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Viewing Note: This story should be viewed with the Edwardian Script ITC font installed on your Windows platform in the c:/Windows/Fonts directory. Microsoft Word installs this font automatically.

Photo Credit: Provided by PB.
 

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Chapter 11
 

“See her yet, dear?” Jenny asked as arrivals began streaming out of the customs area.

“Nope, not yet! Oh, wait … there she is! Auntie Carol!” Gaby replied, her voice drastically rising in volume when she caught sight of her aunt.

Before Jenny was able to move, Gaby had already run to her aunt’s side and had taken her case while directing her back to her mother.

“Someone’s excited to see you ... Willkommen nach Deutschland, ‘cuz.” Jenny was all smiles as Gaby and her aunt approached.

The three women exited the arrival’s terminal as quickly as they could to further avoid the crush of holiday travelers.

“Now that we’re out of the crowds, let me look at you!” Carol addressed Gaby as she put her aunt’s luggage into the car’s boot.

“You’ve changed since the last time I saw you … you’ve developed into a very pretty young lady.”

“They’re real, too!” Gaby playfully replied.

“Touché!” Carol shot back without missing a beat.

“If you really want to,” Gaby smugly blurted.

“Gabrielle Drew Bond!” The shocked tone of Jenny’s outburst not only surprised Gaby, but Carol as well.

“Sorry Auntie Carol … it just came out.” Hearing her mother’s use of her full name, Gaby knew her comment wasn’t appreciated by all and sheepishly apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, Gaby (snicker),” Carol told her, while at the same time casting a stern glance at her cousin. “At least you've got a sense of humour.”

Once Jenny was on the Autobahn, Carol turned around to face Gaby in the back seat.

“Seriously, Gaby … you have become a very beautiful young lady from when I last saw you.”

“Thank you … Auntie Carol? Do you think Maddy would think so?” Gaby softly asked.

After a long pause, she adjusted herself in the seat so she was comfortably looking back at her niece.

“Gaby … I know in my heart that she would be the first to agree … in her mind … you’re very beautiful … but the way things currently are … Maddy would never admit that to you or anyone else.”

“Why?”

“You have to understand something, dear … what Maddy says and does these days is very, very different from what she thinks. She may give the appearance that you no longer matter to her … but … I really believe that’s an act and that deep-down, she’s hurting.”

“Would it help if I talked to her?”

“I doubt it. Her problem is that she won’t let anyone help her deal with whatever’s bothering her and she digs her heels in if anyone tries. The good news is that I’m totally convinced that buried deep-inside, she knows she wants the same thing you do. The bad news is that it she’s too stubborn to see it right now … but she will.”

“When?” Gaby’s gaze dropped to the floor while she slowly shook her head. As the first tears dropped onto her jacket, Carol tried to offer some comfort to her niece.

“Gaby … dear … for what it’s worth … I know her feelings for you haven't changed, despite what she's done. She may try to hide them, but she’s not fooling anyone except herself.

“But…” Gaby started.

“Look … I’ve brought my camera and I want a few pictures of you before I leave so Maddy can see just how lovely you’ve become.”

“Will she even look at them?” Gaby inquired mournfully.

“Oh, yes! She may be stubborn, but she’s curious and I know she’ll want to see pictures of my trip. I’d also bet my last pound note that if they were left ‘lying around’ and she thought she was alone … she’d stare at any photo with you in it for as long as she thought she could without getting caught,” Carol replied with a devilish grin on her face.

“Thank you,” Gaby quietly replied as she reached forward between the seats and gave Carol’s hand a squeeze before releasing it.

She was silent the rest of the trip while Carol and Jenny talked. Once they arrived back home, Gaby took her Aunt’s things up to the spare bedroom.

Later as Jules passed Gaby’s opened bedroom door, she happened to look in and saw the back of her sister lying motionless on her bed. Trying not to think the worst, she briefly paused outside the door and then slowly entered her sister’s room.

“If you’re trying to be quiet…” Hearing Jules enter the room, Gaby slowly rolled over and faced her approaching sister.

“Anything I can do, sis?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Uh huh…”

Gaby shook her head in response as Jules sat down on the bed beside her. She knew they brought Carol back, so while she ran her fingers through her sister’s hair, she softly asked the only possible question.

“Maddy?”

Gaby sat up. “How’d you know?”

“What else would it be with Auntie Carol here?” Jules quietly replied.

“What do I do, sis?” Gaby asked.

“Ride it out. That’s all you can do … unless … you want to call Maddy and really end it between you two,” Jules suggested.

“We did … ‘member the cheer comp?” Gaby asked.

“You did…” Jules softly pointed out. “…And it was only with words … not the heart.”

