The Melody of Light

by M. L. Rice

  Riley missed Beth, but she felt blessed with the opportunity to spend some quality time with her only remaining family again. Aidan hadn’t changed much, of course. Women were always at the forefront of his thoughts, he still pretended to be non-judgmentally superior to many around him, and his laugh and his smile were still as infectious as ever. Riley didn’t know why it continued to surprise her, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that they were from the same stock. They were so different from each other, yet their bond was as strong as any family’s could hope to be.

  As Riley reveled in the feel of the 600-count sheets and listened to the birds outside, the familiar cello refrain that she used as her ringtone filled the room. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she smiled as Beth’s smiling face flashed on the screen.

  “Merry Christmas, sweetie,” she said when she answered.

  Beth’s voice was like music to her ears. She hadn’t heard it for a week. “Merry Christmas, love.”

  “Aren’t you still on your cruise?”

  “Yeah. Just docked in Honduras, though. I’m actually going to have a white Christmas if you can believe it. It still counts if it’s sand, right?”

  “Wrong.”

  “Well, I’m sure I won’t have an ounce of fun if that makes you feel better. I mean, a private cabana at Mahogany Bay with an endless supply of girly drinks and bar food? Who needs it?”

  Riley could hear her smiling as she teased. “Yeah. Sounds awful. Too bad I’m not there to help you cope.”

  Beth’s voice turned a shade somber. “Now, that would really make today amazing. I hate that I can’t share this with you. You’d love it. And oh what I wouldn’t do to get you into that hammock with me right now.”

  Riley blushed as her face broke into a pleased smile.

  “But really,” Beth continued, “How are you doing?” Riley could hear the worry in her voice. Beth had felt awful about leaving Riley alone for Christmas, but Riley had insisted that she not give her a second thought while she was off adventuring with her family.

  “Well, you’re not going to believe where I am right now. And who I’m with.”

  After Beth’s squeals of delight at her news that Aidan was in town and about their weekend getaway, she could tell a weight had been lifted off Beth’s shoulders, and that made her happy.

  “I want you to meet him,” Riley said.

  “What? Now? On the phone?”

  “Why not?”

  Beth agreed and Riley took her phone in to the living room where Aidan was still sleeping.

  “I have to wake him up.”

  “Riley, don’t!”

  Riley ignored her and poked Aidan on the shoulder. His leg hung off of the pull-out bed, and his mouth was open and drooling on his pillow. “Aidan, wake up. It’s Christmas morning!”

  He made a small groan as he closed his mouth and blinked his eyes open.

  Riley simply smiled, put the phone on speaker, and held it out to him. “Meet Beth.”

  “Beth?” he asked groggily.

  “Yes. Beth.”

  He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Your Beth?”

  Riley rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Yes. My Beth.”

  He looked confused.

  “The love of my life?” Riley offered.

  Aidan finally smiled. “I know. I’m just waking up.” He turned to the outstretched iPhone. “Hey, Beth! Merry Christmas!”

  Beth’s voice sounded from the speaker. “Hi, Aidan. It’s nice to get to talk to you finally!”

  “You too. I’ve heard a lot of things about you.”

  “All good I hope.”

  “Horrible. Just the most horrendous things you can imagine.”

  “Aidan!” Riley protested as Beth laughed.

  “All true, I assure you,” she replied.

  “But really, I wanted to thank you,” Aidan continued.

  “Thank me for what?” Beth asked.

  “Thank you for showing my little sister how amazing she is. I’ve said it since she was born, but I think it means a lot more coming from you. I’ve never seen her this happy in my life. I mean it.”

  Riley grinned broadly as Beth said, “Thank you for helping to make her the amazing woman she is. She talks about you constantly. I’m glad she has you.”

  Aidan puffed up a little and winked at Riley. “You’re welcome, Beth. Anything for a lovely young woman such as yourself.”

  Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Aidan, don’t hit on my girlfriend.”

