The Cries of the Butterfly - A LOVE STORY (59 page)

They had to go. He, Savannah and Robin. It was a heart-wrenching decision, but there was no other way.

He had finally settled on Brazil. It was a country he knew well, having shot movies there innumerable times. He knew more than a handful of people in that lovely nation.

He had waited long—too long—in the hope that things would somehow resolve themselves. But there looked no solution now. None. Beautiful New Halcyon was no longer the place for them.

It wouldn’t take more than a couple of days to get everything in order. The little difficulty would be the passport for Robin. But a neat fake could be arranged when the right money flowed. Even in the most developed nations of the world there was always scope for some corruption.
Just classy human nature, bro.

More than anything, Wolf knew he had to do it for Robin’s sake. She was valiantly putting up a brave face, but it didn’t escape him that she was desperately unhappy. Had been for a long time now. With her hospitalization, she had hit rock bottom. Luckily, her internal defenses had saved her from whatever trauma she had gone through. Wolf didn’t want a repeat of that. The next time, she might not survive it.

He would miss New Halcyon. It was the nation of his birth, a nation he loved more than anything. He would miss his home—his room especially, the cozy warmth of it. He would dearly miss Rochelle. Over the weeks, he had grown terribly fond of her. She was his Rock, and a constant part of his life…perhaps more than even a wife could be. He had become so addicted to her that if he didn’t see her for a day, he felt lost.

And despite everything, he would miss Dad. And he would miss the rest of his family. As he turned sides for the hundredth time, tears began filling his eyes. He would miss Maddy—his cheeky little no-holds-barred friend. And he would miss Stanley Knott, his man Friday, the killer of his daughter—the man who had driven him to ruin. And he would miss this little house—his new home. After the initial discomfort, he had grown so relaxed and calm in it.

Water ran down the side of his face. He dug his nose deep in the soft pillow. After a while, he pulled another pillow and hugged it to his chest. He thought of Robin, lying there alone in a strange room, and a sob rose up his chest.
But not for long now, my sweetie, not for long. You hold up.
His mind turned to Savannah.
Oh, how I love you, baby, I love you more than my pathetic little heart can ever express.
He visualized them together—Robin, Savannah and himself. What an exquisite postcard they made. In two days—
just two more days
—they would be together…living free, and forever free. In two days, they would at last find some happiness. Still wallowing in these soothing images, he finally fell asleep, his face wet in the pillow.

***

Thursday
, May 22nd, the eve of their escape from New Halcyon, was a difficult night.

Robin was horribly torn between conflicting emotions, as she lay in bed and tried to sleep in the guest bedroom in Sister Blessing’s house.

On the one hand, she was ecstatic. A day more and she would finally, finally, finally be with Daddy…
FOREVER
.

But she didn’t want to leave here and go away to some strange faraway land she had never even heard of.
Brazil.
It scared her. She had so dreamed she would be with Daddy and Mom in that handsome big house with the beautiful rose garden and the swimming pool and the pond with the waterfall and the fish, with grandma and grandpa and the others. She had fallen in love with the house the first time she had gone there. Thereon, she had considered it her own home. But now, alas…

It had been a weird Thursday evening.

As usual, Dad had visited her around six pm and with Sister Blessing away at her office, Dad had smuggled in a strange man.

“Butterfly, we need a little sample of your saliva,” Dad had said. “It’s for tests to make sure you’re perfectly healthy now. Okay?”

She had nodded. After the strange man had left, Daddy gave her a five-star bar and a warm hug, and they had played carom for the next hour. And then Dad had told her the secret.

“Shhh!” he had concluded. “Not a word to anyone, understand? Or we’ll never be able to see each other ever again.”

She had nodded earnestly.
No, I won’t tell anyone, promise. Real promise!

As she turned sides now, she thought that in a way she would be happy to get away. She was so miserable here in Sister Blessing’s house. She was all alone in her room and she felt awfully forlorn. There was no Moon-Moon and the reassuring presence of the other girls. She heard strange noises at nights and just couldn’t sleep. And when she finally did drift away, it was time to wake up. Sister Blessing’s jarring voice would thunder in her eardrums, startling her out of her wits.

Yes, she decided, anything would be better than this—even running away to a strange land.
And I needn’t be scared—Daddy will be there to protect me,
to make her feel safe and nice in her new home.
And there will be Mom also.
Soon, she would get used to the new place, then perhaps she would even grow to love it. Come to think of it—this could be quite an adventure!

So finally, she decided there was nothing really to be sad about. With that thought, her heart climbed with optimism.
I’m happy. I’m so very happy,
she told herself and clutched the blanket to her chin and turned sides again and shut her eyes tight.
Sleep, sleep, come sleep, come take me away…
The time was eleven-ten pm.

.

A
s Robin finally found peace, Savannah however could find none.

She had been deeply disturbed ever since Wolf had told her of his plan yesterday morning. She had argued ardently (“There
must
be
some
other way…”), but finally he had worn her down, simply with the weight of reason.

In sheer desperation, she had even talked to Ian Cass again, this time over the phone (she hadn’t dared call on his door again).

“Do what you wish, Miss,” he had said coldly. “I ain’t going to be blackmailed like this over and over.” And that was that.

Savannah had kept the receiver down with a deep sinking feeling.

