your disposal,” she smiled.
I went back in the house, realizing how tired I was after the long trip from Japan. It was like living an entire day over again. Ronda had already headed for a shower, accompanied by Anna. Patricia was giving Alex a bottle as I settled in with Toni to read her new book from Aunt Addie. Toni wanted to read me the story, which I assumed she had memorized, though she pointed at each word and pronounced them carefully.
She was still a tired little girl from her exciting day of preparing for Daddy and Mom Ronna to get home. She and Aunt Addie had cleaned the house and cooked and baked. I definitely needed to make some time to thank Adrienne before she flew home.
I got Toni to bed and helped Patricia get Alex to bed. I figured that I’d be up in the middle of the night to change and feed the baby, but once I hit the pillow, the trip caught up with me and I was out cold.
I did manage to get a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon to thank Adrienne for coming to the aid of Patricia and Anna. Ronda slipped over to her motel before checkout time on Monday morning and returned with a smile on her face.
Ronda and I had a week off after our three weeks on the road. But the thirtieth of April we were back in the office to get things ready for our trip to the UK the next week. Of course, that included a full briefing from both our boss, Mr. Martin, and from a State Department protocol expert who drilled us on everything from how we were to arrive at the wedding and where we were to sit to the proper forms of address for everyone on the guest list. How the ambassador had gotten a complete guest list for the wedding, I would never know. The protocol instructor even gave us proper instructions for greeting a prince or princess and the queen and duke. I didn’t think there was much chance that we would have contact with any of them, but we took the instruction seriously.
“So, you’ll arrive on Monday evening,” Martin told us. “An embassy car will pick you up at London Heathrow Airport and take you to a guest cottage owned by the US Government. Guests who don’t require security are often housed in the cottage on visits. I vetoed the idea of you staying at Winfield House. The ambassador is falling over himself to make you welcome as a guest invited by the Queen. I know he’ll want to have dinner with you on Tuesday after you complete your training of the staff at the embassy.”
“It seems like an awful lot is being made of our visit,” I said. “It’s not like we know the Queen. We were invited by two good friends who are getting married. They are even considered to be lesser nobility.”
“One doesn’t question such things,” Martin sighed. “On Wednesday, you’ll be driven to Plympford at Lord Peter’s request. Apparently, he already has apartments there or he’s living with Lady Jane. That wasn’t made clear. What was clear is that you will dine with Lady Jane that night and will be asked to take photos on Thursday. For propriety’s sake, you’ll return to London on Friday so you can join the ambassador on the drive up to Coventry for the wedding. He managed an invitation.”
“I assume we’ll be training at the two consulates the following week,” Ronda said.
“Edinburgh and Belfast. Yes. They are shortish flights, but you’ll fly up to Edinburgh on Monday, train on Tuesday, and on to Belfast on Wednesday. You’ll be back with your family in London on Wednesday night. Enjoy a couple of days sightseeing and return to the US on Friday or Saturday.”
“Sounds like we’re all set,” I said. “I can make sure of the equipment shipments this afternoon.”
“Good. What about the emergency in Sapporo with the earthquake?” Martin asked.
“We’re drafting a memo to all the installations regarding securing equipment against earthquakes,” I said. “After looking at the setup in Sapporo and how the equipment was damaged, I’m suggesting cargo straps to attach the unit to the table, and that the cover be secured on the equipment when not in use. Using cargo straps enables us to maintain the portability of the equipment in an emergency, unlike a more extreme measure like bolting it down.”
“Good. And you are adding the instructions to the manual?”
“Yes, sir. And we’ve put in a requisition for enough straps to send to all the current installations and to ship with all future equipment,” I said.
“Okay. You’re both doing a good job. Ronda, it might seem that you are always in the background, but we know that the trips run smoothly because of you. You should expect a package to deliver to the ambassador in London. You’ll be flying commercial, so keep your bag close to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And while you are in London… None of us really thought about how stressful sending you all over the world would be from Chicago. Next fall, you’ll start installations in Europe and Africa. It seems ludicrous to have to cross the Atlantic on every trip. I think it would be advisable for you to look for a base of operation in London where you can fly shorter trips. Someplace you could live for nine months with your entire family.”
“London, sir?”
“Well, you could choose about anyplace in Europe, but I was thinking for your family’s sake, you’d prefer a country that speaks English. And travel in Europe is not difficult from London, so you could educate your children on some other countries, as you did in the Caribbean,” Martin said.