  Both Aidan and Beth laughed. Aidan continued, “Beth, I feel that I have to do the standard big brother thing just once before I let you go enjoy your Christmas.”

  “Okay, what’s that?” she asked.

  “Don’t break her heart, don’t mistreat her, and love her with your entire soul, or I’ll be super pissed and all that fun stuff.”

  “Aidan!” Riley objected.

  Both Aidan and Beth laughed again. Beth said, “Riley, it’s okay. He’s absolutely right. He won’t be nearly as upset with me as I’ll be with myself if any of that happens. Aidan, it was amazing getting to meet you finally. You guys have a great Christmas, okay? I’m so glad you got to go to Texas to spend it with her. I felt awful that I had to leave her alone.”

  “You can’t keep us apart. We’ve been through too much,” Aidan said. “And it was great meeting you too. I can’t wait to see you in person some time. Now go say your sweet nothings or whatever to Riley without her brother being a creeper in the background.”

  “Bye, Aidan!”

  Riley took the phone off speaker and walked back to her bedroom.

  “I hope that was okay,” she said when she was alone.

  “I’m really glad I got to talk to him. He sounds like a great guy. I have to go now. International call, you know. Merry Christmas, love. I can’t wait to see you again.”

  “Thanks for calling, sweet girl. I love you.” Riley held the phone tight to her head, trying to keep Beth close.

  “Love you!”

  Riley hung up the phone and smiled. The two most important people in her life had finally met on Christmas Day. She couldn’t think of anything better.

  Riley shuffled, still smiling, into the kitchenette and made two mugs of instant hot chocolate and then flipped on the TV to see the Grinch beaming as his heart grew three sizes. Riley smiled. She, Aidan, and the other kids at the Home had loved watching that particular cartoon during the holidays.

  She turned around and set the hot chocolate on the coffee table with a loud clink.

  “Here,” she said as she tapped the steaming mug, “start Christmas off right.”

  “Thanks, Nugget.” He took the drink and began to sip carefully. “Beth really does sound wonderful. Thanks for letting me meet her.”

  “I’m glad you got to.”

  Aidan stretched. “I’m not used to getting to sleep in. What time is it?”

  Riley checked her watch. “Ten thirty. I have your present here when you’re ready.” Riley smiled as she put the gift bag on the bed next to him.

  “You didn’t have to get me anything!”

  Riley rolled her eyes. “You got me a mini-vacation at the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen. What I got you doesn’t even come close. At least you get to open it in person. It’s a good thing I’m a procrastinator or else it would already be in the mail to you.”

  “Well, if you insist.” He sat up and gleefully pulled the tissue paper out of the bag. He smiled as his hand wrapped around a new wallet. He lifted it out of the bag and looked impressed. “You know, I actually need one of these. My leather one is trashed. Thanks!”

  Riley smiled. “I got it at the military surplus store. It’s brand new, though. They said it’s made out of military-grade tactical woven something-something and it has a special panel for your military ID. I thought it might be useful. You’ve had that leather one since high school.”

  “Absolutely! I love it.” He opened up the Velcro flap and his eyes widened a
s he saw several photos already placed in the provided sleeves.

  Riley had never seen him cry. Not once. Not even when their parents had died. But he started crying now. He took one look at the pictures Riley had pre-inserted in the wallet and broke down. Riley didn’t know what to do. He was always the one who consoled her. He was the strong one. But now, all of a sudden, he had tears running down his cheeks. Riley was scared and uneasy.

  “Aidan?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, sniffed, and then pulled her into the tightest hug she had ever received from him.

  When he released her, she gasped for air.

  “Sorry,” he sniffed, once again flipping through the pictures.

  Riley didn’t know what to do, so she nervously scratched her arm and said, “I know it’s super old-school to put photos in wallets, but I didn’t know if you’d be able to take your iPhone with you overseas, and I thought it might be nice for you to have hard copies in case you get lonely…or sentimental…or whatever.”

