“Good.” He let go of my hands and rushed over to a shelf, moving books around, then pulled out an elaborately wrapped box.
He practically skipped when he brought to it me. “Here. I can’t wait until Christmas.”
“What is it?”
“Open it.” The excitement for him was bursting at the seams.
With each tear of paper, a red velvet box came into view. My fingertips stroked the top of it, I smiled.
His hands flapped in a flurry. “Hurry!”
“Okay, okay.” I giggled. Inside was a white gold chain with a teardrop crystal dangling off the end. “It’s beautiful,” I breathed. “It looks like the one in my dreams.”
Stepping behind me, he gently moved my hair to the side and secured it around my neck, then kissed my shoulder and rested there as he said, “I know, and you’ll be happy to know something else.”
“What?”
“Mother gave it to me to give to you. It’s a family heirloom.”
Turning to face him, I questioned happily, “Mother?”
Nodding, he chewed on his bottom lip as his cheeks lit up and not from embarrassment, but because he was truly happy. He finally had his mom, someone who would nurture the good in him. That’s exactly what he’d been craving all his life. What a wonderful Christmas gift!
Tears threatened to fall for me. The contentment and happiness that surrounded him was overwhelming. “It’s beautiful and so are you.” I swept my arms around his neck and brought him closer. He needed a kiss. Me too.
~ * ~
When we eventually made our way back to the party, Mora did a double take when she saw the necklace. First she shot a little scowly shake of the head at Nathanael.
He shrugged.
Then she tilted her head to one side and smiled sweetly at me, blowing me a kiss.
~ * ~
The party went late into the night and only a few stragglers were left when it was time for me to go to bed. It was fun, but exhausting.
“Good night, Miss Gardiner.” Mr. Braxton kissed my hand.
“Thank you. It was fun. It was nice to have everyone together.”
“Yes, it most certainly was. Hopefully we’ll be doing it again soon.” He eyed Nathanael. “A wedding perhaps?”
None of us had any misguided illusions about what was going to happen, but Nathanael had to keep up appearances and smiled. “Perhaps, Father.”
Job and Joshua were being gentlemen by helping Angie and Becky with their coats. The girls hugged me and stepped outside.
Joshua stepped up and gave me a hug, too. Nathanael raised his eyebrow in shock. I almost flinched.
“Good night, Saydi. You do look beautiful,” he said kindly. Nathanael’s face went from shock to suspicion, eyeing his brother as he walked out.
Job came up and took my hand, shaking it gingerly. “Good night, Saydi. I know this is a shock, but we figured if we were going to end up being in-laws, we should at least attempt to be nice to each other.” He smiled.
“Thank you, Job.”
He continued shaking my hand. A flash crossed his eyes, but it was too quick for me to catch. My blood ran cold.
Nathanael stepped forward and extracted his brother’s hand from mine. “You’re giving me a complex, brother. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with my lady.” Nathanael tried to make light of it.
Job stepped back with an eerie grin. He narrowed his eyes, monitoring me... Then turned to Nathanael. “Then you would be right brother...I’m only kidding. Good night,” he said with a wave and closed the door behind him.
What was that?
Nathanael asked to me alone.
I shrugged.
He shook his dad’s hand. “I’ll be back shortly, Father. I’m going to take Saydi through the back. It’s much too cold to walk around the house.”
“Good idea, son. Good night, Saydi.” He turned on his heels and returned to the few guests left.
Nathanael smiled and kissed my head. “Come on, let’s get you home. You look exhausted.”
“A polite way of saying you look horrible,” I said.
He chuckled. “No.”
“Mmm.”
Holding my hand, he escorted me through to the back of the house and asked, “So what happened back there with Job?”
“I don’t know. Something flashed across his eyes, too quick for me to catch, but right then it felt like my insides froze.”
“I know. Your heart jumped.” He sighed. “Well, there will be more to learn about those two as we continue training.”
Every time he mentioned it, it brought me down. I tried not to let it bother me, but it always did.
Kissing my head, he knew what I felt. “We will have time.”
“Yeah I know, just not as much.”
“No, not as much. Come on, let’s get you home.”
“Um, my coat is at the front door,” I reminded him.
“Darn it! I’ll be right back.”
He left me in the huge empty kitchen; my whole house could fit in it. The one wall had a very small sink and stainless steel countertops. It had to be the prepping area. There was a big island in the middle with a small sink, then a twelve cooktop gas stove against the back wall, two stainless steel fridges side by side, a dishwasher and another double sink that looked out a window, and all with too many cupboards to mention.
From the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I jerked my head that way just in time to see a door silently close. The knob turned as they let go from the other side. The ice returned too fast to stop it.
Brrr.
My whole body shook, while my stomach lodged in my throat. I stepped back to the comfort of the back door for escaping purposes.
“Saydi, what’s wrong?” Nathanael was saying.
“Just got a shiver.” My teeth chattered.
“I’d say it was more than a shiver. What’s wrong?” He placed my jacket over my shoulders.
“Nothing. It just felt like someone was watching me from that door,” I responded with a nod.
He swung it open and behind it sat a staircase. “These are the servants’ stairs,” he said, stepping in a bit and looking up. He closed it and put his arm around me. “I’ll talk with them tomorrow.”
Our families were very cordial to one another through the Christmas season. Nathanael had Christmas dinner with us and his mom on Christmas Eve and was shocked with the gifts he received. Mom and Dad gave him a couple of silk ties in some funky yellow and green colors, which I thought were horrid, yet he loved them. Mora gave him a set of gold cufflinks and when he opened it, he teared up. “My first gift from my mother,” he said with a smile.
