Tristan's Loins (20 page)

She found her Dad in the huge TV room sitting
in his leather Lazy Boy. He had a basketball game on the flat
screen she bought him for his birthday. He looked up when she
approached, a sadness in his eyes she had never seen.

Selene sat in the matching chair next to his
and sighed. "She's going fast, isn't she?"

Bryce reached out and patted her shoulder.
"It's a blessing, Selene. She wanted to be at home. You know your
Mother."

"What are you going to do, Dad?" she asked as
tears brightened her eyes.

Bryce sighed and flipped off the television.
"Selene, we have to talk. Your Mother and I have planned a lot of
things for this and it's time you knew our plans. When Jessica
passes, I'm leaving on a long trip."

Selene's head snapped up, and she stared at
him. "You’re going to China?"

Bryce nodded and smiled. "Yeah, she wants me
to keep our plans that we made. She asked me to distribute her
ashes along the Great Wall, Selene. I plan on being gone for a good
while. This is the trip we planned years ago. She won't hear of me
not going."

Knowing her Dad would leave made her feel
worse. "How long does she have?"

Bryce shrugged and looked ashen. "Not long,
that's why I told you to come. Everything has already been
arranged, you know your Mother. She did not want a funeral. She
wanted to be cremated and she wants me to go on this trip."

"How long do you plan on being gone,
Dad?"

Bryce did not answer her and Selene felt
dread in the pit of her stomach. Her father hadn't been a well man
himself. He was seventy-three years old, twenty years older than
his wife. Her Mother's cancer had taken them all by surprise. None
of them thought she would go first. Selene could see her Father
struggled to answer her.

"Selene, this man you brought with you," he
began. "Tell me about him."

Selene wiped her tears and went with the
story they decided on. Tristan was an illegal alien from England,
trying to get legalized to stay. She was helping him with the
process. Her Father raised an eyebrow at her story and
chuckled.

"Selene, I see the way you look at one
another. This is more than you just doing a good deed. Besides, you
did not introduce us to Jim until six months before your wedding.
You care for him, don't you?"

"Is it so obvious?"

"Only to me, I'm your Dad," Bryce said dryly
and sat back in his chair, a thoughtful expression on his face. "He
seems like a good man from what I can see. I just want you to be
happy. Are you happy, Selene?"

"I don't think a lifetime would be enough
with him, Dad," she admitted and folded her hands in her lap. "I'm
going to warn you we might have to get married so Tristan can stay.
Do not be surprised if that happens right away."

Bryce smiled and shook his head. "It took you
three years to accept Jim's proposal and three days to decide this
guy is the one. Now I know this is serious. You have my blessing
and I can speak for your Mother too. We only want you to be happy.
I knew Jim was not right for you."

"I meant to tell you about the divorce, Dad,"
she said and looked away from his knowing expression. "I did not
want to be reminded of what you predicted ten years ago when I
insisted on going ahead with it."

"Selene, I know you think I sit back and wait
for you to make mistakes so I can rub it in your face, but that's
not what parents do," he said and shook his head. "I'll tell ya,
the first time I met Jim, he tried selling me on his future law
practice, not on his feelings for my only child. You’re better off
without him, honey."

Selene agreed and left him to go up and check
on her Mother. Jessica Campbell was sleeping peacefully. Selene
walked into her sick room and was startled to see all the medical
equipment there. It looked like a hospital room. Tubes and wires
were running from her Mother. Jessica lay among the pillows,
looking pale and skeletal despite her Father's efforts to keep her
alive. Her hair was sparse, having never quite grown back after her
last chemotherapy session. Selene was visibly shaken by her
Mother's appearance and backed out of the room, unwilling to
disturb her.

She returned to her room and watched Tristan
in the window playing with Daisy on the rolling lawn behind the
house. Her heart caught in her throat to see him running, with
Daisy on his heels. She had already made up her mind they would
marry when his papers came in. She wanted Tristan with her, good,
bad, or for however long. He completed her; much like her Mother
had her Father. She finally had the relationship she had always
dreamed of. Did it matter how he began? He might have been made up
by her, but maybe that is what made it work between them. Either
way, she could not see a life without Tristan.

