Chapter 43: St. Croix

The private jet that Katie rented for most of us could accommodate eighteen passengers plus a generous amount of luggage. The plane was pretty full of toys, baby gear and diapers, luggage, and ten adults: Mel, Katie, Tracy, Devon, Mackenzie, Helen, Ivy Loverly (the new nanny-tutor that I’d just met), Gary, Troy, and me; plus the five children – Ashley, Catrice, Meghan, Charlotte, and Taylor. There were also the two pilots.

A week earlier, I’d chuckled about our Christmas. Almost everything gifted between us had something to do with either the baby or our imminent trip to St. Croix for three months – clothing, bathing suits and bikinis, sun hats, aloe, and more. We’d also shipped a dozen boxes of things to the island, including still more baby stuff and toys for the four children, plus two boxes related to the older children’s continuing education while on the island.

This was the first flight for each of the five children and the three older ones were hyped up over the event. There’d even been toy airplanes at Christmas to help get them used to the idea of flying and planes. They were seasoned flyers by the end of the three-hour-thirty-minute flight. Meghan and Catrice fell asleep about the time we reached our cruising altitude, probably due to the drone of the jet engines. Ashley had her nose glued to a window the entire trip, and asked about a thousand questions about flying and everything going on. The pilots let her come into the cockpit for fifteen minutes while they explained a lot of things to her: altimeters, the controls, the landing gear switch, the radar and flight map system, and so on.

When she returned to sit with me, she announced, “I want to be a pilot.” Plain and simple. She was enthralled with the whole concept of a plane getting into air and going from one place to another, the instruments, the navigation, ... everything.

We were met at the St. Croix airport by the three sedans and two Jeeps that we requested for our stay. We divided ourselves up among the vehicles, made sure all the luggage made it to one car or another, and then used GPS to caravan for the thirty-minute drive to the new villa. The roads certainly left a lot to be desired.

The environment was lush and tropical, and very different from dull and drab Columbus. There were palm trees – a first to see in real life for the kids. We arrived at the sprawling two-story villa about four p.m. When we left Columbus, the temperature had been fifteen, the wind was blowing about 20 knots, and the sky was gray with the possibility of snow. The weather at the villa was severe clear, the temperature was eighty-five, and only a very light trade wind graced the air.

Pulling into the circular driveway at the villa, I was blown away by what we’d rented. The two-story home with a single-story wing looked spectacular. The structure had a Mediterranean style, but wasn’t at all tacky as so many of that style were. It was grand but not pretentious.

We were met by Milza, the maid, housekeeper and general helper, and Analee, the cook and also a general helper. They would be working for us during our stay and were very pleasant women native to the island. They helped us bring the luggage into the ‘Great Room’ for sorting out. Because Gary, Troy, and I had ‘brawn’, we were tasked with distributing the suitcases and bags to various rooms. Katie had made room assignments.

There were ten bedrooms upstairs with a majestic staircase leading up to them and arriving about in the middle of the upper hallway for the rooms. At each end of the hallway were two master suites. I noted that in our assigned suite, Katie had arranged for a ‘super’ king-size bed to accommodate the four of us: Mel, Katie, Tracy, and me – if that was where we slept – and we weren’t joined by too many others.

Along each side of the bedroom hallway were three other bedrooms – front and back facing, each with a smaller ensuite bath, but beautifully decorated and appointed. Each room had a king bed in it. The rooms facing the water also had a wide balcony running the length of the house and looking down on the pool and patio, and providing shade over part of the patio.

Below the bedroom wing was a large and modern living room and dining area. A separate kitchen was nearer the resplendent two-story foyer. A one-story wing ran off from the foyer in the other direction, but also faced out mostly towards the water and patio. That area held a windowless media room, a den with two large desks, and then a laundry, a storeroom, utilities, and a four-car garage. I know I missed some of the rooms and I’d prowl around more later.

Milza and Analee had expected us, and had a Caribbean seafood stew for dinner. The smell underlined the word delicious. I noted that the long table was set for all of us. I knew the kids would eat earlier than the adults, and passed that message along to the two servants that came with the house. I was not used to being waited on, so I was careful in what I said and how I said it. I didn’t want to insult anybody. I did learn that they would both leave the house after dinner was cleared away, to return in late morning to tend to lunch and house maintenance and cleaning. They would leave us the fixings for breakfast unless we wanted to bring on a third person to cover that meal. We decided we could handle one meal a day on our own.

The three older kids saw the large pool, and that settled what they’d be doing for the next hour or so before dinner. Ivy got the kids organized in their assigned bedroom and in their bathing suits. She also appeared in a bright yellow bikini that was probably illegal in all fifty states. I curtailed my gawking, but barely. I didn’t think a forty-year-old woman could look so good. Mel caught me checking out the nanny, poked me in the side, and laughed. She whispered to me, “I’d like to get in there too, so keep that in mind.”