Chapter Text
Mia sat sipping her tea, a frown on her face. “You what?” she finally managed as she looked up at Viki.
Viki couldn’t help but laugh, not only at the look on the young woman’s face, but at the looks on her friends’ faces as well. While she’d mentioned an underground city of gold, she hadn’t told them the whole story before and they all sat staring at her as confused as most people were when they heard the story of Eterna. “I spent several weeks in an underground city called Eterna. It was under Llantano mountain and built to hide the gold my father and his co-conspirators had amassed. My first husband had grown up there. Years later, after everyone that lived there had left and the city was abandoned…several of us were trapped there. Imagine my surprise to learn of the place.”
Jessica was the first to find her voice. “I feel as though there is more to this story.”
“There is, but we’ll leave that for another time.” Viki answered.
Stephanie nodded, realizing as the others did that the rest of the story wasn’t something Viki wanted Mia to hear and guessing that it had something to do with the older daughter Viki had mentioned when they had all first met. “So, the city and the gold, what happened to them?”
“Oh, the mountain came down on them…and us.”
Mia shook her head. “Now wait a minute…if…but…how?”
Clarisse laughed at her granddaughter but nodded her head. “I have to say I’m just as confused as Amelia. If the mountain came down on the city and you…how are you here?”
“Well, let’s say that we hid ourselves well enough that when the mountain began to collapse, we were protected, and then we saw a fissure that had opened. We escaped just ahead of an explosion.”
“So the city is destroyed?” Mia asked then rolled her eyes. “Well there goes that adventure.”
Everyone laughed and agreed…they had all been thinking the same as Mia.
“Yes, I’m afraid the city was destroyed and the gold is still buried under the mountain. No adventure to the underground city of Eterna.”
A knock on the door made everyone frown except Viki. She knew who it was on the other side of the door. Looking at Clarisse, she smiled. “I think the men are lonely.”
Clarisse frowned. “What?”
“Ben is out there.”
Mia blinked in surprise. “How do you know that?”
“I can’t explain that, Princess. I just…”
“Hey Blondie, are you in there?”
Mia giggled. “You have to try and explain to me later,” she whispered as she got up to answer the door.
Clarisse was surprised to find all of the men, Joe included, filing into her sitting room. “What’s this then?”
“You need to go with him.” Ben said as he walked to where Clarisse sat on the sofa, pausing only a second to press a kiss to Viki’s head. Taking Clarisse’s hand, he gently tugged her up and led her over to Joe. “No arguments, Your Majesty. Trust me?”
Staring up into the kind eyes of her friend’s husband, Clarisse nodded. “Viki, no wonder you are easily talked into doing things,” she muttered as she turned and followed Joe out the door.
Viki chuckled and held out her hand for Ben to join her. “Darling, what is that all about?”
Ben, settling himself next to Viki, wrapped an arm around her as George and Eric each did the same with their respective ladies. “Princess, we can’t stay here if you don’t stay, come on,” he winked at Mia as he motioned for her to come back to the sofa.
Mia shook her head as she gave in. Sitting down on the opposite end of the sofa from Ben and Viki, she turned to stare at him. “What did you say to Grandma? She and Joe,” she paused and looked down at her hands. “It’s my fault. They were so happy and then…it’s all my fault.”
Viki reached over and rested her hand over the young woman’s. “No, Princess. It isn’t, not really.”
“She’s right.” Ben smiled at Mia when she looked up at him. “And what I said to your grandmother was just, “No arguments, Your Majesty.” And then I asked if she trusts me. That’s all.”
“Joe will do the rest, Lassie.” George added.
Mia giggled and wiped at her tears. “Lassie? I like it.”
Jessica smiled and patted George’s thigh. “He has a way with that. He’s also right.”
Stephanie nodded. “If I know these men, Ben especially, Joe and your grandmother will be back to their happy selves when they come back to us.”
“If they come back.” Eric mumbled then oomphed when Stephanie elbowed him. “Ouch. Damn it, Steph.”
Mia clapped a hand over her mouth as she laughed. She loved her grandmother and Joe’s friends. “It’s alright, Stephanie. I hope he’s right.”
“But Princess, how do you…?” Stephanie asked.
Mia shrugged. “The maids know everything. Besides, Joe and Grandma aren’t the only ones that know the secret passage ways.”
Ben gave the young woman a look. “Have you and Andrew been sneakin’ around?”
Mia blushed and gave him an impish grin. “Maybe…”
Everyone laughed and Viki squeezed Mia’s hands. “Maybe you should keep that between just us. I’m not sure what your grandmother would think.”