Jessica woke up and Selene went to sit with
her Mother. Tristan was in the TV room with her father, fending off
the man's pointed questions on how he and his daughter met. Tristan
refused to lie to him when it came down to it.

"I love your daughter, Mr. Campbell," Tristan
said without blinking an eye. "You need never worry about her
again. I’ll take care of her."

Bryce liked the hulking Englishman. He saw
the truth in his eyes and admired the man's looking him in the eye
and not mincing words. He wanted to find something wrong with
Tristan, and was disgusted the man appeared perfect for his
daughter.

"Selene has always been pretty independent.
You might have trouble there. Just be there for her, Tristan. She
will need someone with her when her Mother passes. My leaving
afterwards will make her feel alone in the world."

"I’ll be there for her, Mr. Campbell. You
have my word."

Bryce knew he could count on this man's word.
He felt relieved to be leaving his daughter in Tristan's hands when
he went on his trip. He did not come right out and tell his
daughter he would never return. He left that part unsaid. His
doctors said his heart was failing and without his medicine, he had
six months. Bryce counted on it. He wanted to fulfill his promise
to his wife before he joined her in death.

"You have my blessing then, just let me tell
you a few things about my daughter you might want to know," Bryce
said fondly.

Tristan liked the older man and listened as
he regaled him with anecdotes from Selene's childhood and how to
appeal to his daughter. When he finished, Tristan felt he had a
better understanding of Selene. He appreciated her Father's words
of advice. Before too long, Bryce cracked a bottle of one hundred
year old scotch.

Selene saw Tristan and her father had the
scotch bottle half gone and decided to go visit with her Mother.
She helped prop her against the pillows, fretting over how frail
she was. Jessica laughed at her fussing over her and ordered her to
sit. Her Mother's golden eyes filled with excitement as they met
hers.

"Tell me about the Englishman, Selene! Enough
with the pillow fluffing! The man is a walking dream. However did
you meet?" her Mother demanded as she sat at her bedside.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you,"
Selene replied and smiled indulgently.

"Oh, I think I believe in just about
everything now, Selene. I talked to grandma last night. She came to
me in my dream. Bryce says it's foolishness, but I believe they all
wait for me. I'm not scared, honey," her Mother said and her eyes
looked sad. "You promise you won't let this ruin things for you?
Dying is just like being born, Selene. It's not the end."

"Tristan is not what you think, Mother."

"Oh I could see that when he came in here
this morning to introduce himself. He's Old World to the tee. I saw
that for myself. The manners gave him away."

Selene took that opportunity to open her
laptop. She pulled up her manuscript and set it up for her Mother.
Jessica put on her bifocals and read, looking up only once in a
while. Selene got up to look out the window, allowing her Mother to
read all about Tristan's adventures up until he came into her
life.

An hour later, Jessica closed the laptop and
looked at her daughter with a look of wonder in her eyes.
"How?"

"I don't know. He doesn't know either. We are
on borrowed time. It figures I'd have to make up the right man for
me."

"Selene, he seems very devoted to you,"
Jessica said quietly. "Maybe you worry for nothing? He could be
here permanently."

"You believe me?"

"Selene, you were never one to make up tales.
If you say this man is the character in your book, I believe you.
Your Father might not swallow this one, but I believe in magical
things."

Selene was glad she could tell at least one
person and not have them look at her like she was insane. "What do
I do if he disappears tomorrow, Mother?" she asked with a catch in
her voice.

"You will be thankful for today, Selene. He's
here for a reason. When he suits whatever that purpose that is; you
can't let it destroy you," her Mother warned and leaned back
against the pillows comfortably. "Be happy for the time you had, my
dear. It goes by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I met your
Father and now it is the end. Some stories don't always end the way
we want them too. You’re a writer. You know that."

