Chapter 20 Family Life
Living in our new bungalow with our children was fantastic, it took us a short while, that when either of our children woke up, the other would follow, in my mind, children only cry for three reasons, 1) they are hungry, 2) they are wet, and 3) they are not very well, with William and Rose, the first two were very easy to deal with, but number 3 seemed a little more of a problem, and being twins, our two youngsters felt each other's symptoms, so if one woke up hungry, the other would wake up as well, but we soon got things sorted and life became although a sort of ritual, it was one we both enjoyed and were happy to tolerate.
One thing the children did enjoy, was going off in the campervan, their bed was in the roof with a special net to stop them falling out, we bought a double buggy for them and when on site, would wheel them everywhere, with me pushing the buggy and Anna's arm in mine, or her hand on mine on the handles of the buggy, we looked like a very happy family, and we were.
As the weeks and months passed and our children grew, we did things around our home, we had a long back garden, so at the bottom, I made a chicken run, on the grass, then let the grass grow for a month before acquiring a dozen egg layers, I also put in a food hopper that would last for two weeks and a water dispencer that would last the same amount of time, and on those nice summer evenings with the children in there bed, Anna and I would sit in our concervitory together watching our chicken enjoy a life of relitive freedom, and as we were getting on average 9 eggs a day, things felt very good, we were even giving some of our neighbours half a dozen a week, but the twins did love there eggs and would have boiled eggs and soldiers at least a couple of times a week, so all in all, life was good, I had my own greenhouse and veg plot where I planted carrots,potatoes,runner beans and peas. In the greenhouse, I had tomato plants and cubumber plants, Anna loved her tomatoes, and I loved cheese and cucumber sandwiches, so there was satisfaction all round.
In the October, we went back to Malta, we had been sent a letter from the hotel manager offering us a two week holiday with a 20% discount, I wrote streight back with a cheque saying thank you, Anna had already added William and Rose to her passport, so we could go to abroad at any time. I rang Malta Airlines and arranged the flight, and again was told, if I could pay over the phone, I would get a dicount of 30%. By October the twins were almost walking, Rose seemed to be a little ahead in that regard, but I think William was a little lazy, Rose liked to push the buggy, and William was more than happy to be pushed around by his sister.
So at the end of October Anna the twins and myself found ourselves once again at Bristol Airport, it was early morning and very cold, I drove to the terminal, dropped off my family then headed for the long stay car park. Parking up, I pulled the spesial switch on the battery, that would close down everything, including the clock, picked up a parking ticket which I put into my wallet and then heasded back to my wife and children, once in the terminal building we joined the rest of the Malta croud, not that there were many, again it was in the middle of term time, so there were no children apart from ours. With the cases gone and the buggy we all headed for the departure lounge, and once settled, I bought Anna and I a coffee each while we waited for our flight to be called.
The flight to Malta was faily smooth, a little bit bumpy on take off and getting above the cloud, but once we were into clear blue skies, everything was fine. We sat the twins in the window seat, it was big enough for the pair of them, then with Anna sat in the middle seat and me in the isle seat we tried to enjoy the flight and keep an eye on the twins. Once in the air, Anna took the inflight bag and headed for the bathroom, she returned some ten minutes later with a couple of bottles of milk for William and Rose, she had also removed her trousers and was wearing a new and very smart skirt that stopped a good 4 inches above the knee, as she sat beside me I had to say it. "Darling you are looking sexier that ever". I placed my hand on her knee and started to let my fingers crawl there way north, but Anna closed he knees on my fingers saying. "Michael love, save it for later, here". she handed me the two bottles of milk. Give these to your children they are due to be fed". I did as asked, we put the small table down and Anna produced two egg sandwiches for them that they both ate as well as drinking there milk, Anna and I had the inflight meal and the coffee, the twins saw the cake we had as our sort of pudding and took it upon themselves to demand that they should have it, as theres, perents, we did the only thing we could, share and share alike, I cut both pieces of cake and we all had half each.
