The Silver Thread (26 page)

“I don’t know because it was never important to me, Annika,” he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “
You
are what’s important to me! As far as I’m concerned, my number is
one
, because you are the only one that I want to be with.”

Annika mulled over his response as she crawled onto the bed and sat beside him.

“Do you really mean that, Talvi?” she asked. “How can you be so sure about me?”

“Because I’ve never questioned what I knew in my heart. Your problem is that you ask too many questions. You waste time wringing your hands over matters which you cannot control, rather than giving in and losing yourself in the present moment. But to be fair, it does help to have a prophecy made about you being the one intended for me,” he said with a soft smile.

“Will you tell me more about that?” she asked. “How old were you when you found out about it?”

“I don’t think I was any specific age,” he said, “It was something I was always aware of. I grew up knowing I would meet my destined love right around the time I turned three hundred. And Yuri knew the same thing about herself as well. I knew all along that it was going to cause some sort of harm to my sister, but I didn’t know it would mean her death until I was around one hundred and forty or so. That’s about twelve years old, if you convert it to human years. And being such a tender, impressionable age, it scared me enough to not want to care much about anyone outside my family.”

A sympathetic moan came from Annika.

“That seems such a horrible thing to grow up knowing,” she said sadly.

“I suppose it had its moments,” Talvi said, looking faraway for a moment. “It’s not the sort of thing that can be kept secret, since all of my family knew about it, and we have the ability to read each other’s thoughts if they’re thought too loud, too often. We didn’t avoid discussing it, but we didn’t address it too much either. I’m certain it’s why my mother and father let me get away with so much, because I was acting out against that knowledge.

Then you came along and turned my world upside down, with that cheek of yours,” he accused, but he didn’t look too upset by it. In fact, he was trying not to smile. “I tried so hard to resist you, but I couldn’t ignore what you did to me, even that first day we met in the bookstore. The moment I saw you, I knew who you were, and what you would mean to me. I knew the shape of your face before you were ever born. We didn’t disturb the old journal very often, but my entire family knew your face. You know which portrait I’m speaking of, in the library back at my house.”

“I know,” Annika said. “I look so much like Magda, that even her sisters thought I could have been her.”

“Yes, you gave Runa and Hilda quite a startle that day,” he agreed. “I went back to the bookstore to try and find you, even though I had no idea what I was expecting to find. You were alluring and terrifying all at once, because for the very first time, I stopped worrying about my sister’s life and wanted to fulfill my own. You’re different from anyone I’ve ever known, Annika. You’re a very strong woman, and I think there’s a reason why we find ourselves lying here, in this bed together, speaking about this. Perhaps my role in your life is to help you unfold your wings, since you are my little dove.”

Annika squeezed him tighter than ever, until he pretended to be gasping for air, which made her laugh. When she eased up on her grip, he reached out to stroke her hair, and ran his hand along her bare arm.

“I don’t yet understand all that we are, or what we could become or accomplish, but so far, following my instincts has lead me in the right direction. It’s what lead me to your door, after all, so why should we waste time questioning what we have now that we’re together?”

“We shouldn’t waste time doing that,” Annika said, eyeing the caked soot and dried sweat on his bare chest and arms. “You should probably take a shower though. You’re getting get the bed filthy, and the comforter just got washed.”

“Why don’t you join me?” he asked.

“I just took a shower.”

“Yes, but I believe I’m filthy enough to warrant one that requires an extra set of hands,” he said, putting down his book to cast her a lecherous glance. “If you think my skin’s unclean, just imagine how impure my thoughts are.”

“I’ll give you a head start,” she said with a grin, eyeing the soot on his skin. “I don’t want to get ashes and sawdust in my mouth.”

“Oh, you’ll likely get something in your mouth regardless,” Talvi snickered, then got up and disappeared into the bathroom.

Annika began to gather dirty laundry from around the room, and she spied his crumpled and filthy jeans lying by the door. She picked them up and slipped her freshly manicured fingertips into his pockets so she didn’t accidentally wash anything important. In the left back pocket, she was surprised to find a smart phone, although it was locked. Talvi had never mentioned that he had his own phone. She tried a few different passwords, including their wedding date, his birthday, and even the word ‘wine’, but she had no luck. She put the phone back and searched the front pockets next. In the right one she found some loose change, a decent amount of folded cash, and an old flip-top lighter engraved with the words ‘cheeky bastard’. She let out a snort of amusement and stuck her hand in again, finding something much more mysterious. It wasn’t that she held a handkerchief in her hands, or even that it was half stained with blood. It was the initials ‘MN’ embroidered in dainty fuchsia lettering that intrigued her the most.

