The Virgin Queen Lesbian Story : Landry and Celeste Summer in Marseille

01: Celeste & Landry

01: Celeste and Landry

A/N: Landry's Internal dialogue is bold and italicized.

Celeste stepped outside the sliding doors at Marseille-Provence Airport. She wore cream-colored, light summer pants, sandals, and a green blouse that made her hazel eyes shift in color toward a warm emerald shade. She could immediately smell and taste the salty sea in the warm Mediterranean air. Her body shook slightly with memory, love, and sorrow. She took a settling breath and pulled her tortoiseshell, Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses from her thick, layered auburn-brown hair. They had been holding strands of hair at bay. Once she positioned them on her face, her hair shifted and danced around her neck and shoulders. The summer sun would bring out the red highlights and lighten some wisps toward golden.

Celeste spent most of her childhood summers in Marseille, running barefoot by the water and the docks. Over the years she transformed her seaside, girl-next-door look to a savvy and city chic. But, a person didn't have to look long or hard to see that the sea-side beauty was still there. Layered in her eyes and echoing in her smile. At 28 Celeste was more than just an attractive woman. Now that her look was stylish and cosmopolitan, it magnified her beauty differently. She looked "finished" and trendy, her youth shined through in genuine and subtle ways. It served her well as a young event planner working for Or Entertainment out of Paris.

Celeste was loaded down with a large hard-sided suitcase, a matching carry-on, and a stuffed shoulder bag. Normally she would navigate to her grandparent's family home by train. But given she was transporting so many bags, containing most of her worldly clothing and goods, she opted for an car and driver that would drop her feet from the home in the 7th district. As she rode in silence she watched the familiar city pass outside the windows and her mind flooded with childhood memories.

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Enzo paced nervously in his home. Hugo and Bianca sat out on the terrace. They arrived from Lyon two days prior and accompanied him to see the family physician. Now, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, they waited for Celeste and enjoyed the views of the city and the sea from the 2nd-floor terrace. Enzo murmured to himself, "Where is mon Trésor (my Treasure)?" His son had already begun to irritate him and he wanted Celeste to arrive and buffer their sometimes stiff interactions.

He glanced toward Hugo and grimaced. Hugo seemed attached to his mobile phone, unwilling to break from the texts, emails, and phone calls. Hugo's new wife, while polite, seemed to have the same attachment to her phone. Bianca could not compare to his first daughter-in-law Sophie, but to her credit did not attempt to. Enzo sighed at the thought of Sophie and Celeste, both women shared the common characteristics of a warm smile and sparkling eyes. After Sophie died of cancer Enzo found that he saw less and less of both Hugo and his beloved granddaughter Celeste. The first summer Celeste decided not to return to Marseille, Enzo wept unashamed in his quiet home. Slowly, she faded from his life and now he saw her only occasionally.

The subtly fragile man looked out the large, floor to ceiling, glass windows. His gaze landed and settled on the terrace. He loved his son, when Hugo was younger he had wanted him to stay in Marseille and continue with the family business. But for reasons Enzo still could not understand, Hugo held a degree of disdain for the successful, albeit small specialty shop in Old Port. Enzo's legacy had long catered to both locals and tourists but he feared it would die with him. Hugo was smart and ambitious and expressed clearly to his father that he would not be happy in Marseille running the small shop. That it was "beneath" him. As soon as the opportunity presented itself Hugo left and met both his first and his second wife as he pursued an education and career in International Supply Chain.