Marker of Hope (13 page)

“Not at all. It makes perfect sense,” Eileen
said. “Meat contains protein, iron, vitamin B12… If you meet the
level of nutrients your body is asking for—”

“It’ll stop the cravings,” Nyx said, taking
the prenatal vitamins from David. She skimmed the label on the
bottle. “These pills contain all of those.”

“Precisely,” Gunn beamed.

“What about food?” David asked. “She can’t
survive on protein shakes for the rest of her life. Especially not
now that she’s pregnant.”

“Yes, I thought it as well, and for a moment,
I was afraid we’d have to start stealing fresh corpses,” Gunn said.
“But I believe she may be able to eat cooked meals again.”

“She hasn’t attempted to since you restricted
her diet,” David said. “You do remember?”

“I do. I remember. But things have changed.”
Gunn gestured at his laptop screen. “My theory would be more
precise if I had a full CT scan, but based on these results, I deem
it’s possible.”

“What do you think?” David asked me. “Do you
want to try?”

“I don’t know. What if regular food makes me
sick again?” I thought about the things I missed eating the most in
the last few months. “Although, I’d kill for a burger right
now.”

Gunn blinked and took a step back.

“It wasn’t literal.” I smiled at the
doctor.

“Oh.” Dr. Gunn’s shoulders relaxed. “I knew
that.”

I heard Galilea snicker behind me.

“Galilea, do you own a grill?” Alezzander
asked.

“Yup. There’s a full outdoor kitchen right
over there, on the other side of pool.” She pointed out the kitchen
window. “Why?”

“If you don’t mind,” Alezzander said, “I’d
like to borrow it, please.”

CHAPTER 16

My legs dangled off the edge of the pool. My
jeans were rolled up to my knees, the warm, relaxing pool water
enveloping my feet and ankles, caressing my calves. Galilea
sunbathed on a float that looked like a lawn chair. She offered to
lend me a bathing suit, but I didn’t feel like swimming. Nyx and
Eileen sipped on margaritas at a table behind me. I watched as
Alezzander, Dr. Gunn, and David huddled around the grill on the
other side of the pool. David glanced over his shoulder at me and
smiled. He turned around when Alezzander patted his back, then
swung an arm over his shoulder. Dr. Gunn said something to
Alezzander and handed him a beer. They all laughed. I didn’t have
Alezzander pegged as a beer-drinking kind of guy. It was strange to
see Alezzander so laid back. And grilling burgers.
So…
human
.

“Isis, I’m going inside to get us another
round of margaritas,” Eileen said. “Would you like a cold drink?
It’s scorching out here.”

“Water, please? And thank you.”

Eileen walked to the house. Nyx stood from
the patio table and joined me. She raised her flowing, white skirt
and dipped her feet in the water.

“I didn’t know it took so many people to
light a fire,” I said, looking at the men.

“You noticed too?” Nyx laughed. “I can’t
speak for Tobias, but Alezzander and David are out of practice. We
haven’t had a family cookout in a long time. About sixty years.”
She reached down and touched the water with her hands. “He’s doing
this for you, you know?”

“David?” I asked.

“No, Alezzander,” she said. “He’s cooking the
hamburgers you asked for.”

“Oh. Yes, I know.” I nodded. “I’m a little
thrown off by it.”

“He’s not as rigid as you think. It takes him
time to warm up to people.” She dried her hand on her skirt. “It’s
a bad time to bring this up, but I need to get it off my chest.
Alezzander never liked Olympia. Neither did I. Not one bit. It was
hard for Alezzander to ask David to agree to marry her. I objected.
We fought over the issue, as a matter of fact.” She glanced over to
her son and husband. “David was so miserable, and Alezzander knew
it.” She returned to gaze to me “Do you know hard it is to see your
child carrying a broken heart? You will someday. It’s a part of
life. Anyway, last night, Alezzander told me he was relieved David
and you had reconciled. He said he didn’t want you to hate
him.”

“I don’t hate him,” I said. “To be honest, I
thought he hated me.”

“Now you know different, right?”

“I thought you hated me, too.”

“No.” She rubbed my forearm and gave it a
tight squeeze before withdrawing her hand. “I was upset. But then,
I thought about your motives, and I think—no, I’m positive—I
would’ve done the same if I were in your shoes.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Alezzander has his flaws, but I
love him dearly, and would do anything for him.”

