A Promised Fate

by Cat Mann

  Chapter 23

  Clean

  I was ravenous. My stomach growled and Ava flashed a cocky smile. She reached across me and pushed the start button on the microwave. It hummed and the internal light showed a plate spinning around inside topped with blueberry pancakes, a pile of bacon and cheesy omelets stuffed with fresh mushrooms and peppers.

  “Holy hell, you rock.” My stomach growled again and Ava popped the plate out, setting it on the breakfast bar in front of a stool. I dug into the omelet and bacon while she heated some syrup.

  “So.” Ava set a warm bottle of syrup down on the counter. I snatched it up and poured half the contents onto my plate. “Your mother … ” her fingertips tapped the hard counter.

  After shoving a forkful of pancakes into my already full mouth, I smiled at her. I knew that at some point we would get to all of Ava’s questions, even the ridiculous ones.

  “... is just my mom. We have no connection other than that. My father, the other Adonis, is satisfying his role with Aphrodite.”

  “I thought they met by accident. Your mom said they were crazy in love with each other.”

  “They did meet by accident, and they were and they still are very much in love.”

  “But he is bound to her.”

  “He is bound to her, yes. But it is not a bad thing. Their roles worked very well in their situation. They were meant to be together but they also wanted to be together.”

  “What if they didn’t want to be together?”

  “The universe would keep bringing them back to each other. No matter how far away from one another they could get, the universe would just bring them right back together again. Eventually, they wouldn’t be able to escape their fate. But like I said, they love each other so it doesn't matter.”

  “How do you know there is no Persephone? I mean really?”

  “There have been … oh, I don’t know, five Adonis descendants before me who haven’t had a Persephone. The fact that there is still an Adonis and an Aphrodite is a miracle. My own mother just sort of happened by pure accident. There hadn’t been a true Aphrodite for decades. Our people are not as strong as we once were. Our numbers dwindle with each generation. Persephone, she is just… she’s gone.”

  “How did Aphrodite just come back? If there hadn’t been a true descendant for decades then how did Aggie just happen to be Aphrodite?”

  “A spark,” I said and shrugged – and I saw the worry in Ava’s eyes. I could feel her doubt. “Her mother, Eleni, and her mother’s mother, they all carried the blood but none were strong enough to fulfill the role until Eleni paired with Aristotle. Together, they were powerful enough to bring back Aphrodite. Their blood was so powerful that when Eleni and Aristole created life, the effects killed Eleni. She wasn’t strong enough to carry my mother to full term and died when she went into labor early.”

  “Ari, I just … a spark? If it happened to your mom, it can happen again. It can happen with Persephone, too.”

  “Come here.” I tugged on Ava’s hand and she came willingly to my side. “Baby, I promise. Okay?”

  “K,” she said and gave a tiny nod.

  “Do you forgive me?”

  “Yes, but, why were you so worried to tell me, if you don’t think Persephone matters? Why not just tell me before? You could have saved us all this heartache … this fight.”

  “I couldn’t stand the thought of you doubting my love.”

  “I don’t. I know your love for me is greater than anything.”

  “It is. I would do anything for you, Ava.”

  She kissed away the smudge of syrup on the corner of my mouth.

  My eyes narrowed and I placed the pad of my fingertip on the delicate skin just under her eye. “What’s this?” A few black speckles collected on my finger.

  “Ugh!” She sighed. “I was so mad last night and so exhausted that I didn’t wash my face. That’s left over mascara and eyeliner. Hot, huh? I feel so scuzzy.”

  “Mmm.” I murmured, “I know how you feel, I am nursing a wicked hangover, mixed with a heavy heart and greasy hair.” My eyes sparkled as a thought came to mind, “Take a bath with me?”

  Ava’s nose scrunched like a bunny, “a bath?” She said the word as if it were from a strange, dead language.

  “Yeah, you know hot, soapy water in a big tub. That thing you put Max in every night. Haven’t you ever taken a bath?”

  “I dunno … I’m sure I did as a small child maybe … I’m a shower kind of girl.”

  “You have seriously been missing out on something great. There is something to be said about a long, hot bath. It will make you feel like you again. Maybe a long soak can help wash away everything that happened last night.”

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it, Ari … that interview…”

  “I saw it.” I cringed. “Ava, I am so sorry. I can’t believe I made you go through with that.”

  “That woman is awful.”

  “Let’s wash it all away.”

  She looked up at me from under her lashes and I gave her a hopeful, pleading glance.

  “K.”

  We walked hand in hand to the guest bath. I plugged the porcelain tub and ran the hot water. In the cabinet, tucked behind a bucket of Max’s bath toys, was a gift basket that had remained unopened since our wedding. A package of scented candles and luxurious bath accessories was wrapped in clear cellophane. I pulled the bow that kept the package cinched and then added relaxing salts and foamy bubbles to the water. The room filled with the scent of eucalyptus and spearmint. Dimming the overhead lights, I lit the candles and set them to the side of the tub just out of reach from the rising water.

