Fruit of Misfortune (10 page)

Eryx stepped toward me, placing an arm over
my shoulder. “How has our little Isis been behaving in Athens?”

“Well…” Eros began, “To be honest, she’s
charmed me senseless.”

I felt my heart sink to my stomach, thinking
that he would find a way in his next words to incriminate me.

“Has she?” Galen turned to view Eros with a
look that I couldn’t decipher.

“Oui. In absolute, she has.” Eros nodded
once. “The way she ever so delicately regurgitated on my shoes won
me over.”

“She did what?” Eryx laughed.

Nyx covered her mouth, stifling a laugh, as
well.

Galen walked toward me. To my surprise and
out of his usual character, he bent down and kissed my cheek.

“What was that for?” I said, amazed that
Galen had expressed some form of affection.

“For a job well done.”

David leaned in close to my ear. “If I’m not
mistaken, Galen’s just claimed you as his ally.”

Before I could question the comment, Camilla
walked into the room, wiping her hands on her apron and speaking in
Italian at the top of her lungs. She hugged Nyx and the twins and
led them to the dining room where the typical Chios banquet had
already been served.

I was thankful when Galen beat Eros to the
empty seat next to mine. Since I still had no appetite, I spent the
length of the meal picking at my food.

***

After dinner, we sat in the living room. I
started to feel lightheaded, and that soon turned into a mild dizzy
spell. I needed to lie down.

“I’m going to bed,” I announced. “Good
night.”

“Sleep well,” I heard Nyx say as I headed
toward the stairs.

David stopped me before I reached the first
step. He drew me against his chest. His lips pressed against mine.
And even though I wanted to, I couldn’t kiss him back. I felt too
ashamed. Too disgusted with myself after having kissed his best
friend.

I stared at the floor, but I could feel his
eyes on me.

“You’re upset?” he asked, and I shook my
head. “Then what is it?”

“I’m just tired.”

With an unconvinced look, he nodded. “Well,
good night, then.”

I climbed the stairs as fast as I could, my
vision beginning to blur. When I reached the bedroom, the bed
seemed to be rocking along with the walls. The bathroom door flew
open and bounced back, as I stumbled in. I landed on my knees and
crawled to the toilet where I lost the few bites I had eaten. I sat
back against the wall and watched the room spinning around me. My
stomach began to spasm, and I hurled myself over the toilet again,
retching a strange brown liquid. Over and over the liquid rose and
spewed, until there was nothing left, except for the involuntary
dry heaves my body continued to produce.

My breathing became shallow, and a surge of
anxiety ran through me. I struggled to move out of the bathroom,
but as I crawled, I started crying and screaming at the top of my
lungs. I leaned my head against the door and held my arms, digging
my nails into them. I curled into a ball, iciness sweeping over me.
My pained screams resonated against the concrete walls.

“Isis!” I heard David’s voice between cries.
I pulled at my hair, trying to control the anxiety that was
consuming me. But trying to control both the angst and the cold
that traveled through my limbs was impossible. I fought hard to
suppress the screams.

“It’s happening again,” I heard Eros say.
“Why?”

“Eros, take Camilla out of here, and lock the
door,” Nyx delegated, instead of answering Eros. “And keep her
occupied.”

Eros hesitated, but followed Nyx’s orders and
ushered Camilla out of the room. Only, he didn’t leave.

David knelt beside me. “What is it?”

I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know. All
I knew was that I felt like I was in some sort of psychological war
with myself, and my body was turning into an icicle. At last, my
cries died down to whimpers.

“Is she pregnant?” Eryx asked.

“Of course not,” David replied.

“Are you sure?” Eryx asked again, and David
gave him a cross look as he carried me to the bed.

Cold as ice, I drew into myself when I felt
the bed under me. My jaw shook uncontrollably.

“You need to lie flat on your back,” Nyx told
me.

“I don’t think there’s time for this,” David
said. “Look at her lips. They’re turning blue. We should put her in
the bath.”

“We will, but I can read her better while
she’s in this state. I found nothing when I scanned her body
earlier, during dinner.”

Galen forced my folded left arm away from my
chest. I pulled away from him. He tried to uncurl my arm again, and
again I drew it back. The cold was too much.

