For the Love of His Life (26 page)

The crew members also spent time in town on Sundays, especially once they found out that Wi-Fi was available for a small hourly fee, from anywhere in the town proper. There was the laundromat right across from a grocery store—both were popular destinations. There were also the beaches on either side of the peninsula that jutted out into Lake Superior, from the center of town. The lack of sand on the beaches—filled instead with tiny smooth pebbles—was hard for the native Californians to adapt to, but the waves were sometimes exceptional. Some of the dudes began to try surfing the huge swells…to the great amusement of the locals.

The local business owners enjoyed having the movie people in town. They spent freely, thoroughly enjoying the lower cost of living that made things so much more affordable on their salaries. The fact that there was a movie crew filming nearby, made the tourist season one of the best the Grand Marais residents had experienced in many years. On the rare occasions Jared ventured into town, he was treated as a local hero by everyone.

The weeks flew by. Jared took advantage of the change in seasons to film different parts of his great-great-grandfather’s life story. Once the leaves were all off the trees, and the chill in the late October air made his actors’ breaths visible, the winter scenes were shot. For some of the scenes the snow was artificial, especially since the filming was expected to be done by early November, when the really heavy and deep white stuff wouldn’t have appeared yet.

Raul and Veronica enjoyed every moment they were together. They went back to the Magnetic Rock trail in early October, to see the colors the leaves had turned along the river. They took a picnic lunch with them to celebrate the place they’d first begun to realize their interest was requited. But this time they didn’t make out on the blanket. Instead, they enjoyed the waning warmth of the season in a leisurely manner, before heading back to Veronica’s place for a naked snuggle under the blankets in front of a roaring blaze in her fireplace.

When Tom at The Crossroads announced his annual Halloween costume contest, Raul and Veronica began to confer about how to coordinate their outfits. And when they walked across the stage the crowd went wild! Raul was dressed as Rudolph Valentino’s version of the hero from
The Sheik,
the movie based on the book by E.M.Hull. This was the role that had made Valentino’s career, and with his dark, sexy good looks, Raul was perfect to portray him. Veronica had used a spray can of temporary dye to make her blonde curls darker, so she would look like Agnes Ayres, dressed in a British riding habit. They enacted a small part of the movie, silently of course, and the crowd whooped and hollered as Raul menaced Veronica, who radiated youthful innocence and purity, as well as terror at her plight.

They were declared the winners of the costume contest. The charity they chose to donate their winnings to was the youth program that brought inner-city kids up to the Gunflint Trail area in the summer, to give them exposure to the north woods. As Raul said from stage after they won and were thanking their judges, “Being up here changed my life. I want to share that with other city kids.”

Jared had thought to bring a video camera with him and they showed the tape to Marie the next day. She laughed, admitting she’d had a crush on Rudolph Valentino back in the day. She walked over to pat Raul on the side of the face affectionately.

Acting as if he was still in character, he got up to stand looming over her menacingly, growling, “Do you want something from me, little woman?”

Gram-Marie playfully punched him in the stomach, laughing.

“No sir! At my age I’m way more ornery than I used to be. Besides, just because I used to think that being abducted by a foreign-looking man would be exciting, doesn’t mean that I still do! Stand down, soldier.”

Raul found that he enjoyed the teasing banter she frequently shared with him. He was also pleased to note that she hadn’t directly called him Rall for a long time.

The filming continued until the middle of November. Jared announced they were done two weeks before Thanksgiving. He was heading back to California to get to work on the editing, and he told his lead actors to make themselves available to him, in case he needed them to dub in any dialogue or get into costume for publicity pictures. Kelly left for her west coast home as soon as she was free to go. Raul tried to put off leaving as long as possible. Finally he had to leave when Jared called him at Veronica’s and ordered him back to LA to consult on some of the scenes.

Raul promised to return soon, and Veronica promised to miss him and wait for him. But neither of them had expected the intensity of the pain and longing that being apart created in them. They spoke on the phone every night, and though they both agreed that phone sex was a very poor substitute for real sex, at least it was something they could share. They racked up enormous long-distance bills as they shared fantasies and panted through the phone at each other.

Veronica was busy mass-producing pumpkin pies to fill the orders she had taken at the local Arts and Crafts Fair when Gram-Marie told her that as soon as she was done, she should get on home and get ready for her birthday celebration that was to take place in the dining room at the resort. Since her birthday was always the twenty-third of November, sometimes it was on Thanksgiving Day, sometimes it was close to it. The family had always celebrated her birthday during their Thanksgiving feast.

“Get on home, girl! I’ll get the pies out of the oven! And I’ll have them boxed and ready to be picked up when their buyers get here. I’ll give Laura the list and she can check off their names as they get their pies. But you have been working non-stop to get so much of the dinner prepped, that you need time for a long soak in your tub. Go home and relax a bit before our dinner tonight!”

“But Gram-Marie, the turkey is…”

“I don’t need your help with the bird, girl! Go! I don’t want to see you until you show up here later, all dressed up and ready to party.”

Veronica knew her grandmother well enough to know there wasn’t any point to arguing. So she trudged out the door and got into her truck. As she drove along the road that led to her house, she saw an unfamiliar car in her driveway. Her heart started to pound as she got closer and saw the rental car plates. She parked next to it, hurried out of her truck and almost ran around the corner of the house. Once she saw him standing on her dock, she did run…straight into the arms of her man!

Raul caught her as she threw herself onto him. There was a flurry of arms hugging and caressing, their lips glued themselves to each other and the only sounds were their moans of pleasure at being together, and frustration at all of the clothing they both wore.