“Am I fooling myself thinking there’s still hope for us?” Gaby’s voice took on a soft whine.

“Do you think you are?” Jules countered.

“Sometimes it feels like I am … but I dunno! Maddy’s in here (pointing to her chest) … but … like … it’s only a distant feeling.”

“Then, I’ll ask you again … do you want to call Maddy and end it between you two?”

“You know I can’t! Without her…” Gaby whispered.

“That’s called ‘love’, little sister…”

“What can I do?”

“Hang on tight … ‘cuz I see plenty of rough water ahead. It’s not going to get better overnight … but … it will get better,” Jules softly confirmed as she tried to comfort her troubled sister.

Finally she put her arms around Gaby and whispered, “Don’t worry … I’ll stay right here with you … every second … no matter what.”

“Girls … water’s on ... want a cuppa?” Jenny called up.

“Okay. We’ll be down in a minute, Mum…” Jules called out.

“Better sort yourself out, Gabs … tears or not … you look like crap!” Jules playfully intoned as she inspected her sister.

“Thanks … that makes me feel a whole lot better,” Gaby sarcastically retorted.

“Really?” Jules quietly joked.

“Yeah … in a weird way,” Gaby whispered. As she started for the door she turned back to Jules.

“Sis?”

“Yeah?” Jules replied as she raised her head and looked directly at her sister.

“Promise you’ll stay close?” She tried to smile at Jules but instead succumbed to the few tears that she’d held back so well up to that point.

“Now you really have to sort yourself! G’wan … I’ll wait right here.” Gaby washed her face and re-applied her makeup, while Jules waited in her sister’s room. When the girls eventually joined their mother and Carol in the lounge, there was no trace that she’d even been crying.

Soon after the girls came into the room, Dave walked in and proudly announced that while Gaby and Jenny were at the airport, he had met with Judith and her parents. She was now the newest member of the Apollinaris Youth Project.

Jenny had taken the week off for Carol’s visit and the two wasted no time catching up. Eagar to show her cousin the sites, she took her and the girls into Bonn and Köln on combination sightseeing/shopping trips. On each of the excursions, Carol had Gaby pick out at least one outfit, in addition to picking up a few for herself. Knowing her cousin’s passion for the grape, Jenny even managed to book the two of them in with a small group, for a tour and wine tasting at Weingut Deutzerhof, one of the many wine producers in the Ahr Valley. During the tour, the ladies enjoyed a lovely buffet in one of the two small dining rooms and before they left, they had to pay a visit to the on-site store and purchase a few bottles of the wines they had enjoyed tasting.

On the last full day of her visit, Carol asked Gaby to model the outfits she got earlier and pose around the house with her mother.

“These will be for Maddy … okay?” Carol knowingly asked.

“Okay.”

After the last photo was taken in the lounge, Gaby smoothed her skirt as she sat on the footstool by Carol’s chair. Her facial expression turned from one of happiness to that of someone with something weighing heavily on their mind.

“Auntie Carol?” Gaby quietly asked.

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you think I should just let Mad go?” Gaby mournfully asked. Carol and Jenny were stunned into silence as neither one saw this coming.

“I mean, she’s really already let me go … hasn’t she? She doesn’t give a sod about me … does she?”

Carol pulled her into her arms and just held her in silence, occasionally stroking Gaby’s long blonde tresses while she thought about what she was going to say.

“I don’t want to give you false hope, Gaby … but I really and truly feel that as much as she’s appeared to have let you go … she really does love you … far more than she’ll ever admit to right now … and I also believe … just as strongly … that there’ll come a time when she’ll want the whole world to know exactly how she feels about you.”

“I’d like to think that too … but sometimes it’s so hard…”

“In the last 15 years I’ve never been wrong when it came to my daughter. Call it mother’s instinct,” Carol offered, sounding more upbeat and jovial.

Gaby responded by giving her aunt a squeeze and a peck on the cheek, followed by a soft-spoken ‘thank you’.

“Do you believe this, ‘cuz? Remember when we were her age … our mum’s talked to us about our boyfriends … an’ now I’m talking to my niece about my daughter’s feelings … for her,” Carol playfully mentioned while looking at Jenny.

“While you're wondering about that ... try …‘Mother-in-law’,” Gaby smugly commented as she abruptly turned and walked quickly out of the lounge, leaving the two women looking at each other in stunned silence.

As Gaby continued up to her room to change, Carol turned to Jenny and in a quiet, calm and casual voice stated, “Should that surprise us? I mean considering…”

“Nope!” Jenny quipped as they both smiled at each other.

Early the next day, during the ride back to the airport, Gaby remained unusually silent, content to let her mum and Carol get in that last bit of visiting. A couple of times she did reply to a comment tossed her way. All too soon, they were saying good-bye to Carol and watching her walk through security on her return to Warsop.