“How would we afford that?” Ronda asked. She was staring at him in bewilderment. Just like I was.
“You would be given a generous housing allowance,” he said. “After all, we would be assigning two people to a foreign residence, which would count for two families, and we’d be saving an extraordinary amount on commercial airfare. And as a member of the foreign service, it is likely that we would need to adjust your paygrade again.”
“We’ll talk it over with the family,” I said. Ronda and I left the meeting like zombies. We were completely overloaded and unable to think.
Talking it over with the family involved more than just our family. What with the surgery and our travel schedule, we hadn’t managed any time with Jordan and Nadia and they wanted to meet the baby. Monday evening, Deke picked Ronda and me up in front of the Federal Building. Jordan was already in the car. We drove up to the Marshes’ house at the same time Anna and Patricia arrived with the girls.
Jordan was tickled that he got to hug Toni and then hold Alex as we all went inside. I was surprised when we went inside to find another cook working in the kitchen with Nadia. Nadia left everything in her hands and came to join us all in the lounge so she could fuss and coo over the children. Jordan poured us drinks and we chatted about life and travel. Ronda and I told him about our promotions and how the job had changed.
“It sounds to me like they didn’t know how big a job it was when they made the decision to hire you,” Jordan said. “Now they’re expanding the description in order to justify all the pain and hardship they’re putting you through. Typical government crap. They couldn’t just admit the original job was bigger than they thought. So, they changed the job to make it sound like more than it really was. You know they didn’t hire you to be a photographer. You were making far more than they could pay you for that in your own business. But since you were a photographer, they thought they could just capitalize on it without anyone noticing.”
“We figured pretty much the same thing,” I said. “But they dropped another bomb on us this morning.”
“What?” Anna demanded. “You can’t possibly travel more than you are!”
“Um… I guess they want to make sure we aren’t having to make such long trips,” I said. “They suggested that next fall we move to England.”
“What?” Patricia practically screamed. “You can’t leave us!”
“No, honey, no,” I said. Toni was puckering up to scream as she often did when her mother got upset. Patricia picked her up and comforted her.
“It was just a surprise, honey,” she said. “Daddy isn’t leaving us.”
“Don’t leave us!” Toni demanded to me.
“Never, sweetheart. I will never leave you. Our boss suggested we all move to England, not just Ronda and me. He said we could choose anyplace else we wanted to in Europe, but that England spoke the same language and you might be more comfortable there. He said it would make all our trips a lot shorter if we weren’t having to fly across the Atlantic for every one. You know how hard these trips to Asia and Australia have been.”
“Yes,” Patricia said calming down. Toni jumped down and ran back to Jordan. “Would it really work that way?”
“Well, doing the southern tier of Africa would be about as far as when we did Chile and Argentina. But we might not even get to that area next year. Europe and North Africa would all be within 3,000 miles. And we’d have our own plane and crew, so we could set our travel schedule,” I said.
“There’s the key,” Jordan responded. “Sending the two of you out for three weeks is just fine if it only affects the two of you. If you have a dedicated crew, that means they would all be drawing extra pay if you were out over a weekend. They don’t work at a flat rate. You’d have to be home every weekend.”
“That sounds like it would be worth it in and of itself.”
“They figure to have all the equipment and supplies drop shipped to us in London and have us carry it to each of our installations, too,” Ronda said. “But he did say he wanted us not to schedule more than two a week. We’ve been doing one every other day in Japan, and nearly every day in South America.”
“You were abused and the State Department knows it. Decide what else you’d like before you agree to relocate, even for one nine-month stretch. I understand Adrienne came to help you while you were out of town this time. Do you want to take her with you? Hire a nanny? Enroll Miss Toni in an English school? Will you need a car while you’re there? Shipping your furniture? Help renting the house in Antioch? List out everything you could possibly want and take it to them as a condition for moving temporarily.”
“Sir, Ma’am, dinner is served,” the cook said from the doorway.
We all got up and headed into the dining room where we found our seats, including a high chair for Toni. Alex stayed in her carrier between Patricia and me.
“Uh… Won’t Adele be joining us?” I asked when I saw every place was taken. Guess I put my foot in it.