Now, as she turned sides, the phone began to ring, making her jump out of her skin.

It was Wolf.

“It’s almost done,” he said. “The money transfer, the flight passes, Robin’s fake passport… Things have clicked beautifully into place.”

“That’s good,” she said listlessly. She sat up and switched the bed lamp on. Automatically she glanced at the wall clock. Eleven-fifty-three.

“You don’t sound too happy,” he said.

What do you think?
she thought. “What shall we do in Brazil, Wolf?”

“I don’t know yet. All I know is that the three of us shall be together at last. But we’ll find something. It’ll be a new life, a new start…from scratch.”

“Aren’t you sleepy?”

“Getting there. You?”

“Will get there.” Although she knew she wouldn’t. Not tonight.

“I wish you were here,” he said.

Oh, I wish too!
“I wish too.” But they had long agreed that although they would spend the day together, they would sleep in their own beds at their own homes at night. Savannah, especially, was firm about that. What Wolf had was precious and she didn’t want an accident to take it away, especially now when they were so close to getting married. Their wedding night would be a special, special occasion.
Priceless
. And she so looked forward to it. With Wolf, she too felt like a virgin.

“You told anyone about this yet?” she asked.

“Only you and Robin. The others shall be informed at the last moment. I don’t want to take the slightest chance.”

“What if we get caught?”

“Your faith delights me. But don’t worry, we won’t.”

“But Robin shall be missed.”

“Our flight’s at three am. She’ll be missed only later that morning. By then we shall be on the next galaxy.”

“How are you going to bring her out of the Home?”

“Everything’s arranged, Sav. Relax.”

“You going to do it yourself?”

“Me and Stan. And Robin will help from inside Sister Blessing’s house.”

There was a slight pause. Then she said, “I love you, Wolf. And I miss you.”

“Me too, honey, me too. But it’s a matter of a day now. Then…” he said. “The first thing we do on reaching Sao Paulo is get married. I can’t wait anymore.”

“It’s an unfamiliar country, Wolf, how’re you going to…”

“It’s also a very beautiful country. And it isn’t unfamiliar to me,” he said. “Anyway, I’ve spoken to Romario. Everything’s been fixed.”

“Romario?”

“A Brazilian cameraman. A friend of mine. He has worked on many of my movies.”

“You trust him?”

“Trust doesn’t come into it. He’s only too happy to help me out, to have this mega moviestar settle down in his country and town. He’ll do practically anything for me,” he laughed.

“Wolf?”

“Yes, love.”

“May I say one thing?”

“Anything, baby.”

“You won’t get angry?”

“Why would I get angry?”

“Promise me you won’t.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“No,
promise
me. Say the word.”

“Promise…promise.”

She inhaled deeply. “There’s still time, Wolf.”

“Uh?”

“Yes.”

“Time for what?”

“To bail out.”

“Bail out?”

“Yes.”

“Will you stop playing riddles?”

“Let’s split. Then you can go back home and have Robin. You can be happy again and all this will go away.”

“Okay, just suppose I can be happy again,” he cut in. “What about you? Will you be happy?”

She didn’t answer.

“So CUT OUT THE BULLSHIT!”

“You promised not to get angry!”

“And you had promised not to fucking say these things! We were agreed, weren’t we?”

She sighed.

A brief silence.

Then, “Wolf?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to come over. I want to be with you.”

“Run then, what’s keeping you?” he said. “I’m waiting.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. Yes!”

“Nooooo…!”

“Why, what happened?”

Her heart filled up.

“Sav?”

“Uh?”

“What’s up?”

“What?”

“Why have you suddenly gone so quiet?”

“Nothing…just missing you.”

“Think of tomorrow night. And all the nights thereafter. We’ll never have to sleep separately ever again.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Smile now?”

She pushed back the tears from her heart and tried to smile.

He saw it over the line. “Now that’s my girl,” he said. “Now what was that?”

“Can’t you see me anymore?”

He smacked his lips in a return kiss.

“I love you, Wolf. I truly do. So very much.” She was suddenly warm from the joy of his response.

“Me too, Butterfly, me too,” he said.

“What did you just say?”

“What?”

“You called me
Butterfly,
” she said. “That’s what you usually call Robin.”

“You too are my Butterfly. My beautiful, delightful Butterfly. … So now I have two pet Butterflies—baby Butterfly and momma Butterfly.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

“Do you know something?” she said.

“Tell me.”

“The butterfly is my favorite creature too. Just like it is Robin’s.”

“You never told me this before.”

“You should have guessed.”

“How on earth?”

“Don’t you remember that my username when we were dating on the Net was ‘Butterfly’? You usually choose a favorite thing as your brand name.”

“Wow!”

“What?”

“You and my little girl are so similar in so many ways. You might as well be her real mother.”

“I wish,” she said. “There’s something else I want to tell you.”

“Okay.”

“I have a tattoo on my right buttock—a butterfly tattoo. It’s very special to me.”

“Wow, another secret laid bare.”

“Remember, when we had gone to the beach the other day, when we both got naked? I thought you’d notice.”

“Oh, how did I miss that! Now remind me to inspect every square inch of your hot bod painstakingly when we reach Brazil. I’m sure I’ll discover many more treasures.”

“We’ll see,” she giggled. “To tomorrow night then. And to all the nights thereafter.”

“Yes…yes!”

.