She thought about Talvi’s heartfelt confession only moments earlier, and of how much she wanted to believe it. It really had sounded too good to be true. She stuffed the handkerchief back in its place beside the lighter, dropped his pants on the floor, got dressed quietly, and brought the rest of the dirty laundry down to the dungeon.

Annika was surprised to find the kitchen floor spotless as she came downstairs with the basket of dirty laundry. The living room had been miraculously swept up, and not one spot of sawdust remained. The once sooty rug had never looked better. Even some of the threadbare spots looked brand new. It seemed impossible, given how filthy the area was only a couple hours ago, but then, fairy magic made the impossible happen.

Patti, Charlie, and Chivanni were playing cards at the kitchen table while an enchanted spoon stirred mushroom and asparagus risotto under the supervision of faerie magic. As soon as the first load of clothes was in the wash, Annika came back up and was dealt into the game.

“I see you’ve found something a little more your style,” she observed as she sat next to Patti, who was no longer wearing Charlie’s pajamas. Instead, she wore a knee-length orange dress with a fluffy white cardigan. She grinned, setting down a card on top of the pile in the center of the table.

“Yep. Charlie and I were able to get a few things to tide me over until I can get my bed and dresser here this Sunday.”

“So I guess James gave his blessing?” asked Annika, organizing the cards in her hand. Patti smiled even wider.

“I waited to ask until he had calmed down a bit, but yeah, he said he was fine with the idea.”

“Did he mention anything about the pixie dust?” Annika whispered.

“Not a word,” Patti whispered back.

Annika sighed in relief, glad that her friend didn’t have to worry about having a place to stay, and also that the house was cleaned up from that afternoon’s fiasco.

“Where is he, by the way?”

“Jack called, and then he disappeared out onto the front porch,” Charlie said, motioning toward the living room. “That was maybe fifteen minutes ago.” Just then, the front door opened and shut, and into the kitchen came James with some sort of list in one hand, and his cell phone in the other.

“Alright Jack, thanks for staying so late,” he said, sounding genuinely thankful. “I’ll be there in a bit to finish up, but you can go ahead and lock up.” He shut his phone softly and set the list on the table before pulling up a chair, but he didn’t sit down, he simply stood in place, looking bewildered.

“So what’s the word?” Annika asked. “Are the paintings finally there?”

“Oh, they’re there alright. All thirty-seven of them,” he said quietly. It was the calmest Annika had heard him speak in a week, and she caught a glimpse of his list. It had numerous measurements on it, probably of the artwork. “I was expecting fifteen large pieces. Not thirty-seven small, medium,
and
large ones. If they were all big, I could just slap them on the walls in a couple hours, but thirty-
seven
? It will take me all night just to lay them out so they look halfway decent. Plus, Jill is still out sick, and Jack has to leave tonight for the dentist. It’s his uncle that’s going to fix his tooth, but he lives two hours away. He’s going to try to get back as soon as possible tomorrow, but it won’t be until the early afternoon. I don’t know how I’m going to pull this one off.” His olive skin began to turn white. His brown eyes began to water, but he blinked quickly as he walked over to the coffee grinder and began preparing a large pot of coffee. He dodged a salt shaker as it barely missed his head and headed for the stove to touch up the risotto. “I don’t think I’ll be coming home tonight.”

“Aren’t you at least going to have dinner?” Chivanni asked. “You can’t work very well on an empty stomach.”

“I don’t think I could eat if I tried,” he said. “I feel sick.”

“There must be something going around, because I’m also feeling rather unwell,” Talvi said, having suddenly appeared in the doorway. He gave Annika a disappointed look but said nothing as he quietly prepared himself a cup of tea.

“I can help you lay out the paintings,” Patti volunteered. “I’m not trying to brag, but I
kinda
have a strong background in fine art.”

“Well that would help out a lot, actually, but I know you have classes in the morning. It’s going to be a really late night, I’ll tell you that much right now.”

“I’ve pulled all-nighters before,” Patti smiled confidently. “Besides, I owe at least that much to my new landlord.”