“Thank you—for understanding.” I said. “My
mom told me you kept in touch after David and I broke up, which
surprised me.”

“Yes, well, I was worried for you, for your
change, for David. And after all, Claire is my friend. I can talk
to her so much easier than I can talk to people I’ve known my
entire life. It’s hard to find real friends, Isis; you don’t let
them go when you find them.”

“Yeah,” I said, glancing at Galilea. “I know
what you mean.”

“Eileen is taking an awful long time with
those drinks.” Nyx fanned herself. “She might need help. I’m going
to check on her.”

“Should I go, too?”

“No. I’m sure Eileen and I can manage,” she
said. She nodded at the men. “You can make sure those three don’t
catch on fire, though.”

“Okay.” I smiled.

Nyx walked away, and I glanced at Galilea
floating in the pool. The float had made its way closer to me. I
couldn’t tell if her eyes were closed under her dark sunglasses. I
didn’t want to disturb her.

I turned in the direction of the outdoor
kitchen. After twenty minutes of failed attempts, the men had a
fire going. Alezzander and Dr. Gunn were sitting on barstools,
talking. David’s elbows were poised on the high counter, listening
to them. He glanced over at me, turned, and said something to the
doctor and Alezzander, then circled the pool. He rolled up his
pants and sat down at my side.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hey.”

David leaned in and kissed me chastely on the
lips. It was weird how I still felt butterflies in my stomach when
he was near me.

“Get a room!” Galilea splashed water on
us.

“Mind your own business, nosey.” I kicked
water in her direction.

David pushed Galilea and the float with his
foot.

“Awe.” Galilea pouted as she drifted away
from us.

“So what’s happening over yonder in menfolk’s
territory?” I asked David. I glanced in the direction of the grill
and caught Alezzander staring at us. He quickly looked away.

“Let’s see…” David squinted as if in deep
thought. “There’s been recipe swapping and gossiping about the
neighbors.”

“Oh, really?” I smiled.

Somehow, he seemed cuter when he was trying
to be funny. I wondered what he’d look like when he grew older.
Should I have even been thinking so far ahead?

“Yes, really,” he said. “And we also braided
each other’s hair and exfoliated our elbows.”

“You’re a bad liar.” I giggled.

“You have the sweetest laugh.” David put his
arms around me. “Do you want to hear what really happened?” I
nodded. “My father asked me to text an invitation to your mother.
She replied saying she’d head over as soon as she left work.”

“That’s a first. Is there a reason he invited
her?”

“I’m asking myself the same thing.” He lifted
my chin with the tip of his fingers. “Why do you have that confused
look on your face?”

“Because I am. Your dad is being social. Not
just social, but nice. He’s exchanged maybe a dozen words with my
mom the few times they were in the same room, and today, out of the
blue, he asks her to come over to eat grilled burgers. Burgers
he’s
cooking—
for me
? I don’t understand this at all.
Is it because now he knows who I am and what I’m supposed to do, he
feels obligated to be nicer to me?” I glanced at Alezzander, who
was poking the fire with a stick. “Because that’s not fair.”

“Maybe,” David said, “he’s attempting to be a
good father-in-law.”

Or maybe he was playing nice for his son’s
sake. I didn’t even know if Alezzander liked Claire or vice
versa.

The weight of someone’s stare on me made me
uneasy. I turned to view the grill area and saw Alezzander looking
at me. He waved. I waved back. Smiled to be polite.

“Why is he acting so weird?” I asked in a
whisper.

“He’s just trying to make you feel welcome
into our family. He’s doesn’t do warm and fuzzy too well.” He
tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I think you’re reading too
much into it.”

“Probably,” I said. “It’s just… My entire
life feels so odd right now. I can’t wrap my head around any of
this.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “Last night, my mom let you
sleep over with me. Today, your dad is drinking beer and flipping
burgers. What’s happening to them?”

“The same thing that’s happening to us,”
David said. “Our parents are growing up.”

“Speaking of parents…” I looked past David to
the house’s sliding doors. “My mom is here.”

Claire was holding a margarita in one hand
and waving to everyone with the other. David and I waved back at
her. Nyx hooked her arm with Claire’s, and they walked across the
backyard. Eileen followed behind them with a tray.

“Mom, you’re working tomorrow. Do you really
think you should be drinking?” I asked Claire as she took a seat at
the patio table.