  Aidan nodded and smiled, patting the edge of the sofa bed where he sat. “It’s perfect. Sorry for the crying. I just…to see the people and things I love most in my life right here, all together…it just makes me so happy. And sad. But mostly happy.” He turned to smile at her and then went back to the first picture, looking at them in order.

  The first photo was of Aidan and Riley together as children. It was a posed photo their parents had gotten taken at the mall photography studio when Riley was only about three years old and Aidan was six. The second was of their parents together. They stood looking into each other’s eyes with their arms wrapped around each other in a candid embrace on the dance floor of their wedding reception. The next picture was another professional photo of Riley seated with her cello. Every student in the orchestra had gotten to take one for the yearbook. The next photo was of the rest of the contents of the heirloom box that Riley currently kept in her dorm room.

  “I wanted to make sure you had access to them, even if just in picture form,” Riley explained. Aidan nodded appreciatively and pulled her into a short hug again. She knew what it meant to him.

  The next picture was one that Beth’s mom had taken of her and Riley at Thanksgiving. They stood huddled together at the end of a pier, the cold ocean breeze freezing their windswept hair forever in time. Beth beamed at the camera, her arm threaded through Riley’s as if she never wanted to let her go. Riley, however, was gazing in blissful awe at her as if she couldn’t quite believe that she was real.

  “You two are sickeningly adorable, you know that?” Aidan said with a note of envy in his voice.

  Riley smiled. “Yeah. We are.”

  The final picture was the most recent one she had taken with Aidan. He stood in full dress uniform, flashing his stellar smile, as handsome as the men and women in a recruitment poster, with his arm around Riley’s shoulders. She had begged him to wear the “fancy” uniform just once before he had gone back to the School of Infantry back in August. He had obliged and they had gotten their picture taken on the veranda overlooking the lake when they had eaten a last dinner at The Oasis. The young and attractive waiter had been instantly smitten with Aidan, of course, and when he had found out that Riley was his sister and not his girlfriend the flirting had begun in earnest. Aidan had laughed it off like he always did. He did love the attention.

  Standing by his side in the photo, Riley looked rather drab in her old gray Goodwill slacks from high school and white button-up shirt. Still, it was one of her favorite pictures. Her red hair was behaving itself for once, the Texas sky glowed orange in reflection on the lake below, and they both looked truly happy. The picture also represented new beginnings. It had been taken the weekend that she had moved into the dorm, and it forever captured in time Aidan’s road to self-discovery as a newly minted Marine and Riley’s first steps into adulthood as a first-year college student.

  This time, her own eyes started to well up. Everything she loved was represented in that wallet. She was glad that Aidan would get to take it with him when he was deployed. She felt that she could be there with him, if even in just this small way.

  Aidan turned to face her. “This means the absolute world to me.”

  Riley simply smiled and nodded, afraid of breaking down. Something new had appeared in his eyes, though. She could read his mood so well. She knew what was coming. Riley steeled herself and asked, “Where?”

  Aidan sighed. “Jordan. On the border of Syria.”

  Riley felt her soul plummet through her feet. She swallowed a lump the size of a boulder in her throat. “When?”

  “Two weeks.”

  “How long?”

  “Five or six months.”

  She nodded dejectedly. Aidan must have sensed the panic rising in her because he took hold of her hands and said, “It’ll fly by. You’ll be busy with school, and I know Beth will keep you occupied.” He winked slyly.

  Riley rolled her eyes and sighed in sad resignation. “Neither of us can say anything that will make me not terrified, so let’s just enjoy the day. How many Christmases do I get to spend at a luxury resort?” She smiled bravely and Aidan nodded appreciatively.

  “Massage at the spa, Christmas lunch in the restaurant, and then a movie in Bee Cave?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  This was it. There would be no turning back now. The fear of Aidan going overseas had been a fear never truly realized while he was safely at home in the States, but now it was happening. Really happening.

