by A. J. Marcus
Above him, a deep male voice said. “Wow, a little rougher start than I figured.”
Bryan caught up to them about halfway around the circuit. “What’s up?”
“I could use a bite to eat,” Ed replied. “I’d also like to go track down Eddy and make sure everything’s going okay with him. Need you to take over for a bit. Sonny’s working the loading stand, Clive’s handling leading the camels around, and June is on the camel stand.”
Bryan nodded as they circled near Ciro, lying in the shade. “How long’s he been out this time?”
“Not really sure, only a couple times around.” Ed shrugged. “Maybe fifteen minutes or so.”
“Okay.”
“I should be back within an hour, depending on where the kids are right now.” Ed handed over the leading cane as they came back alongside the elephant-loading stand. He rubbed his hands along Cara’s trunk. “You be good for Bryan while I’m gone. I won’t be out too long.” She reached up with the tip of her trunk and blew a bit in his hair. This was the main reason he didn’t bother wearing hats around the elephants. They all liked to ruffle his hair in one way or another. Ed laughed. He loved how affectionate his elephants could be. With a final pat as he listened to the riders depart, he slipped out of the heavy wooden beams that formed the corral and headed for the nearest food.
About halfway to the food court, the sound of flute music drew his attention. Ed paused and saw the gray-eyed man from the office the other day, playing a set of reed pipes, dressed as a satyr. Even at a distance, the gray vest the man wore brought out his shining eyes even more as he stood in front of the ceramic shop playing his pipes. The vest showed off the man’s furry chest very nicely. It had enough definition that it was obvious he worked out a bit, but not too much bulk. The man also had a nice sixpack showing, with a covering of blond fuzz. Ed nodded to himself. The satyr looked very appealing, much more so than the out-of-shape guy they had last year.
“Still enjoying the sites of the faire, I see.” A voice startled him, breaking Ed out of his staring.
He turned around. “Trish?” He hadn’t seen the woman who stood there in nearly five years. Ever since they’d signed the final paperwork that relinquished her rights to Eddy and Ed’s rights to their daughter, Trina.
Trish held out her arms to him. “Hey, Ed, sorry to surprise you like this.”
Ed gave her a big hug. “You look good. What brings you back to Texas?”
“Work.” The woman ran a hand through her thick black hair. “Never seems to be an end to it. I would’ve let you know I was coming, but I just found out Friday and got here yesterday. We had one of the gals at the costume shop quit suddenly, so they shuffled us around, and I got sent here.”
“So where’s Samantha and Trina?”
“Sam’s at the main office right now. They’re getting ready for another faire on the east coast. Trina stayed with her. She’ll be out next weekend for a couple weeks.” Trish paused. “I was just heading to get something to eat. Care to join me?”
“Sure,” Ed said. He turned back toward the food vendors. “I was about to do the same. That and I wanted to check up on Eddy.” “How is he doing?” Trish fell into step with him.
A sense of pride flooded through Ed. “He’s doing really great. He looks a lot like you.”
Trish laughed. “No way, when he was born he was the spitting image of you. Trina has your hair.” In just a couple of minutes she reminded Ed of the friendship they’d had for several years before they decided to have kids together. Trish had her lover, Sam, and Ed had the elephants, but they both wanted a kid. It had all been completely clinical and worked out well when Trish announced she was carrying twins. After the birth, she’d breast-fed for six months before her busy faire schedule forced her to wean both babies and get back on the road. During that year, before and after the birth, had been some of the happiest times Ed had ever had.
“Yeah, he’s got your delicate features. I think he’s going to be slender like you, not stocky like his old man.”
As they stood in line for a steak on a stake, she hugged him again. “I’ve missed you, Ed.”
“I’ve missed you too.” As the words left his mouth, he knew they were true. Trish had been one of his first faire friends, and his best for many years. Since Eddy was born, he’d used his son as an excuse not to make friends at the faire and just wrapped himself up in family. He and Trish settled into the easy conversations they used to have. She pulled out her cell phone and showed him pictures of Trina. The girl did have his brown hair, but like Eddy, had their mother’s delicate, almost feline features.
After they ate, they set out to find the kids. The faire day care was a mobile thing. The girl running it this year was a girl of seventeen who’d been part of the faire since she was born. She would come around every morning and collect the kids before cannon, and there would be a little procession of children, most in Ren faire clothing, marching along. They’d spend the day doing various things throughout the fairgrounds. Most of the shopkeepers and their workers appreciated the service. Ed always made sure to give the girl a tip at the end of the day when she returned Eddy safe and sound to the elephant ride.
They asked a few faire folk if they’d seen the kids and pretty quickly had a good idea where to find them. They were camped out on the edge of the living chess game.
Ed and Trish paused just behind the kids. There were fifteen of them today, ranging from just above toddler to early teen. Ed glanced at Trish as she looked them over. A soft look graced her fragile features; then she nodded.
“That’s him.” She pointed to the back of Eddy’s head.
