The Silver Thread (17 page)

“Yeah, I don’t want the kind of headaches—
ahem
—I mean,
money
that your family has,” she agreed. “And I don’t need a private jet, or a membership at the yacht club, or an island shaped like a palm tree. I don’t care about drinking thousand dollar bottles of wine. I just want to go out for dinner or coffee once in a while, record this new album, try to play more gigs and see some awesome shows of other bands; maybe travel a little more…” Annika trailed off. There were a lot of things that she wanted to do.

“Judging by what your new hubby calls ‘spending money,’ he’s got to be loaded,” James whispered, pouring a taste of the wine into his glass. “I can’t believe how much he spent on clothes and shoes for him and Chivanni. And now I hear that he’s going to buy Patti a new car? You could hire a nanny whenever you want, and still do all the things you wanna do. I’ll bet you don’t even need to work. Why don’t you just quit your job and let him spoil you rotten? He seems to want to do that, and it’s not like we need your employee discount that bad. I don’t really
need
another keyboard…although I sure wouldn’t mind upgrading to one with seventy-three keys,” he said wistfully, and swirled the wine in his glass while taking a deep whiff of it. Annika didn’t find the matter as simple as James did.

For one thing, Annika didn’t like the idea of being a kept woman. It was one thing to let a man hold open a door or offer his coat on a cold night, and it was another to have to ask permission to make a large purchase, or to be given an allowance. She was accustomed to having her own money from an early age. She had paid for her own guitar lessons with babysitting money she’d saved up, because her parents wouldn’t give in. Her mother especially didn’t want her falling into a lifestyle of playing music in bars, being leered at by men twice her age. But Annika wasn’t the type to stay home cleaning house, folding her rich husband’s socks during daytime television commercials. She also wasn’t the type to have a maid do it for her either while she spent her allowance from him. Her rich hubby could fold his own damn socks, thank you very much.

But the other concern Annika saw was that most of the bands James had mentioned were made up of men, not women. And all but two of the musicians that she knew in town who had kids were men, and they had wives or girlfriends or baby-mommas that stayed home instead of coming to the shows like they used to. After having their first baby, every single one of the new mothers Annika knew sort of just…disappeared. From what she could tell, men had it too easy when it came to being parents. They didn’t have to worry about singing their heart out while being kicked in the ribs for hours at a time. They didn’t have to cancel shows because of Braxton-Hicks contractions. They didn’t have to bother taking extra breaks during band practice to accommodate morning sickness, a shrinking bladder, or to nurse a hungry, screaming baby. Loud music and sleeping babies belonged in opposite corners of the world, and Annika wasn’t ready to walk away from her corner yet.

“I’m sure everything will work out fine. I’d be such an awesome uncle. I’ll teach your kid naughty words like Versace, Prada, and credit card debt.”

“You and Charlie would definitely be the coolest uncles in the galaxy,” she said, smiling as she imagined any baby’s first words being Versace.

“I’ll even quit smoking if the tests turn out positive, so you won’t have to do it alone,” he said, and tasted the wine in his glass, swishing it from one side of his mouth to the other. “But honey, I can’t give it up until after Friday when this damn show is over and done with. Just look at my face! I’m already starting to break out from the stress. I thought this shit was supposed to stop after high school.”

“Thanks James,” Annika said, touched by the gesture. She knew there was no way in hell he would ever quit smoking, but he rarely suggested the idea, and that meant something, coming from him. “Things generally do work out for the best, don’t they?”

“God, I hope so,” he said dubiously. He poured the Montepulciano into the four glasses, which prompted Talvi to abandon reading on the sofa and join them.

“Jack and Jill keep telling me the same thing about this show, but it’s kinda hard to have faith. I can’t plan anything when there isn’t any art to make plans around.”

Annika was quiet for a while. It wasn’t as though James was telling her to move out because crying babies and dirty diapers clashed with his single and fabulous bachelor lifestyle. And he certainly didn’t look ready to throw in the towel on their music because somebody had the audacity to reproduce.

“It’s just a lot to think about,” she said, glancing sideways at her husband. James just shrugged a little.

