A Promised Fate (7 page)

“You always cried when Piggy died.”

She smiled at me and then paused. “Yes, I did -- poor
Piggy. You fixed me, Ari. You took every damaged and broken piece
of me and made me better. You made me whole again. I owe you.”

“You don’t --”

“We grew older and the stories stopped.”

My eyes closed at her words.

“You kissed me under that bed, Ari … every night. You
had sex with me under there. We turned into adults together. You
told me things I know you’ve never told her. You told
me
,
Ari, remember? I know
who
you are. I loved you. You told
her
you never loved me but … I know you did. I know you
still do love me, too. You would do anything for me … even now. And
I will do anything for you, too.” She picked at the small, dirty
Band-Aid on her wrist.

“Julia, we shouldn’t be talking about our past
together. This is inappropriate. If you need to talk with me, come
by my office. I’m free for lunch on Monday. We can talk then.” A
breath pushed heavily from my lungs. “I know what I told you in the
past, but who I
am
does not matter. My bond is with Ava.
Only Ava. I’ve made my promises to her and there isn’t anyone left
to make me honor my heritage. I do love you, Jules, but I love you
like --”

“Like family?”

“Yes, family. Now, let me call Rory. My cell is
upstairs. Stay here. He can come get you.”

“You can’t. He can’t know I am here.”

“You're worrying me, you know.”

“I need you to help me.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to tell lies, Ari.”

“I don’t--”

“Don’t say you don’t lie, because I know you do. You
lie. I’ve caught you. You may not be as dishonest as the rest of us
and you may not fib, but you do tell lies. Everyone lies, Ari and
you will lie for me. I know you will and I will lie for you,
too.”

“I am not keeping anything from anyone.”

“Liar.”

Cries rang out through the house.

Julia jumped at the piercing sounds of Ava’s tortured
screams and I turned on my heels without saying another word,
running up the steps two at a time. Julia’s shadowy frame slipped
the sopping wet hooded sweatshirt back on as she opened the kitchen
door and stepped into the stormy darkness.

My night would be one nightmare followed by
another.

I went to Ava and Max and found them coiled together.
Both were crying, their eyes squeezed tightly shut. Max’s pillow
was wet with tears. Ava’s was wet with sweat and she was talking in
her sleep, uttering scared, rushed words that I couldn’t
understand.

I stayed with them and soothed their sobs all night
as the thunder rolled, the lightning struck and the rain pummeled
our beach home.

Max woke at daybreak with swollen red eyes. His face
and nose were chapped from having had his tears wiped away all
night with the hem of my undershirt. Max gasped at the sight of me
sitting there at his bedside. He pushed himself down from the
mattress and ran the few steps to his reading chair in the corner
where I sat. He threw his arms around me and then pulled back and
held my face in his hands. His heart hammered through his chest. He
looked me straight on in the eye and then wrapped his arms back
around my neck in a tight squeeze. I hugged him back, my arms
wrapping all the way around his small frame and I held him as
closely as I could.

“What did you see, Max? What made you so sad?”

“You,” he whispered.

“Me?”

His head dipped in a sad nod.

“Alright … can you tell me what was I doing?”

“Walking away.”

My forehead pulled into a crease and I eased Max back
so I could look closely at him. “Was your mama in the dream with
you?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“I was walking away from you both?”

Max nodded again and wiped his nose with his
shirtsleeve.

“That was just a nightmare. It wasn’t real. I will
never walk away from you, or Ava. I promise you, Max.”

Resting his head on my shoulder, I rocked him back
and forth while I watched Ava sleep. Her nightmares passed and she
visibly relaxed. Ava buried her face into Max’s pillow and began to
stretch out her legs. With a smile on my face, I watched her move
her arm to feel around the blankets for me. Setting Max on his
feet, I went to her side and sat on the mattress next to her,
stilling her dancing fingertips with my hand. Her eyes opened at my
touch and she stared wide eyed at me.

“Oh, God!” Ava cried out and wrapped her arms tightly
around me, just as Max had.

“It was just a dream, Baby. I’m here.” I ran my
fingers down her soft arms. “I’m here.”

Ava nestled her face into my chest, inhaling
deeply.

