"Past you, yes," Zyan said. "But past you was a lot more romantic and much less sarcastic and rude."
"I could say the same of you."
"And I wouldn't deny it."
"Just let me read the damn letter!"
"Would you even be able to? Your Hawai'ian has never been the best, but now? It's been decades!" Zyan was only teasing, and he was sure Carter knew that, since he'd always given constant praise and support when it came to Carter learning Zyan's mother language for him.
Carter narrowed his eyes. "Well, your Greek sucks."
Zyan rolled his eyes. "Just go to your room, Carter, so I can hide this letter, and then we can move on."
"No."
"Carter."
"Nope."
"Carter!"
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Jessica
"Where's Cookie?" Ava asked after she sat down at the small table in the kitchen, where Jessica was fussing over the dishwasher.
She shrugged. "I dunno. But if I had to guess, I'd say she's with Zyan."
"That little shit stole my cat from me," Ava muttered under her breath.
Jessica chuckled. She could still remember when they'd left Cookie with Zyan while Carter had taken them to pick up a second cat and a companion for her. When they'd returned with the second fur-ball, they'd found Zyan spread out over the couch with Cookie curled up on his chest, fast asleep. Zyan still wouldn't admit it, but they all knew how attached he was to the cat by now.
As if he'd felt that he was needed, Chip suddenly strolled through the door and hopped onto Ava's lap, bumping his head into her hand to show his need to be petted. Ava obliged.
"What do you want to do this weekend?" Ava asked after a few minutes of silently stroking Chip's soft fur.
"I'm not sure. But I feel like we need to spend some time outside. It's been too long since we've done that, and I refuse to become an old stay-at-home lady."
Jessica turned to see Ava's smile and watched her wrinkly dark fingers contrast with the white and orange fur. "Okay. Then let's go outside."
They kept up the conversation while Jessica finished loading the dishwasher, and only when she was done did Ava pick up Chip to set him down on the cushioned chair, so she could stand up.
"I'll call down the boys, or they'll complain about missing the start of the episode again," Ava announced.
She was already heading through the doorway into the living room, where the staircase led up to the second floor, when she heard their voices.
"Hey, Jessie!"
"Hm?"
"Come here and listen to this."
"What is it?" Jessica asked, already on her way.
Ava simply grinned and pointed up the stairs. They were both quiet for several minutes as they listened.
"Oh wow," Jessica said. "How many languages is that?"
"I'm not sure. But it's gotta be at least five."
"They don't sound like they're angry," Jessica observed. "Usually they only switch that often when they're fighting."
"Maybe it's not a matter of being mad, but rather of being emotional in general."
"Should we interrupt them?"
Ava shook her head. "Nah, I think we should leave them to it for now. I'll try again in twenty minutes or so."
Jessica nodded. "Well…I don't wanna miss half the episode, though. Go and switch on the TV. I'll get us some drinks."
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Zyan
"You play dirty, Aquino," Zyan said, still breathing heavily.
"You gave me no other choice."
"Oh, there were many options."
"None that would've gotten me what I wanted," Carter replied, taking the letter out of its envelope.
Wrestling, or rather, tickle-fighting, might not have been the most grownup way of getting Zyan to hand it over, but it was the easiest and most fun way to do it, which was the only reason Zyan wasn't mad right now. There had been a lot of shouting, and they'd almost crushed Cookie and fallen off the bed several times, but in the end, Carter had managed to pin Zyan to the mattress and retrieve the now-wrinkled envelope from his pocket.
Now, Carter was lying halfway on top of Zyan to stop him from moving freely while he scanned the pages.
"Pauo'le," Carter said softly. "Wow, I'd almost forgotten that name."
Zyan huffed a breath. "Great boyfriend you are," he teased.
Carter elbowed him. "As if you could list all my aliases from over the centuries."
"I will neither confirm nor deny that statement."
"'Course you won't," Carter muttered. "Now, shush, I'm trying to read."
By the time they headed downstairs, the episode was long over, and Ava and Jessica looked ready to go off to bed in their pajamas, though that didn't stop Ava from wiggling her eyebrows when she caught Zyan's eyes. He only shot her a pointed look, which made Ava smirk.