“I know it’s a huge change, but no one’s saying that you have to start driving a minivan and wearing sweatpants in public.” Here he cringed, and in all seriousness he said, “Although I’m pretty sure they allow strollers in Armani. But if you turn into one of those self-righteous, holier-than-thou mommies who thinks they’re suddenly an expert on everything just because they shot out a crotch fruit, I’ll kick you, Talvi, and your spawn to the curb. I
cannot
stand women who think they’re better than everyone else just because someone didn’t wear a condom!”

Annika’s eyes opened wide.

“James, if I ever,
ever
start acting like that, I give you permission right now to bitch-slap some sense into me,” she replied, and James looked relieved.

Talvi, on the other hand did not seem nearly as relieved. He gave Annika an anxious, expectant look and asked, “Well what are you waiting for, love?”

“The tests say to do it in the morning for best results,” she replied, after looking over the instruction pamphlet.

“Yeah, but you’re more than a month late, so you can take it anytime,” James argued. “Don’t you want to know? I think we’re all dying here!”

She could hear Charlie starting to warm up his drums in the practice space above the garage, and her fingers were itching to play. She saw two versions of herself in her mind. One was wearing a pair of Jimmy Choo heels, pushing twins in a stroller down the jam aisle. The other one was standing on a smoky stage, playing guitar to a huge crowd and singing her heart out, with different colored lights shining over her silhouette. She knew she could pull off either outcome just fine, but she silently begged the universe for one more chance to make something of her musical abilities.

“I don’t want to worry about it until tomorrow morning,” she finally said, letting them all down while she raised her glass of wine. “Give me one more night of freedom.”

Annika woke up wrapped in Talvi’s arms and lay there for a moment with her eyes shut. Something didn’t feel right. Whatever it was, she hadn’t felt it since she was a very small child. The sheets around and underneath her were drenched. She sat up with a feeling of dread, and slowly peeled back her down comforter, but the damp sheets had no color.

“Why is it so cold?” Talvi groaned. “Put the blanket back, would you?” Instead, Annika crawled down and sniffed the strange spot. She could smell the clean cotton, but nothing else.

“Badra’s beard, what are you doing?” he complained, and sighed as he propped himself on his elbow to investigate for himself. He frowned in confusion as he ran his hand over the wet sheets. “What is this? Did you spring a leak?”

“No, but I know what did,” she said as a cold drop of water hit her on the head. She looked up and sure enough, the ceiling was leaking from the rain pouring outside. Given the condition of the old house, she was a bit surprised it hadn’t started leaking earlier in the rainy season.

“Mmm, well, even if you have spare shingles, I’m not climbing up onto the roof right now. I’ll fix it later,” he said and yawned. “Now come warm me back up. Just scoot over this way to where it’s still dry.”

“I can’t. It’s morning,” she said quietly, still sitting in her just-woken-up daze.

“So what’s the rush? You don’t have anywhere to go first thing this morning,” he said with sleepy eyes and motioned for her to lie next to him a bit longer.

“Oh yes I
do
have somewhere to go. The directions said I should take those tests first thing in the morning, so I have to
go
to the bathroom.”

“Ah, yes…” he said unenthusiastically, and sighed as he rubbed his eyes. “So much for sleeping in.”

Annika slipped on her robe and went into the bathroom with her pregnancy tests and the instruction pamphlet. When she came back out, Talvi was standing barefoot on the bed dressed in his new jeans and an old t-shirt, inspecting the leaky ceiling overhead.

“Well?” he asked, looking down at her anxiously. “What’s the decree of the gods, Mrs. Marinossian?”

“I have to wait three minutes,” she said, putting her hands into the pockets of her robe. She was so nervous, she dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands until it hurt. “So what do you think about it?” she asked, taking a deep breath and looking up at him. Her heart was racing, and she sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to stay calm.

“I think it’s going to take me a while, but I can manage it well enough,” he said before sitting down on the bed beside her.

“Yeah, it’ll take me a while to deal with, too,” she said.

“I wasn’t aware you knew anything about mending a roof,” he said and lifted his eyebrow to look at her curiously.

“Huh? I thought you meant…never mind,” Annika said as she realized they had been referring to two very different topics. “You can fix the roof?”