Then, with more pressure than before, Galen
gripped my wrist, his fingers making my skin ache and burn. I
screamed. As if in slow motion, I saw Galen’s body spring back and
ricochet against the wall. He hit the floor with a loud thump.

“Her arms… It’s escalating too fast.” Nyx ran
to the bathroom.

I studied the blue patches that had formed
along the length of my hands to my elbows. Eros, Eryx, David, and
Galen looked at me with widened stares. Nyx raced back into the
bedroom.

“Signora?” I heard Camilla’s voice
accompanied by loud knocking at the door.

“Eros, didn’t I tell you to keep Camilla
occupied?” Nyx glared at him.

Eros lingered at the door before he opened it
and walked out. Galen turned the lock on the knob.

Nyx ran into the bathroom again. “Bring her
in!”

Galen took a hesitant step forward. Eryx
shook his head at him, and Galen looked at David.

“David,” Eryx said, but David didn’t
move.

“David.” Galen snapped his fingers at him.
“Be quick about it.”

At last David reacted. He carried me into the
bathroom and placed me in the tub still clothed. With effort and
after a brief argument in Latin, Nyx pushed David back and out the
door and locked us in. She removed my clothes, leaving my
undergarments, but only because I protested.

Nyx poured warm water over my head, slicking
my hair back. “Can you straighten your body for two minutes?”

I tried to nod, but instead, I shivered.

While Nyx worked, pressing her fingers
between my eyes, on my temple and some other areas, I tried as hard
as I could to keep myself from curling into a ball.

Nyx reached my abdomen, applying pressure
right below the naval. She said, “My dear, I’m going to ask you a
question, and you must be honest.”

“Okay.”

“Isis.” Her eyes locked on mine. “Are you
pregnant?”

“
No!
”

I didn’t know if I was shaking from the cold
I felt still residing in me or from the question that made my heart
begin to pump faster. Why did everyone insist on asking me that
question?

“Don’t lie to me.” She sounded as offended as
I felt.

“I’m
not
pregnant,” I said in an
argumentative tone. “Why don’t you believe me?”

Nyx’s lips were pressed together as she
studied me. She rose from her kneeling position and looked at me
for a moment longer. From the linens closet, she took a towel and
wrapped me in it. Then, she cracked open the bathroom door and
said, “David, come in here.”

David stepped in the bathroom and squatted
next to the tub, where I sat with goose pimples all over, but no
longer shivering. I had yet to recover feeling in my gray hands and
feet.

Nyx placed her hands on her hips, glaring at
the both of us. “David, I’m only going to ask this once, and I
expect the truth.”

“Nyx, I swear,” I insisted. “You don’t have
to—”

Nyx raised her hand, shaking her head to stop
me from saying more.

“What’s the question?” David looked confused
and curious.

“Is Isis pregnant?”

David’s foot slid out from under him and he
dropped onto the wet floor. He looked up at his mother with his
mouth open.

“I… we haven’t… No,” he said.

“Stop lying!” Nyx raised her voice at us, her
blue eyes ablaze. “I won’t have you making a fool of me.” She
turned her head to the bathroom door and yelled, “Galen and Eryx,
step away from the door—and leave the room.”

I had never seen Nyx so angry. Who knew that
little woman could be so scary?

We heard a door slam, and Nyx turned her
attention back to us. “I’ve never been wrong when it comes to this.
You’d better tell me what you’ve done and tell me now, or so help
me Deus, I will hang you both like wet laundry.”

“Mother, why would I lie, knowing the danger
I would put all of us in?” David reasoned with her.

Nyx thought for a moment. She turned to view
the door. “Galen, didn’t I tell you to leave?”

“It’s not Galen,” Eryx said from the other
side of the door. “Can I see her?”

Nyx looked over her shoulder at us, and then
opened the door for Eryx. He walked to the tub and knelt next to
David and me.

“I need to feel your lower abdomen. I can do
this with my eyes closed if you feel uncomfortable. I don’t need to
see what I’m doing; I only need to place pressure on key
areas.”

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Eryx said. “But I’ll tell you
when I find out.”

“Can you turn around?” I looked at David.

David nodded and stepped away from the
tub.

“I’ll guide his hands.” Nyx stood behind Eryx
with a calmer face.

