When Zdenka, Ivy’s mom called us in Tuesday from the hospital crying heavily and saying that Marko passed away, my Ivy, Prince and I rushed to the hospital. We were in great shock and we couldn’t believe it, but when we saw him laying covered with white sheet in the hospital morgue my Ivy and I couldn’t stop crying. My mom and dad also came and we all cried. Zdenka said that he didn’t feel well and she gave him the pill, but his condition didn’t change on better. It was worse from minute to minute and she called paramedics. They took him to the hospital, but it was too late. He died in the emergency car. Since it is very hot and keeping him in the hospital morgue cost a lot of money Zdenka arranged the funeral in Thursday morning in the family tomb where Marko’s parents were buried. My boss gave us three days off for grieving. Our family, relatives, friends and colleagues collected the money for funeral. (You certainly don’t want to die and be buried in our country. It’s fucking too expensive even with minimal costs).

My Ivy couldn’t stop crying. My Prince and I tried everything to comfort her, but we couldn’t. We spent all day with her and her mom at her house in Wednesday. My parents were also there trying to comfort Zdenka. They both had to take sleeping pills so they can sleep. My Prince and I were awoken almost all night, cuddling her and kissing her sympathizing with her lose. Although Marko and Zdenka weren’t believers she hired Roman Catholic priest for burial ceremony in Thursday. It’s the custom. Many friends, distant relatives and neighbors came to the funeral. Boss and his wife, Antonio and the guys were there too. The funeral ceremony wasn’t long. Some 30 minutes because it was very hot. I couldn’t believe how much my Ivy became “Princelike”. She stood on fair distance from Marko’s tomb. She couldn’t watch his casket and my Prince held her in his arms while she heavily cried. When his body was placed in the grave, we heard her crying: “I caaaan’t ….. Take me home, nooooow!!!!” My Prince took her home. When I arrived home I saw my Ivy kicking the kick bag with her elbows, fists and legs very hard while my Prince hold the bag. She needed to steam off; to let all the grief and anger out of her heart. For those who doesn’t know: my Ivy didn’t have good relationship with her parents until she met my Prince. Thanks to him she learned to respect, love and value the family. She changed on better. It is interesting that although she was sad for her lose, she didn’t skip our morning and evening routine and martial arts training with my Prince. On contrary, she became even more zealous. I hugged her and kissed her saying I love her very much. She did the same to me and three of us took the shower, had quick sex and went to the funeral feast in Zdenka’s house. (My mom and dad, B.W., Fran and Prince organized all for the funeral feast ordering meals from our Hotel). We all talked about him and when my mom said that she loved Marko and his dirty mouth and that she will miss slapping him and pulling his ear, we all laughed and cried in the same time. My mom and Marko had special relationship. He loved to tease her and he never resent her when she slapped him or pulled his ear. They were like brother and sister. Everyone said something nice about him and I can tell you, Marko was very loved. My dad will miss him very much for they were buddies spending the whole days together. We all gonna miss him. We helped Zdenka and my mom to clean the house after the funeral feast. My Ivy wasn’t depressed and deeply sad any more. We took our clothes off and jumped in the sea and had sex. After that we had our evening routine. Laying on the air mattress, Ivy laid on the top of my Prince and kissing his face all over she thanked him for being her support at the funeral and watched on her. My Prince teased her saying:

- I did it because I love you, Ivy. I was only concerned about one thing.

Ivy: What’s that, honey?

Prince: Knowing that you are one crazy witch I was afraid you will fuck me on somebody’s tomb.

We both blasted in laughter and showered him with kisses and “love yous”. Although my Prince joked about it for he thinks he didn’t do anything extraordinary, it was very natural for him to comfort her and strengthen her for he lost several loved people and he knew how she felt. My Ivy didn’t need anyone by her side except my Prince. Not me, not her mom, not Antonio, but him. He helped her to embrace her lose and overcome it. That speaks a lot how much she needs him, relay on him and loves him.