Well, that little sentiment pretty much had everyone crying. Mora grabbed him and they had a real son/mom moment. It was awesome to see.
Last but not least, I gave him my gift. Of course it wasn’t as elaborate as the one he gave me, but it was still nice. It was just him and me in the living room.
“Go on, open it.” On my knees, I bounced on the couch cushion, excited to see his reaction. He played with the ribbon, stroking every piece and inspected the wrapping, driving me crazy. “Nathanael!”
He chuckled and began to carefully untie it. When he opened the box, he quietly drew in a breath.
I had spent all my savings on his gift. It was his promise ring from me. The amber stone was tastefully set in a white gold band and didn’t look gaudy, but was sized perfectly for his hands. I put my chin on his shoulder. “It’s my promise to you. See...” I said pointing. “Fire is engraved on the bottom of the stone and the wind is swirling above it.”
He sniffled.
I kissed his cheek. “Then if you turn it over...”
Gently he flipped it over.
“I had ‘One’ engraved on the inside.”
He put it on his ring finger. A sob rolled up his chest.
“Do you like it?” I asked.
Without a word, he reached around and brought me to him, kissing me, then in one swift movement he had me on his lap. We stayed wrapped up in each other for a little while.
~ * ~
The departure of the holidays also saw the departure of the niceties. Nathanael’s dad had been informed his sons were the circle of three, which of course meant their training regime intensified. The pressure on Nathanael was immense. He worked all day in the city, then would train with his brothers three days a week late into the night, not to mention Saturday and Sunday.
That only left two evenings for him to be with me and even though our time was limited, we started to grow increasingly strong together and were able to read each other’s movements the split second we started to make them. He taught me how to peel back the emotions and focus on the beat of our hearts and breathing patterns. It became second nature for both of us.
Spring brought warmer and longer days. However, it also brought bigger obstacles, the first being the Pyre. They were moving forward quickly, putting us all on edge and embedding a sense of urgency in the air, having us challenging ourselves, not only with our donum, but with our relationship too.
Parties at the swimming hole started up again, along with get-togethers at Sloppy’s—all of which were in the name of organizing our graduation. Becky, Angie and I threw ourselves into it, feeling the effects of our boyfriends never being around. And with the limited free time I had, it helped take my mind off the other stuff.
At first Nathanael was supportive, listening to what plans were being made, but then he started to act indifferent. He was always sore with aches and pains from going hard against his brothers, not to mention his utter exhaustion. The last thing I wanted to do was bore him with my menial things, so I quit talking about it. Eventually, other than training issues, we had nothing to say to one another.
Even my coming birthday was off limits because of what it was going to bring. We had no personal time together, making me feel extremely disconnected from him, especially when he closed his emotions off after he found out Joshua and Job could feel them, too.
Needless to say, if we weren’t training, all we did was argue. It didn’t look good for us any more and I was stung beyond comprehension.
~ * ~
“We’ll see you at Sloppy’s.” Todd waved as he held onto Norma’s waist, leading her out the school doors, but not before he gave her a peck on the head.
“They’re so cute,” Becky gushed, watching after them.
“Yeah, they are,” I agreed. “Okay, let’s get to Sloppy’s. I can’t stay long today.”
Becky encircled her arm in mine. “You say that every day,” she giggled.
“I know, but I have to mean it today. I can’t stay for two or three hours like I have been. Besides, you and Angie will be out of there soon enough. Don’t you have dates with Joshua and Job?”
“Yeah, aren’t you meeting up with Nathanael? We always have the same days with our guys.” Then without waiting for an answer, she went a little out in space and whispered to herself, “I sure wish I knew what those guys did all the time.”
Yes, I was supposed to see Nathanael. At what time? Who knew. He was also working overtime at work to add to his foul mood. I tugged on her arm when I saw Angie at her car for us. “Come on, space cadet.”
~ * ~
As usual, Sloppy’s was busy and Todd and Norma saved us a booth.
“Hi guys!” Norma smiled all cuddled up into Todd’s side.
“Hi,” Angie said while we all slid in. Then she asked under her breath, “Is it ready?”
Todd grinned and nodded.
“Is what ready?” I asked.
They all looked back and forth at each other with conspiratorial smiles. Then, from the back room a horde of people came through the doors with the manager in front, toting a cake. They all started singing happy birthday to me. It was so embarrassing, I thought they’d forgotten. I slid down in my seat, face red hot, though I smiled.
They placed the cake in front of me and Becky yelled out, “Make a wish, Saydi!”
Pulling myself up a little, I puckered and blew out all the candles.
“Aw! Not even one boyfriend,” Norma teased.
Little did she know.
“Thank you, guys, this is really sweet.”
I’m assuming you’re at Sloppy’s again. I’ll pick you up in a half hour. I took off work early and hopefully I’ll be able to get a couple of hours of sleep tonight. See you in a bit.
It excited me that I was going to see him sooner rather than later, but not so excited how he made it sound like it was all my fault he didn’t get any sleep. Well, I was going to make sure he got lots. I hid my emotions again as I had been for weeks so Nathanael didn’t know how hurt I was. Instead I focused on the friends who took the time to arrange a nice little birthday for me.
I was caught up in a conversation with Becky when a car horn blasted off outside. Twisting around a bit, I looked to see a red Mercedes right at the front doors. He couldn’t even be bothered to come in. Turning back, to my friends, I said, “I’ll be right back.”
It made me mad how he “summoned” me, like his time was more important than mine. Those feelings were the norm lately when we were together, and there were very few nice times. Well, he could go home and sleep. I didn’t want to add to his ever-growing list of obligations. A bit of guilt ran through me for the way I was feeling, knowing how he was trying his best...but so was I.