They squeezed together on the couch, like old times, with Ava and Zyan on either side.
"So…what were you two up to?" Jessica asked.
"Stuff," Zyan answered, keeping his gaze locked on the screen.
"Did you do the horizontal tango?" Jessica inquired, her voice teasing.
Zyan rolled his eyes and Carter laughed.
"If they did, why would they be yelling in twenty different languages?" Ava questioned.
"Good point," Jessica admitted before looking back at them. "What were you up to?"
"Zyan found this letter I wrote to him ages ago," Carter told them.
"And?" Ava pried.
"And he didn't want me to read it." Carter paused. "I forced him."
"I think you left a few bruises," Zyan mumbled, lightly poking at a spot on his upper arm.
Jessica looked horrified. "Oh my god, did you hit him?"
"What? No! Of course not!" Carter exclaimed.
"Well, I had to be sure," Jessica muttered.
"We played around a little, that's all," Carter assured her.
"So, you did have sex," Ava stated.
"No, we didn't. What is it with you?" Zyan was starting to regret leaving his room.
"Hey! No need to be rude! Respect your elders!" Jessica warned him.
Ava snorted, the action making her cough.
Carter laughed. Zyan rolled his eyes. Jessica patted Ava on the back in an attempt to help her through the coughing fit.
"Okay, okay," Carter reasoned. "Before Ava pukes out an alien, I'm just gonna tell you." He turned so he could face them better. "Back when he and I moved into our first place together, I wrote this letter—"
"In Hawai'ian," Zyan added.
"In terrible Hawai'ian."
"I thought it was cute."
"'Thought?'"
"Now it's funnier than anything."
"Thanks. I love you too."
"I know," Zyan teased. "I read your three-page essay on it."
"See? That's why I gave up on the romantic gestures! You always tease me for it!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, babe."
"Don't call me 'babe,'" Carter muttered.
"Wait, wait," Ava interrupted, still a little teary-eyed from the coughing. "So you actually wrote three pages on how much you love him?"
"That's adorable," Jessica cooed.
"Makes me wish you guys would get married before my time is over," Ava said.
"Not gonna happen," Zyan replied immediately.
"Why not?" Ava asked. "You guys cleared up the entire Aaron thing years ago! Don't you think it's time to put the rings back on? Hell, you're always wearing them, anyway!"
Zyan automatically reached for his chest, where his rings were hidden under the thin fabric of his clothes as he watched Carter do the same.
"Don't push them, honey," Jessica said, her voice light.
"Fine." Ava paused. She looked at them for a few moments. "Can I read the letter?"
"Do you speak Hawai'ian?" Zyan countered.
"Can you translate it for me?"
"Do I look like I'd do that?"
"Not really." Ava turned her eyes away from him. "Can you translate it for me?"
Carter smiled. "I could, but I doubt he'd let me."
"How would he stop you?"
"I'm sure he'd find a way."
"You're all no fun."
Two days later, Zyan found out that Carter had slipped Ava a full translation of the letter, which Jessica had also gotten her hands on.
EPILOGUE
23 Years later
Zyan
Jessica and Ava died together, only a few years away from their one-hundredth birthdays. Despite how long Carter and Zyan had seen it coming, they still weren't prepared for it.
It was Zyan who found them. He'd gone down to their bedroom to wake them up and get them to eat at least a few bites of the breakfast Carter had prepared for them when he realized they were both no longer breathing. They'd passed on in their sleep, lying side by side and looking peaceful.
Now Carter and Zyan were standing on the sidelines as the funeral was held.
While they might all have been feeling glum, the sun was still shining bright for a cold day in February, and the sky was of a light, cloudless blue. They kept their distance to avoid being exposed as they watched Jessica and Ava's family and friends grieve for the lives lost. Spirits, fairies, and other creatures were wandering around the cemetery, brushing their fingers over headstones or buzzing around the attendees of the ceremony.
There seemed to be more activity in the area than usual, but that might just have been Zyan projecting his emotions onto his surroundings. It felt like the deaths of these two beautiful women should affect more than the people gathered here. The entire universe should have been grieving. Or maybe it should have been celebrating the lives they'd lived. Anything except the careless attitude, the reactionless nonchalance, and continuation of everyone's existence that it presented.
