The Silver Thread (30 page)

Thought I could handle it, this kind of emotion,

Then my lust got in the way

I knew your arrival would set in motion,

Things which I did not dare to say

You know I tried to

Resist you

But when you looked at me

Like lovers do

Oh, I knew…it was only a matter of time.

I never thought I could feel such devotion,

Then my love got in the way

Intoxicating like a mystical potion,

And I knew not what to say

You know I tried to

Resist you

But when you kissed me

Like lovers do

Oh, I knew…it was only a matter of time,

Before you would be mine.

The haunting, hypnotic song came to a satisfying end, and Annika saw that the music had enticed Chivanni to come out of hiding and join Patty on the sofa. The two of them whooped loudly and clapped their approval, begging for more. Their mesmerized expressions told Annika that they were headed in the right direction. For years, ever since high school, Annika had dreamed of being a successful musician, touring around the world and having the freedom to do what she wanted, when she wanted. It was only a flash of a moment, only a spark of hopeful things to come, but she honestly felt like they had a shot at that future. Maybe, just maybe, her luck had changed.

Amidst the chatter among the others, Annika and Talvi remained in a private corridor, where they still lingered in each other’s minds.

“
I told you the words would come when they were good and ready
,” Talvi assured her silently, looking at her with love in his eyes. “
I knew it was only a matter o
f time
.”

Their first gig, with Talvi’s post-performance show featuring the Portland police, had caused a larger turnout for their second one. This in turn caused a third and then a fourth one to be booked, and then May was suddenly over. Somewhere in between gigs and recording, Patti had taken her final exams and now her results were in. They were all A’s and B’s, which earned her a well-deserved night of celebration. The household was at their third bar, doing yet another round of shots, when Talvi’s hand suddenly reached for his back pocket. He ducked outside without a word to anyone, and Annika wondered why he had snuck out for a cigarette without asking James to join him. After a few minutes, curiosity got the better of her, and she found herself weaving through the sea of sweaty, drunk people, and then outside in the cool, misty air. There was no sign of her husband amongst the other smokers on the front sidewalk.

The light in the rear parking lot had burned out, and Annika was careful of her steps as she made her way to the back of the building in the darkness. She didn’t make a sound as she crept further along the dirt path between the brick wall and the damp rhododendron bushes. She prayed that she didn’t bump into some random guy using the wall as a urinal. But then she heard Talvi’s voice from around the corner, and her ears perked up. She strained to listen, but he was speaking a language she couldn’t understand. It must have been on his phone because she couldn’t hear anyone else talking. His hushed tones sounded serious. Then he said some kind of goodbye, and then it was quiet.

Annika started to head back toward the front door when she heard the metallic chime of a flip top lighter opening. She turned around and there stood a tall, slender figure looming over her. His face was lit by the flame briefly as he lit a cigarette. And then it was dark again.

“Spying on me, love?”

“No, just wondering where you went off to,” she said, trying to calm her racing heart. “Who were you talking to at quarter after one?”

Talvi gave an amused hum and curled his arm around Annika’s waist, leading her slowly along the path toward the front of the bar. “What do you think about taking a little trip? I love Paris in the springtime.”

Annika was caught completely off guard. Who didn’t love Paris in the springtime? “That sounds romantic,” she agreed. “When were you thinking of going?”

“A few days from now. I’ve already made the travel arrangements, so please don’t say no,” he replied. Annika looked up at him, waiting for his impish grin, but he looked serious in the streetlight.

“Sweetie, what’s the deal with you never giving me any notice about major decisions?” she asked while he opened the door to the bar. “You gave me less than twelve hours’ notice when we got married.”

“Then I’m getting better at it, aren’t I?” he said as he winked, and ushered her back inside.

Three days later, they passed through the doors of Charles de Gaulle airport and found a black Mercedes waiting for them outside. Talvi handed Annika’s bag to the driver, who put it in the trunk and then shut the lid, leaving her puzzled. His black messenger bag was still slung across his chest. He turned to his wife and took her small hands into his.

“I didn’t want to tell you until we arrived, but there’s some unfinished business I have to tend to that may take a few weeks or so. In the meantime, I’ve arranged for you to be pampered and looked after until I’ll be able to do it myself. I know this isn’t the way you had envisioned spending our getaway, but I’m certain you’ll still enjoy yourself.”

“What the hell is this?” she glared at him through her sunglasses and tried to yank her hands out of his, but he held on fast. “You’re ditching me in one of the largest cities on the planet for a few
weeks
or more? I only asked off work for
ten days
! I guess I just lost my job then, didn’t I?”