“Of course I can,” he boasted. “You know very well the way my father punished us for misbehaving was to make us do home improvements. I was very, very, wicked growing up.” He paused to snicker to himself. “I was always getting caught lying. I wish I knew what gave it away.” Annika smiled to herself, because she knew exactly what gave it away…his twin sister had been the one to tell her this juicy secret, and she wasn’t about to reveal it.

“I wonder what it could be?” she asked playfully.

“I don’t know. I only hope our son or sons aren’t as ill-behaved as I was. I was fairly awful.”

“What if it’s a girl? Or twin girls?” she asked, turning to look at him. A bit of color drained from his face.

“Then may the gods help us, because we’re in even worse trouble than I thought,” he said gravely. Annika studied his expression carefully as she waited for it to fade from an anxious gaze to an impish grin, but it didn’t.

“I know that you don’t want kids…” she said, taking a deep breath. “We don’t have to go through with this, you know.” Her husband was quiet for a moment, lost in thought, until a twitch at the corner of his mouth gave him away.

“Do you know why my eldest sister has two entire rooms for all of her instruments?” he asked. Annika shrugged.

“Because she’s the oldest, so she was probably spoiled more than the rest of you.”

“Yes, but why do you think that was?”

“I don’t know, but I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.”

“What was that thing you said when you and I were having dinner with my family?” he asked, frowning a little as he tried to remember. “You know, it was that thing about showing up at parties uninvited and breaking things?”

“Oh, you mean ‘
crashing
a party’?” she answered, starting to smile. His attempt at slang was so endearing.

“Yes, that’s it,” he said, trying in earnest to look chipper. “Well, I suppose you would say that my oldest sister crashed my parents’ party when she showed up. But when they finally met her, everything changed. I think they both felt extremely guilty for not loving her the second that my mother found out she was expecting Anthea. That’s the reason why she was indulged with two exquisite rooms filled with every instrument under the sun,” he explained, and then added as an afterthought, “Or, at least, every instrument that doesn’t require electricity.”

“So then, what are you telling me? That you’re okay with this? I’ve seen you around children, and I know that you hate them, especially babies.”

“I don’t hate them, Annika.”

“Well you sure don’t like them very much.”

“I’ll admit that I don’t like
other
people’s children very much,” he said, taking her hand in his, “but I’m certain I would adore ours.”

Annika’s eyes stung as he said this, and before she knew it, she was crying. The flood of emotion came out of nowhere. He pulled her close, which only made her cry harder.

“Aww now, don’t do that, love,” he said, wiping off her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I can’t help it,” she shuddered. “Say something funny, maybe that will snap me out of it.”

“Something funny?” he asked innocently.

“Yeah, like a joke.”

“I know what you meant. You told me to say something funny, and I did. Why, come to think of it, I’ve said something funny three times now.”

“I didn’t hear you say anything,” she said wiping her nose as she settled into her bed. He snickered very softly.

“Well I heard the wind rushing through your head, you silly girl. You’re a bigger ding-a-ling than Runa. Are you certain your head’s not made of wood?” He gave the side of her head a gentle rap with his knuckles as she realized he had indeed said ‘something funny’ three times without her catching it. And being compared to his best friend back home had never been more appropriate than it was at that moment. For all her sweet innocence, Runa was the biggest ding-a-ling she knew.

Annika sighed, and ran her fingers through Talvi’s straight black hair, twirling it around like two devilish horns and gazed into his beautiful blue-green eyes. Here she had been so scared to tell him her suspicions, only to find out they were worse when unspoken. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have someone like him in her life.

“It’s been three minutes,” he whispered, and helped her up. Together they walked into the bathroom where she had set all the tests on the counter, and she was shocked at what she saw.

They were all negative.

“I can’t believe it!” she said, holding up one of the tests as she stared at it in disbelief. “I was so convinced after yesterday morning.” Talvi looked just as relieved and perplexed as she.

“Hmmm.” He partially sat on the counter and bit his lip.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you were hoping it was positive.” His head jerked upwards and he shook his head vigorously.

“No, that’s definitely not it,” he said, still narrowing his eyes in thought. “It’s something James said yesterday when you were ill. He said it sounded like food poisoning, and what with these negative test results, it made me wonder something just now. You had pheasant for dinner the night of Patti’s birthday, and you were eating swine at breakfast right before you became ill, weren’t you?”