James looked grateful beyond words, and busied himself with brewing a pot of coffee, but something had caught his attention. His eyes rested on the spoon that had been stirring the risotto, sans hands, for the past half hour.

“Hey Chivanni?” he asked. The red-haired fairy glanced up from his cards.

“Yes?” he said slowly.

“Do you think you could help me out with some fairy magic of the spoon-stirring variety? Maybe you can come to the gallery and just help us with the lights? You’d be perfect for it…I wouldn’t have to drag out the ladder and set it up a million times. That right there would save me about two hours.”

“I have done quite a few big favors for you lately,” he said, raising an eyebrow before turning back to his hand of cards. “And besides, I’m in the middle of cooking risotto. You can’t just leave in the middle of cooking risotto. It must be constantly stirred. The garlic needs more time to simmer.”

“But it would mean so much to me. If this is how you make dinner,” said James, motioning to the self-propelled kitchen utensils, “I’ll bet you can make the paintings float so we won’t have to lay them all out one at a time to see the best way to arrange them. Shit, if you could help me out, it wouldn’t take long at all! We could even get done in time to get a good night’s sleep! I’ll make it up to you any way that I can.”

“Hmm…” Chivanni trumped whatever card Charlie had just laid down, and now Charlie was forced to draw over and over from the pile, which made the fairy’s wings flutter with glee.

“Please? Whatever you want, just say it,” James begged.

“I don’t know,” Chivanni said with his impish grin. “I can’t think of anything I want in return.”

“Why don’t you and Patti run along with James,” Talvi said to him, pouring a bit of cream into his cup and standing near the stove, waiting for the kettle to whistle. “That will give you a chance to get started while Annika and I finish making dinner. We’ll pack it up and bring it to the gallery as soon as it’s ready.” He grabbed ahold of the enchanted spoon that was stirring the risotto and took a bite. After nodding his head in approval, he turned to Chivanni.

“Who is to say that you have to name your price right this moment?” he asked, motioning to Charlie, who was still drawing cards from the dwindling pile. “Don’t you realize that you’re in the best possible strategic situation? When someone owes you something, it’s always
you
that has the upper hand, never the other way around.”

April virtually exploded with warm breezes, frequent rain showers, and myriads of pink, purple, yellow and white rhododendrons were blooming throughout the neighborhood. Spring had come early this year, and it was a soft season, as soft as the new blades of grass that grew thick and green practically overnight. The harbingers of spring were in no rush to be done with their task of waking up Mother Nature from her winter slumber. Every flower bloom seemed to last forever, every sunset was lasting longer, and the park across the street had once again become a lush haven of rolling emerald hills divided up by mossy footpaths. A storm had drifted in from the coast and blown flower petals across the yard from the various blooming trees; it looked like the biggest wedding in the world had taken place at the park.

On the other side of the street, one house in particular was improving just as quickly, thanks to Talvi’s expertise and Chivanni’s help. The new cedar shingles had been put on and nearly all the cracks in the crumbling plaster had been repaired. The ceiling and walls had been painted, and the flower beds out front were immaculate.

Following the most successful show James had ever hosted at his gallery, he officially welcomed Patti into the growing home with her own set of keys to the house. He had completely gotten over the afternoon he’d come home to a sugary, sooty disaster. Charlie and Talvi had packed the last of Patti’s possessions and moved her out of her dinky studio apartment in a single day, thanks to Chivanni’s fairy magic. The boys would playfully bicker over who got to drive her to class, but since Charlie was working on the farm full time, Talvi seemed to always win. When she wasn’t away at her classes or searching for a new car, her friends were doing their best to keep her as entertained as possible.

Annika frequently found herself getting ready for work to the sound of a saw running or a nail gun shooting or music blaring downstairs, if not all three. Each day when Talvi picked her up and brought her home, there was something new to see and admire. She wondered how badly behaved her husband could have been in his younger days, to have acquired the incredible skills he was showing off daily. James was in heaven, watching his ugly duckling of an inheritance blossom into a beautiful swan.

Things were finally falling into place for everyone under the roof. Patti was able to focus primarily on her classes, James was having record sales at the gallery, and Charlie was warming up to his new brother-in-law little by little over video games and discussions of the history of agriculture. Along with that, the band was also practicing three times a week, and sounding good enough that James had booked a couple gigs in May. Whatever time Charlie had after work and soccer was spent in the practice space above the garage, recording his drums for their new album. Considering how many new songs Annika had come up with, they had their work cut out for them.