“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes,” he shrugged, not looking nearly as apologetic as she thought he ought to. In fact, he looked rather pleased about it.

“What kind of business are you doing? Something with
M.N.,
I suppose?” she demanded, emphasizing the initials. “I know you carry around her little handkerchief everywhere you go, along with that secret cell phone of yours. I’ll bet that’s who you were booty calling the other night behind the club, isn’t it?”

She looked square into his stunned blue and green eyes, imploring him for answers, but he offered none. Instead, her thoughts became jumbled, falling and tumbling over themselves beyond her control. It was as if he had reached in with Chivanni’s enchanted wooden spoon and stirred them up himself, until she didn’t know reason from risotto.

The pedestrians and traffic swarmed around them while Annika’s head swam in confusion. Twenty-four hours of traveling with little sleep had already taken its toll, and now this bomb had been dropped on her. She barely remembered being hugged and kissed goodbye as Talvi buckled her into the back seat of the car, told her he loved her, and shut the door. As the car began to drive away, she saw her husband head back toward the airport doors, with his phone already held against his ear. She took off her sunglasses and stared at him until the tears of anger blurred her vision too much to see anything except smears of light and dark. When the car started to accelerate, so did her sobs. She had suspected her husband of being unfaithful for so long, but having him not deny it this time had been the clincher, along with being abandoned for this mysterious handkerchief woman. She didn’t care if the driver heard her crying, but she realized she wasn’t the only passenger in the back seat when she felt a long, comforting arm curl around her shoulders. It hugged her close, into a warm, clean-smelling shirt, making her feel wrapped up in a cocoon of solace.

“Shhh…don’t cry, Annika,” said a deep, rich voice above her while another hand began to stroke her hair. She looked up through her wet eyelashes to see Finn peering down at her through his large brown curls, smiling gently. “Everything will be alright.”

“What are
you
doing here?” Annika shuddered in surprise, and wiped her hot tears away.

Finn’s dark brown eyes gleamed.

“I’ve been appointed your guardian while Talvi is away,” he answered in Macedonian, still smiling sweetly at her. He wiped the wet corner of her eye with his thumb and held her chin for a brief moment before letting his hand rest in his lap. There was something different about the way he looked since the last time she had seen him. It wasn’t his clean-shaven face, his fitted light blue buttoned-down shirt with the rolled up sleeves, or the snazzy slim navy chinos he wore. There was something else that she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Will you tell me what’s going on with him and
M.N.
?” she replied bitterly in Macedonian as well. She assumed Finn was using it so the driver wouldn’t understand their conversation.

“They work together,” said Finn, giving her knee a comforting little pat. “He has some things to take care of in London before he can focus on his work here, so he asked me to watch over you and spoil you rotten until he can join us and do it himself. He wanted to make it a working vacation, because he loves to mix business with pleasure. You mustn’t be so eager to believe the worst possible scenario, Annika.”

“So he just managed to contact you last minute and ask you to drop everything you were doing to come babysit me in Paris, without any sort of explanation at all?”

Finn nodded, and smiled even wider. Then in English he replied, “How could I say no?”

Annika sighed and felt a wave of comfort wash over her. What was it about Finn that soothed her soul like aloe on a burn? He took his arm from her shoulders and reached into a bag beside his feet. He pulled out an item wrapped in black tissue paper, and handed it over.

“I found you a little gift while I was waiting for my tailor to finish up. I think it will help you feel more Parisian.”

She opened it up and there lay a gorgeous cream colored silk scarf, decorated with purple tulips in the center.

“Oh Finn, a Gucci scarf?”

“We can exchange it if you don’t care for the pattern.”

“No, no, it’s beautiful,” she sighed, caressing the soft edges of the fabric. “Thank you so much.”

“I was thinking you could put up your hair and wear it the way Grace Kelly used to.”

The private car drove another few miles as Annika found a hair tie in her purse and gathered her waist length hair into a loose bun. She let Finn fiddle with tying the perfect knot around her neck, and when she put on her sunglasses, he nodded and smiled in approval.

“
Pouvez-vous s’arrêter ici
?” he said to the driver, who pulled up to the curb and Finn took Annika’s bag along with his own. They walked half a block and around the corner before he hailed a cab, giving an address to the driver in French.

“Why did we switch cars?”

“Just to be on the safe side,” he replied once again in Macedonian.

“Are we in some kind of danger?” she asked quietly, in the same tongue as him.

