The Satyr's Song

by A. J. Marcus

  Eddy nodded.

  “But, since you do have a concussion, we need you to stay awake….” The doctor glanced at the clock near the bed. “At least until 3:00 a.m. Do you think you can do that?”

  The boy glanced at the clock too. “I’m supposed to be in bed by nine.”

  Ed chuckled. It was a good sign that Eddy was going to be all right. “I think if the doctor says you need to stay awake until three, you can stay awake. Maybe we can find something to watch on TV.” Ed looked at the doctor. “We’ll keep him awake.”

  “Okay, if he drifts off to sleep, don’t shake him to wake him back up, just call his name, or if you have to, pinch him. With head trauma, it’s never a good idea to shake the patient.” The doctor turned to leave. “I’ll check back in a few hours.”

  “So what would you like to watch on TV?” Adrian asked, claiming the remote before anyone else could.

  “Let’s see what channels they have,” Ed suggested. He settled back into the chair closest to the bed. He would’ve sat on the bed with Eddy, but he didn’t want to jar the boy. They scanned through the channels and settled on a documentary on lions.

  As their show ended, the door opened again, and Ed’s mother and Bryan walked in. Carina Costa hurried across the space from the door to the bed.

  “Grandma!” Eddy shouted.

  “My little man is awake!” She reached to hug the boy, but Ed put a hand on her arm.

  He shook his head. “We’re not to shake or jostle him, Mom.”

  She frowned but leaned over and kissed the boy’s bruised forehead. “He’s going to be fine. We Costas are a strong bunch.” She looked up at Ed. “So now that he’s awake, how long is he going to have to stay here?”

  “The doctor said he’d be here at least until tomorrow afternoon,” Ed explained. “Just to make sure he’s doing all right before they release him. His waking up is the important thing.”

  He mother nodded. “Well, now that Grandma’s here, everything’s going to be fine.” She fussed with the bedcovers for a moment. “Are you hungry, Eddy? Did they get you anything to eat? Can he have anything to eat?”

  “I’m not hungry, Grandma,” Eddy replied. “My head still hurts.”

  Ed settled back into the chair next to Adrian. “When the nurse was in here earlier, she said he could have something light if he wanted it. So far he hasn’t.”

  Carina’s eyes landed on Adrian. “So, you must be Adrian.” She stayed on the far side of the bed, but her eyes moved slightly as she studied the man.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Adrian stood up and extended a hand across the bed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Ed’s mother took his hand and gave a brief shake. “Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you”—she looked at her sons and grandson—“from Ed and Eddy. Bryan has even had a few good words to say about you. He approves of your influence in Ed’s life. From the sound of it, Cara even likes you. That’s important. It took a few months before Ed senior’s elephants accepted me when I first met the boy’s father.”

  Ed chuckled. “I remember Dad telling me about that. He said he’d been really worried that they weren’t ever going to like you. Then one day….” He paused, searching for a name.

  “Sophia,” his mother supplied.

  “That’s right, Sophia, started blowing in your hair.”

  Carina nodded. “She never brought me food, that’s big, but she at least accepted me as part of the herd.” His mother looked at Adrian with a hard gaze that Ed had seen many times on her face, and more recently on Eddy’s. “You be good to my son. I don’t like to see my boys hurt.” “But Uncle Bryan’s girls hurt him all the time,” Eddy said.

  His grandmother glared at his uncle. “That’s because your Uncle Bryan doesn’t always make the best choices. It’s his own fault he gets hurt. I think your father may have made a good choice, from the reports I’ve been hearing.”

  Bryan frowned but didn’t say anything.

  Adrian smiled. It was one of the warming smiles that Ed loved so much. “I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

  Chapter 29

  At three in the morning, the nurse announced they could let the sleepy Eddy finally drop off. With all the stress of the day, Adrian couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that bone tired. It had been all he could do to stay awake himself. It might’ve been easier if he’d brought an instrument along to play, but for the first time in many years, he’d found himself without a flute at hand.

  “Why don’t you two go and get some sleep,” Carina suggested after Eddy’s eyes finally closed. Bryan had left a few hours before, claiming that someone was going to have to run the elephant ride the next day and he needed to get some sleep.

  “Mom, we’re fine,” Ed objected, stiffing a yawn.