Annika, on the other hand, had forty hours a week at the music store to deconstruct how she felt about her marriage while she re-stringed guitars or showed kids how to properly use a whammy bar. Even though she was caught up with James on her overdue bills, she still wanted money of her own without relying on her husband. She had always paid her way, and never expected to stay home and be taken care of like a pet, just because a man put a ring on her finger. If anything, she had always imagined that one day her music career would take off, and
she
would be the one keeping a gorgeous man for a pet. It kind of felt like that already, what with Talvi always arriving right on time to pick her up after work and then bringing her home to reveal something else improved around the house.

The third Sunday of the month was reserved exclusively for James, as it had always been. It was on the third Sunday in April that he and Annika stopped to have coffee and dessert at an outdoor café following a hair appointment, and then three hours of searching for one white men’s blazer, size medium. Annika was convinced that it didn’t exist, but she tried to be sympathetic just to humor James.

“You’ll probably find one half price in three months,” she said, sipping from her mug.

“If I wanted one in three months, I wouldn’t have dragged your ass to every men’s store downtown!” he snipped, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated way. “I wanted it three
hou
rs
ago.”

“You’re a little cranky today,” she teased. “What’s the matter? Is Chivanni holding out on you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” James said casually and began to dig in his bag for his cigarettes.

“Exactly what it sounded like,” she said primly. She almost asked him for a smoke, but she was trying to follow Doctor Danny’s orders. So far, she had done well, cutting back to just an occasional cigarette here and there. Today was the first time in weeks that she had indulged in junk food, and she was still feeling fantastic.

“He’s not exactly my type,” he said, looking away from her as he lit his cigarette.

“Oh please! I saw the way you jumped on him when…” Annika ended her sentence as soon as she saw James’s confused expression. She wondered if he had any memory of the pixie dust incident, and was struggling to re-word her sentence when he cut in.

“Do you think just because he plays for my team that I’m interested? Is it because you’re married, that you think you’re the authority on relationships? Are you the official matchmaker of the house? You know in England they have a name for people like you…‘smug marrieds’,” he said, and flicked the ash repeatedly, but it wasn’t necessary as he’d only just lit his cigarette a moment ago. His tone of voice put her on edge. She may have felt fine physically, but she sensed she was coming down with an acute case of James. She braced herself accordingly.

“I’m not smug.”

“I beg to differ,” he went on, still needlessly flicking his cigarette butt every now and then. “It’s insulting that you assume Chivanni and I are going to hook up just because we’re both fairies.”

“I don’t think that at all!” she argued. “I have
eyes
, James. I can
see
the way you two look at each other.”

“Oh give me a break,” he sneered, ignoring her observation as he took another drag. “Besides, you’re not supposed to nail your roommates. And I know you wish something would happen with Patti and Charlie, but she’s just not into him like that. Even if something happened, what are you going to do when it doesn’t work out and none of us can stand to be in the same room with each other? Either way you’ll lose a friend, and you don’t even stop to think how I feel, being innkeeper to all this potential drama. It rarely works out in the long term.”

“And what exactly makes
you
an expert on relationships?” she insisted. “At least I’ve had boyfriends before. You just have hookups.”

“I’ve had plenty of relationships, thank you very much!” he snapped back at her, sneering a little. “Oh my
god
, you are so closed-minded sometimes.”

“What do you mean, I’m closed-minded?” Annika squealed in disbelief at what she was hearing. “I’m one of the most open-minded people I know!”

“Then you of all people would know that open relationships are just as valid as exclusive ones,” he said defensively, flicking the ashes off his cigarette. “Look, I’m not trying to badmouth monogamy, but it’s not for everyone, even though you think it is. And I’m definitely not going to take relationship advice from a gal who’s only four months into her first marriage. Your new hubby’s hot, and he’s definitely not boring-ass vanilla like Danny was, but I still can’t believe that you took yourself off of the market so fast. Portland has some of the best eye candy I’ve ever seen, next to Manhattan and Milan. You could’ve had a blast dating around after Danny, and instead you just got tied down to another guy. Or elf, I guess,” he said, correcting himself. “But everyone knows that variety is the spice of life.”