  I need you to be strong now, Riley.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Riley lazily traced her fingers across the soft skin of Beth’s bare back as they lay together in the darkness of Beth’s room. Since Beth lived alone in a small apartment by campus, Riley was happy to spend most of her time off there. Ever since classes had resumed a month ago, Riley had found being around her roommate intolerable. She had no idea what had happened to cause an even larger rift in their already icy relationship, but Brooke’s behavior had shifted from disdainful two-facedness to unabashed hatred. Riley took a deep breath and reveled in the fresh smell of Beth’s shampoo. She wouldn’t think about Brooke now. Not with the delights of the beautiful young woman lying next to her.

  Beth made a pleased noise and rolled onto her side, pulling Riley into her embrace. “It kills me that we don’t have time to do this more often,” she purred into Riley’s neck.

  “Hey, I’m game again if you are.” Riley smiled and slowly moved her hand lower down Beth’s back.

  Beth groaned in what sounded like half desire and half frustration. “God, I wish we could, but you still have that gig with Tori tonight, right?”

  Riley sighed. “Yeah. It’ll pay well, though. Another wedding. Then I have to cover for Koji for a four-hour shift late tonight.”

  “And tomorrow?”

  “School and rehearsal all day, and I need to start practicing for my end of the year solo performance.”

  “Starting early.”

  “Yeah. I want it to be perfect. I’m already terrified.”

  “When will I see you again?”

  “I work Tuesday night, but I’m free after nine. You?”

  Beth pulled her in tighter. “Yeah. And if you don’t come over here and do precisely what you did to me tonight, I’m never speaking to you again.”

  Riley laughed. “Empty threats.”

  She shivered as Beth touched her delicately on her inner thigh. “You’re not supposed to call my bluffs.”

  “You are not making his easy for me.” Riley reluctantly tore herself away and got out of the bed.

  “I sincerely hope not!” Beth smiled wickedly.

  Riley got dressed and felt a blush cover her scarred body as Beth watched her dreamily, head propped comfortably on her hand.

  “What are you doing for the next couple of days?” Riley asked to distract herself.

  Beth sat up and slipped a faded blue T-shirt over her head. “Math assignments, full day of Bio a
nd Chem, an essay, and more research on my Intro to Oceanography project.”

  “The biology of water protons thing?”

  “Ecology of oceanic phytoplankton, but close.”

  “Nerd.”

  “You love it.”

  “God, I do.”

  Beth smiled.

  They were quiet as they each dressed fully and then Beth asked, “How’s he doing?”

  Riley shrugged as she thought about the most recent phone call from her brother. “So far he’s loving it over there. Sand, danger, and all. I feel like a bitch, but I really wanted him to hate it. Make him realize he did a stupid thing or something. But no, he feels like he’s in a movie. He does love being a badass.”

  “You’re just worried about him.”

  “Duh.”

  “I think it’s so sweet that you guys care so much about each other. I can’t imagine not having my family around. I’m glad you’ve always had each other.”

  Riley nodded. “I don’t know how I would’ve survived otherwise. When Mom and Dad died…I mean I was really young, but I still remember the lights and noise of the police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks as they raced down the street. All of us kids at the daycare watched them speed past. We thought it was cool. There had been a deafening boom and we could see smoke in the sky, but we were too young to realize what it meant.” She paused. “Half of the kids in that daycare lost a parent that day in the refinery explosion. We were all from the same area. Only Aidan and I lost both, though.”

  Riley didn’t talk about her parents often. She had told Beth the longest version of the story she had told anyone, but it still pained her to think about them too much. She had felt abandoned when they died. She knew it hadn’t been their fault, but to a scared and lonely five-year-old, it had seemed like her world had come crashing to an end. If Aidan hadn’t been there to help her she would have disappeared into the system, and she was certain that she wouldn’t have made it to where she was today.

  Beth walked over and placed her hands on Riley’s hips.