A Promised Fate (38 page)

Once Margaux was seated, wait staff began to file
into the room holding plates of zucchini bread with lavender cream
cheese followed by stuffed avocado, layered with rosemary rub and
smoked salmon, then a seafood medley on asparagus with ravioli and
pesto. The food was savory and exquisite. Wine glasses never had a
chance to fully empty and desert followed quickly after the meal
with a simple plate of raspberry sorbet on top of a rich and
decadent chocolate brownie. The plates were cleared from the tables
and the MC announced that the silent auction and the bar were both
open and reminded people once again to give from their hearts.

“This baby is treating my bladder like a trampoline,”
Ava said to me as we all stood up from the table. My dad overheard
her and let out a roaring laugh.

“Is he kicking?” My dad asked. He believed with
absolute certainty that the baby was a boy.

“Yes, that brownie woke him up and really got him
dancing,” Ava giggled.

My dad’s eyes lit up – he was the only one in the
family who hadn't felt the baby kick yet.

“Go ahead.” Ava smiled indulgently, knowing that Andy
was too polite to ask if he could touch her belly. He jumped at the
opportunity to feel his grandbaby move about and placed both of his
hands on either side of Ava’s bump. Ava un-locked our fingers and
put her palms on top of his hands. “Right here!” she said adjusting
his position on her belly, “Do you feel it?”

Andy grinned with joy. “Aggie, you’ve gotta feel
this.” And my mom joined in on the action, followed shortly after
by Margaux, turning Ava into something of an animal at a petting
zoo.

“Okay, okay.” Ava wiggled away from their touch. “I’m
in need the ladies' room.” She turned to me and wrapped her fingers
back around mine and I walked with her to the corridor that housed
the restrooms. Aside from a couple of partygoers talking on their
cell phones, the hall was quiet.

“I’ll be just a minute. Will you wait for me?”

I shook my head incredulously at Ava. “You know I
will wait right here for you, or… I could even join you. We could
make use of a locked door and create a fun memory.” I winked.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Ava,” I said patiently. “Seeing you in those shoes
is killing me, I would jump at an opportunity to have you all to
myself behind a locked door, so don’t tempt me anymore than you
already are.”

“Maybe later – I really have to pee! Here, hold my
clutch?” She pressed her small clutch into my hand and disappeared
into the restroom.

Excited, murmured conversation trickled in echoes
down the hall from the gallery. A faint but steady click of high
heels started in the distance and grew louder as someone
approached. I turned to see who was coming my way.

“Hey, Boss! Enjoying yourself?”

“Fauna!”

She came up to me holding a glass of wine.

“Hey there! I was hoping to get a chance to talk with
you. I was happy to see your name on the guest list, Fauna. How are
you doing?”

“Better now.”

My eyebrow rose upward at her and she smiled a bit
too lasciviously.

“Are you interested in any of the pieces tonight?” I
asked in a quick change of subject.

“I have my eye on something.” Fauna took a drink of
her wine.

“Me too.” I thought of Ava.

“I like this tux.” Fauna placed her palm on my lapel
and I casually took a step back, out of her reach. She took a step
forward leaving me trapped with my back to the wall.

“Thank you, Ava hand-picked it herself.”

“Lucky girl. Does she lay all your clothes out for
you?”

I took the glass of wine from Fauna’s hand. “I think
you may have had a bit too much to drink tonight. Ava will be out
in just a moment, we can walk you back to the bar and grab a
water.”

She laughed, moved her hand to my upper arm, and
squeezed. Fauna pushed up on her toes to my eye level. “When are
you going to figure things out, Ari?” She purred her question in my
ear.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You married the wrong woman. Everyone knows that.
Why don’t you?”

“You are entirely out of line, Fauna.” I warned.

“Figure out who I am, Ari, and we will see which one
of us is out of line. A promise is a promise for all of eternity.
It is my turn.”

I froze.

She pressed her finger to my lips. “This mouth is
mine.” Her finger slid quickly down my neck all the way to my
groin. I smashed my back into the stone wall and she only came in
closer. “This is mine.” She cupped her palm around me and squeezed
me through my suit pants. “Not hers.”