“It doesn’t matter if you call it tied down or tied up…you can
definitely
have variety with the same person. Or elf,” she said with a grin.

“Yeah, well, we all know how much elves like variety,” James said with a snort, but Annika was not amused. She bit her lip and picked up her fork, digging into her slice of lemon meringue pie. James’s words were not typically this harsh, and they had their fair share of fights over them, but she was determined that this would not be one of those times. She tried to distract herself with her dessert. It was tart and tangy, and the fluffy, sweet meringue dissolved slowly on her tongue. It was surprising how something so sweet could still not get rid of the sour taste his words had left in her mouth.

“Do you think people can change?” she asked after washing her pie down with a sip of coffee. “Let’s say you met someone you really liked, and they didn’t want an open relationship. Would you be exclusive with them? I mean, I know it depends on the person, but if you were used to sleeping with—”

“Seven people at the same time?” James interrupted, trying not to smile. “You want to know if I would ever miss something like
that
?”

“Well…yeah,” said Annika with an embarrassed shrug. James wrinkled his nose a little, trying to come up with the perfect response. Then he rolled his eyes, because he realized that there was no perfect response for her.

“I think if I had a chapter like that in my life, it would take an awful lot for me to never want to read it again. It’s friggin’
sexy
, and you shouldn’t knock something until you try it. But that’s just me,” he said, and leaned forward to stub out his cigarette in the ash tray. “Personally, I would never get married to someone who wasn’t willing to step out of their comfort zone and try new things. Isn’t that the reason why you and Danny broke up? He wanted you to trade your guitar for a minivan, and spend every evening on the couch watching basketball. You don’t even like sports, but you came to all of his games. How many of our shows did he come to, though? Like,
two
? And of all the art crawls at my gallery, he never came to a single one. I have to admit, when he gave you that engagement ring, I didn’t think it would last, but it wasn’t my place to say so.”

James sat back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head, sighing contentedly before he went on.

“You know, what I like about Talvi is that he genuinely seems interested in being involved in your life. He takes the time to get to know your friends, and he helped me with my last show. Not to mention, he could have just written me a check to cover your unpaid bills, but the work he’s putting into the house is worth a lot more.”

“So what are you saying, exactly?” Annika asked. “That because my husband nailed some shingles on the roof that I should let him nail other chicks if that’s what he wants?”

“No offense babe, but I don’t think you have a clue what he wants,” he said, and took a drink of his coffee.

She stuffed another large bite of pie into her mouth and was trying to decide whether or not to continue this conversation, when James hissed, “Oh my god, it’s Jerry O.!” He turned his head away as two men walked out of the café and towards them.

“Cheerio?” she asked with a mouthful of meringue.

“No,
Jerry
O
.! The model I met on that buying trip I took to Italy, remember? Oh my god, do you think he saw me?” he said very low on his breath.

Annika scanned her brain, trying to remember which exciting tale James was referring to. He had so many stories, after all. “Is he the one you met on the plane when you were still living in New York?”

“Yes!”

“Ah,
that
guy…” Annika said slowly as she recalled the story.

Jerry was a model who had been doing a fashion show in Milan at the same time that James was meeting with an art dealer there a few years ago. He had the incredible luck to be seated in between what he called the ‘knock-out twins’ because they were named Jerry K. and Jerry O. For the entire flight they had talked about everything under the sun. They even invited James to the show, and then to the after party, but it was Jerry O. who had invited him to the after-after party. James had spent three incredible days and three passion-filled nights with Jerry O., and when he returned to America, it was everything he could do to wait three days before calling him; one of the few dating rules that he ever followed. Unfortunately, when James finally did call him, Jerry completely blew him off, crushing him like grapes at a winery.

“James Ferrari, is that you?” a full pair of lips uttered from a gorgeous, tan face. A tall man with dark layered hair was standing in front of them, and a shorter blond man stood beside him. The taller one was dressed in a sharp pinstripe suit while the blond was dressed much more comfortably in a graphic tee, distressed jeans, sandals, and trendy sunglasses. They were each holding a to-go tray of coffee.

“Well if it isn’t Jerry O.,” James said with a fake smile. “I haven’t seen you in years.”

“The last time I saw you, you were calling me ‘Oh Jerry’, not Jerry O.,” he said, giving Annika a wink. She pretended that he was funny and forced a smile, wondering how often he used that line.