Chapter 284:

Not knowing that Lisa had already come up, Seb went downstairs and found only Maman and Mary there in the family room talking.

“Seb, where is Lisa. We wanted to talk to you both.”

“Actually I came down here looking for her. She must be upstairs with Jessica. I'll go get her.... Is everything alright?” he asked, looking suspiciously at the two women who obviously had something on their minds by the looks of them.

“It will be. Just get Lisa if she isn't busy.” Maman said, not elaborating any further.

When Seb returned, Lisa was with him and also Jessica who wasn't quite ready to settle down for the night.

Maman went and got the infant play gym that Jessica could lay under, reach up and bat at the toys while the adults talked.

“Okay Maman, you have me worried. What is it?” Seb asked his mother again.

“Nothing! Or at least there won't be once we get this all straightened out.”

“Have we done something to upset you?” Lisa asked her Mother-In-Law, becoming as nervous as Seb appeared to be.

“No, of course not. We just need to straighten some things out before Seb leaves in the morning.”

“Alright then. Tell us.” Seb said..

“Okay, we know how miserable you both are right now because of the long separations caused by the tour.”

Lisa and Seb looked at her, then at each other. Neither needed to say a word. The atmosphere in the house had been somber and dark for the last couple of days as the minutes sped closer to when he would leave. Even the babies had been rather fussy, maybe picking up on the moods of everyone else in the house.

Seb just gave a short nod to his mother in agreement with her statement.

“So we, me, Mary, Dan and Marie have been discussing this problem and what the solution could be.”

“What solution, Maman? Seb has to leave. This is his work, his passion and I will never ask him to give it up.”

“I know that, Lisa and it means the world to me to see how you support him, even though it causes you, both of you so much pain when he's away.”

Seb slid his hand under Lisa's and laced their fingers together, then lifted her hand to his lips. She gave a weak smile up at him before they returned their attention to Maman.

“There's nothing to be done about the time between now and the beginning of the actual tour. The schedule is just too uncertain. But once the tour begins, there is no reason why you and the children can't join Seb on the tour some of the time. We've pulled the schedule that was posted on the forum as it stands so far and come up with a plan for you to look at.” Maman placed a large sheet of paper on the coffee table in front of them.

Marlene and Mary could see the skeptical look on both Seb and Lisa's faces.

“Please let us finish telling you what has been discussed before you make up your minds.” Mary asked, her eyes pleading for them to have an open mind.

Marlene didn't wait for any reply. She just began pointing out blocks of dates and how they had made a chart of whether it seemed possible for the family to travel together or not. Highlighted in yellow were the dates that it seemed possible and then in red were the dates that seemed too difficult or too far away. They even had some dates in light blue that were debatable.

“Maman, I really appreciate this but, Seb can't be expected to concentrate on us when they are traveling between venues. They'll have so much to do already. You saw what an undertaking it was just for the one trip. It would put too much stress on him trying to work and help us too.”

“The plans that have been discussed do not in any way include Sebastien in the traveling. Whatever time he has to spend with us, will be up to him and his schedule at that time.”

“You said us. Does this mean that you would be traveling with us, if I agreed to this, that is?”

“Yes Lisa, I would and not only me but, Marie and Dan too. They said they'd love to have the opportunity to travel now that Dan is retired and they will be with us to help with the children when needed. I have also taken it upon myself to contact some of our younger unmarried family members in Paris. I have already received several responses that would give us several extra helpers along the way, including Adrienne who said she would love to get to spend time with all of you. We also have a relative that lives here in the states that has her degree in teaching and she has agreed to come along on the journey and tutor the children so they won't fall behind in their schooling.”

“Please consider this idea before you throw it away. I would be seriously worried about the two of you if you have to be apart for so much of the next almost two years. It wouldn't be good for the children to be away from Seb for so long either. Some of the children are just beginning to trust that they have a family now. I know traveling with all of them will be difficult but I think it will be worth it in the long run.” Mary said, adding her two cents.

Seb let out a long breath, not realizing that he'd actually been holding it in for so long.

“I have to leave in the morning Maman. I can't even help you plan any of this now.”

“There will be a few things you'll need to see to on your end but most of the details would be handled by us. You just take care of your job and we'll let you know how the plans are coming along. Then as we plan the dates to be traveling with you, we'll let you know. If there is any part of the tour that you think would be too difficult for the family to come, just let us know and we'll work around that time. The way we figured it out, our entourage wouldn't even travel with you every day. We would stay in one place for a couple of days at a time so it wouldn't be so hard on the children.”

Seb and Lisa looked at each other again, both rather stunned at all of the obvious planning that had been going on without their knowledge.

“Now, I am going to bed. You two have to discuss this. We've made a lot of plans, but only you two can decide if this is what you want to do.” Marlene stood and kissed both of them goodnight, said goodnight to Mary, then headed for the stairs and her bed, turning just at the bottom of the stairs and telling them that she'd be up to say goodbye to Seb in the morning.

“Mary, what about you? This would be way too much for you to travel with all of us. And I won't put you out of the job we promised that would take care of you.”