“There is no Persephone.” I whispered.

“Wrong, Adonis.” She sang, then smiled and cupped me
harder. Her hot breath was on my check, the smell of merlot was
heavy on her tounge.

“It’s not true. You can’t exist – I know that.”

“What did you tell her before … a spark? More like a
flame, actually. I am a phoenix and I have risen from the ash and I
am here to collect what was promised to me.”

“It’s too late, I can’t keep that promise, I won’t.
My past does not define me.”

“Wrong again. I’m the boss now and I’ll be coming for
you…”

The faucet from the ladies' room turned on and in
just a moment Ava would find me with another woman pressed to my
body, her hands on my pants.

“You. It’s you. You’ve been listening to us. You
broke into our house. You had the fucking key code, you deceitful
bitch. God, you knew everything. I trusted you, Fauna.”

The lock turned with a heavy thunk.

“That was one of your many mistakes. You are mine,
Ari – you know that now, and if you run from me, I will kill her.
She will bleed a lot more than that stupid cat.” She let me go,
released her hands from my body, turned around and walked away, her
heels clicking with each step, echoing down the hall like a time
bomb ready to detonate.

“Ready?”

I turned to Ava’s bright smiling face.

“Uh, hold on a second.” I had to tell her.

“You ok?” Ava asked, her voice so kind, soft and
warm.

“Um…”

“Oh, my God! Ari!” She nearly screamed.

“What, what is it?” I yelled back, the panic in me
flowing so hot and fast I could not breathe.

Ava cupped her arm under her belly.

“It’s the baby.”

The cut-rate, generic wall clock in the hospital room
ticked so slowly I wanted to rip it from its pathetic nail and
smash it to pieces on the floor at my feet.

“Mrs. Alexander?”

“Jesus! It’s about bloody freakin’ time!” I shot up
out of the seat at Ava’s bedside and both of the women, Ava and the
on-call doctor, shot me nasty looks.

“How are you feeling?” The doctor ignored me and
focused on her patient.

“I had a couple of really painful and sharp cramps on
one side of my stomach and now they just seemed to have gone
away.”

“Okay, that kind of thing is normal, Ava. What you
are experiencing is called practice contractions. I don’t think
you're in labor, but since you're here, I’m going to do a pelvic
exam so we can see if you are dilated and we can double check to
make sure your water hasn’t broken.”

“Alright.” She said to the doctor and then looked
over to me. “Ari, you’ll need to step out into the hall for a
minute or two, the doctor needs to do an exam.”

“Like hell, Ava! I’m not leaving you!”

“Ari.” Her cheeks blushed.

“You can forget about it, I’m not leaving your side.”
I softened as much as I could in my panicky state and tucked a
stray wave of hair back under her pearly hairpin. “I can’t. You are
my wife and this is my child, I need to be in here with you.
Please.”

Her head nodded in a small agreeing bob. “He’s fine
to stay.” She told the doctor.

“You might feel a pinch.”

Ava’s face screwed tightly in a knot and I kept my
eyes focused on hers.

“Your water has not broken and you are only dilated
to about one centimeter. You’re not in labor so I am going to send
you home tonight. You can take some Tylenol for any discomfort you
may feel. If your water does break, come back to the hospital right
away or if you start having regular contractions that are about
five minutes apart, that’s when the real labor begins. I know
you're ready for the baby to be here, but you could still be
looking at another few weeks, or heck, it could be tomorrow – it’s
up to the baby to decide, so try to get plenty of rest and be sure
to pack an overnight bag for the hospital stay. Luck favors the
prepared.”

“Okay.” Ava’s voice was small and tired. It was late
and we had missed the end of the gala – no dancing, no door prizes
and now no baby. She was disappointed.

My stomach, head, heart, limbs, lungs – all of them
buzzed out of control with the abundance of gushing adrenaline.

“Let’s go, Baby.”

In the car, Ava curled up in the front seat under my
suit jacket, pressed her cheek against the cool window glass and
fell asleep, leaving me with nothing to do but think.