“Adele has left us,” Jordan said.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“Not your fault. The truth is, it was getting to be a stressful relationship. It worked for a while. But it was becoming burdensome,” Jordan said.
“She wanted more than I could give her,” Nadia added. She looked very sad. “I don’t know how you all manage with your family.”
“We’ve always been a family,” Ronda said. “I guess we learned the hard way when things didn’t work out with Elizabeth. Adding someone—even someone we all really liked—into our existing relationship was hard on all of us. Especially on her.”
“Well, we have a family that’s being added to, too,” Nadia said brightening up as we ate. “Valerie has had her wings clipped. She and Daren are expecting their first.”
“Congratulations!” we all said.
“I’ll drink to that,” Toni said, lifting her glass.
We all nearly spit our drinks out our noses.
“I think you need to speak to your pet about some of the things she taught our daughter,” Anna said to me. “She taught our little darling more than the cha-cha.”
“I think we have two very different issues to deal with,” Patricia said after we’d gotten home and got the little ones to bed. We all sat naked on our bed and in an unusual mood, we all had a glass of wine. “The first is if we want to interrupt life here in our little corner of Illinois for nine months in jolly old England.”
“If we can accommodate the kidlets, I say let’s do it,” Anna said. “By accommodate, I mean Toni needs to start kindergarten or some equivalent program if the Brits don’t have it. And if I’m not working and no one is pregnant, we can make it work as the two stay-at-home moms.”
“That’s my question, though,” Ronda said. “You have a job. I don’t think Jordan will send his taxes to you in London to do.”
“No. I’ll still get to do yours, though, love. Let’s face it, Jordan created this job for me just so I’d feel worthwhile. It’s not that he didn’t need extra help during tax season, but he could have hired that as a temporary position. He didn’t really need me three days a week.”
“I’m glad you had something to go to, hon. I was a miserable bitch when I was pregnant,” Patricia said.
“Well, we don’t have that to worry about this time, do we?” Anna asked as she leaned over to kiss Patricia.
“Not unless you’re going to do it,” she responded.
Both girls shook their heads.
“You’d both really be okay with leaving what we have here for… well, we’d be gone this summer, then all next fall and winter, and then the following summer back in Stratford again? We’d be gone from here for a year and three months,” Ronda said. I was glad the girls were handling most of the negotiation. I was at a loss.
“What an incredible experience it would be for Toni. Maybe Alex is too young to appreciate it, but Toni is learning far faster than her classmates in pre-school are. Lisa gives me regular updates and Toni is actually identifying the words in the books she reads. It isn’t just memorizing the story. Living in a foreign country would be very good for her,” Patricia said.
“The only place I’ve ever been besides here and Stratford is our trip to Puerto Rico and Nassau,” Anna said. “I’d love to travel somewhere else. Isn’t that why we have a husband and wife who travel around the world?”
“Then, I guess we should make the list of all the things we want to ask for, like Jordan suggested,” I said.
“Just don’t be ridiculous with the list. We don’t want him to look at it and just say forget it.”
“What is issue number two, Patricia?” I asked.
“Are you going to get Jane pregnant?” she responded. We were all shocked to silence.
“Uh… Jane hasn’t asked me to get her pregnant,” I stalled.
“Which is a good thing because you don’t know what to tell her,” Patricia said. “And when she sees how big Alex is, she might not want you near her. The pictures you’ve taken say she’s really skinny.”
“But Patricia’s right,” Ronda said. “If the subject comes up, you should know what your response is. In fact, we should all know what your response is. I believe she and Lord Peter will try. It might not be successful, though. If they ask you—and I mean both of them together—then I think you should do it.”
“Really?” I asked. All three girls nodded. Anna took another drink of her wine.
“You get to keep practicing on me,” she said. “Patricia and I talked about it while you two were gone to Japan. It’s really a great honor. We know you like her and making love to her won’t be a problem. We’ll be in England for nine months. Plenty of time to get her knocked up and be there for the birth.”
“I don’t know about having a child whose life I wasn’t a part of,” I sighed.
“Make it a part of the agreement,” Patricia said. “No mention of parentage, but a kind of godfather arrangement. The child comes to visit once a year for a week or two.”
“I’m certain Jane would want Audrey to be the godmother. They’ve been best friends for close to twenty years,” I said.
“And I’m sure Audrey would want to ‘participate’ in getting Jane pregnant, from what you’ve said. I still don’t see a problem with it,” Anna said.