“Forget Clarisse. Joe would’na like it.” George chimed in.
Mia shivered at the brogue then frowned. “Now what was that?”
The ladies laughed and gave each other knowing looks.
Then Viki started to explain. “I’m sure at some point there will be something that Andrew does that makes you react that way.”
“You mean…”
“I mean,” Viki continued. “George’s brogue is a thing that makes women, well…react the way you did.”
“It has even more of an effect on me.” Jessica chimed in.
“Eric’s singing.” Stephanie added.
“Ben’s dimples.” Viki smiled up at Ben who winked at her.
Mia nodded, finally understanding. “Joe calling Grandma, My Queen.”
“Yes.” Viki told her.
“Andrew’s clumsy ways.” Mia added her own.
Ben chuckled. “Clumsy ways?”
“Well, he really isn’t clumsy, but trying to talk to women he gets that way.” Mia explained. “He was that way with me at first.”
“And is he now?” Viki asked as she settled closer to Ben.
“No. He’s…” Mia bit her lip and looked up at Viki. “What was it like for you?”
“Well, I don’t remember my first time falling in love very well. But with Ben, I’d never felt how I felt the first time I saw him.”
“I was always the very suave type with women, when I chose to be, that is.” Ben added. “But with Viki, I found myself at a loss most of the time. She was far more than any woman I’d ever met and I had never felt anything like I did when I popped up from behind the bar and saw her.”
Mia frowned. “Aren’t you a doctor?”
Ben laughed. “I used to be, Princess.”
“But he was a bartender when we first met.” Viki added.
Eric settled Stephanie closer to him and stared across at his friend. “I think it’s time you told us that story, Ben.”
Viki shook her head. “Not without Joe and Clarisse.”
“Well then we’ve come back at the right time.” Joe said as he closed the door behind himself and Clarisse.
Everyone smiled at the ease they could feel from the couple, their smiles growing when Mia jumped up and hugged them.
Tugging at their hands, Mia let them take her place then went to the phone. “I’m going to call Andrew. He should be here and I feel a little left out.”
Clarisse smiled and shook her head then turned her attention back to her friends. “Thank you.”
Joe nodded. “We appreciate it.”
“We couldn’t let the two of you let a good thing get away.” Ben smiled. “Besides, it would be very awkward when we get all meet up if the two of you weren’t together and at odds with the other.”
Viki nodded and added, “Ben and I just want all of you to be happy like we are.”
A knock on the door had Mia hurrying to answer. Smiling at Andrew, she took his hand and practically dragged him into the room. “Andrew, these are Grandma and Joe’s friends. That’s George and Jessica. That’s Eric and Stephanie. And these two are Ben and Viki.” Leaning close, Mia whispered, “He was dead…or so she thought.”
Andrew’s eyebrow quirked up at that. “That’s a story I’d like to hear.”
Mia nodded as she tugged him to where she’d been sitting. “But not now. Now they’re going to tell us how Ben was a bartender.”
“Wait a minute. You said that he was a doctor when you told me about them when Her Majesty and Joe went to the airport to meet them.”
Mia giggled as she settled down beside him. “Well, that’s why you’re here. They’re going to tell us the story of how they met.”
“And when they met it was…” George started, stopping when Jessica gently smacked his leg.
“Don’t start that. They’re not the Harts, either. Besides, murder isn’t how they met.”
“Well…about that…” Ben said as he looked at Viki.
Viki nodded. “It actually was sort of how we met.”
Stephanie frowned as she looked at Eric then the others who were as confused as she was. “Now wait a minute. We know that Ben was hiding from the mob, but…murder?”
“Mob?” Mia piped up. “No one said anything about the mob. How does the mob figure into this?”
Ben laughed. “I was a mob doc, Princess.”
A frown crinkling her brow, Mia looked at him. “You?” She shook her head. “No.”
“Oh yes, Princess.” Viki assured her. “Ben, though not willingly, was indeed a mob doctor. You see, his adoptive father was a mob lawyer. When Ben grew up and decided he wanted to be a doctor, well, he was drug into the life.”
“Couldn’t you have said no and walked away?”
“My brother did, but…I couldn’t leave Pop. I was all he had. Besides…”
“They would have killed his father, Princess. Ben did what he had to do to keep his father alive.” Viki smiled at Ben. “And his father did what he had to do to try and help his son get out.”
“So how did you wind up on the run from the mob?” George asked.
“They killed Pop when they found out he’d been keeping a journal of information to give to me to help me get out. I was running because they found out that I had it. I contacted my brother who reluctantly helped me find a place to hide.”