David walked toward the door and kept his
back to us. Nyx unraveled the towel and placed Eryx’s hands on
either side of my hips.

“Inward.” Eryx instructed Nyx with closed
eyes. “Stop.” He applied pressure for a moment and instructed her
again. “Inward… stop.” He repeated this action twice more until his
hands were side to side and in the center of my abdomen. There, he
held his hands longer than he had on the other areas. “Cover her,
please.”

“I can do it,” I said, but Nyx helped me
secure the towel over my chest anyway.

“She’s covered,” Nyx announced.

“Well?” David raised his brow. “What did you
find?”

“She’s not pregnant,” Eryx said, looking at
his mother. “Were you basing your diagnosis on her heightened hCG
level?”

“Yes, and there’s a small mass there,” Nyx
argued.

“What’s hCG?” I interrupted.

“Pregnancy hormones,” David answered.

“You were looking for an embryo?” My eyes
creased. “You can sense that?”

Eryx nodded.

“Then what do you make of the morula?” Nyx
asked.

“Define morula?” I interrupted again.

“It’s a very early embryonic stage at which
cell division occurs,” Nyx explained. “And I’m positive that’s what
I sense. It has to be.”

“It’s not that,” Eryx assured her. “It’s
ovules… by the millions. That’s the reason for the cluster.”

Millions?
That couldn’t be right.

“I’m never wrong.” Nyx clenched her fist.
“Never.”

“Her hCG level is down, by the way,” Eryx
said. “It began to drop as I scanned her.”

Still not convinced with Eryx’s evaluation,
Nyx knelt by the tub and placed her hand over the towel.

“Turn around,” she instructed the boys with a
quick glance at them.

Once again she touched the same midpoint that
had initially caused her to suspect I was lying.

“He’s right,” she said after a moment.
“Hormone level is normal.” She lapped the towel over me, her mouth
in a tight line. “I’m sorry I doubted you. I panicked. And to be
honest, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Mother!” Eryx suppressed a smile.

“What?” She sounded annoyed. “Are your ears
bleeding from hearing your mother curse? As if you haven’t heard
worse.”

***

At last, my fingers returned to their natural
peachy tone. Nyx helped me out of the tub, but ordered me straight
into bed. Camilla brought me a clear broth to warm me up. It wasn’t
enough, though. I craved a juicy, bloody steak—which was strange,
because I liked my steaks well done.

Camilla lit a candle with the image of a
white dove on the label. She crossed herself in front of the
candle, and then crossed me before she left. Galen examined the
small crack on the wall where his head had hit it earlier. David
sat by my side, monitoring my temperature while Nyx and Eryx spoke
in hushed voices in a corner. Meanwhile, Eros stood by, watching me
from the door.

“Are you going to tell me what’s causing her
illness? And how did she send Galen flying into the wall?” Eros
stood stiffly at the foot of the bed, directing his questions at
David.

“I never did that,” I said. “Did I?”

David looked to his family for support.

“I tripped,” Galen said.

“Yes.” Eros glared at Galen. “Of course you
did.” He spun on his heel and left.

“Why’s he so upset?” I asked.

“He knows we’re keeping him in the dark.”
David ran his hand over my arm. “He saw you push Galen against the
wall.”

“When did I do that? There’s no way I
could.”

“You did.” Nyx closed the door to the room.
“Which leads to the matter I wanted to discuss earlier. How are we
going to keep this from Eros now?”

“He’ll leave on his own if we ignore him,”
Eryx said. “He’ll get the hint.”

“And if that doesn’t work,” Galen added, “we
could kill him.”

Nyx rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut it,
Galen.”

David’s lips curled. “Mother isn’t in the
best of moods, brother.”

“I’ll say.” Galen raised his brows.

“She was swearing like a mad, drunken sailor
in the bathroom,” Eryx said.

David covered my ears with his hands. “Oh,
the filth that these innocent ears heard.”

“Was she really swearing?” Galen asked.

“She said one word,” I told him. “They’re
exaggerating.”

Galen hugged Nyx. “Looks like you are my
mother after all.”

Nyx pushed away from Galen. “Are you all done
indulging in this pettiness?” She sounded angrier than she had in
the bathroom. “Do you think Isis’ condition is a laughing
matter?”