When Zdenka came to our house this morning for a coffee with us it was very strange. We expected to see Marko with her. We were sad when we realized he isn’t coming. My parents and Fran came too, few minutes later. Zdenka said she has to talk to us. She said that when Marko was alive she was busy taking care for him and the house. Since he is gone, she has nothing to do and she don’t want to “seat at home” doing nothing till the rest of her life. She said she will break the contract with the tourist agency that she hired for renting their villa and she will return to active tourism again. She was doing it all her life since she married Marko. She will rent her house to the foreigners and she will move to villa. She will try to go into partnership with owners of two villas in the neighborhood too and get the percentage for filling their villas with guests, cleaning and maintenance. We didn’t oppose her for she is hard worker and we knew she likes to do it. We said we support her but she would need a help. When my dad and mom said they will join her and help her (re)starting the family business for free because they have very good pensions and don’t need the money, Zdenka thanked them and accepted.

We were all surprised when Ivy said that if she does that, she will quit her job at the Hotel and help her too. Although Zdenka opposed her idea very strongly, she was persistent. Zdenka hugged her, kissed her and said that she appreciates her wish to help, but she should stay at the Hotel. My dad supported her and he asked me Prince what he thinks about it. He said that he supports Ivy's desire to help the family and if he is needed too, he would resign and help the family business. My dad looked at them, smiled and said:

- Children …. No offense but you two aren’t needed in villa because you can’t help us, not with qualities and skills you have. Zdenka and Nada will do all the cleaning and stuff while I will do repairs and building maintains. So far, three of us are sufficient. During the summer season we’ll hire professional maids and cleaners for part time job. We wouldn’t mind you to join us if there is a need for you, but since there isn’t, you do what you do the best: stay in the Hotel and help Boss. He needs you more than we do. He is a family too. Helping him, you are helping the family. We only need to figure out how to bring the guests between winter and summer seasons.

Our moms and I supported my dad’s words. Seeing that he was right, they said they’ll stay working in the Hotel.

I felt they I might jump in and help the family. Unlike my Prince and Ivy, I have all needed qualifications. I said that I will quit my job and join them because they will need me if they want to expand the business. Everyone opposed me very strongly. They said it is madness to leave such excellent carrier as mine. We had very loud family quarrel until I stood up and silenced them saying:

- I want you to stop and listen to me now. You know very well that Ivy and me never appreciated the value of the family until we met my Prince. He taught us that the family is most important in the whole world; more than carrier, more than power and glory and all riches of the world …… You’ll need my help if you want to expand the business over whole year. I know people, I have contacts, I know the law, I know book keeping and many other administrative work. I will quit my job whether you like it or not because I love you and I care for you. You are my family and my duty is to help you. Having great carrier as mine is a blessing but when it comes to the family, it is irrelevant. Boss can survive without me and he can easily find my replacement, but you can’t! Not if you want to expand the business and make your income higher without extra expenses.

After my speech they accepted my decision.

My Fran was silent all the time. When our parents left to help Zdenka to pack Marko’s clothes and some other things to the charity, Fran said to us:

- Princess, Ivy, Prince …….. do you see me as your family?

We said we do. He continued:

- In that case, I’m quitting my job at the Hotel too. I want to work for you.

I opposed him very strongly saying that he’s talking nonsense, that he advanced in his carrier and that I won’t let him ruin it. When I finished he calmly said:

- Princess, you know I’m not ambitious. The job I had in the Hotel satisfied me only because of you. I loved you as my younger sister since the first day you started to work in the Hotel and I enjoyed working with you ……. You will need my help in villa. You will need someone who will do web page for you, who will advertise you, who will organize all the things that guests might like and need. You need assistant who speaks Italian, French and German. I don’t care about the amount of wage. All I want is to be with you and work for and with my family which is you.

My Fran disarmed me and melted me. I looked at my Prince and Ivy and they smiled saying he’s right. Indeed, he is very skilled in many areas and his skills are needed. He will fulfill areas that I’m weak. I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek and I said that I will talk to Zdenka about it. After that, we decided to go to the Hotel and talk to our boss. We were all very concerned how he’s gonna receive our news.