“Gah! Who are you—my mother?”

“Just watching out for you. And aren’t you
driving?”

“For your information, it’s lemonade.”

“Claire,” Alezzander said, a few steps away
from the table. He kissed both of Claire’s cheeks. “Nice to see you
again. I’m so glad you were able to join us. Dinner is almost
ready. I hope you like hamburgers.”

“I
love
burgers,” Claire said. “And
thanks so much for the invitation. I wasn’t expecting to see Nyx or
you. David told me you had to be somewhere?”

“We were supposed to leave today, but…”
Alezzander kept the small talk going.

“This is freaking me out,” I whispered into
David’s ear. “It’s like the
Twilight Zone
, but with stranger
characters.”

“What’s this about?” Galilea said, climbing
out of the pool.

“Alezzander invited my mom to come over,” I
said. “Yeah, you heard right.”

Galilea raised her brows at me. She turned
her attention to the conversation at the table.

“…and I see you’ve met Eileen,” Alezzander
said. “This is her husband, Dr. Tobias Gunn.”

Uh-oh. I hoped Dr. Gunn knew how to lie and
lie well. I wished I’d thought about warning him of her natural
gift to make people spill the beans. The heat index seemed to rise
ten degrees around me instantly, but I knew it was just my
nerves.

“Oh, hello.” Claire stretched her hand out to
the scientist. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Gunn.”

“No need for formalities. I’m just Tobias,”
Gunn said. “It’s a pleasure, Claire.”

“Dr. Gunn is our private physician,”
Alezzander said.

“He’s the doctor I told you about—the one
who’s overseeing Isis’s pregnancy,” David added, helping me to my
feet.

“Oh, the gynecologist?” Claire asked.

“No. I’m a scientist,” Gunn said. “A
geneticist, to be exact.”

“And you also deliver babies?” Claire looked
at him quizzically.

Oh no… Lie, Gunn! Lie!

“Well,” Gunn scratched his head, “in medical
school I had some—”

“Yes.” Galilea slapped Dr. Gunn on the back.
He griped. “Dr. G. does all the baby delivering and prenatal-ish
stuff. He has several specialties. Don’t you, Doc?”

From across the table, Nyx noted the
wide-eyed stare I was giving her. She gave me a nonchalant nod and
elbowed Alezzander.

“I…Yes,” Gunn said. “As a matter of fact, I
do, but—”

“Tobias, we’d better get back to that grill,”
Alezzander said to Dr. Gunn. “Burgers aren’t very tasty if they’re
burned to a crisp.”

“Right you are,” Dr. Gunn said. “Excuse
us.”

Either from confusion, suspicion, or
something else, Claire’s brow furrowed as the men walked away to
the other side of the pool. I didn’t know what she was thinking,
but I knew her enough to know she’d be asking questions. Questions
to answers I’d have to be quick to make up.

Claire turned her attention to me. I felt my
stomach contract. As she was about to say something, Nyx asked
Claire how things were going at the office. I breathed a sigh of
relief. I crossed my fingers, wishing for her to forget about the
topic. David and I stepped off to the side, away from hearing
range, and motioned Galilea over.

“You didn’t tell the doctors my mom didn’t
know about any of this?” I asked Galilea in almost a whisper.

“I thought they knew.” She looked at David
“Why didn’t you tell them?”

“I thought you had told them,” he said. “They
do live with you.”

“David,” Alezzander called out. He lifted a
tray with fully assembled hamburgers for us to see from across the
pool. “A little help?”

David hurried to the other side of the yard
to help his dad. I took a chair next to Claire. Galilea slipped
into a loose sundress and flip-flops and joined us. It wasn’t long
before Dr. Gunn, Alezzander, and David were at the table. Everyone
dove into the mound of hamburgers, including me. I held my burger
in front of my face.

You can do this. Take a bite. Swallow. Keep
it down.

“Eat.” Claire elbowed me.

I took a small bite of the burger. It was
delicious. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed the taste. Maybe
Dr. Gunn was right. Maybe I could eat again. I swallowed. Took
another bite. My stomach tensed.

Oh no.

I felt my stomach relax. I sighed.

“Enjoying your food?” Dr. Gunn caught my
eye.

“Very much,” I said. “These burgers, they’re
great. Thank you, Alezzander.”