“Hopefully not, but it’s always good to be cautious. How is your left hand feeling? Anything out of the ordinary going on with your ring?”

Annika had learned to not be so surprised by Finn’s intuitive questions. After all, he could read open minds just as easily as he read his countless books.

“Sometimes it hurts, and other times it’s fine. I usually only feel it after I’ve been playing guitar for too long,” she admitted. “Then sometimes it’s tingly. Why do you ask?”

“I frequently wonder about that silver thread,” he told her. “Talvi can feel his reach all the way to his elbow. I wondered if you had noticed the same sensations.”

“I do. What do you think it could be?”

“I’m still formulating different hypotheses, but you’ll be the first to know once I draw a conclusion,” he said, as their car slowed to a stop in front of the Four Seasons hotel.

This time, a bellhop carried their bags up to the room, and Annika tried not to gawk as they strode past marble statues and down the polished marble floor of the lobby. Chandeliers hung from the high ceilings and the walls were lined in luxe wallpaper, edged with thick crown moulding. Every chair was covered in plush velvet or silk and there were towering arrangements of fresh flowers everywhere. Even the air smelled too expensive to breathe. When Finn opened the door to their room, Annika felt light headed.

She took off her sunglasses and saw a suite sprawling before her with a luxurious sofa and a large flat screen television. Beyond that, a chandelier hung over a king sized bed, which was covered in soft blue and white brocade and half a dozen tasseled pillows. The windows in front of the bed were framed with matching curtains, which had been pulled back to reveal the most fantastic view that she had ever seen with her own eyes. In her visits before, she had never seen a view of the city like this one. The Eiffel Tower and all of Paris lay out in front of her, beckoning her to come out and play. It could have been a postcard, but no, it was just off their private terrace.

After tipping the bellhop, Finn locked the door and joined her by the window.

“I take it that you like the room, then,” he grinned.

“You’ve got to be shitting me! Are we really going to stay here the whole time we’re in Paris?” she said, untying the knot of her new silk scarf and marveling at the view.

“I can arrange something else if it’s not to your liking.”

“Oh I love it,” she assured him. “But this must be costing you at least a grand a night.”

“Damned if I know,” he said, still grinning at Annika. “I’m not footing the bill.”

“Now I see why you were so eager to babysit me,” she said, noticing an opera house within walking distance.

“I’d be lying if I said I preferred a tent in a forest in the middle of winter,” he said, and cracked his back. “But if that’s what was asked of me, I would have accepted the responsibility nevertheless. I know I’ve said it before, but I like having you around, Annika.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” she said, and turned around to take in the room once again. The opulence was utterly staggering. Talvi had clearly mastered the concept that asking forgiveness was easier than asking permission. Maybe he’d even invented it.

“I hope you’re alright with sharing a room,” Finn said, looking apologetic. “Talvi was very specific about you remaining within my sight at all times. You know how he can be when it comes to your safety. The sofa has a pull-out bed for me, so if you’d like to take a nap, the large bed is all yours. You must be quite tired after such a trip.”

“I don’t know, I’ve been pretty amped ever since we left the airport,” Annika said.

“Amped?” Finn asked, tilting his head to one side as he furrowed his brow. “Do you mean you’re still upset over the sudden change of schedule?”

Annika smiled to herself. She loved it when the Marinossian boys said words like ‘schedule’ in their English accents.

“No, I just mean that I’m too wound up to take a nap. I’m actually not that upset anymore, even though I probably should be, considering I got ditched for another woman in the most romantic city in the world,” she explained, crawling up onto the bed and flopping onto her stomach. “You really do give the best hugs. Or maybe it’s just that with enough money, anyone can be bought. Maybe I found my price, and it’s twelve-hundred thread count sheets with a view of Paris.”

“I know a few things about gambling, and I would bet on the hug,” said Finn, appearing serious. “I don’t believe a woman like you could ever sell your heart, no matter what the view.”

“You’re right; I couldn’t,” said Annika thoughtfully. “But I can still enjoy the perks of it trying to be bought.”

“Yes you can,” Finn said, grinning wide in approval. “What’s the first thing you’d like to do then, since you aren’t tired? Don’t you have an uncle that lives here? We could pay him a visit.”

“Nah, he’s in New Zealand right now,” Annika said. “He’s studying butterfly migratory patterns or something like that.”

“Oh? Is he a lepidopterist?”

“No, he’s an entomologist.”

Finn laughed softly at her.

