“Definitely,” Alex said.
Max’s eyes roamed and his eyes enlarged staring toward Camille. “That one?”
“Probably,” Alex said.
“It would appear that I am cursed this evening to be only a chaperone.” Max rambled over to Elliot and Olivia who were facing away from each other. He slipped into the seat between them and rolled his eyes.
As the clock ticked toward midnight without incident, Alex’s mood soared. While they ate dinner, one waiter occasionally breathed out fire, causing the familiar “Opa!” shout. Then the dancing began.
Tavish danced while balancing one leg of a chair on his forehead. Two of the revived oracles formed a human pyramid and did amazing flips and jumps. Ava actually managed to balance the leg of a chair on her forehead for a number of seconds before it fell toward Max’s plate. Of course, she caught it just seconds before it hit. Tavish gave her an approving nod as everyone applauded.
Ava laughed as she pointed to Tavish. “I told you I’ve been practicing!”
The crowd responded with, “Opa!” Glasses and a few bottles were clinked. Alex’s eyes filled with joy as he began to speak to the crowd. “My father used to say that having been fed and quenched our thirst, and having enjoyed friendship and love, that we are filled with hope and confidence; that life abounds with all that we need and all we can say is…” Alex lifted an arm encouraging the oracles to answer.
“Opa!” the crowd responded.
“Well done!” Alex said with a laugh. “A year ago, I had the extraordinary good fortune to celebrate my wife’s birthday here with our family. Tonight we celebrate not just the return of so many good friends, and not only my wife’s twenty-eighth birthday…” A tear came to Alex’s eyes. “Tonight, we also celebrate something that is as thrilling as it is a bit terrifying to me.” Alex grimaced and several people chuckled. “In several months, I will become a father!”
Grabbing a plate from a passing waiter, Alex continued, “We break plates as a declaration of the hope that tomorrow there will be more.” He squeezed Valeria’s hand and kissed her hair. “Though this past year has been an extraordinary gift to me—I dare to dream of more! I dare to dream of a life lived here at Morgana with my beloved and,” Alex sucked in a breath and then said in nearly a whisper, “our child.”
He smiled with joy and threw the plate to the edge of the fireplace where it shattered to another round of, “Opa!”
Lars picked up his mandolin, while Tavish grabbed his fiddle. Various oracles joined in adding their voices or instruments to the mix until the music held a vivid richness that could be seen and heard and felt by all.
A team of waiters brought out trays of flaming deserts, followed by another round of, “Opa!”
Alex kissed Valeria as his eyes shimmered with candlelight. “I hope you are enjoying yourself,” he said. She nodded, unable to speak of the joy she felt.
A few tables over, Olivia and Elliot sat blushing, still facing away from each other with a reluctant Max serving as a chaperone between them. Max looked disgusted and bored. Just then, Ava and Camille walked over arm in arm and sat on the bench next to Valeria.
“Hey, remember last year when Valeria thought we were fixing her up with Tavish?” Ava teased.
Alex’s head rolled back as he released his beautiful, musical laughter that made Valeria certain that it must be near midnight, when Alex could finally be free from the dark fears of the curse.
“Please don’t tell Tav! I don’t need him getting any more ideas about my wife!” Alex quipped as Valeria pulled his face around and moved her lips to his.
When she glanced back, Ava had placed a stack of wrapped gifts next to her on the table. “You shouldn’t have gotten me any presents!” Valeria said, and blushed.
“Oh, there are a lot more than this! This stack is from the family,” Camille said. “Frankly, you don’t have the ability or desire to shop and you are going to need a lot of things.” Camille glanced at Valeria’s belly and then at Ava.
“Looks like we should have picked up some maternity clothes.”
The first package contained a framed picture of Valeria, Ava, and Camille on her wedding day. Valeria’s hair was in large rollers and they had their arms around each other in a beautiful and very cheesy shot—the Three Musketeers! She loved it.
“The rest are your wedding pictures. We couldn’t replace the pictures that were destroyed in the fire, but we thought this might help make up for them,” Camille said.
The next was a picture of Valeria in her wedding gown, hugging Tavish wearing his kilt. The soft look in his eyes touched her. Then there was a picture of Caleb nervously making the toast. The next was Lars pronouncing them husband and wife with Camille and Caleb standing on either side. She brushed her finger lovingly near the picture of Alex and choked. It was the beautiful expression of love in his eyes that would always be in her heart.
There was a picture of Weege and Kenny dancing, and a portrait of all of the guests surrounding Alex and Valeria taken from one of the bedrooms upstairs.
“We saved the best for last,” Camille said as Valeria stared at a close-up of the bride and groom staring dreamily into each other’s eyes.
“These are…just beautiful!” Valeria sobbed. She would have sobbed even without the hormones, but with them, all she could do was blubber. Alex kissed her neck.