“That was the other thing that I needed to discuss with you. If I am to be much help to you here in the future, I need to schedule my knee replacements soon. I spoke to my daughter at length about it whileI was there over the holidays. She wants me to come and have the surgery there. I've decided to get them both done at once and she said I could stay with her while I recover and in the initial rehabilitation. It would be too difficult here with so many stairs to climb. They would be impossible for a while.”

This time it was Lisa's turn for the long sigh. She hated the thought of Mary going through that surgery without them by her side but she realized that Mary was right about the house and she would be well cared for by her daughter.

“Whatever you need to do Mary, we'll support you and you don't have anything to worry about. Your job and your home here will be waiting for you.”

“I didn't doubt that for a minute. But I thought that telling you that I would be going away too would help you not to worry about what I would do while you and the children traveled with Seb. Maybe I'll even get feeling well enough to come to a concert or two before they are done with the tour.”

“I'm counting on it Mary. I'm sure that Carlos would love to have his favorite Cutie right in the front row so he can flirt with you.” Seb said and winked.

Mary said goodnight, hugging each of them tightly and slowly climbed the stairs. Seb and Lisa watched her and both knew that it was time for her to have the surgery. She seemed to be having much more trouble climbing stairs than she did when they moved in.

Seb made a mental note to contact Drew to see if there was a way to put a small elevator anywhere in the house. There would be many uses for it.

When they were alone, they both sat back into the sofa and Lisa leaned against Seb's side. Both of them mulling over all that had been discussed tonight.

“What..”

“Do...”

Both of them had begun to speak at once and Seb told Lisa to go first.

“What do you think of their plan? Do you think it would be too hard? And do you think we would be too much of a distraction. I don't want to make anything more difficult for you. I will understand if you say it won't work.”

“The question really is, Do you think it would be too hard for you and for the children. That is why I hadn't even asked you. I didn't want you to feel like you had to do this for me. I have at least gotten used to traveling and sleeping whenever I can. For me, I would love for you and the children to be there as much as possiible. I haven't been able to bear the thought of not touching you or the children for so long. No matter how much technology we have, nothing can replace being close to my loved ones.”

“ I don't know, Seb. I guess we can try it and see and if it doesn't work, the children and I will just come home and wait for you right here......I'm not going to say anything to the children until we are absolutely certain that we'd go. It would be too disappointing for them if we had to change our minds for whatever reason.”

Seb leaned down and scooped a yawning Jessica into his arms and cradled her against his chest. A glimmer of hope began to take shape in his heart that maybe he wouldn't have to go the whole tour without them after all.

They closed up downstairs after letting the dogs back in, and headed up to bed, each carrying a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.. They sat on their bed with Jessica between them while they ate their dessert.

While Lisa took care of her bedtime rituals, Seb rocked Jesica and softly sang to her. She didn't make it to the end of the song. He gently lifted her and kissed her cheek, carefully so he wouldn't wake her back up. Then placed her into the cradle.

She was growing so fast. They were already discussing the need to get Lauren moved into her own room and put Jessica into the nursery. Lisa was just deciding on the motif of Lauren's room. They would be buying her another nursery set and leaving the Secret Garden set in the nursery since the walls had all been painted to go with it. Once Lisa figured out what she wanted, they would call and schedule a time for Carla to come out and paint Lauren's room before they bought the furniture.

Lisa came back into the bedroom and peeked at Jessica and lightly touched her fuzzy hair before she hung her robe. Seb excused himself for a few minutes, then came back and climbed into bed next to her.

“Seb, what about Jim and Debbie? Can we keep them on salary as they are while we are traveling. I don't want to disrupt their lives either. We have so many people depending on us now.”

“I don't see why not. We would need someone here to take care of the grounds anyway. I also know that Urs asked Jim to take care of their property and the dogs while he is away. Urs asked me if it was okay. He didn't want to upset us by asking. But this will work out fine. Debbie won't have as much to do when you are away. That will give her time to get ready for the new baby to arrive. Blake and Brandon did a fine job with the dogs while we were in Paris. We could give them the same job again. It would be good for them to have something they were responsible for and they could earn some money.”

“This could work, couldn't it?” Lisa asked hopefully.

“I think maybe it could. I know we don't have to worry about anything here. We can count on Jim to handle everything. You would just be handling all the travel details. I just don't want this to be too stressful for you. It was quite a chore traveling with all of the children.”

It sounds like we'll have lots of help and if we do it like Maman said and don't travel to every new venue, we'll get enough rest in between. At least it would only be a few days till we see you instead of weeks or maybe even months.”

“This next five weeks will be rough but at least now I have the hope that you and the children will be with me for a lot of the tour. My heart doesn't feel so heavy now.”

Seb pulled her into his arms and began a slow kiss that began as a low sizzle and gradually worked it's way to being a full on blaze. The covers were shoved almost onto the floor as their bodies heated up. They weren't feeling the desperation they'd felt earlier in the afternoon, but they both knew this night would have to last them for much longer than either of them would have liked. At least now they weren't looking at most of two years apart.

Their joining was much more joyful this time and each left the other with no doubt that they were loved beyond reason, both with words and every touch as they loved each other long into the night.