We got into Luqa Airport at around 11am and once on the coach made our way to the Crown Hotel, we were in a group of around 18 couples for the hotel, and by the time we had sorted the luggage and set the buggy up, we again were the last in line, Looking around, I saw that nothing had changed, yes the main lobby had had a fresh coat of paint, but apart from that all looked the same. Getting to the desk the girl seemed to recognise us. "Mr and Mrs Palmer, how nice to have you back with us, we have put you into your old room, and have put two cots into room 302 so that with the conecting door you can keep an eye on". she looked down at the two little figures in the buggy smiling back at her. "Your two lovely children". It was then that we heard anouther familiar voice. "Mr Palmer". It was the manager, we shook hands. "Mrs Palmer". he then kissed Anna on both cheeks, he looked at me saying. "I hope we are good friends, yes." I nodded. "Good friends". I said. "By the way, hows business". He looked at us both with a smile on his face. "Business is very good, we are booked solid until next year, 300 rooms, 298 always full most of the time". "Hang on". I said. "300 rooms and only 298 being used, why is that". "Mr Palmer, room 301 and 302 are your rooms, we keep them for you always, your story is told to everyone who comes to the Crown. You and your wife, your story is the romace of the hotel, people come to look at your room, to wonder and speculate, but we tell everyone, you did get married and you have a family, a miracle for love, and a miracle for anyone who needs it. People come to this hotel to find what you both found, even married couples having problems come to the Crown, they ask to see room 301, they step inside, touch the bed, and its almost as though, what ever you have, is somehow passed onto them, its amazing, people come here with worries, problems and sorrows, but they all leave after a week or 14 days with smiles on there faces, the worries are gone, the problems vanish and the sorrow just seem to dissapear. My staff, as you know are a dedicated team who served you in your hour of need, now they serve others in the same way. Even Henry has served meals to people in there rooms, and I am sorry, but Mr Palmer the password is the same, Peddler. You two people have bought this hotel much fortune, and as long as I am the manager, you will both be welcome with open arms, and rooms 301 and 302 are yours at anytime of the year".
Anna and I stayed in Malta for a month, we went to Gozo twice, we even made love in the boathouse while the twins slept close by, Anna had been very cheeky, one of the pairs of panties I had bought for her the Christmas before were kind of extra sexy, and as I had said to her, now that she was my wife, I did not want her going around without wearing panties, like she did the first time in Malta when she said she would dress apropreatly for the boathouse, as I said. "We were not married, and what we were doing at the time was having fun, even though we werte fallong in love as well. but now that you are my wife I want you in panties all day, everyday except in our bed". so anyway in the boathouse this time Anna had put on these very sexy panties, so that when she whispered to me. "Michael my darling, I want you to smash open those bank doors band fill that vault". I as the dutiful husband did just that. Malta soon became our second home, and thoughout the years we went back many times, as the twins grew and started to go to school, then we made the trips during the school holidays, and once the twins decided to do there own thing, Anna and I still went back on our own, we had a good routine, which involved Gozo the boathouse cheesecakes and coffee, and everything in between.
Epilogue
Anna and Mike have now been married for over 30 years, the love is still very strong and there lives together are concidered by everyone who knows them and there story as a story of sorrow to total joy. William and Rose both followed in there fathers footsteps and joined the Royal Navy even serving on the same ship together, they are both career people, but both William and Rose married service personnel and are still planning to stay put until they have done there full time.Rose lives in Devonport and William lives just outside of Portsmouth.
As for the campervan, that has been replaced by a newer model, still automatic, and Anna is still waiting for Michael to show her what sports mode means. But they love each other and that is what this story is all about. And at weekends, Anna and Mike jump into the campervan and head for there favourite site next to Trago Mills and enjoy the piece and quiet, good food and a smooch on the dancefloor on a Saturday night.
A love story that can be seen the world over, every country has one, and this is ours.
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