Fauna had been my assistant for a year and yet I had
had no idea she was anyone other than the girl who answered my
phone and ran my errands. Unassuming, sometimes a little dumb but
always reliable, she had been granted access to nearly everything
in my life – I had trusted her. All she had to do was ask me for
something, anything, and I never once questioned her. If she
rattled off an excuse for my pin number, I provided it to her
without the blink of an eye. She had my schedule and our security
codes, and she had used my credit cards on several occasions. I had
given her access to our bank accounts and the keys to my house and
cars. She had had ample opportunities to makes copies of whatever
she wanted. She had made my life so
easy,
and now the
thought of her made me nauseous. I pulled over on the highway twice
to puke in the dirty gravel.

“Hey, Baby.” I gave Ava a gentle nudge when we pulled
into the garage. “We're home now. Let me take you upstairs, I’ll
get you in bed.”

“I put you in a bad mood and ruined your night. It
was just a silly cramp, I’m sorry.” She pouted and unbuckled her
seatbelt.

“You did no such thing,” I said, smiling. Ava babbles
when she’s tired and I have always found it endearing. She looked
up at me and smiled back.

Inside, I disabled the alarm and walked slowly behind
her through the house. Lauren was asleep on the couch with Luke
sleeping on the floor beside her. The end credits from a movie ran
up the TV. I shut it off and kissed my sister's forehead.

“Hey, you’re home.” She stretched.

“Yeah, sorry we're later than I said we would be. But
we’re home now, you two are welcome to stay or you can head next
door if you want to. Just let me know so I can set the alarm.”

“We'll just stay. I’m too tired to walk all the way
home.”

“Sure, take the guest room if you’d like. How was
Max?”

“He was really good all night. He’s asleep in his
bed.”

“Thanks, Lo. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She rolled her face into a couch
pillow and curled back into a ball.

Ava sleepily made her way up the stairs. Her waves
were still pinned back perfectly and she still looked amazing in
her black dress but she had given up on the heels back at the
hospital. They dangled loosely from her fingertips.

“Let me take care of you.” I said and removed Ava’s
hair pins, placing each one in a small glass dish on her dressing
table. Reaching around her, I unzipped her dress. My fingers traced
the line down her spine to the small of her back. She stepped out
of the dress and stood before me wearing only a pair of lace
panties.

“Do you want me to slip these back on?” She talked
softly in my ear and held up her red bottomed Luboutins.

“I would love that, but do you know what fantasy I
would like to see even more right now?”

“What?” Her voice was so soft.

“You…”

“Mmm…”

“In my bed.”

“Yeah?”

“Asleep.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders dropped but she was so tired, she
was relieved. I tugged one of my undershirts over her head and
replaced her lace panties with comfy cotton.

“Let me put you to bed. I just want to hold you, Ava.
I don’t ever want to let you go.”

Ava curled in bedside me and I watched her sleep
until my tears clouded my eyes and hard, forceful sobs caused my
body to shake and tremble. I prayed.

“Join us.”

A gasp escaped my strained lungs and leapt from my
mouth. My eyes shot open from sleep. Muted, grey, early-morning
light touched the edge of our wall. The air was still and quiet,
the gulls had not even begun to squawk. My exposed skin was cold
and dotted with goose bumps. I was alone but I knew where to find
her.

I looked down the hallway from our bedroom door and
spotted her. Standing in her underwear and a pair of my argyle
dress socks slouched around her ankles, her shoulder propped her up
against the frame of the doorway in the new nursery, looking in at
what will be our baby’s room. Ava’s belly had grown so large in the
last few weeks that my undershirts barley graced the bottom of her
protruding belly. I watched her for a moment, unable to take my
eyes off my beautiful wife, pregnant with my baby. She had given me
all I had ever wanted; her love and a family to share it with.

“Hey, Baby.” I snuck down the hall and wrapped my
arms around her, kissing her cheek.

“Mmm.” She smiled sweetly and nuzzled her head into
my kiss. “Hi.”

“What are you doing up so early?”

“I’m too anxious to sleep. I just want to meet our
baby and bring him home with us - it’s all I can think about. This
weekend was such a disappointment ... I was so sure I was in labor
and now I don’t feel like it's ever going to happen.”