“I just… I know it sounds crazy and if you were guys sitting here instead of girls, you’d tell me I’m an idiot… but I’m not really getting off on sleeping with other girls,” I said. “I love each of you. You know, when Adrienne and I went to Australia, it was actually kind of hard to get together with Dale. Adrienne is like part of our family, but as much as I like Dale, she’s not part of our family.”
“So, make Jane part of our family. We know she’s remote, but if you are her child’s father, she needs to know you care for her and you’re in it for a long haul,” Patricia said. “Like I know.”
“I… I guess I’ll have to see how it goes. If Jane and Peter agree to all those terms, then I guess so. I do like them both.”
The rest of our week was filled with packing and getting ready to travel. We brought Patricia, Anna, and the girls to the office with us on Thursday. On Mr. Martin’s approval, Anna and Patricia were issued black passports with a rider mentioning Toni and Alex. Ronda and I were going to London on a diplomatic mission, and this was our family accompanying us on State Department business. I think Mr. Martin was subtly trying to influence us regarding our decision to take the assignment in London by recognizing us as a family, even though there were no legal ties except to my daughter. Since he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services, no one questioned his authority to approve and seal the passports.
On Friday, we were called to Mr. Martin’s office to meet with an official courier to transfer envelopes for our trip to England. There were the usual envelopes for the ambassador and the two consuls general, which we assumed just contained the personal greetings we’d been told were often sent with us. Then there was a rather thick packet we were told was to be placed in the hands solely of the Deputy Chief of Mission. He would greet us at our residence for the week on Monday evening, after we got in.
It was great that the whole family was healthy and excited for our trip when we boarded the plane on Monday morning. We were wheels up on the 747 non-stop flight at 7:00. Toni hadn’t really woken up until we got her buckled in to her seat. Only Ronda and I had ever flown first class before and it was a new experience with the whole family. We had five seats, which put us all the way forward in the bulkhead. There were two seats on the right and one on the left in the first row, and we had two more seats in the second row on the right.
I volunteered to take the left seat single and hold Alex. Toni and Patricia sat across the aisle from me, with Ronda and Anna behind her. When I’d flown to London a year and a half ago, I’d changed planes in New York, but this flight went northeast over Canada before heading out to sea.
Of course, the baby had problems with her ears and after a bottle sucked vigorously on a pacifier as I rocked and sang to her. She wasn’t noisy, even in her discomfort. It was after we’d gained altitude and the seatbelt light had gone off that everything changed and first class became party central. I mean that in a good way.
The first class smoking section was on the upper deck, so the air was pretty tolerable where we were sitting. The stewardess came around and took drink orders and we all had mimosas to celebrate our tour. Then a guy from seat 3B came forward.
“I couldn’t help but notice you carrying a couple of little ones with you,” he said. “Our stewardess will be serving breakfast in a minute, but I ate before I boarded. I’d be happy to hold the baby while you have your breakfast. My wife and I have five grandchildren and we miss them all the time.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I said. I glanced at Patricia and she looked shocked that a stranger came up and asked to hold her baby. I stood up and walked back to the stranger’s seat with him. “I’m Nate Hart,” I said.
“Oh, Nigel Smythe-Hawkins,” he said. “This is my wife, Loretta.”
“I’m very happy to meet you, ma’am. Are you traveling for pleasure?”
“On our way home from watching our youngest daughter graduate from college,” Loretta said. “She chose to study in the US and now she plans a three-month trek around the country before she flies back to the UK.”
“That’s a great way to celebrate graduation. This is Alex’s mother, Patricia,” I said.
“Are both little girls yours?” Loretta asked.
“Yes. This is only the second time we’ve been able to travel with Nate and Ronda on a mission,” Patricia said. “You really want to hold little Alex for a while?”
“Oh, we’d love to,” Nigel said. “Um… It sounds like you have an unusual family.”
“Yes. Ronda and I travel a lot in our work. This is a case where we can take Anna, Patricia, and the children with us. We’re actually going to scout for a place to live so we might move to London in the fall,” I said.
“Hmm. That will require a large flat. Where are you staying when you arrive?”
Toni had come to observe the conversation and immediately crawled into Nigel’s seat to show Loretta her stuffed fox and start telling her all about it. I guessed her assessment was that these were good people, as my cousin would have said.