Ed chucked and nodded. “Yup. Eddy,” he called softly, so as to not interrupt the chess game.
Dru, the girl in charge, looked up as Eddy turned toward them. Ed caught her eye. “Just checking up on him.” Eddy scrambled to his feet and rushed into his father’s arms.
“Hey, buddy, I got someone who wants to say hi,” Ed said as he put Eddy back on the ground. He gestured to Trish. “Do you know who this is?”
Eddy cocked his head to the side and studied the woman for a moment. He pursed his lips, then nodded slowly. “You’re the woman in the pictures with Daddy and me when I was a baby. You’re my mother, aren’t you?”
Trish nodded and held out her arms to the boy. “Yes, Eddy, I’m your mother.”
Eddy tentatively went up and gave her a slight hug, then took Ed’s hand. “Daddy says I have a sister too, and that she lives with you. Is she here?”
“No.” Trish shook her head. “But Trina will be here next week. I think she’d like to meet you.”
“I think I’d like to meet her too.” Eddy looked back at the chess match. “Will you be around after cannon? I’d like to finish watching the match. I like the way the queen hits people with her rod.”
Ed looked down at his son. “You know it’s not nice to hit.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Eddy gave a quick nod. “But it’s still fun to watch. You know, the knights ride those stick horses. Do you think we might be able to find me a stick elephant? Elephants are much cooler than horses.”
“We’ll see what we can do.” Ed ruffled his son’s hair with a chuckle. “Trish is going to be around for a while, so you’ll get to see more of her.”
“Good. Nice to meet you.” The little boy turned around and marched back to his spot amongst the other kids watching the chess match.
Trish sighed as she watched him go. “He’s about the same size as Trina, but he seems to have grown so big. He was so little the last time I saw him.”
“I can’t wait to see Trina,” Ed replied. The two fell into step as they headed back across the festival grounds. “So why don’t you have dinner with Bryan, Eddy, and me tonight?”
“I’ve already made plans,” she replied. “Some of the belly dancers are having a party. You three should come. They said it was kid friendly. No alcohol, and it’s at that little Mexican restaurant in town. We used to go ther
e all the time.”
“Eddy loves the place,” he said. “What time? You know we have to get the animals settled after cannon.”
“They said seven, but I’m sure they won’t mind if folks are running late. They said it’s for everyone to be able to say hey if we didn’t get a chance this weekend.” They reached the front of Fabulous Faire Frocks, the clothier shop she worked in. “Who knows, that sexy satyr you were watching earlier might even show up.”
“We might be a bit late, but we’ll be there. I think it does Eddy good to get out once in a while. We don’t go out much at home.”
Trish gave him another big hug. “Good. I’ll be looking for you then.”
Ed smiled. “Yeah, it’ll be fun.” As he walked back toward the elephant ride, the good feeling of running into Trish mingled with the vision of the sexy satyr. His timing couldn’t have been better.
Chapter 7
“This is what everyone normally does on Sunday night after working all weekend?” Adrian asked as Sebastian led him out to the participants’ parking lot after announcing that they were going with the belly dancers to a party.
“Not every Sunday night,” his friend replied. “This is opening weekend. We see folks we haven’t seen in ten months and catch up without the pressures of the festival going on around us. Oh yeah, and see folks out of garb. Although in your case, I think folks will be a bit disappointed.”
“What do you mean?” Adrian opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.
Sebastian settled into his seat and pulled the seat belt across his narrow frame. “Oh please, you can’t have been so lost in your music that you didn’t spot all the people, men and women, checking you out all weekend. I think more people stopped to look at you than stopped for a peek at that adorable baby elephant. Did you go check him out? He’s so cute.”
Adrian shook his head. “Only from a distance. I think I caught his trainer watching me today. There’s just something interesting about that man.”
“I didn’t think you went for the rugged outdoor type,” Sebastian said. “I’ve always seen you with those little guppy bois at the bars. The ones who never call you back after the first date because they are more self-absorbed than you are and don’t like to compete for their own attention.”
“I’m not the one who revealed this week that he’s been known to hang out with leather-daddy bears.” The flutist put the car in gear and joined the line of vehicles waiting to get out of the parking lot. “Not that there’s anything wrong with bears. I was just surprised by your revelation.”
“Hey, watch talking about the bears now. You keep growing that little goatee you’re working on, and you’re going to be one step from long walks in the forest yourself.”
“I still think it adds to my satyr character.” Adrian rubbed the itchy scruff on his chin.
“So, I think Paul and Holly are happy with the customers that you and the belly dancers are bringing in.” Sebastian abruptly changed the subject. It surprised Adrian. His friend normally didn’t stop when he was on a catty roll. “They said it was the best opening weekend on record. Paul’s going to fire up the kiln tomorrow and hopefully get another batch of ocarinas out by Saturday.”
“I knew those were handmade, but I didn’t realize he did them. I might suggest a slightly different fingering placement to make them easier for adults to play. We might sell more then, and my fingers wouldn’t cramp up as fast when I’m demoing.”