During the ‘off-season’ when the weather made training rides impractical, both Gaby and Judith could occasionally be seen together after school and on the odd Saturday morning, at the training facility as they worked out on some of equipment including the turbos that were permanently set up.

Never one to miss an opportunity for publicity, George arranged for Gaby, Judith and Jenny, to participate in a few personal appearances representing the Youth Project. As a result, interest in from local cycling clubs grew with every public appearance the women attended. More to his amusement than surprise, the fans at these outings showed that they weren’t about to forget Jenny simply because she retired from competition. She was still able to draw as much interest and autograph seekers as the current Elite Team Apollinaris.

During the time from late-October to early December, Dave was kept busy with trips to Berlin and Manchester, to check up on both Nina and Kristen’s progress, as well as trips to Essen, Stuttgart and Cottbus to look at some promising young cyclists. Even though this was the first time that he had gone to Essen and Stuttgart, he had been to Cottbus on a few prior occasions visiting the RK-Endspurt 09 cycle club and soon focused on three of the girls in particular.

With everything else that was happening, George made sure the team stayed in front of the camera, literally. The latter half of November saw the German television network ‘Arena’ film a documentary on the sport of cycling as it currently existed in Germany and in particular Team Apollinaris and the Apollinaris Youth Project. As a result of all this exposure, Judith and Gaby discovered their faces were becoming almost as familiar throughout the country as some of the pro team.

While November was coming to a close, thoughts turned to the upcoming Christmas season and the family’s first real German Christmas. Maria and Jenny had already laid plans to celebrate the season together, combining both Pinger and Bond holiday traditions. Jenny also had to make plans to get a suitable family photo for a small but select group of Christmas cards, in order to have them ready to mail by the specified deadline.

“Please don’t make any plans for tomorrow, you two … at least until after we’re finished what we have to do,” Jenny mentioned as she was setting the table for dinner.

“What’re 'WE' doing?” Jules asked, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“WE … have an appointment at Sonnenstudio to get our family portrait done … and I want you girls to look smart,” Jenny shot back.

“I think the exact word she used was … ’alluring’,” Dave innocently mentioned as he brought out the glasses.

“Daaa-ddeee!” Both girls shot back in unison. As Jenny looked on, Dave started to laugh until he saw the girls were serious. The old adage “if looks could kill…” crossed his mind.

“Actually … that is the word I used when I told your Dad.” Jenny held up her hand when the girls were ready to turn on her.

“Let me explain … I agree … that sounds a bit strange … a mother encouaging her daughters … but I think it’s quite appropriate for what we’re trying to accomplish. Besides getting a suitable family portrait for the house … we’ll also be sending out this photo with, shall we say … a couple of … 'special' … Christmas cards?”

“You mean Maddy?” Gaby asked.

“She’s good…” Jules sarcastically noted.

“I must emphasize that since this will primarily be a 'family' portrait for the house … it will be dignified. What I am telling you is that you don’t need to look like one of the working girls back in Soho … am I clear … GABY? … JULES?” Jenny firmly pointed out.

“Yes, Mum…” both girls chorused.

In a more normal voice and a wink, she added, “I’ve seen how you girls can look in jeans when you want to … versteht ihr, Gabi?”

“Yes, Mum … c’mon sis! I think I know what she wants,” Gaby excitedly exclaimed as she grabbed her sister’s hand and ran upstairs.

“I’m glad you do…”

“Dinner in 20, girls!” Jenny called out as they disappeared up the stairs and into Gaby’s room.

“Just go with me on this. Go get changed an’ give me those jeans for the laundry … an’ tomorrow … wear your black lace top with the jeans… goes well with your heels an’ you can wear my dream-catchers again!” Gaby enthused.

“Now, lessee ... I’ll need this … an’ this … an’ these. Betcha Mum’ll want to wear these earrings again.”“ Gaby thought to herself as she started pulling out her clothes and things for the next day’s appointment with the camera. In the end, she decided on her powder blue peasant blouse and her figure-hugging straight-legged jeans. Rummaging through her lingerie draw, she found her strapless bra. “Merry Christmas, Mad.”“

Looking at Jessica’s jewellery, she decided to wear it all – her Nighthawk feather with her favourite feather earrings, the beaded choker and the knee-high moccasin boots.

The next morning, Gaby awoke with a real sense of mischievous excitement.

Following the breakfast wash-up, the girls rushed upstairs to begin to get ready. Later, when Jenny went upstairs and passed Gaby’s room, she heard both girls excitedly talking.

(giggle) “… Oh, how I wish I had a camera!” Jenny smugly commented as she stood in Gaby’s bedroom doorway.