“We’re staying at Arbuckle House,” I said. “It’s near the American Embassy.”
“Oh, yes. Know right where it is. Do you work for the government then?” Nigel asked.
“Yes. I’m a photographer.”
“How interesting. I do hope we’ll have an opportunity to chat some more. I’m a bit of an amateur photographer myself.”
“Toni, come back to your seat, honey. They’re getting ready to serve breakfast.”
“I eat here, Mommy. Nana invite me.”
“Uh, well…”
“Oh, please let her. I don’t mind swapping seats for a bit and that way you’ll still be near as I hold the baby so you can eat.”
And that is how it began that our children were ultimately passed around to nearly everyone in first class, including the stewardess. I guess children in first class were something of a novelty and everyone wanted a chance to interact.
After dinner, we managed to collect our children and get strapped in for the descent. Everyone was exhausted and I ended up carrying Toni, asleep on my shoulder, as we got our bags and managed a porter to roll them out to the pickup point where an embassy limousine awaited us.
“Welcome to London, Mr. Hart. And to all your family,” a nicely dressed guy said. “I’m Lincoln Abbey, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy. I’ll escort you and your family to Arbuckle House.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. I think the little ones are totally out for the night. What time is it?” I asked.
“Just after ten now. We realized how difficult a trip you would have, flying all day with children. Do we have everything?”
I watched them load our bags and my camera cases in the boot and we all managed to fit comfortably in the limo.
“I have a pouch for you, Mr. Abbey. Would you like it now or when we arrive at the house?” Ronda asked.
“Why not keep it secure until you are at your location. Then I can open it as I ride back to the embassy.”
“You are returning to the embassy at this hour?” I asked.
“I’m afraid so. We’re preparing for other guests this week and this will help me. Of course, the embassy doesn’t officially open until eight, and we don’t expect you to arrive until noon tomorrow. We’ve arranged a light lunch for you with your students, then the car will pick up the rest of your family and transport you all to dinner at Winfield House with the Ambassador and his wife. He is quite excited to meet you. If you have a pouch for him, it is acceptable to present it when you meet at the residence.”
“Thank you,” Ronda said. “We will try to be completely awake by the time we get to the embassy.”
It took an hour to get from the airport to the house where we were to stay. The house was large and there were three staff people at the door to meet us. As soon as our bags were all in the house, Ronda presented her packet to Mr. Abbey and he thanked her, then left in the limo.
The staff conducted us to a suite of rooms on the second floor and seemed unsure of how we would divide up. There was a large bed in one room and a bed with a crib in the adjoining room. We thanked them and indicated the children would stay in the adjoining room while the four adults shared the other room. It did have an impressively large bed, but I don’t believe the staff were accustomed to four people sharing it at a time.
Of course, it was only five in the afternoon Chicago time. Toni was getting her second wind and was ready to dance and have another meal. The staff was prepared for us facing the time change and had food available in an informal kitchen nook. It didn’t take them long to figure out how fun Toni was.
We didn’t have a record player, so I simply hummed some music as Toni and I danced and I got her ready for bed. I noticed someone had placed a colorful book of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit stories on the bed and Toni was delighted to have new stories from Eng’and to read.
Ronda and I were up well before the rest of the family as we had to dress and get ready to go to work. The cook served us a nice breakfast, complete with good coffee. Patricia, Toni, Anna, and Alex managed to wake up before we left for the embassy and the cook was just as happy to serve them on their own schedule. We kissed the family and told them we’d see them in the evening, then got into the limo and headed the few blocks to the embassy.
Other than the rather thoughtful schedule of having lunch with the six people we were to train in the afternoon, there was nothing unusual or extraordinary about our training. Everyone was attentive and ready to take on the task. We were told that while visas would be the main activity for the embassy, there were several hundred thousand American visitors to the UK each year and an attendant number of lost, stolen, or expired passports.
Our car picked us up and took us back to Arbuckle House, where Ronda and I had a chance to change clothes and make sure our family was ready for dinner with the Ambassador. I wore a three-piece suit and the girls, including Toni, all wore knee-length party dresses. Then we went out to the car for the short drive to Winfield House.
What a huge place! We were met by an assistant to the Ambassador and given a nice tour of the main floor. I guessed no one was invited upstairs to visit the half-dozen or so bedrooms unless they were staying there. We were just told about them. Toni looked around at the place while maintaining a secure grip on my hand. Her eyes and mouth were wide open.