  “Don’t pull that crap on me.” Her stern gaze settled on Adrian. “Take him somewhere and see that he gets some sleep. This won’t be the first time I’ve sat up at a hospital with a sick child. I’ll call you if you need to get here. Now go.”

  Adrian looked at Ed. “I get the feeling that it’s not a good idea to argue with her.”

  Ed shook his head. “Nope, she’s spent thirty-five years around elephants.” He smiled at his mother. “She can be a bit stubborn.”

  She smiled back. “And that’s not a bad thing. Now go, get some sleep. It’s been a rough day for all of you. Tomorrow will be better with a little more energy.”

  “Okay.” Ed threw up his hands. “We’ll go. If anything happens—”

  “I’ll call you, don’t worry. Get some sleep. Once you get the elephants taken care of in the morning, come back up.” She glanced over at the sleeping boy. “I won’t go for breakfast until you get back.”

  Ed nodded as he went and gave his mother a big hug and a light kiss on the cheek.

  In the elevator, on the way down to the hospital lobby, Ed yawned and sagged against the wall. “We’re closer to the site. You mind my bed tonight?”

  Adrian reached over and ran a hand down Ed’s arm. “Wherever you want is fine by me. We’ll be closer to the elephants that way.”

  Cara stared at them sleepily as they walked into the corral. Ed walked up to her and hugged her trunk.

  “Eddy’s going to be okay,” he said. “He should be home tomorrow.”

  As if she understood every word, the pachyderm rumbled soothingly to him, then gently pushed him toward the back and his trailer. The complexity of the elephants amazed Adrian. He didn’t think she really and truly understood each word, but she was far from a dumb animal and smarter and more caring than most people.

  The musician caught the elephant trainer’s hand. “Come on, we’re both out on our feet. Let’s get in bed. Cara and Gwen are going to want feeding and showers way too soon.”

  Ed squeezed Adrian’s hand as they half walked, half stumbled toward the trailer. “Thank you for being here for me today.”

  Adrian leaned over and kissed Ed’s stubble-covered cheek. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now.” As the words left his mouth, he realized how true they were. For the first time in his life, he was being supportive of another person. He was tired, and would’ve been in bed hours ago, but being there for Ed was more important. There was no way he would’ve let Ed go through the horrible afternoon and evening alone. When Eddy had opened his eyes this evening, it had been one of the happiest moments he could remember. The little family he was becoming part of wasn’t going to suffer any losses at this time. Everything, everyone, was going to be fine, and that was all that mattered.

  With the door to the trailer open, Ed caught Adrian in his arms and kissed him. It was a poignant but tired kiss. “I’m not sure what I’m up for tonight.”

  Adrian ran his hands down Ed’s hard back. “I don’t think you’re up for anything tonight except sleep.” He reached down and pulled the man’s Ren faire tunic off and laid it over the table. “Let’s get out of these clothes, lie down, and just relax.” Seconds later, Adrian’s vest joined Ed’s tunic. T
heir clothing didn’t seem to matter at the hospital, or in their rush to get there. Neither of them had thought to have anyone bring them other clothes.

  “Are you sure?” Ed pulled his pants off, and they joined the growing pile.

  “I’m sure.” Adrian caught Ed’s face in his hands and kissed the man again. “I’m not in this just for the awesomely hot sex we have. I’m in this for you, Ed.”

  Ed crumpled against Adrian’s now naked body. For a moment, he just clung there. Then the shaking and the tears started. Adrian had suspected that the front Ed had held after the accident and at the hospital was just a façade for Eddy and the people around them. The musician steered them toward the bed and wrapped his arms around the man as the stress and trauma of the day poured out of him.

  “I almost lost him today.” Ed wept into Adrian’s chest. “Just like I lost my dad. It was so hard seeing him just lying there on the ground. I was afraid he was dead.” Adrian lay there with Ed in his arms, stroking the man’s head and back, murmuring soft reassurances as the tears died away.

  Nearly an hour later, Ed shifted against Adrian’s chest. He looked up and kissed the flutist. “I’m sorry about that.”

  Adrian kept running his hands down the hard planes of Ed’s back. “That’s what boyfriends are for, aren’t they? To be there to hold you and care for you when things are rough. You’ll be there for me the next time I crack.”