“Swine?” she repeated.

“A pig. You ate part of a pig for breakfast,” he clarified. “Your mother asked why I don’t eat animals, and I let her believe it was for religious reasons, but really, it’s because none of the Kallo elves eat animals. It makes us as ill as you were yesterday.”

“So you think my body rejects it just like yours does?” she asked. “Do you think it has to do with being able to heal as fast as you do?”

“That’s what my intuition is telling me. Our handfasting united us in more ways than marital bliss. There was very powerful magic involved between us that day,” he said, looking at her curiously. “Just because you look like a human on the outside doesn’t mean you aren’t becoming something else on the inside.”

Annika nodded in agreement, feeling like everything he said was making perfect sense.

“When I went through the portal from your world to my own, I cut my shoulder on a dumpster and was bleeding pretty bad. But then it healed right in front of me.”

“I know. I found the exact place that you fell,” he said, nodding his head. “Humans lack such healing abilities, but all elves have them. Perhaps you’re still experiencing a transition of sorts…because you have to understand, you aren’t completely human anymore. But then, you were never completely human to begin with, my little wood nymph wife.”

Coming from anyone else, this would probably have sounded quite strange to Annika. But she knew she had a lineage that traced back to the ancient wood nymphs called samodivi, and she knew her strength and senses were more pronounced than ever before. Her vision seemed sharper, her ears picked up things she never seemed to notice in the past. She’d blamed the subtle changes on being away from home for so long, but then she thought back to their wedding day. That day everything had changed.

She recalled visiting James at the gallery one time when an art restorer had come in to see if an Italian painting could be salvaged or not. Annika remembered watching this woman take a cotton ball and squirt a little solution on it, then dab at the painting. In an instant, decades of yellow-brown grime had been wiped away, leaving only the bright blue of a Venetian skyline. Annika hadn’t even realized that the painting was dirty until that revealing moment. Yes, that was the best way to describe how she felt immediately after her wedding. Blinders had been removed after being worn since birth, and nothing was going to put them back on.

“I’m really
not
completely human, am I?” she repeated, and she felt the silver threads from her wedding ring tingle with warmth under her skin. It seemed such a ridiculous thing to say out loud, but she couldn’t argue with the evidence.

“I don’t know what else it could be,” he said, looking equally as fascinated as her. “But it would explain why your menstrual cycle is throwing us for a loop. Elven women only experience that once a year. The wood nymphs are the same.”

“Only once a year?” she exclaimed. “That’s awesome!” Annika felt another huge weight slip off of her shoulders. No more monthly cramps, backaches, headaches or any of the other PMS inconveniences she’d had for twenty five years. She wanted to scream out the window how lucky she was, but instead she just grinned like a Cheshire cat, and did a happy dance, leaping around the room, letting the relief wash over her.

“Yes, well, if elves’ cycles were every month as it is with humans, I would probably have a thousand little black-haired maggots crawling around,” he said and grimaced. “Talk about crashing a party.”

“It’s no wonder you had so many girlfriends then, if you didn’t have anything to worry about,” she said, and walked back into the bedroom to dress. She put on a pair of jeans and a peach colored shirt with short, puffy sleeves. Talvi looked on with a faint smile as she hopped around the room, pulling on her socks while trying to stay standing instead of sitting down. It was one of the ridiculous, illogical things she did that for some reason, just made her more irresistible to him.

“Believe me; I did have one thing I worried about quite a bit. It was only a matter of time before it happened,” he said quietly.

“Before
what
happened to you?” she asked. “Elf herpes? Elf syphilis?”

He made a sour face at her.

“Annika! I cannot believe you just said that!”

“Well, if you’re positive that you don’t have any love children out there, what else could you mean?” she asked, walking close to him, but he only folded his arms across his chest and turned up his nose at her.

“I don’t even want to tell you now; you’ve perverted the moment beyond redemption,” he said, still playing hard to get. But it occurred to her that maybe he wasn’t just being melodramatic. Maybe she had actually hurt his feelings.

“Talvi, I’m really sorry I said that. I was only messing with you. Just tell me what you were worried about, please? I’ll make you some French toast for breakfast,” she bribed. He was quiet for a while before he finally reached out for her.