“Daddy, will we live here?” she asked loudly enough that our guide stopped to look at her.
“Oh, no, sweetheart. This home is where the Ambassador lives. Daddy and Mom Ronda just take pictures. I think we’ll meet the Ambassador at dinner.”
“Exactly,” said Mrs. Prine, our guide. “This home is for very important people.”
“Daddy important!” Toni said. I scooped her up in my arms and we danced through the Gold Room and into the Green Room. This place was truly over the top.
“Ah, it is six-thirty. The ambassador will meet you in the Reception Hall for cocktails before dinner at seven o’clock,” Mrs. Prine said. We hiked across the two rooms back to the reception hall and wondered where in the massive cavern we should hide out. We didn’t need to wait long before the Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Abbey, and his wife came in to meet us.
“Nate, Anna, Patricia, Ronda, and Miss Toni. I hope you have had a pleasant tour of Winfield House. Mrs. Prine is our residence manager and knows every detail of the history of every single speck of dust in the house,” he laughed.
“There are no specks of dust in Winfield House,” Mrs. Prine huffed.
“Of course not. I was kidding,” Mr. Abbey said. “This is my wife, Cynthia. Please join us at the bar. You’ll note a few other people here I’d like to introduce you to. The Ambassador and his wife will be along shortly.”
We walked to the far end of the Reception Hall where a portable bar stood by the massive windows overlooking the terrace and back gardens. We accepted cocktails from the bartender and Mr. Abbey continued with introductions.
“Alice Grove, I’d like you to meet the Passport and ID specialists who are visiting from the US and have spent the day training our crew on the new equipment. The report I’ve heard is that it was a very successful session. Nate and Ronda, let me introduce Alice Grove, our Minister Counselor of Public Affairs.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, ma’am,” I said.
“Please let’s make it Alice, Nate, and Ronda,” she said. “I’m basically a public relations specialist and just want to meet the latest excitement in town.”
“Alice, may I present Nate and Ronda’s wives, Patricia and Anna, and their daughters, Toni and baby Alex,” Lincoln continued.
“Oh, now I’m definitely interested,” Alice said.
“We’ll try not to behave scandalously,” Anna said, shaking her hand.
“Brent and Diane Nolan,” Lincoln continued to the next guests. “Nate and Ronda are right in your Bureau and come highly recommended by Assistant Secretary Johnson. Their wives, Ronda and Patricia, and daughters Toni and Alex. Nate, Brent is the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs.”
“We did get a notice from Mr. Johnson regarding your requested presence in London. Welcome to all of you,” Brent said. “I believe you are already acquainted with my associate, Robert Brice, the Assistant Minister for Consular Security. And this is his wife, Joanne. Robert, you remember Nate and Ronda, I hope.”
“Thank you, Brent. It was good having you in our session this afternoon, Robert. I hope we’re not creating a nightmare for you with the ID program,” I said as we shook hands.
“With some three hundred employees at the embassy, Winfield House, Arbuckle House, and the three consulates, it will likely be a nightmare getting it rolled out, but we’ve been wanting an ID program for some time. This is going to work well.”
“These are our wives, Patricia and Anna, and our daughters, Alex and Toni,” Ronda said as she shook hands with Robert and Joanne.
“How delightful,” Joanne said. “I hope there will be an opportunity for casual talk this evening,” she whispered to Anna. “Otherwise, it will be a dreadfully boring event.”
“Ah!” Lincoln said. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Ambassador and Mrs. Redford.”
The couple came in from the grand staircase, which was a room almost as big as the Green Room, dominated by a massive staircase and a ton of artwork. Everyone turned to face the Ambassador, who made it down the line to us.
“Mr. Ambassador, these are your guests, Nate Hart and Ronda May, and their wives, Anna and Patricia. They have two daughters with them, Alex and Toni.”
“Delighted,” the Ambassador said.
“Oh, I do hope I can hold the baby,” Mrs. Redford said. As she stepped right past Ronda and me to greet ‘our wives.’ “We simply don’t see our grandchildren often enough and they are almost adults now themselves. And please call me Lee. We have to address him as Mr. Ambassador, but we girls needn’t stand on formality.”
Wow! She was really friendly and soon had Alex in her arms.