The music started slowly with a mandolin and guitar. Alex rolled up his sleeves as he smiled seductively at her.
“Do you recall our first dance?”
“How could I forget?” she said. It had been the night that she realized she belonged here at Morgana—with her family and with Alex. It was the night he had proposed to her and presented her with the ring that he had created for her eons before.
“I believe that I am going to have to dance,” he said. That made Valeria sob more.
Her Alex was so joyful that he needed to dance!
Dancer’s surrounded Valeria and began to step slowly to
Zorba the Greek’s
sirtaki dance. As the musical energy built, over each round of the music more and more of the revived oracles joined in and the mood went from quiet conservatism and thoughtfulness about all of the years lost, to a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm.
Elliot found himself so euphoric that, without considering his actions, he sprung to his feet and dragged a shocked and elated Olivia to the festivities. Max rolled his eyes, but within minutes, he succumbed to the music and joined the rest. Valeria clapped and laughed.
As the music ended, Alex moved toward her with a glow of absolute pleasure, and everything but her husband became background noise and lights as the waiters and guests began to throw plates at the stones by the bonfire, yelling, “Opa!”
Alex lifted her from her seat and sat down on the bench with her in his lap. Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her with so much passion that her arms wound around him tightly, wishing he could carry her off somewhere more private. When they pulled apart, he stared at her for a moment—reminding her of the beautiful close-up picture of the two of them at their wedding.
“This past year has been the happiest, the most joyous time in all of my existence and it is because of you!” Alex said with such an exuberance that she immediately knew it was past midnight.
“It’s been the best year of my life, too—and the best of every lifetime I can recall,” Valeria choked. Her eyes widened and she smiled. “I want you to feel something.”
She took his hand and moved it to her belly. He immediately became concerned.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Shhhhh,” she said, in an effort to calm him. Then she closed her eyes, concentrating. She felt the thump from the inside her belly and smiled. Alex knitted his brows in concern.
“What was that?”
“That was our daughter saying hello.”
Alex’s eyes lit with wonder as he wrapped his other arm around her and placed it on her belly. Suddenly he jumped. “She did it again!”
Valeria laughed softly. “Yes, she wanted to be very certain that her father heard her.”
“Father!
I’m going to be a father!”
he said, as if he had just realized it. His eyes filled with tears of joy and he tried to swallow them back. She leaned her head against his chest and he stroked her hair.
After a few minutes, he said softly, “Doc says I need to take you back to bed.”
“Good idea,” she said and then craned her neck searching for Mani. She finally saw him alone under a tree looking off into the distance. “Where is Melitta?”
“I guess he’s just not ready yet,” Alex said cryptically.
“Alex what does that mean? Is she here?”
“Let’s enjoy tonight.” He shook off the darkness cast by the story of Melitta and smiled again. “We’ll talk about that tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“This isn’t a story I would like to share with you tonight.”
The next few days, Doc insisted that Valeria stay in bed. However, she needed no insistence; she was exhausted from her minor travels but also exhilarated from the party and the pictures. They had given her a photo album. Most of the people she had known all of her life had photo albums, but until the past year, there had never been anyone she cared about enough to have pictures of. Now, she had a family…and a daughter who might wish to see how things were before she was born. That was one of the things Valeria had always been curious about. Had her mother been as joyously happy as Valeria was now? Somehow, she could never see her father loving anything as much as his beer.
Most everyone in the family was busy—including Alex. Now that Valeria had survived her birthday, he was helping out with the numerous tasks required so that the twenty new oracles could reestablish their lives.
It was a beautiful fall morning. Alex had been gone for hours. But now he returned, stoked the fire in the fireplace and opened the windows. The air was moist as if it had rained overnight. Just like at Camelot—it rained at night and the sky was its deepest blue by morning. Late fall never seemed as dismal here at Morgana.
“Max and I have decided to take matters into our own hands. Doc has kept himself busy, but I haven’t seen him interested in reviving Melitta. Sometimes, I wonder if Myrdd’s presence makes it more difficult for Doc.”
“Why isn’t Shinsu here?” Valeria asked. Then, placing her hand on Alex’s, she said, “And
tell me what happened with Melitta.”
Alex sat down on the edge of her bed and a dark shadow fell across his face.
“Shinsu would be here. But these are dangerous times for all of us. Shinsu is intimately trusted in the council and by Jeremiah. She left with him to his island home after we resurrected the remains so that she could keep an eye on him.”
Valeria shuddered. “She has paid a price! I will never understand how Shinsu could have ever married Jeremiah!”
“When Shinsu was brought back from the Elysian Fields, Myrdd refused to see her.”
“Why? She was the love of his life, and he refused to see her?”
“Myrdd had been involved with a woman of ill-repute—perhaps this Vivianna. I believe that he was too ashamed to see Shinsu.