"He needs to go back, doesn't he?" Selene
tensed at her Mother's sad expression.

"Selene, do you realize how miraculous it is
you found each other at all? Be happy for every minute you have. If
that is all you ever have, cherish it. If you want my opinion, yes,
I think he belongs in his own time, in his own story. What of this
girl you have created? How do you think she will feel with him
gone? You gave him life, but you forget about hers. She deserves
her happy ending, Selene. From what I have read, more now than
ever." Jessica sat back and eyed her daughter with a knowing look.
"You know it is inevitable he goes back for her."

"The characters are all running amok now,
Mother. They are not all frozen in the story. They are all acting
upon will like Tristan."

"Then it is imperative he go back, Selene,"
Jessica said sadly. "I know you love him, but he can't stay here
and you can't go there."

Selene nodded and looked away. "At the end of
the summer then. I’ll figure out what to do."

"Selene, let him go. You have to finish his
story."

She felt tears in her eyes as she looked at
her Mother. "What if I never feel this way again in my life, Mom?
What if this is it?"

"Then you have more than most, Selene. You
have to let him go or this will destroy you both," her Mother
warned. "He has a woman who waits for him in his world, Selene. She
will love him as much as you have no fear of that. He will live
forever in your novel."

Jessica slept then and Selene sat with her,
feeling a sense of sorrow to know her Mother was right. As much as
Tristan had become a part of her, he had his own story to live. He
deserved his immortality. Tears came and went and she became
resolved to find a way to finish her book, for everyone's sake.

Jessica Campbell died a week later, with her
husband and daughter at her bedside. Selene and her Father were dry
eyed as she slipped away peacefully. Selene retired to her room as
her Dad handled all the phone calls and arrangements. Tristan sat
with her, holding her hand, a rock of strength during the whole
difficult week.

"Do you believe death is the end, Tristan?"
she asked as they lay in bed together that night. He rolled to his
side and considered her words.

"I believe in more than I ever thought
possible, Selene." He stroked her cheek tenderly. "You have made
that all a reality."

"Tristan, I have done a lot of thinking." Her
eyes filled with tears. "You need to go back to your story. As much
as I love having you in my life, this is not what you were meant
for. You know it as well as I do."

He appeared angry and sat up. He raked a
frustrated hand through his golden locks, his blue eyes were angry
as they met hers. "You cannot make that decision for me anymore,
Selene! It is you I want! This is the life I want!"

"She went looking for you, Tristan. I saw her
there in your room and the look on her face when she found you
gone," Selene said softly. "Now she runs for Raven's Keep with
Stephen chasing her. All the characters are acting upon will
now."

Tristan looked shocked to say the least.
"That's not possible!"

"Everything is possible! You’re here! But
while you’re here, everything is falling apart for everyone you
left behind. Tristan, I know you do not believe this, but I believe
she can and has forgiven you already. Why else would she seek you
out when she realized Lord de Vigny turned upon you?" Selene asked
and grabbed his shoulder, turning him towards her, her eyes filled
with urgency. "Can you live with yourself knowing you left them all
to their fates? If I do not finish the book, this story plays out
as it will."

Tristan considered her words and looked away.
"I do not want to leave you, Selene."

"I do not want you to stay if it means they
will all suffer for my happiness," she cried and shook her head.
"We cannot be so selfish, Tristan!"

Tristan released a weary breath and turned to
her, his eyes filled with sadness. "I’ll stay with you at the
cottage, and then I’ll go, Selene."

"How do you go back?"

"It is the ring, Selene. The ring has power.
I used it to open the doorway between our worlds to escape mine. I
can go back just by wishing it."

"Why did you let me believe I controlled your
coming and going?" came her outraged question.

"Selene I was afraid you would not let me
stay, and I was right," he said coldly and shook his head. "You do
not believe in us!"

"Tristan, I love you, but I cannot keep you
from where you’re meant to be anymore!" Selene said hotly and
glared at him. "She waits for you! I saw her face, Tristan! I think
you made more of an impression upon her than you thought!"