  Ed ran his hand across Adrian’s chest. “Yes, I will.” Their lips met again. “Dio, I love you.”

  The words echoed through Adrian. Each time he heard Ed say those words his reaction got stronger. They sounded so right, like the notes of a melody he could listen to forever.

  “I love you too, Ed.”

  Clinging together on the small bed inside the trailer, Adrian knew they’d found themselves and everything was going to be fine. Sunlight came through the thin curtains before he finally dropped off to sleep, lulled there by Ed’s soft, rhythmic breathing and delicate snore.

  Chapter 30

  Ed’s heart leapt to see Eddy sitting up in the hospital bed without a bunch of wires connected to him. He hurried into the room with Adrian behind him. He hugged his son as tightly as he dared.

  “It looks like you’re feeling better,” he said as he held the boy out to get a better look at him. Eddy’s color was back to normal, and his brown eyes sparkled with his usual five-year-old impishness.

  Eddy nodded. “I think I’m ready to go home.”

  “I bet the doctor hasn’t been in yet,” Ed replied. He glanced at his mother, who shook her head.

  “We have to wait for the doctor to release you.” Ed eased himself down on the bed, next to his son. “But I bet they already brought you some breakfast.”

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t very good. Can we stop and get something better on the way back to the faire?”

  “We can do that,” Ed agreed. “Mom, have you eaten anything?”

  “They brought me something when they brought Eddy’s. I have to agree with him, it wasn’t very good, but it will hold me over until we’re out of here.”

  “Did you make sure that Cara and Ciro know that I’m all right?” Eddy asked.

  Adrian chuckled. “He told them as soon as we got in the corral last night. I think Cara was relieved. Ciro was still asleep, though.”

  “Good. I don’t want Cara to worry about me.”

  The door opened, and Trish and Trina came in carrying a bouquet of balloons and a stuffed bear.

  “Looks like you’re up and around,” Trish said as she set the bear down on the small table near the TV. The balloons were all tied to the bear’s arm and now hovered above it.

  “You feeling better?” Trina asked. Ed reached down and picked the little girl up so she could sit on the bed with Eddy.

  “Yeah, but I have to wait for the doctor to come in and tell me I can go home,” the boy replied.

  “All you did was sleep yesterday.” She tentatively touched the blue cast on his arm. “Does it hurt?”

  “It did last night,” he replied. “But so far today, it’s okay, just heavy.”

  “Hello, Missus Costa,” Trish said. She walked over and offered her hand to Ed’s mother.

  “Trish.” Carina sounded a bit cold. “It’s been a while.”

  “Too long,” Trish said, settling into the chair next to her. “Eddy has grown so big.”

  “Trina has too.”

  “Trina, this is Grandma,” Eddy said. “Do you remember Grandma?”

  Trina shook her head shyly. “No.”

  Carina held her arms out to the girl. “Then come over here so I can get to know you. We’re family.” She cast a hard look at Trish. “We should know each other.”

  “So I have three grandmas?” Trina asked, moving cautiously from the bed to the older woman’s lap.

  “Three grandmas?” Carina raised an eyebrow.

  “My mother, Sam’s mother, and you,” Trish said.

  “Ah, and how is Samantha?” Carina asked.

  “Doing good. She’s worried about Eddy, and will be happy to see him up and around.” She looked at Ed. “You know we should all go out for dinner tonight, a nice big family night out.” Her gaze landed on Adrian. “You’re part of the family now too, Dio. You should be there.” “I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Adrian said.

  Carina looked up from Trina. “Nonsense, Adrian, you’re family.” “Okay,” he agreed.

  Eddy tapped Ed’s arm. “If Daddy Two is part of the family, does that mean I have three grandmas too? I’ve only ever had one.”

  Ed looked over at Adrian, unsure how to answer the question.

  Adrian sighed. “We’ll have to see, kiddo. I haven’t talked to my mother in a few years.”

  “Why on earth not?” Carina asked.

  “Well—” Adrian sighed again. “—she and my father don’t approve of most of the choices I’ve made in my life in order to be happy. They weren’t happy with a musical child. They were even less thrilled with a gay one.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Carina set Trina on the floor, stood up, and walked over to Adrian. “Some parents don’t know the joy they miss out on even when one of their children doesn’t turn out as planned.” She wrapped her arms around the flutist. “Like we’ve just said, you are our family now. So I expect to know what’s going on in your life regularly.”