“Into the house—
now
, Nica! I need to be naked with you!” Raul murmured in her ear, while his hands roamed under her sweater.

“Yes, oh yes!” She replied as she let go of him long enough to turn and stride rapidly up to her front door, into her house.

Raul’s homecoming was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. It was all of his wildest dreams of belonging and being loved, all come true.

They made love multiple times, taking the time to
soak in the tub
, on Gram-Marie’s orders, Veronica noted with a smile. They were pleased to oblige. Later as they got dressed, Raul cleared his throat to get her attention.

“What?” Veronica asked as she buttoned her blouse, looking up questioningly at him.

“I…uh…have some presents for you, birthday girl. Some of them I will give you at the family party, but the other one will have to wait until we get back here later.”

Veronica giggled. “Didn’t you already give me what I really wanted? You back here with me and in my bed for at least a few nights?”

He smiled and nodded, “Yes, but I’ve been fantasizing about you wearing sexy lingerie for me. I had to get some silky things that I can’t wait to chew off of you! But that’s not the kind of thing I want you to open in front of your family…” He blushed slightly.

“Why Raul Ricardo Rodriguez…I do believe you’re blushing!” She began to run her hand down his naked chest, fondling and enjoying the feel of him under her fingers as he looked sheepish.

“Wait’ll you see what I got you…you’ll know why I’m blushing at the thought of Gram-Marie seeing what a pervert I really am.”

“Ooh! Does it involve fur-lined handcuffs and leather?”

He smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see…”

“Now I really can’t wait to get back later!”

They pulled closer for a passionate kiss, before they resumed getting ready.

* * * *

Raul felt like he was walking into his favorite dream when they got to the resort. Everyone was happy to see him and he was treated like family.

Marie even insisted he lower his head enough for her to kiss him, to welcome him back. After her quick kiss, she whispered loudly to him, “Did it work, Rall? Was she surprised that you were there? I tried not to give anything away!”

Raul’s eyes filled with tears as he realized he no longer cared that the matriarch of the family always mispronounced his name. In fact, he was going to regard it as an expression of endearment from then on.

Once dinner was eaten and people were leaning back in their chairs, claiming to need time to digest before pie, it was time for the traditional presentation of gifts to Veronica. She got some humorous gifts, a few gift cards, and especially appreciated was a certificate for some work she needed to have done on her truck, from her brother Keith. When all of the others were done giving presents to the birthday girl, Raul reached into his jacket pocket and gave a sealed envelope to Veronica.

She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. His face reflected only love at her as he smiled, telling her, “Open it.”

She tore the envelope open and read the card, her eyes tearing up as she read. She was looking at two smaller envelopes. The first one held a round-trip plane ticket for her to fly out to California in December.

“I know you are close to your family, but I’ll be doing publicity for the movie, so I won’t be able to get out here. I’d love it if you come out to stay with me for Christmas.”

She smiled and nodded. The second envelope held a picture. She showed it to him questioningly.

“That’s your new canoe, honey. It’s being stored just up the road, at a place that Tom recommended.”

“A canoe?”

“Uh huh. Your kayak only seats one, and I like to go out on your lake fishing with you. So now you can keep this one tied to your dock and we’ll be able to head out anytime you want.”

Everyone looked away, smiling, when Raul leaned over to kiss Veronica…a light brush of their lips that deepened into a more passionate expression of their feelings.

“That’s enough, you two! No more sucking face here! This is a family gathering!” Marie was smiling to make it obvious she was only pretending to be upset.

The rest of the night was spent talking, laughing and telling stories. Some games were played, pie was eaten, coffee was consumed, and the celebration of family went on long into the night.

It was well after midnight when Raul was finally able to get Veronica to leave. Keith and his wife had already taken their young children home, so they weren’t the first to leave. And despite the lateness of the hour, Raul still gave Veronica his last present. She was so excited that he thought of her as being that sexy, that she immediately put on the lingerie and they continued to celebrate being together again well into the wee hours of the night.

* * * *

A week later, Hank Maynard’s life story came alive on the big screens out in Hollywood and around the country. For the first time in her life, Veronica watched the celebrity shows as they lingered lovingly on the clothing and great bodies of the stars of the greatly-anticipated premier. She watched as Raul waved at the cameras, smiling his high-voltage, movie-star-smile that was as engaging as it was empty. She felt herself smiling back at him, but hugged herself knowing that when he smiled for her, it had real meaning for him. This was just another part of his job.

When he took the arm of his co-star to walk the red carpet into the movie theater and kissed her cheek to the delight of his fans, she felt only a momentary twinge of jealousy. Then she reminded herself that he’d never touched that woman’s naked body without thirty fully dressed movie crew folks watching, as Jared directed him what to touch and for how long.

When they exited the theater, the show’s hosts were almost apoplectic in their excitement over the film they’d just experienced. Words were bandied about including,
Breath-taking! Oscar-quality! An experience not to be missed! His best work ever! The role of a lifetime! Her too! Who knew?

She smiled to herself. “I’ll have to go see it when it hits town.”

And indeed she did, because Jared sent a special copy of it to the only movie theater close enough for the people of Grand Marais to go see it. He also bought out the house, so that everyone who could fit into the theater saw it for free. There was laughter and excitement, along with tears for the tender moments, as they all witnessed the tragedy and glory of a life well-lived. When the last scene was done, there was silence for a long moment, before the clapping started. The theater was soon filled with stomping and wildly cheering people, who were thrilled to have seen a masterpiece of film-making, set in the town they all knew and loved.