I kissed the top of her wild and messy bedhead. “I
won’t leave you, Ava.”

“I know. I know you wouldn’t. I know you would never,
could
never. It was just a nightmare, Ari. Not all of them
are real.”

“That’s right.” I kissed her salty pink lips. My hand
rested on her stomach where I could feel the baby kicking and
moving around.

“I bet you’re hungry. Why don’t you and Max clean up
and I can start breakfast?”

“Ok,” she agreed. “We won’t be long.”

At the upstairs hall, I glanced down below and was
surprised to find Rory walking into our kitchen and, just as Julia
had done the night before, he kicked his flip flops off at the
mat.

“Hey,” I called down to him and he turned to look up
at me.

“What are you doing here this morning?” I asked and
took the steps two at time towards him.

“I can’t find Jules. She bailed on me last night. I
had this thing planned and she flaked…”

My stomach rolled and my esophagus was hit with
rising bile. I swallowed acidic stomach juice. She should have been
back to their condo hours ago.

“Shit.” The word was meant only for me but Rory heard
me anyway.

He nodded a slow, sad agreeing nod.

“Ava’ll be down in a bit. We’ll have breakfast, you
can clear your head with some strong coffee. She’ll turn up – this
is Julia after all. Where can she possibly go?”

Rory nodded again and eased himself onto the same
stool that Julia had sat in just a few hours earlier. Turning my
back to him, I edged to the counter and gulped at the sight of
Julia’s wadded-up damp clothes in the kitchen sink. A quick glance
assured me he wasn’t watching, so I grabbed the boxers and the
shirt and shoved them behind the cans of cleaning concoctions in
the under-sink cupboard.

“What’s going on with her?” Rory’s head was in his
hands.

“I honestly do not know.” I hadn't strictly speaking
told a lie, but my stomach reacted sourly anyway.

“She's sneaking around. I just don’t know why. I
don’t know what she is up to.”

“Sneaking around? Julia? Like with another guy?”

“She has disappeared in the middle of the night four
times now. When she comes back, she gives me no hint about where
she's been. I don’t know what to think.”

“She’s having trouble sleeping. You know how she
likes to go for walks.”

“Does she? Since when?” he grunted.

After a quick dig through a basket in the top kitchen
cabinet, I found a half-full bottle of Pepto, Ava’s morning
sickness relief, and I chugged it.

“Has she called you?” My question was dumb; of course
she hadn’t called him.

Rory scoffed at me and then followed the noise up
with a look to me as if I was a complete idiot. “Has she called
you
?” he asked bitterly, knowing that if she needed someone,
I am still the first person that Julia would call.

“Ava had nightmares last night,” I murmured,
realizing immediately that my comment had had nothing to do with
anything but I was desperate for a change in conversation.

The sound of coffee percolating and the open
refrigerator door helped me hide my desperation as I rummaged about
gathering eggs, milk and orange juice.

The whoosh of the glass door opening was followed by
Julia’s perfect accent, “Bloody hell, Rory, where have you been?
I’ve been looking for you!”

Julia's entrance surprised and distracted me, and the
plastic bottle of orange juice slipped from my full arms and
smacked the hard kitchen floor. The impact sent the bottle cap
flying and the ice-cold juice poured out at my bare feet.

“
Me
? Where were
you
?” Rory shouted.

“Didn’t Ari tell you?”

“Did Ari tell me what? No! He’s acting like a
complete moron! What’s going on?”

I stood frozen, barefoot in a pool of orange
juice.

“Ari!” Julia stomped her foot and smiled at me. She
was fully dressed in her own clothes, her hair was done, her makeup
perfect. “Rory, I was here! I thought Ari called you!”

“What the hell, Ari!” Rory turned to me and I
remained in the juice with my jaw hanging open and my eyes too
wide.

“Uh.” I blinked.

Rory ground his teeth.