Now that Zyan looked at the small crowd gathered around the priest, he realized that over the years of the marriage between them, Jessica's and Ava's families had become united, and just like they'd all been present at the funerals of Carol and her husband a short time ago, they were now gathered again to say their goodbyes to their sisters, aunts, and friends.
And just like the last time, Carter and Zyan kept their distance and watched everyone mourn while they stood too far away to make out any of the words being said.
The ceremony was nearing its end when Carter spoke up for the first time since its beginning.
"Where are we off to next?" he asked in a low voice.
"Hawai'i?" Zyan suggested. "I'd like to visit home."
"Okay." Carter reached for Zyan's hand and gave it a light squeeze.
Zyan looked over at him and gave a small, teary-eyed smile.
"They lived a long life," Carter said into the silence.
"They did."
"They were together until the very end."
Zyan nodded.
"We couldn't have asked for more."
Zyan didn't reply. He let the silence envelop him as he watched the ceremony come to an end.
When everyone was gone, but the spirits remained, he gently tugged Carter over to the fresh graves. He looked down at the headstones, wondering if their friends were looking down on them.
"Where's the point in seeing spirits if we can't see the ones that really matter?" Zyan asked, keeping his voice low since anything else would have felt disrespectful.
"I'm sure they can see us."
Zyan didn't respond.
"They'd tell you to smile," Carter went on. "And to celebrate the life they lived, instead of focusing on how it ended."
"I'm sure they would phrase it differently."
Zyan could hear the smile in Carter's voice as he replied. "I don't doubt it."
"I miss them."
"I do too. How couldn't I? But do you regret having met them?"
Zyan shook his head. "No. Never."
"Then that's what matters."
"They changed our lives."
"For the better," Carter added.
"I'll never forget that." Zyan reached out and touched the headstone spanning the two graves.
It felt like a part of him had died with them, but a new part had also been born. This wasn't the end of his story: only a new chapter. A door might have closed, but dozens of new ones had been opened. The possibilities stretched out in front of him, but where it would usually feel daunting and numbing, it now awakened an excitement and curiosity within him.
He'd always wanted to believe that fate and destiny existed, that his entire immortal life wasn't just the result of a coincidence, a mistake, but now as he stood there, remembering the ways in which these two women had impacted and transformed his life, all doubt vanished and left behind a strong belief that meeting them couldn't have been anything but.
"What are you thinking about?" Carter asked, lightly squeezing his hand to draw Zyan's attention.
Zyan let his gaze linger on the names engraved in the headstone for a few moments before he looked over at Carter. "For the first time in decades, I'm looking forward to where destiny may take us."
Carter smiled. A true, honest smile that lit up his eyes and filled Zyan's chest with warmth.
They'd be okay. Just like Ava and Jessica would want them to be.
FIN
About the Author
Michelle Engardt was born and raised in a small town in Germany where she still lives today. Having a book lover for a mother, she’s always been an avid reader stuck in one fictional universe after another. And once capable of writing properly and somewhat grammatically correct, that love evolved into a passion for creating her own stories and characters that could help her escape her rather uneventful life for just a while.
As she got older, life forced her through over a decade of public education, a part of her life that could also be called The Origin Story Behind Everything Wrong With Her Brain – an excessively long title but also one fitting for a possible future autobiography. Looking back, that time of her life blurs together into an endless cycle of procrastination, panic attacks, anxiety and insomnia with tiny lighter spots created by finding a few people that shared her dumb sense of humor and decided to keep her around as a comic relief during those dark times.
As fate would have it, she survived and can now be found sitting at her desk surrounded by her four cats since she has a tough time being surrounded by other human beings. Which is also why she can always be reached online on either Twitter (@michelleengardt), Tumblr (michelleengardt.tumblr.com) or sometimes even Facebook (Michelle Engardt) where she’s constantly blogging about everything that’s wrong with the world, some TV-show or cute animals. Or most likely, all three.
The Thing About Forever Page 32