“A lepidopterist is an entomologist who specializes in butterflies,” he informed her kindly, making her smile. Of course Finn would know that. It seemed there wasn’t much he didn’t know.

“I don’t think he specializes in one type of insect,” she said. “He mostly studies how climate change affects all of them.”

“What a fascinating profession. I should like to meet him some day, and have a nice long chat about that.”

“Uncle Vince would definitely talk your pointy ears off,” she told him. “He gets pretty passionate when it comes to the environment, and how it affects his precious bugs. Personally, I think they should all go away, besides butterflies.”

“Annika, Annika…” Finn shook his head, but spoke no more about insects or uncles. “Well, if you’d like to do something relaxing, there’s a spa downstairs where you can have a massage.”

She ran her hands along the silky bedding and propped her head up with her hands, resting on her elbows.

“I was thinking more about some bloody Marys and a hot tub.” Finn gave a little laugh.

“That’s easily done. Why don’t you get ready and I’ll ring the bar.”

Twenty minutes later, they were walking alongside the pool in white spa robes and slippers with their drinks. Both the hot tub and the swimming pool were quiet and empty, much to Annika’s relief. She set her drink on the edge of the tub and left her robe and slippers on a nearby lounge chair, then climbed down the steps into the heated water. Finn set the timer for the jets before joining her, and when he did, she clamped her lips around the straw in her glass so her jaw wouldn’t fall open.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when he saw the expression on her face.

She tried hard not to stare at the sleek, chiseled torso on display right in front of her face, but it was literally impossible. Who needed to buy a ticket to the Louvre when this living sculpture stood before her?

“You’re…just…so…
ripped
,” she said, forcing the words out awkwardly as she took a few long sips from the straw.

“Bloody hell, I just got these,” he said irritably, and looked down to inspect the back of the dark blue boxer style swim shorts he was wearing. “Where’s the rip?”

Annika snorted so hard that a little vodka went up her nose.

“No, no, no,” she said quickly, and he stopped contorting long enough to give her a quizzical look. “It’s more American slang. It means you’re in really great shape. You look like a piece of art.”

“Oh please,” he said, looking away bashfully as his cheeks reddened.

“I mean it,” she said, eyeing his toned biceps. It was taking all of her willpower not to clamp her hand onto one of them and beg him to flex. “You’re like a Roman god. What the hell have you been doing?”

“You name it, and it’s been done,” he sighed, relieved that his new swim suit was still intact, and sank into the water next to her. He held his straw aside and took a lengthy draught from his glass before continuing. “Now that Talvi’s off hiatus from work, I’m back to doing most of the household chores.”

“What kind of chores?” she asked, still ogling. “You don’t get muscles like that from doing laundry.”

“I beg to differ. I doubt you’ve carried many baskets full of wet laundry and hung them to dry. It’s hard work. But then so is hauling trees from the forest, chopping wood, cleaning horse stalls, stacking bales of hay, and carrying pails of water every morning and evening.” He rested his left elbow on the edge of the hot tub and took another drink before doing the same with his right elbow. “I’m not complaining, mind you. It has to be done and I’m happy to do it, but it’s been a rather grueling regimen.”

Annika’s eyes moved from his left bicep to his bare wrist, which was closest to her. It was then that she knew what was different about him.

“Your bracelet from Hilda is gone,” she pointed out. “Did you lose it doing all those chores?”

Finn shook his dark curls from side to side.

“No, it was removed intentionally.”

“Wow…I’m so sorry to hear that. What happened?”

“I said something out loud that I should have kept to myself,” he replied, and took another long drink of his bloody Mary, leaving it almost empty. Annika’s was still three quarters full.

“What the hell did you
say
?” she asked, flabbergasted. She was astounded how that relationship could have ended so abruptly, when there had been no sign of it heading south. If anything, Annika figured they would probably be planning a wedding of their own any day now. Finn was such a thoughtful gentleman, so what horrible thing could he have possibly said to Hilda? Annika was brimming with curiosity, but Finn just looked at her and let the corner of his mouth turn upward.

“Oh, I’m not fool enough to say it again. I learnt my lesson the first time. Tell me, how are you adjusting to living with my brother? I’m certain there’s a different dynamic now that he’s at your home versus you being at ours.”

Annika didn’t hold back when she told him about Talvi wrecking Patti’s car, on getting arrested and her dad having to get them out of jail in the middle of the night. She also filled him in on her husband having to pay back her parents all the fines, along with helping James max out his credit cards, all within the first few days of his arrival.