“Those days, I didn’t attend council meetings. I was too absorbed in my art and searching for you. Still, I remember the horror when Doc and Lita returned to report that Myrdd had been executed.” He shook his head in regret. “I should have been there with all of them.”
Grabbing his hand, Valeria kissed it. “I am so grateful that you weren’t executed! But I still don’t understand why Lita isn’t back with us.”
“Before Jeremiah, the council was very democratic. What happened with Myrdd was a shock, but we couldn’t help but believe that it was a one-time incident and that Myrdd had broken the rules of the immortals—though we still don’t know the details of the crime. We heard that Jeremiah had ‘proof’ that Myrdd had violated the sanctity of Delos by bringing a mortal to the premises. Myrdd did not defend himself and was executed on the spot.
“At the next council meeting, Doc was in the Azores when Melitta presented the petition to remove Jeremiah. No one ever imagined...” Alex shook his head and drew a deep breath. “When they executed Lita, Maxi, and Elliot, it was a wake-up call for all of us.
“Doc was inconsolable when he returned from the Azores. Then he received Jeremiah’s warning.”
“His warning?” Valeria asked feeling the growing sense of horror. Alex nodded, his eyes growing wide as he remembered.
“Her head.”
Valeria felt the wind sucked out of her lungs. Finally, she gulped and said, “Are her remains in the grave?”
Alex nodded.
“Well then, we’ll have to take charge of this and dig them up.” Valeria sat up and started to get out of bed. Alex took her shoulders in his hands and pressed her back down.
“No, love!
You are staying here. Max and I have already planned to dig up her remains tonight as soon as Doc is distracted with patients. We thought we would try to revive her and if she doesn’t…well, then we know.” He sucked a deep breath. “We aren’t sure how all of this works. We’re just grateful that, so far, it has worked.”
That night, Ava kept Valeria company. Lars was with Mani, while Alex, Elliot, and Max went to Lita’s gravesite. Early the next morning, Valeria awoke in the bed alone. There was a hint of frost around the edges of the window and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace. When she glanced at the rocking chair, she was stunned to see Olivia sleeping, with a book in her lap. Instead of the blanket and belt from before, she wore a pretty pink turtleneck and long skirt. Olivia slept for a few more minutes, and then stirred and opened her eyes.
The girl jumped up and then offered an apologetic glance for having fallen asleep on the job. Valeria smiled and that seemed to calm Olivia.
“Olivia, did they find Melitta?” Valeria asked.
“Yes! Elliot said that he and Alex decided to take her to the other house so that they could surprise both Lita and Mani later. I thought that was very sweet,” she said demurely, as her eyes fluttered and her cheeks turned pink. “Don’t you think that was very sweet of Elliot—well, and Alex— to think of that?”
“Yes, they are pretty…sweet guys,” Valeria said with a snicker. “Where’s Camille?”
“Oh, she said she wanted to pick up a few things for Lita’s homecoming.” Olivia smiled, revealing her soft dimples.
“And how are things with Elliot?”
“Oh…good,” she said with a blush.
Valeria tried to sit up and realized that she was larger today than just a few days before. She lay back down and then thoughts started coming together in her head.
“Olivia, I need a computer or a notepad.”
“A computer?” Olivia asked puzzled.
“A notepad would be fine. There is one on Mani’s desk.”
A few minutes later, Olivia returned with a notepad.
“What do you do with that?” she asked.
“You write on it,” Valeria said. She looked on the bedside table next to her and found a pen. She began writing names: Myrdd and Shinsu, Cassandra and Alex, Camille and Jonah, Ava and Lars, Tavish and…
She
pursed her lips in thought, and then placed a question mark next to Tavish’s name. She continued writing: Max, Elliot and Olivia. She continued writing until Alex arrived and slid onto the bed next to her—a sight which caused Olivia to blush a deep scarlet and look away as if she had witnessed an impropriety.
“Sorry, Olivia, but we do have a license,” Alex said with a wink as he kissed his wife.
“A license for what?” Olivia asked.
He shook his head as if to say never mind. He shifted his attention to Valeria. “I hope you don’t mind. You were sleeping and Melitta needed something to wear—”
“Of course, I don’t mind!” Valeria felt a thrill. “She’s alive? Oh, Alex!” She hugged him tightly. “Camille should pick up something new for her to wear—she would know what would look nice on her. But of course, she is welcome to whatever I have! We need to move out of here, too! Can I meet her?” She sat up and moved her leg.
“Whoa!” Alex said with a quick laugh, as he tossed an apple a few inches up and then caught it. “Oh! You’ll be glad to know you can be a bit more mobile—Mani cleared you for crutches, as long as you don’t overdo it. It seems you’re healing well.”
“Can I get up now?
