The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (14 page)

“No … I mean I can call Trina later. She might take the news best from me.”

Beau stared at her for a long moment. “That’s fine. Tell her I’m sorry. Okay?”

She nodded.

“Do you mind staying here?”

“No, go ahead.” Of course Beau needed a moment alone, to collect himself. He needed to stay strong for his son.

Beau ran his hand lovingly over Kaden’s hair and smiled. “I’ll be back in a sec, cool?”

Kaden rolled his eyes. “I’m not dying, Dad.”

Beau nodded and made his way to the door. “I know, kiddo. But I only got one of you, I’m allowed to worry.”

The door clicked shut behind him.

Kaden’s eyes were half closed, but he kept forcing them open.

Ariadne tried to smile. “Why don’t you rest?”

Kaden nodded. Ariadne sat down in the vinyl chair next to the bed, slid her hand under his, and squeezed. He smiled and his head fell back to the pillow. In less than a minute, he was asleep.

While she watched Kaden’s shallow breaths, her mind wandered to Beau. She could understand that he needed to talk to Kaden’s mother. From the way Beau had spoken the words, there was no warmth, but she found little comfort in his inflection. Was there still some relationship between Beau and the woman? And why was she so taken aback by with the thought of Beau talking to another woman?

• • •

The phone rang on the other end of the line as he walked out the revolving glass doors of the hospital. A part of Beau wished that Lynda would ignore the call, that he could just tell her what she needed to know without actually having to speak to his ex-wife.

When she picked up, his stomach fell. He had only been in custody of their son for a few weeks and now he was forced to call her with unthinkable news. She was going to blame this on him.

“Hello?” Lynda questioned.

“Hi, Lynda. How’s the honeymoon?” Beau asked, trying to sound civil.

“Great. We went to the Puerta del Sol last night. And tomorrow we’re going to travel to Seville, then we’re going on a cruise. It’s going to be hot, but this is just such a once-in-a-lifetime trip,” she said, sounding excited. She paused for a second, as if she remembered who she was talking to. “Why are you calling?”

“It’s Kaden.”

“Is he causing trouble again?” she snapped. “This is getting so goddamned old. You need to take care of it — ”

“That’s not it,” he said, interrupting her rant.

“Then why would you call?”

“Lynda, I just admitted him into the hospital here in Heraklion.”

“What?”

“He collapsed on the beach. The ambulance brought him here.”

“Why didn’t you call me before?” she chastised him.

“We only just talked to the doctor. I didn’t want to interrupt you until I knew something.”

The phone was silent.

“So what did the doctors say?” Lynda asked.

“They believe he has tuberculosis. They are about to start him on antibiotics, and they are going to move him into isolation.”

Lynda tsked, as if she was thinking. “So it’s treatable?”

“Hopefully, but I think it’d be nice if you could come back and at least see him. I think he’s having a hard time with this.”

“The antibiotics will clear the infection, won’t they?” She sounded distant.

Lynda won’t flake out on her sick child, will she?

“As long as the infection isn’t the drug resistant kind … but I think you should be here,” he urged, his voice filled with anger.

“We already bought our train passes and paid for our rooms. That’s a lot of money we’d be losing.”

“It’s just money, Lynda. Don’t you think your son is more important than your goddamned vacation?” He already knew how this was going to play out, but he went through the motions as he had with so many fights before.

“You said he’s treatable, right?”

“I said ‘hopefully.’ They aren’t sure, but he’s going to be here for at least a few weeks before he isn’t contagious.”

“Well, see, there’s really no point to me coming back if I can’t even be around him. Just tell him I love him. Won’t you?”

“I’m not your carrier pigeon. If you want to say something to your son, you should come here and tell him yourself.”

Lynda sighed. “You are such a drama king.”

“Our son is sick, and just because I think you should be here, I’m being dramatic?”

How had he ever fallen for a woman who was so devoid of normal human emotion?

“Maybe I’ll come in a week,” she offered begrudgingly. “We should be back from our cruise by then, we’d have to cancel the trip to Italy, but maybe if we rearranged a few things … ”

He held back from yelling at her that she needed to get her ass there. Screaming at each other would accomplish nothing, it never had. Hopefully, with a little time, she would understand how important it was for her to be at her son’s bedside. But she was going to have to come to the decision herself. He had done what he could.

