A Promised Fate (39 page)

We gazed in at the nursery together. Creamy ivory and
soft grey covered the walls. An oversized but somehow perfect
chandelier gleamed from the ceiling. The dark hardwood floor was
softened by a thick, shaggy and chic area rug creating a sweet but
elegant ambience. I could envision our little brown-haired child
sitting there to play one day. A plush stuffed lamb, placed with
care, sat on the cozy cushion of the rocking chair, eagerly
awaiting the arrival of its new best friend. A narrow bookcase in
the corner had been pre-filled with books that were waiting to be
read and reread. In time we would discover which of the stories
they held would become our baby’s favorite. Finally, a magnificent
cradle sat right in the center of the room where soon, I would be
placing a baby down for rest. All of our careful preparation was in
vain; our baby would never play here, likely would never sleep or
be read to in this warm space. We were leaving. The feeling was
heavy and clouded what should have been the happiest time of our
life. I could not bring myself to tell Ava about Fauna…Persephone.
Ava deserved so much more than this life. I would not allow Fauna
to bring any more darkness to what should be a perfect little
blessing. Get Ava, Max and the baby safely out of the country and
settled into a new life and then I would tell her. Only then. I was
planning our exodus from California, Dana Point, our home, family –
everything – as quickly as I could. We would leave one night with
our empty, dirty dinner plates still in the sink, our belongings
all left behind, our closets still full and no hint of where we had
gone other than one small, detail-less note left for my father to
find in his study. This note would be the only reassurance to them
that we were safe. It was the best I could offer them.

“I’m anxious, too. But I am going to miss this.” My
fingers stretched across Ava’s bare stomach. “I love seeing you
pregnant with my child. You have given me everything in life that I
have ever dreamed of, Ava. I am going to miss this baby bump, these
round rosy cheeks of yours and your glowing, expectant mother
smile.”

She smiled that smile and my heart danced.

“I am going to miss sharing chocolate sundaes with
you and candy bars, baklava, my mom’s Greek cookies and your sweet
tea, ordering numbered meals from a fast food menu…”

“You’re making me hungry.” She moaned.

“I can’t wait to see our child in your arms, Ava.
Raise a family with you.”

“I can’t wait either … but we still need a name, Ari.
This could be a girl.”

We had chosen Cal for a boy but we had yet to choose
a girl’s name. “What do you want to name her? You pick. Whatever
feels right to you will be right for me, too.”

Ava stared at the baby’s space, the crib, books, and
toys then shrugged, “I don’t know. I never thought this would be so
hard. This is more than just a name. It’s our baby. I wish I knew
more about my family and where I come from. You know so much about
your ancestors. I want to name her after someone special. I don’t
want to just pick something out of thin air like my mother
did.”

“What do you mean “out of thin air?”

“Ava Zae - my name has no meaning. My mother just
picked a name from the beginning of the alphabet and then the
end.”

My eyebrow pulled upwards in total disbelief. “That
is simply untrue, Ava.”

“Oh? And how could you possibly know?”

“Because I just know, that’s how. You are named after
your father’s great-grandmother and great, great,
great-grandmother.” I pointed to the birds flying around on her
tattooed arm. “Ava means ‘like a bird’ and your great-great
grandmother Ava was a Greek, a Moirai and she led Greeks who were
being pursued by The Kakos out of Greece and into safe homes in
America, throughout Europe, and Australia. She helped my dad’s
ancestors come over here to America, to safety. She was a strong
and brilliant woman just like you.

“Now Zae, your middle name, comes from Zadie and the
name means princess. Your great, great, great grandmother Zadie
sacrificed her life for an entire Greek village.”

Ava shifted to look over at me and I continued to
talk.

“The Kakos were hunting Zadie, The Fate from Atropos,
and they came to a village where she had been hiding. The villagers
hid her there for some time, keeping her safe. When the men
arrived, word had already come to the village and Zadie had fled;
she was no longer there. The villagers lied to the men, saying they
had not seen her, and no one would say where she was. The Kakos
were angry. They were very violent men and sent a message to Zadie
by setting every home in the village on fire. They ripped people
from their beds and pulled husbands away from their wives, babies
away from their mothers. They tortured and beat them but no one
would talk. So many died for her, it was a massacre. The Kakos
would not rest until Zadie surrendered.