“So you liked it this weekend?” Sebastian asked. The traffic let up, and they were able to actually get from the parking lot onto the farm to market road that would take them back into town.
Adrian nodded. “Yeah, more than I figured I would. It’s been a long time since I could just play whatever came to my head and let it flow. You probably don’t realize it, but I actually came up with a couple of new melodies this weekend. I wrote one down last night when I got home. I’ll probably write two more down tomorrow. This job may really open up my creative side, and that’s a good thing. You know a lot of musicians are now doing the indie artist route. I’m not sure if there’s a big call for indie flute music, but I might look into that. It would give me something to do while the concert world sorts itself out about what it wants to do with me.”
“Or you could travel around a bit with Paul and Holly,” Sebastian said. They reached Interstate 35E, and Adrian stayed on the access road to get to the restaurant where they were meeting everyone. “If you keep drawing in the folks, they might offer to let you travel with them. I know they head up to Colorado in June.”
“Colorado in June sounds a lot better that Dallas in June. Cool and dry beats warm and humid any day. But I don’t know. Let’s see how I’m feeling in a couple of weeks. A lot can change in a couple of weeks.” He didn’t bother adding that a couple weeks earlier he’d been a rising star in the Texas orchestra scene, and now he was playing flute at the renaissance festival in satyr drag.
“Hey, there’s Mel and Jade,” Sebastian said as they found a parking place in the quickly filling lot. The two belly dancers were just entering the restaurant.
“Guess we’re in the right place.” Adrian turned off the car and quickly checked his hair in the mirror before getting out. Like the previous night, he couldn’t get the sweat curl from where his horns had rested, to go away. With a sigh, he closed the visor and pulled the keys out of the ignition. A couple of minutes later, they were in the back room of the restaurant surrounded by other faire participants, with more filing in behind them.
“Really, you’re really a concert flutist and you’re running around in a satyr costume at the faire?” a large black man asked Adrian an hour later. Adrian vaguely recognized the man out of costume. He’d seen him guarding a bridge, wearing nothing more than a few wide leather straps, several swords, and a big black leather helmet that hadn’t quite covered his eyes. “I know that several of the royals are acting students in the mundane world, but I can’t say as I ever met a concert flutist working faire before.”
Adrian held his hands up in surrender. “When Sebastian suggested it, it sounded like fun.”
“Hey, Ed! Come over here, you’ve got to meet….” The big guy looked at Adrian for a second in question, although Jade had introduced them a few minutes before and then flitted off.
“Adrian,” he supplied.
“Adrian. This guy is cool.”
To Adrian’s surprise, the elephant trainer separated himself from the person he was talking to and walked over to them. His short brown hair was damp, like he’d taken time to clean up before getting to the party. “Hey, Rudy. So you say your name is Adrian?” He offered his hand.
“And you’re Ed.” Adrian returned the firm handshake. When he touched the man, something passed through him. “My friends call me Dio.”
“Dio, is that Greek?” Ed asked. “I’ve heard interesting things about Greek guys.”
“Adrian here is a concert flutist,” Rudy said before he could answer.
“Really.” Ed smiled. “Then I guess that explains why your playing sounds so good.”
“You’ve heard me play?” Adrian couldn’t think of anything more interesting to say. Mentally, he kicked himself for not coming up with something more witty or charming. It was silly, but probably better than admitting he’d seen the man watching him play.
“I caught a bit this afternoon on my way to lunch. You’re very good. After I heard you play, I understood why there was a crowd around the ceramic shop this weekend.”
“I guess I’ll need to stop by next weekend and hear you for a bit,” Rudy said.
Ed chuckled. Adrian liked the sound of it, deep, but not too gruff. “If you can leave that bridge of yours long enough.”
“Hey, I’ve got folks that just come to see me guard the bridge.” Rudy sounded a bit hurt and a little drunk. “You know that black… I mean African American, attendance is up since I started guarding that bridge.”
A little boy appeared at Ed’s side. “Hey,
Daddy, Trish was telling me all about my sister.” He pulled on his father’s hand.
“Hey, Eddy.” Rudy leaned over toward the boy. “Tell your dad and Adrian here how well I’ve been guarding the bridge.”
The boy nodded and blushed a bit. “Mr. Rudy is really scary over by the bridge.” Then he looked up into the dark eyes. “But where were you when we came through this afternoon, right before final cannon? I was expecting to be scared again.”
“I was heading up to the main gate,” Rudy replied with a wink. “That needs to be guarded too. I got to make sure all the people leave who came in.”
Eddy laughed. “Good, we don’t need anyone bothering the elephants when we’re not there.”
Rudy laughed too. “You got a good kid there, Ed. Look, why don’t you and Adrian talk a bit. I got to go hit the nacho bar again.”
Adrian looked from Ed to Eddy. “Hey, if you two have things to talk about….”
“We can talk later.” Ed rubbed Eddy’s head.