When we arrived at the Hotel, Lidija, Tina and many others who weren’t at the funeral expressed their condolence to us. We knocked on the boss’s office door and when he invited us in, he was very surprised to see us. I told him that we came to talk with him. Oh, my …. It was so hard to tell him the news and my eyes filled with tears. I told him what we talked about as the family this morning. He listened to me and I could see sadness and tears in his eyes. When I finished I expected to hear how he is disappointed in me and that I turned my back on him and how his investment in me was failure. On my great surprise, he said to me after short silence:

- I would lie if I would say that I’m not sad, Eva …… (sighing) But ……. I respect your decision and I compliment your loyalty to your family …… I do not resent you because family is always at the first place …..  That’s why I’m going into earlier retirement …….. Eva, ……. What do you think …… who might be your replacement?

I said that Tina is the best solution. I named all her qualities and competences saying that she changed a lot on better. He took couple of minutes to think about it and he said that he agrees with me. But he said that his substitute from the State will be the Hotel manager for two years and she will be his first assistant. That will be enough time for her to learn the basics and gain trust. He promised that he will always send their guests to our villa if they are overbooked. Lidija will be Fran’s replacement and “ugly” old lady will be hers. He expressed his sadness again saying that he never had such excellent workers as my Fran and I and that we’ll be very missed. At the end we agreed that Fran and I will stay on our duties until the end of this summer season. He asked us if we want to have a “good bye” party but we said we rather won’t have it because we’ll be very sad and that we don’t want to cry in the front of the people. He said that he will inform workers about the changes the day we stop working for the Hotel. When we were about to go we all hugged him and sobbed. He firmly hugged my Prince and kept him in his embrace long time telling him: “I love you, my son. Thank you for staying.” My dad was right. Boss needed him more than our parents in villa for he knows my Prince will watch his back and won’t allow any irregularities in the Hotel. I’m sure I’m not wrong if I say that if my Prince also resigned and left the Hotel for good, it will break his heart. He trusts him with his life. When we said we’ll see each other in Monday, he told me to invite Tina and Lidija in his office. We went to our car and Fran stayed working.

My Ivy was incredibly happy. She was glad that she didn’t fail her mom and that she got the help she needed. She thanked me million times for sacrificing my carrier in order to help family business. I told her that I did it because I love her, prince, my parents and her mom and I repeated to her and my Prince again: “You are more important to me than my carrier and you always will be.”

Arriving at Zdenka’s house I told her all about Fran’s idea. She didn’t oppose it. On contrary, she said that it is excellent idea because she needs us both in (re)starting and expanding family business because my Fran and I are experts in different areas and we are complementing each other. She said that he can live in villa for free and participate only in living expenses. He’ll help her redecorate rooms and speak with guests who speaks Italian, French and German for he speaks it much better than me. He’ll be the receptionist who will make sure that guests have all they need. We’ll start to work on preparation for winter season right after we finish working in the Hotel. My Fran and I will share the office in villa. Boss let me keep the new laptop and the tablet I received as the gift for promotion and Fran has to return the Hotel’s laptop. He’ll use Ivy’s for the business. I’d have flexible working hours and I can work from my home too if I’m not needed in villa. Fran’s and mine wages will be minimal until our family business develop, but we don’t mind. We still have enough thanks to my Prince’s and Ivy’s high wages.

Maybe some of you think that I made bad decision and that leaving such a promising carrier, respect, reputation, authority and the wage that most of Croatians can only dream about surely is insane. Noooo, my friends, it isn’t. Not for me and my luvs. Although it came suddenly I’m happy that I will work with and for my family. If I ever learned something in my life than it is two things: love is true and real for if it isn’t, my Prince, Ivy and I won’t stay together and we wouldn’t love each other more every new day and have children. Second, family is only that matters. Friends comes and goes, carriers come and go, money comes and goes, but family stays forever. (at least in our case). You gain a lot from both only if you “invest” in them. Life changed the course of our direction once again and we’ll see where it will take us.