He tried to sound satisfied. “Great. See you soon.”

“Sure,” she said, but she sounded uncertain. “Call me if anything changes. I should have service on the ship.”

He slammed the phone shut. He slumped down on a bench and put his head in his hands. Poor Kaden, he deserved better than this.

• • •

Ariadne pulled a piece of lint from the dress she had grabbed from her closet. The dress reeked of the hospital antiseptic, but as strong as it was, it couldn’t mask the distant odor of death and sadness. She couldn’t wait to get the damned thing off.

Kaden shifted in the bed and opened his eyes. “Hey.”

“You awake? Your dad’s still gone.”

Kaden shrugged and stared out the window.

Ariadne didn’t know what to say. It had to be so hard for Kaden. No one this young should have to go through anything like this, but pity would help nothing. It was strange to think that not that long ago, she had felt so alone — part of nothing but the double-edged sisterhood. Holding Kaden’s hand, she could feel the bond strengthen between them, almost like love.

“Tell me about the party. You know, the one on the top of the hill?” Kaden asked, breaking the awkward silence.

For a moment she considered telling him the truth, but telling him she had been dancing naked with the Sisterhood of Epione didn’t want to roll off her tongue. She smiled at the thought of the questions that would follow. The young man would be open-minded enough to believe what she would tell him about nymphs and witches, elves and bulls, but would it help him? No.

Then it struck her. There was something that she could do to help Kaden. She thought about the crystal staff of Epione. If she found it, they could heal whatever ailed him. But it was impossible on so many levels.

Modern medicine was making progress every day. They would cure him. He and Beau would go back to America and then this confusing mess of emotions would come to an end.

“Aria?” Kaden pressed.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, with a weak smile. “I was just thinking.”

“About?” He tried to hold back a cough.

“You okay?”

He nodded.

She forced a bigger smile. “I was just thinking about how nice it has been to meet you and your dad.”

Kaden looked at the door. “Yeah, my dad has really … come alive since he met you. Before it was all
the dig
and
funding
. Since you came into our lives, he … smiles.”

He smiles?
He seemed like such a happy man, at least most of the time. It was strange to think that he wasn’t always the person she saw.

“But then again,” Kaden continued. “I don’t know him very well.”

“What do you mean?” she inquired.

“Didn’t he tell you?” He looked surprised.

She shook her head.

“The last time I saw him before Crete was ten years ago. He left me standing alone at the edge of our yard,” Kaden paused. “The last thing he said was ‘One day you’ll understand love, kiddo.’ But from what I can see, Beau doesn’t understand it any better than I do.”

She was taken aback with his candor and for a moment she just sat and thought about what to say. “Have you ever been in love?”

He looked down at their joined hands. “Up until now I thought I had, but Trina made me rethink everything I thought I knew. With Trina, it’s like my heart is going to beat out of my chest every time she gets close to me. I even had to buy extra-strength deodorant.” Their laughter filled the air.

“That’s great, Kaden,” she said, still laughing. “You know it’s a good thing when you try not to smell.”

Kaden’s eyes sparkled with life and looked out of place against the pallor of his skin. “Trina’s special. I really love her.”

As his words sank in, Ariadne’s heart fell.
It all makes sense why he’s sick … he’s in love with a nymph. The curse …

She jumped to her feet and stumbled on the chair leg as she burst from the room. The door closed behind her, and without looking where she was going, she bumped into a man.

“I was wondering when you would come back to see me again,” Stavros boomed.

She struggled to find her bearings as she stared at the man in the hospital gown with a gauze bandage wrapped around his neck. “Stavros?”

He looked at her with a squint. “You okay? You look tired.”

No, she wasn’t
okay
, but Stavros couldn’t help. No one could help. If she had only told Trina to stop seeing Kaden, this wouldn’t have happened. But wait … if Stavros would’ve just closed the site after she had found him in the office with Bunny, none of this would have happened. And an innocent teenager wouldn’t be at risk.