He laughed. “Doc said occasionally!” Then he took a bite of his apple. “In the next few days, I’d like to take you out to meet Myrdd. We can’t seem to coax him out of the woods and I suspect another
familiar face might help.” Alex narrowed his eyes and glanced at the notepad she was writing on. “What is this?”
She bit her lip and shrugged. “I was thinking about oracles and all of a sudden all of these names came to mind. I don’t really know if they’re even accurate.”
Surveying the list, Alex began reading aloud, “Nicola, Anthony, Matthew, Dismas, Avaya,” Alex said as he glanced up at her and lowered a brow. “Val, I don’t remember telling you these names. I don’t even know most of these names.”
“Whose names?”
“These are the names of all of the oracles—at least I imagine this is all of the oracles.”
Valeria shook her head, “It can’t be. There’s only ninety-nine of them. Not one hundred.”
Alex’s face lit up in surprise. “Who gave these names to you?”
“No one...oh, well, someone must have.” Changing the subject, she ran a finger down Alex’s chest and said, “You know, since we’re going to give Lita and Mani back their home, and ours isn’t ready yet, I wouldn’t mind going back to St. John for a while.”
He grabbed her finger and kissed it. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up for that! Even if I agreed—and I don’t—there is a large family of oracles who would bar the road out of here,” Alex said. “Not until after this child is born and both of you are safe.” Then he took another bite of his apple and stared at her for a few minutes and said, “Would you like to meet Lita?
Because she would very much like to see you.”
Valeria sprang up in bed as her eyes widened. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
∞
At the main house, in the room where Valeria had initially recovered from the car accident, Lita sat on the edge of the bed with her ankles neatly crossed. She rose rapidly when Valeria came in on her crutches—as if royalty had just entered. Lita smoothed the sides of her teal cotton dress that was significantly less feminine than Olivia’s. But Lita’s femininity needed no adornment. She had long, thick gray hair that sat below her shoulders. Her skin was darker than most, as if she
had been in the sun. Her features were small and delicate but there was a strength in her eyes that defied the fragility of her appearance. Valeria remembered the angelic face over the tomb that Alex had carved, and realized that he had perfectly captured her essence.
“Please pardon me for requesting your presence! I was so anxious to see you again,” Lita said in a voice that had a rich musical quality. Noticing Valeria staring at her, she fidgeted nervously and then glanced down at her dress and shoes and bit her lip.
“Will he like this?” Then she rolled her eyes, irritated with herself for being so silly. Valeria was still staring at her. Lita continued, “I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I guess it’s been such a long time, I wonder if he still...” She smiled apologetically.
“He never stopped,” Valeria said softly. Lita let out a shaky breath, obviously relieved. Then she smiled as if a light switch had just been flipped on inside of her.
“I understand that they call you Valeria now. I so wished to meet you officially—I mean, this time.” Lita swallowed. “We’ve known each other so long that it feels a bit strange to...of course, I don’t expect you to—”
Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, Valeria recalled the beautiful soul and embraced her as the sobs form. “I’ve missed you, my dear friend,” were the words that sprang from Valeria’s mouth before she could even evaluate them.
∞
The sun was setting when Valeria worked her way on the crutches toward Mani. He sat on a log by a bonfire with his fingers woven together. He was uncharacteristically unshaven and his clothes were a bit rumpled. He gave Valeria a weary smile. Then he suddenly looked with surprise at Valeria’s belly.
“The child is growing!”
“Yes, she is. Doc, we’ve decided that you are taking a night off.” Mani shrugged but Valeria persisted, “You need to shower and shave.” Mani brushed his hand over his light stubble.
“Perhaps.”
When he came out of the shower, Alex had left him a blue cotton shirt and tan slacks. Valeria handed him his razor and shaving cream. Mani seemed to be only following her instructions because he was too exhausted to argue.
Once he was finished shaving, Valeria said, “Mani, can you walk me back to your place?”
“Of course,” he said. It was obvious he was lost in thought. She smiled, realizing that Mani hadn’t asked her all of the questions she expected about why she was out alone or how long she had been on her crutches.
As they approached the house, Mani narrowed his eyes as if he felt a change but couldn’t identify it. There were now flowers in the window and the shadows of flames from the fireplace. He turned toward Valeria wondering why she had stopped some distance from the door. The door opened and Alex stepped out, leaving it open as he walked toward Valeria.
“What is going on?” Mani asked as he glanced at Alex, who gestured toward the door. Mani turned back slowly as his breathing increased. Then, for the first time, Valeria saw something in his eyes other than the world-weariness he wore like a saddle bag. She saw hope.
Melitta stepped into the doorway and all Mani could do was stare, trying to focus his eyes on the shadow that looked like...
“Mani!”
Came Melitta’s desperate cry. Before he even registered her voice, his long legs had taken the steps, and the woman in the doorway was in his arms for the first time in centuries; and the man who never cried let out a joyful sob.