“Zadie learned of what was happening at the village
and she went to the people by horseback as quickly as she could.
She rode three days through the mountains without stopping for food
or rest. Upon her arrival, she surrendered herself to The Kakos for
the villagers' lives. They took her, tied her to a stake at the top
of the hillside and stoned her to death. The village still grieves
her passing. All of their doors on their houses are painted black
in mourning, each year they have a celebration in her name and they
have an effigy of their Princess Zadie at the very top of the
hillside where she perished. She is forever there looking down on
them and keeping them safe. So Ava, to say your name has no meaning
is an abomination, it is blasphemy. You are named after two of the
greatest women to have lived before you. Your name should give you
great honor.”

“Zadie,” Ava said simply.

“Zadie?”

“That’s what I want to name our baby if she is a
girl. Zadie.”

“Then I want to name her Zadie, too.”

“Zadie…” She tasted the name on her tongue and
searched for a middle name.

“Zadie Adrianne?” I suggested, giving homage to Ava’s
father.

“No. Zadie Agatha Eleni.”

“My mom and grandmother.”

“Yes. After three very strong and brilliant
women.”

“I couldn’t possibly love that name any more than I
do.”

We looked in at the baby’s room with a mix of
emotions both sweet and sour.

Ava turned back to me. “I wish you could stay home
with us today.”

“Why? Are you feeling ok?” I asked. “Do you think you
might go into labor?”

“No, no… it’s not that, I just have a strange
feeling, that’s all. I can’t explain it. I just want you near me.”
She batted her lashes at herself. “Crazy hormones.”

“I won’t be gone long, I am running into town to do a
wire transfer, and pull out the cash from the lock boxes. I am
going to get us some burner phones so we won’t be traced and I need
to run to my office just real quick.” I needed to get my hands on
that binder that Fauna had put together for Lirik. I needed to know
all the information she had on me and Ava. “Call me if something
changes…”

She nodded. “I will.”

I rolled the hem of Ava’s over-stretched shirt
between my fingertips. “You know, Max is still sleeping and I have
a few hours before I need go...”

Ava eased into my arms and I kissed the corners of
her mouth, then her nose, her cheeks, her forehead. My scruffy face
scratched and tickled her smooth skin. I moved my lips to her ear
and she tilted her head, allowing my tongue to travel its way down
her neck. We slipped back down the hall towards our bedroom and I
shut the door tightly behind us.

Our early morning spent together was beautiful. One
more amazing memory to add to my list. Making love with Ava pulls
emotions from me that I never knew existed. The words “I love you,”
when whispered from her pink lips, cause my heart to stop, my body
to tingle and my breath to hitch in my chest. Her words are always
my undoing.

****

My fingers traced along the curvy line from Ava’s
pink mouth. We stood at the door that leads to the garage. “Thank
you for this morning.” I said into her ear and her cheeks flushed.
“Please call me if the baby decides to come early.”

“I will, of course. But he won’t. I love you, Ari. Be
safe.”

I did not want to let her go. “I love you, Baby.”

Ava turned and walked towards Max who was seated at
the table eating his breakfast.

“Love you, sweet boy!” I said to him one last time
and he blew me a sticky fingered kiss.

I left the house, double clicked the unlock button on
my car keys and opened the door to my car. My heart stopped and
then I couldn't help but give in to a relieved smile.

“Good God, Julie. How’d you get in here?”

Julia sat in the passenger seat of my car, looking
forward, and did not speak a word. She was ashen, pale and old
makeup was streaked with tear lines on her face.

“Jules? You alright? Will you finally talk to me and
tell me what is going on with you? We can fix this. Rory loves you
so much. Whatever you are doing, it won’t matter to him, he only
wants you back.”

Her chest expanded and when she exhaled, her eyes
fell closed, her bottom lip trembled and a tear slipped down her
cheek.

“Jules?” I slid into my seat and in one quick second,
my whole world changed.