Julia
tsked
, stepped over the juice and
flopped her purse on the countertop. “I was here.” She kissed
Rory’s angry frown. “I couldn’t sleep. I swear, I tossed and turned
for hours, so I went for a walk up the beach – you know I do that
sometimes. Anyway, the rain came out of nowhere and I was nearly
struck by lightning! I was soaking wet. Thank goodness Ari still
leaves a key by the cactus, because I didn’t have my own keys or my
cell. I came in here and heard Ava and Max both screaming in their
sleep. Ari was running around in the dark house like a goon and
found me. He got me a pair of dry clothes and then rushed off,
promising to call you to tell you I was headed home. Why didn’t you
call him, Ari?”

Completely speechless, I stared dumbfounded at
her.

“What
ever
.” She moved past the breakfast bar
and pulled open a drawer filled with coffee mugs. She poured a cup
for herself and one for Rory and then helped herself to cream and
sugar.

“Is that true, Ari?”

“Uh.” My head bobbed in what could have been
construed as a yes or no.

“For Christ's sake, Ari! Quit acting like a spaz!”
Julia walked past the spill and joined Rory at the breakfast bar,
kissing him again and messing his short hair with her fingers.

“Daddy, eww!” The squeal came from Max, who had
spotted the mess on the floor. Ava, held him at her hip and stood
just outside the kitchen with her head tilted to the side.

“I spilt.”

“We can see that,” Ava laughed at me and then came to
my rescue, mopping the sticky mess from the floor, tossing the
empty plastic container in the recycling bin and handing me a wet
rag to clean my feet.

“Ari, you look awful. You’re really pale. Sit. I’ll
make something easy for breakfast. How about toast or oatmeal?”

“Toast.” I agreed and she kissed my forehead and then
poured me a cup of coffee.

“I think it’s supposed to rain all day,” Julia
frowned at the weather and stared out the window. “What do you want
to do today, Rory?”

“Honestly Babe, I’ve had one of the worst nights of
my life. I really just want to go home and spend the rest of the
day with you in our room. Maybe we can talk about some things and
then watch that movie you keep blabbing about.”

“
Love is Eternal
?!”

“Gah, sure, whatever makes you happy.” He shrugged
with another grunting noise.

Julia stood from her stool next to Rory and scooped
up her purse, flinging it over her shoulder. “Sounds perfect. Let’s
go then. Thanks for the coffee, Ari. See ya Monday. Bye Ava! Kisses
for Aunt Jules, Max?”

Max stuck his tongue out at her but happily gave Rory
a high five.

Rory didn’t speak to me. He only stood up from his
stool, pushed the mug across the island and then kissed Ava on the
cheek, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll never understand how
you deal with him.”

“Bye, Roar.” Ava gave him an indulgent smile and hot
toast popped from the toaster.

For once, Rory’s idea was actually a good one. I
wanted more than anything to lock myself away at home with Ava and
Max for the remainder of the rainy weekend. We did have plans with
the whole family on sailing out to Catalina Island and I had
promised to take Max snorkeling. One look at the choppy waves told
me that plan was not going to happen; he was sure to be
disappointed.

Biting into my dry toast, I pushed all thoughts of
Julia out of my mind. She had left me in a whirlwind of confusion.
The night before, she hadn't been able to stop the tears from
flowing down her cheeks and the emotion from cracking her voice.
She had dredged up pointless old conversations and had left me
scared that somehow Ava would find out who I was. Then, a scant
several hours later, she had danced through the door acting chipper
and nonchalant. I saw no coherence in her behavior. She had done a
fair job of making me look like a complete and utter fool and Rory
would not forgive me for quite a while, I knew.

“I’m gonna grab a shower.” I pushed my coffee cup
away from my plate.

“Are you alright, Ari?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I won’t take long. Maybe we can
do some couch time, too?”

“Definitely, whatever you’d like.”

“You’re so sweet.” Unable to resist, I kissed her
perfectly pink lips.

****

The three of us settled down together in the den on
the huge sectional sofa in front of the giant flat screen. Max
chose the first movie and we spent ninety minutes watching the
newest popular kids' show, a heartfelt tale about some likeable
cartoon dog and his best friend, a very unrealistic looking cartoon
flea. I thought the movie was just on the edge of bearable as far
as kids' movies went, but at the ending, Ava cried.

“Are you seriously crying?” I teased her and ruffled
her hair.

“It was sad.”

“It was not! They were reunited and lived happily
ever after as parasite and host, it’s really gross if you think
about it.”