“I think Alex has been held by more people since we left Chicago than in the rest of her life,” Patricia laughed. She and Anna, with Toni and the other wives were soon off in a corner together chatting up a storm.
“A toast to our guests, Nate and Ronda,” the Ambassador said, raising his glass. We had just enough time to complete the toast before the doors to the ‘Family Dining Room’ were opened. We’d been told the family dining room seated fourteen for informal gatherings, where the state dining room next door could be set up variously to seat fifty or more. I noted that with the high chair for Toni substituted for one chair at the table, there were exactly fourteen of us. Alex stayed in her carrier unless she fussed or was being fussed over by one of the women.
“It-it-it-it is a pleasure to welcome Nate and Ronda and their family to Win-Winfield House,” the Ambassador said after we’d all been seated. I’d been warned that he had a stutter and quickly learned to ignore it. “In addition to training at our chancery and consulates, they have been specially invited to the wedding of L-Lady Jane Mon-roe and L-Lord Pe-Peter Winkle. In addition to that, it is our welcome task to attempt to convince the family to live for a while in London this fall as they service the other European and North African missions. Let’s do our best. Here’s to a successful mission,” he said, raising his glass.
“I’ll drink to that!” Toni declared, holding up her glass.
Amidst the laughter, we were served a nice meal and had pleasant, non-business-related conversations. Much of the conversation I participated in and overheard, however, had to do with what kind of living arrangements we would need and where we were likely to look for lodging.
I can’t pretend to understand seating arrangements at an event like this. I was seated at the Ambassador’s wife’s right and Deputy Chief of Mission Lincoln Abbey was on her left. Next to me was the PR person, Alice, and then Robert Brice of security. He had Patricia next to him, then Toni, and then Cynthia Abbey on the Ambassador’s left. Ronda was on the Ambassador’s right. Then there were Brent Nolan, Mrs. Brice, Mrs. Nolan, and finally, Anna, next to Lincoln. I knew there was supposed to be some kind of ranking to the positions, but Ronda and I got our seats based on being the guests of honor. I supposed that the highest ranking among the guests were Lincoln and his wife Cynthia. They had the left-hand seats with our family members next to them.
It was a long meal and Patricia needed to get up to tend to Alex. She found a staff person right next to her with a bottle and a willing arm to hold the baby. I was impressed. Toni was very entertaining, as always, and I noticed the Ambassador asked her several questions about what she liked so far. Her resounding response was “Peter Rabbit.”
She wasn’t used to eating at a large table like this. Her high chair didn’t have a tray, but pulled right up to the table. She was very sociable and didn’t spill anything.
After dinner, the “wives” all decided to gather in the Green Room for an after-dinner cordial. The rest of us went to the terrace for a smoke and brandy. Ronda gave her envelope to the Ambassador. He opened it at once and then called inside.
“Lee! Bill remembered our anniversary and sent us a personal card.”
“Oh, how lovely,” she said, stepping out just long enough to look at the card and take it inside.
Several of the people on the terrace lit cigarettes or cigars. I stoked my pipe as we chatted and drank our brandy.
“Nate,” the Ambassador said, “I’m sure you have been told that the position of Ambassador to the UK is a political appointment and I am not a trained diplomat. I leave all that in the capable hands of Lincoln who usually tells me what to do and I do it. However, as chance would have it, I have developed a friendship with Her Majesty the Queen. We meet together regularly and drop hints regarding what we would like our ministers to do. Obviously, when I received her request that you come to photograph Lady Jane and Lord Peter, I took it seriously. Thank you for consenting to this show of pretenses.”
“Sir, Lady Jane is a good friend and fellow photographer. I’m pleased that Lord Peter thought to ask me to come.”
“Of course, it is not completely a surprise any longer. Such a thing could not be kept entirely from the bride. I’ll try to guide you through the formalities of the wedding, but you are on your own when you go to Plympford tomorrow. I understand you are on my schedule for a photo tomorrow morning before you leave. Lincoln has the schedule for your car. The driver will stay in the village until time for you to return on Friday, and then we’ll go to the wedding together. The Princess will be attending on behalf of the crown. She and Lady Jane are about the same age.”
“Thank you for the warning, sir.”
“Don’t be too surprised if she is not the only royal you meet on this trip,” he concluded.
What? We all finished our smokes, then gathered our spouses and left Winfield House.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