  Ed couldn’t help but smile. It had been more than he’d dared hope that his mother would be so accepting of Adrian, but then that was how his mother was. She was a mother and grandmother. Nothing more, nothing less. She understood the concept of unconditional love and felt sorry for those people who had no idea what it was all about. He watched Adrian tentatively hug his mother back. Tears glistened on the man’s face.

  “You will, Carina,” he gulped. “I promise.”

  Eddy pulled on Ed’s arm, drawing his attention back toward the bed. “Daddy, so when are you and Adrian getting married?”

  For a second, Ed couldn’t think of what to say. He looked over at Adrian, who was accepting a tissue from Trish as Carina walked toward the bed.

  “Our little man has a very good question,” Carina said with a big smile.

  “But it’s not legal in Texas,” Ed said the first thing that came to his mind.

  “So,” Trish said. “Sam and I had a ceremony down in Houston. You should remember, you were my best man. Sometimes it’s the ceremony that counts, not the legality of everything.”

  Carina nodded. “She’s right.”

  Ed looked at Adrian, his heart in his throat. “Well, Dio, do you want to have a big wedding?”

  Adrian smiled, tears still running down his cheeks as he rushed across the room and caught Ed up in his arms. “Yes. Oh God, yes.” Their kiss was brief, and Ed didn’t even care that there were people in the room. Although they’d just thought of it, the idea of having a wedding ceremony with Adrian filled him with joy.

  “But we have to do it before Mommy and Trina leave,” Eddy annou
nced. “It won’t be right if they aren’t there.”

  Ed looked down at his son from Adrian’s arms. “So you want us to have a Ren faire wedding, in the next couple of weeks?”

  Eddy nodded. “So everyone can be there. Trina, Mommy, Sam, Mel, Jade… everyone.”

  For a moment, Ed stared at Adrian. “Well, can we put something together in the next couple of weeks? The festival has weddings all the time. We can check and see if they have an opening, or we could do it after hours.”

  Adrian was still grinning like a fool with tears rolling down into his goatee. “Sure, let’s see what we can do. I’m sure we can get everyone mobilized on it and come up with something fabulous. It will be the talk of the faire for years to come.”

  Chapter 31

  The final cannon boomed in the distance. It was the last cannon of the year for Scarborough Faire. Adrian hurriedly put up the flutes and ocarinas for the last time. Over the past eight weeks, it had become part of his weekly rhythm. Looking back as he packed the bin, he realized they had been some of the best weeks of his thirty years on the planet.

  “Do you want help with that?” Sebastian asked. “We need to get everything done quickly.”

  “Just get everything so we can close the doors,” Paul called to them. “We’ll pack up proper tomorrow. We’ve all got somewhere to be. Adrian, go get changed.”

  Mel and Jade appeared. They were in their Ren faire finest. They’d both traded in their belly dancer outfits for more elegant garb. Mel was still in blues, but instead of gauze, lace, and sheer fabric, she was in heavy velvets, looking like she belonged in the royal court. Standing beside her, Jade was in similar heavy skirts in her signature greens.

  “Well, hurry up. From what we can tell, the elephants are almost ready,” Jade said.

  “The elephants can’t leave until we’re ready for them to, and that won’t be until everyone is seated in the garden,” Adrian said. It was hard not to be upbeat. He was so happy. The weeks since Eddy’s accident had flown by, even though they’d been through a lot. Ed had pressed charges against the woman who’d gone after Ciro. As shaken as she was after her run-in with Cara, they all doubted she’d be causing trouble again. There’d been a lot of media coverage of the faire since then, all of it good, and Ed had featured prominently in much of it. Ed’s mother had gone back to Midland, taking Eddy with her for a couple of weeks. It had been strange not having the boy around, but it had given Adrian and Ed lots of time alone. Carina and Eddy had returned in time to help with the final preparations. Trish and Sam had been delighted to make everyone’s finery for the occasion. They’d even insisted that Ed and Adrian not see each other’s costumes beforehand, claiming it was bad luck. Since neither one was the bride, they couldn’t figure out where the problem was.