  On my knees, on the hard tile floor in front of Ava, I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of her sweats and panties and my fingers grazed her skin as I shimmied her clothes down her legs to her bare ankles.

  “Step.” I looked up at her and she lifted her feet, one at a time, allowing me to undress her. I pushed up from my knees, gripped the hem of her tank top, and pulled her shirt over her head, revealing smooth, creamy skin and a perfectly curvy body.

  “You really are beautiful.”

  She smiled.

  “So … are you just going to stand there or are you going to undress me?”

  “Oh! Um, okay.” Ava unbuttoned my jeans and tugged at them and my boxers, yanking them down to my feet. “Step.” She ordered and I obeyed her command. She then grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up to my chest. “Lift your arms.” I held up my arms and she pulled the shirt to my elbows. “Uh, bend down and walk backwards.”

  “Like this?” I followed her directions and she held on to the edge of my shirt pulling it over my head as I moved away.

  Stepping into the hot bath, I held my hand out for Ava to join me. She came in with a bit of hesitance and then we sank together and soaked in the clean, fresh water. With a cloth, I patted Ava’s face to dampen her skin and then rubbed small circles of face wash into her cheeks and rinsed her clean. I kissed her eyelids, her nose, and mouth and a smile played on her face. The little freckle above her lip is irresistible to me, my tongue ran over the newly clean space and I kissed and sucked at her skin. Her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

  With the wet cloth, I moved down to her neck and then to her full chest, leaving a trail of bubbles in my wake. Every newly cleaned part of her body and was covered with my kisses. Propping her feet on the side of the tub, sodden bubbles dropped and splashed onto the white marble tiles. I moved the soapy washcloth to the bottoms of her feet and then licked the clean freckle at the top of one of her small toes. Sliding the toe into my mouth, I sucked and kissed her. Her body squirmed with the intense pleasure and more water splashed from the tub. Ava’s cheeks flashed a darker shade of pink.

  I ran the cloth up her tan, summer legs, one at time from the tops of her ankles to the inner space of her warm thighs.

  “As much as I would love to p
ay a long visit to freckle number three, I am afraid I would drown.”

  And finally, her cheeks flashed the red color I had been hoping to see.

  “That would undoubtedly be the best way to die,” I said and I leaned into her, pressing my lips to her hot blushing cheeks. My fingers maneuvered through her messy, slept-in hair and I removed the elastic hair tie that kept her waves piled high on top of her head. Tendrils fell with grace, hitting her shoulders, bouncing around her breasts and curving down her spine until the dark locks floated on the surface of the water.

  “Lean back.” She did and I soaked her hair and then washed and rinsed it, kneading my fingers from the roots to the tips until she was water-logged and flawlessly clean.

  I wrapped Ava’s legs around my waist and pulled her in close to face me. Her baby bump kept her too far away from me. I need her close more now than ever before. “Better?”

  “Mmm. I feel brand new.” Ava ran her fingers on each side on my head through my tangled, limp hair. “Can I wash your hair?” She bit at her lip and I bobbed my head up and down eagerly, causing her to laugh cutely.

  She washed my hair with skilled fingers, massaging my head with bubbly shampoo, and then rinsed me clean again.

  “Who cuts your hair?” Her hands still kneaded circles into my scalp. The feeling was so nice that my eyes shut and my tense body relaxed. My lips pulled upwards at her silly question.

  “Kip DeMarco on Del Prado Avenue.”

  “So it’s a guy?”

  “Yes, Ava it’s a guy.”

  “Just wondering,” she shrugged. “How often do you get it cut?”

  “I have the sides trimmed ever four weeks and allover every eight.”

  “You’ve always worn it this way?”

  “Uh, yeah, pretty much. Why? Do you want me have it cut differently?”

  “No!” She squeaked. “I love your hair. It’s sexy.”

  “Good, because I tried to cut it shorter one time and I have so many cowlicks, I ended up looking kind of like Rory for a couple of months. It was horrible.”

  Ava giggled the kind of giggle that makes my heart leap from my chest.

  “How long have you been going to Kip DeMarco on Del Prado Avenue?”

  “Twenty years. Why?”

  “I just think it’s … cute. I like to learn little things like that about you. Besides, I’m your wife. I should know who cuts your hair.”

  “It’s cute, huh?” I reached past her to pull the stopper from the drain.

  “Very.”

  “Well, aren’t you just learning all kinds of things about me today? Tell me something that I don’t know about you.” I stood from the tub, grabbed a few towels and then reached my hand down to help Ava stand. Wrapping a thick terrycloth towel around her body and then mine, I tossed another onto the flooded bathroom floor and helped her step out of the bath.

  “I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know.”

  “That is just simply untrue.”

  Ava pushed up on her tippy toes and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I love you.”

  “I already knew that.” I said without removing my lips from her sweet tasting mouth.

  She kissed me again, this time slipping her tongue between my lips. Drops of lukewarm water fell from the tips of our hair and ran down our clean bodies. I tugged at her hands inching us out of the bathroom, down the hall and into our room, my lips never breaking away from hers. I made love with her in the bed. It was pretty, the kind of moment I would remember forever.