Viki took over the story. “One of my top reporters was very good at finding the hard hitting and dangerous stories. He’d come upon some information that a Senator was involved with the mob and had a source. Mel was getting too close and…”
“They blew up the plane he was on.” Ben took over as he pulled Viki closer. “They nearly killed Blondie, but she got off the plane at the last second.”
“I kept having these dreams where Mel was telling me to go to the Crossroads.” Viki took over again. “I thought he was talking about an actual crossroad. I went for a drive and found a road with a fork in it. I took the way that it felt like Mel was telling me to take and found myself at Crossroads.”
“The out of the way roadhouse bar that I was working at.” Ben smiled down at Viki when she looked up at him. “I had bent down behind the bar so I didn’t see her come in, but I did hear the door open so I popped up and nearly dropped the glass I was holding. This gorgeous woman was standing there looking completely out of place in that dive.”
“And then I hear, “Hiya Blondie. Are ya lost or just slummin’?” Talk about confused. I turned and felt my heart nearly beat out of my chest. This gorgeous man was staring at me, smiling at me with this look…” Viki shivered in memory. “There was this instant connection that scared me, but I couldn’t keep away. He flirted with me and I found myself responding. I had been through so much before and I’d lost a very dear friend…I…”
“She shocked herself. I didn’t know her, but I somehow knew that she was fragile, that I had to be careful…but I couldn’t help myself. I flirted because there was just…I couldn’t not flirt.”
Viki smiled up at Ben. “He was very gentle with me, even if we did have a spat or two.”
“Yeah, when I opened my mouth and stuck my foot in it.” Ben grimaced as he remembered that conversation.
Viki couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, Darling, you couldn’t possibly have known I had a pregnant teenager at home.”
“What?” Mia interrupted.
“I made a wise crack about the barmaid getting herself knocked up. Viki’s daughter was seventeen and pregnant.”
“I didn’t take kindly to his comments.”
“Oh.” Mia nodded. “But you obviously got over it.”
Viki laughed and nodded. “I did. His charm was irresistible.”
Ben grinned, his dimples showing. “Well…”
“Uh…” Mia blinked and shook her head. “I don’t think it was charm. It was those,” she pointed.
Stephanie couldn’t help but laugh, her laughter joined by the others. “Don’t worry, Princess. Jess and I felt the same way.”
“So did I.” Clarisse admitted.
Ben shrugged while the other men rolled their eyes. “Fluke of nature.”
“That you use to your advantage.” Eric told him with a shake of his head.
“Well, they really only work on Blondie.” Ben countered.
Mia frowned at her reaction to the way Ben said Vik’s nickname. “Or maybe it was that.”
Clarisse laughed. “It was probably that more than the dimples,” she winked at her granddaughter.
Andrew laughed as he squeezed Mia. “Enough of that. How did you get away from the mob?” he asked, turning the attention back to the story.
“Well, I didn’t fully get away until well after Viki and I were married. We were free for a while because the man that had been hunting me died.”
“But how did you finally get free? I’ve read stories about the mob…no one ever gets away alive.” Andrew asked.
“Well, Ben almost didn’t get away alive. He was shot once shortly after we met. Then he was shot at our wedding. Then…” Viki’s voice trailed off.
“Blondie, no sense going through all that again.” Ben stopped her, smiling when she turned haunted eyes up at him. “I was shot, that’s enough. I got away and…I got the girl.”
Mia was sure that there was a whole lot that was being left out, and was also very sure, that even though her curiosity was peaked, she wasn’t going to ask because she could see the pain the memories brought to Viki’s eyes. “Getting the girl is good.”
Viki chuckled as she settled back against Ben and smiled at Mia. “Getting the boy is good, too. I know you’re curious about what we’ve left out. Thank you for not asking. It still hurts to think about some of those times.”
Mia nodded. “Tell us more about the times at Crossroads?”
Ben laughed. “Later, Princess,” he said then gave Viki a look before continuing. “It’s late and I don’t know about the rest, but I’m tired. This time change has me all confused.”
Viki rolled her eyes while the others laughed. “Ben,” she scolded.
Clarisse couldn’t help but laugh when she noticed the look on her granddaughter and Andrew’s faces. Pointing it out to Joe, she felt him chuckle. “He isn’t wrong. It is late,” she finally chimed in, doing her best to give credence to Ben’s excuse.
Mia shook her head then fell back into Andrew and started giggling. “Oh Grandma,” she managed through her giggles. “I love your friends.”