“WHAT?” Jules cried out, somewhat perplexed. “Gabs is doing my make-up … so what? Can’t I look good for the camera?”

“An’ maybe Johan?” Gaby added in that teasing tone reserved only for sisters.

“Don’t you even think of it, sis … I’m still doing your eyes,” Gaby smugly added, knowing her sister all too well.

“Jules … if you think back, it wasn’t that long ago you were doing your brother’s make-up…” Jenny reminded her oldest. “…And now look at her!” The irony of their mother’s comment was not lost on either of the girls.

Later as the family entered the photo studio, they were greeted by a woman behind the counter, asking if they required assistance and then introduced herself as the owner of the photo studio. Jules discreetly nudged her sister when she noticed her nametag read ‘Gabi’. Dave explained that they had an appointment for a family portrait and after introducing the family, Gabi showed them where they could leave their winter apparel. Gaby took the opportunity to change from her boots to her moccasins, while both Jules and her mum changed into their heels. The ladies were then shown to a small room where they could fix their make-up. Due to the wind, Jules gave Gaby’s hair a good brushing before letting her sister work her feather into her hair. Letting the others go first, Gaby made sure that she was the last one out of the room and into the studio.

“Owwww … sis!” Jules squealed when Gaby re-appeared. “Hot … or … what?”

Both Jenny and Jules immediately noticed that Gaby was wearing her peasant top a little lower off-the-shoulder than she first appeared back at the house. Dave only looked at his youngest daughter and grinned as he slowly shook his head.

Once the family was together, Gabi led them to their pre-chosen setting. The ‘stage’ was covered by a bolt of rich-looking, deep red velvet that covered the floor and eventually rose to form the backdrop.

She first had both Dave and Jenny ascend the two steps of the ‘stage’ and sit in the richly carved wooden chairs, holding hands.

“Sis … picture Mum an’ Dad in medieval costume … can you say King Arthur and Lady Guinevere?” Jules whispered as her parents took their seats.

“I was just thinking that,” Gaby hissed.

Next, Jules was instructed to sit on the ‘stage’ at Dave’s knees, while Gaby was similarly positioned by her mother.

Even though the adults went with the more formal look of tailored suits, they beautifully complimented their daughter’s more casual look. The overall effect was a perfect balance between the generations. While Gabi adjusted the position of each family member to achieve the best composition, Jenny took the opportunity to lean over and gently tug up on her youngest daughter’s neckline.

“Maddy will still get the message with less cleavage, darling…” Jenny whispered.

She couldn’t help but smile to herself when she recalled the time Gaby wasn’t able to borrow one of her fancy tops for a family function because it simply didn’t hang properly on her. Looking at her now, she would have no such problems.

After a few variations on the basic composition were shot, Gabi made arrangements with the family to drop by the house in a couple of days with the proofs and some sample frame pieces. She was reminded that besides the one for the house, they would also need a small number of smaller-sized prints.

Back in her bedroom, with her friends unavailable until later in the day, Gaby changed into something more suited to lying around the house and powered-up her computer to check her email.

Good news, Gabs!

Mum & Dad are going to let me spend some of the Christmas hols with you & your family. Right now, it looks like I’ll be catching an early flight on the 27th and leave sometime on the 30th. I’ll send details when I know them.

Can’t wait to see you!

Hugs, Ally…

P.S. Went to a W.H. Smith’s last week & saw you and your Mum on the cover of that cycling mag you’ve always got your nose in! Cor, I can see why you’re having a boy problem at school! I picked it up and left it with your Aunt so she could, in her words, ‘leave it lying around’. :) 

Hi, Ally!

I’ve talked to Mum & Dad & they’ve said they’re excited that you’ll be coming to visit. Personally, I can’t wait until you arrive. Dad says to let me know the details of your arrival & we’ll be at the airport to meet you. Good thing I still have the gang’s numbers on my contact list because Mum asked me if I still had your phone. I expect one of them will be talking to your parents at some point.

An anxious Gaby…

A few days later after talking to Ally’s mother, Dave revealed the details of her pending visit, over dinner.

“By the way, kiddo … Ally’s going to have to double up with you … We’ll need the guest room for your Gran … that okay?” Dave nonchalantly asked Gaby.

“No problem!” Gaby replied and then her father’s words started to register with both girls.

“Gran’s coming?” Both girls excitedly replied in unison, after a delay of a few seconds while Dave’s announcement sunk in. That brought a few giggles and even Jenny had to join in.

“Well, ummm … yes … I’m meeting her at the airport on the 22nd,” Dave smugly replied.

 
 
Comments are Greatly Appreciated!

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To Be Continued...