Out of nowhere, a strong arm hooked around my face,
slamming my head back against the headrest, pinning me to the seat.
My mouth and nose were covered. Instinctively, I started to fight
and pull away, my body jerked forward and my fist flew behind me
and connected with the man’s skull. I punched him again and again.
I thrashed and jerked free from his vise-like grasp but a cold,
hard gun barrel was already pressed firmly in to my temple, a
silent warning telling me to stay still. My throat constricted and
oxygen fled my lungs, abandoning me in my moment of need. Blood
rushed through my veins like a deep ocean current and my heart beat
in triple time.

“Shhh.” A deep, throaty voice cautioned into my ear.
“If you make one more move like that, you’re dead. Do you
understand?”

I swallowed and nodded my head yes.

“Ok, good.” His lips were on my ear, his assured
tenor warned me that he meant business. “Listen to me very
carefully. You have two choices. I can kill you right now and then
go inside your house and kill that bitch wife of yours and that
shitty kid or you can do exactly what I say and no one will get
hurt.”

I nodded.

“Open your garage door and drive. The GPS is
programmed; if you take one wrong turn or make any fast movements,
you're dead.”

I stole a glance at Julia. Her eyes were pleading
with me to cooperate.

Fighting the tremble in my hand, I started my engine,
opened my garage door and drove away, turning exactly when and
where I was told. Fear lodged itself in the pit of my stomach as
the directions took me south away from Dana Point. I stared
straight ahead at the roadway but my mind raced trying desperately
to piece together what was happening.

“Julie… Julie, what is going on? What do they want?”
I whispered to keep from screaming.

“Ari.” Her eyes never stopped looking straight ahead.
“Just
please
. Please do what they say. Ok? You will be fine
if you just do what they tell you to do.”

“Tell me what the hell is going on!” I screamed at
her and the gun barrel was shoved deeper into the side of my
head.

“Please calm down.” Her voice broke.

“I cannot calm down, Julia! What is this?”

“I would do anything for you. Ok? Remember that. Look
at me.” She turned to face me and I met her eyes.

“I would do anything for you. I’m on your side. I
love you, Ari. I love Ava. We will get through this. Just please
trust me. Put your trust in
us
.” She turned her hand over in
her lap, palm side up and brushed the diamond bangle bracelet up
her arm with her shirt sleeve and exposed her small, inky black
tattoo. An X circled with an O was stamped on her pale flesh.

My jaw dropped and in the same instant she quickly
ripped the bracelet back in place, hiding the permanent ink. Her
eyes screamed at me to shut up.

The GPS had me turn onto a road that leads to a
beachside national park. I was acutely aware of two other people in
the car -- the man with the gun...and Fauna. I could smell her. I
could feel her glee.

“Pull over.” The man said and moved the gun from my
temple and pressed it into the back of my head. One wrong move and
this would be an execution and Ava and Max would be next. I eased
my car over to the side of a narrow, abandoned, weather-eroded
seaside road that was nestled on a jagged cliff side.

“Shut off the engine.”

I nodded and turned the key.

“What do you want?”

“You know what
I
want.” Fauna leaned forward
from the back seat and put her lips on my ear, she sucked on my ear
lobe, causing my stomach to heave with disgust. I pulled back and
she clamped her teeth down. “You are mine and I want you, Ari. And
if you want your wife, kid and baby to live, you’ll give me exactly
what I want whenever I want it.”

I slammed my head into Fauna’s temple and pulled back
out of the arm of the man who held my face. I heard the click from
the hammer of the gun. Julia screamed, “Ari! Just do it! Join
them!” The man holding the gun reached across the back seat with
his free hand and jerked Julia’s head back by a fist full of her
hair.

“Shut your fucking little mouth, you stupid bitch.”
He cursed into her ear.

“Ari, just do it!” She screamed at me. “Don’t fight
it. You’ll all die.”

He threw her face forward, smashing her nose into the
dashboard of my car before she could say another word. She went
limp on impact and a trickle of blood seeped out from her nose and
dark red droplets stained the carpeted floorboard.