Free A Jewel in the Sun by Laura Lee McIntosh Page A

even though she doted on him and he , on her.
    A stickler for traditions, his family and all of its mandate rested on his shoulder. It was a responsibility that he took very seriously. Ever since his assumption of the reigns of the publishing company, it has quadrupled in profits as well as not only did it span all of Europe but it was almost a household name in the Americas and the South Pacific sea . In addition, its focus had expanded to coffee houses.
    He was completing the last of his quarterly report when the phone to his private line rang. He picked it up with a feeling of abode. As he listened to the message being relayed, there was no visible change in his intensely brooding expression.  The only sign to indicate the weight of the message was the tick and the clenching of his jaw. He rested the phone down abruptly and slammed his fist down on the desk.
     
    Gastron hit the intercom, instructed his secretary to make the arrangement for his trip. The secretary  see the familiar brewing of the infamous temper knew to thread softly. There were some calls that were not to be left up to his PA. He called his mere, wait for her to finished her tirade and then Gastron calmly told her that he would be out of the country. He wouldn’t  be the perceptive man he was if he hadn’t heard the hitch in her breath. However, his mind was to other –centered. The hour that it took for the chauffer to maneuver his way through the traffic to Charles De Gaulle Airport was lost on Gastronomy as he plotted the trap for his unsuspecting nemesis.
    Promising to be in contact, Gastronomy strode purposely toward the checking in counter oblivious to the females that inclined themselves in his path as well as the not so subtle of the counter agent. So focused was he on the questions circulating in his head, he almost did not hear the sound of his cellular.
    “ Alo ”, he said abruptly.
    “ Oui , c’est Jules at je cannais il long temp, main nous avez vrai dans location  counia . Nous avez il dossier. Je vas vous il toude suite.”
    The conversation ended abruptly. Gastron open his brief case attached the portable print
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
    She didn’t want to wake up. It was hard to open one’s eyes to the reality of loss. It seemed as if the lids of the eyes were to remain closed, then ugly realities would be kept at bay. It was easier to pretend that it had neve r occurred. Even with eyes shut , the tears seeped out of her closed lids and soaked the pill ow. Azolee had no one to help share the pain, no one who would understand. This excrutiating pain was private and it was overwhelming in its completeness. No bandage or medicinal could be applied. It had to run its course, only made had a chance at being the healer. She understood that life was like this. She had lost her best friend and closest ‘ relative ’ Nana. Nana had taken her over and had treated as her own daughter. Now Nana was gone and s he was alone in the world.
    Nana. Her Nana. Nana whose name she later learned was Anna Marie, formerly of Gelle France had finally succumbed to a cardiocvascular cancer that according to doctors, should have taken her life thirty years ago. Nana, still beautiful in her latter years, struck a tall, gaunt, fragile, yet elegant figure. Her fine boned structure and lightly lined skin were a product of excellent genes and an abundant love of life. This still beautiful woman had been the nearest thing that she had to a mother, after her own mother had died while Azolee was just two years. She barely remembered the woman who had been Nana’s house keeper and friend.
    It had been Nana who had given her a love for all things natural. She absolutely loved the aqua blue ocean that surrounded these islands. Daily she would wake up around five thirty to welcome the rooster’s crow and later the beautiful sunrise whose rays would warm and later tan her already golden skin. Her knowledge of indigenous plants and animals and her