“Goddamn you, Stavros.” She pushed past him and began to run — anything to get away from the mess she had helped to create.

“Ariadne?” He called out after her, but she couldn’t be stopped.

The revolving door of the hospital forced her to slow, and the second the warm morning air touched her skin, her guard fell. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she gasped for air, choking on her emotions. How had she let herself get mixed up with Beau and his son? Why had she allowed herself to feel? If only she was stronger.

Her vision was blurred with tears, but she kept moving down the sidewalk in the direction of her car.

“Ariadne?” Beau ran up beside her.

She looked at him through teary eyes, but before she could say anything, he pulled her into his arms. She pressed her face into the smooth cotton of his jacket and let her tears fall. His hands ran up and down her back. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he whispered repeatedly.

After a few minutes, his constant reassurance took effect and her tears stopped. She must look like a mess; she could just imagine her mascara running down her face and how red her eyes must be. Subtly, she tried to dab at her nose before she looked up.

“What’s going on, sweetheart?” Beau asked his voice smooth and calm. “Is Kaden okay?”

“He’s fine … ” She realized how she must look to him, hysterical and crying. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t scare you. I just realized … ” she stopped herself.

He can’t know the truth — that one of my sisters is responsible for inadvertently trying to kill his son.

“We can’t do this, Beau,” she stammered, motioning to the two of them.

“What?” he asked, confusion flashed across his face. “What are you saying?”

“You can’t be with me. I can’t be with you. This won’t work.” She pulled out of his arms and stepped back. “I planted the baby’s remains in your site. I had to shut it down.”

“What?” Beau growled. “You’re lying. You wouldn’t.”

She looked down at asphalt.

He grabbed her by the arms, but she couldn’t look up and see the hurt that would be in his eyes.

She was quiet for a moment, as she remembered that terrible night. “I left behind a pile of clothes, with a blue latex glove in the back pocket of my pants.”

He dropped his hands as his breath left him. “You fucked with my site? You, a woman who can understand how important this is, disturbed a site that my career depends on?”

He took a step away as if she repulsed him. “Did you have something to do with the shooting as well? Or am I to believe that was just an isolated incident?”

The tears were a steady stream. “No. I wouldn’t — ”

“Stop,” he interrupted. “I don’t believe anything you have to tell me.”

“You’re right,” she said in a choked voice. “You deserve better than me.”

“You know what?” He stepped back and glared at her. “I think you’re right.”

Walking into the office of the museum, Ariadne dropped her purse on her desk where a pile of newspapers sat neatly stacked at its center. The secretary must not have known she had been avoiding the news.

Ariadne thumbed through the week’s papers, anything to take her mind off Beau and the mess she had left in her wake. Why had she let things go so far? Everything bad that was happening was her fault. She had spent the night tossing and turning. Sleep had never come and the only thing she decided with any certainty was that she, and her sisterhood, were evil.

The press was having a field day with the mystery still revolving around the governor’s shooting. The headlines rapidly declined as the days went on. On the day of the shooting the headline read: “Governor Shot,” the next day, “Questions Remain as to Shooter’s Identity,” to “American Archeologist Being Questioned for Role in Governor’s Shooting,” to the last and worst which read, “Archeology Site in Gournai Shut Down Indefinitely as Investigations Dig Deeper.”

She read the first paragraph: “Beloved Governor Kakos is staying quiet about the events of Friday’s shooting. Investigators believe foul play is involved. Captain Christos of the Hellenic Police Force has refused to comment, but witnesses of the shooting were heard saying that there had been a disagreement earlier that day between the archeologist, Beau Morris, and Governor Kakos regarding proposed funding of the site.”

She skipped the gossip and read further down. “Governor Kakos’ former girlfriend, Ariadne Papadakis, Heraklion Museum curator, has been spotted cavorting with Mr. Morris on numerous occasions. Which raises questions about the motives for the shooting … ”

Raises questions about the motives? What did she have to do with the shooting? And just because she had been seen talking to Beau, how did that make the headlines? The reporters were pulling at scraps. They must not have any real answers for the shooting and were now resorting to making up the truth.