Decisions of the Heart

by Florence, Jessica

  “Marry me. Tonight,” I whispered between kisses. She giggled and shook her head.

  “No.” I pulled back to look at her. She said no?

  “We have been meaning to get married for so long. We tried and were stopped then I died. I don’t wanna rush this. I want a real wedding, with guests. No one is after us. We have time, but I don’t need much time. I just want the real thing. Please. Please, pleaseee,” she begged. My smile returned. I could give her time. We had time now, and I wanted her to have everything she wanted. I could not care less as long as I had her.

  “One month,” I told her. She pursed her lips but agreed.

  “One month and then I will be yours. Finally.” She kissed me again before running off towards the bathroom.

  It was hard to believe after all this time that it was all over. I was skeptical and I knew there was only one way I would believe it.

  “Athena,” I called her as I sat up. My muscles protested but I wasn’t talking to her lying down.

  “I assume you want confirmation?” her voice whispered against my ear. I turned to see her sitting next to me. Her brown hair was pulled up in a bun, and her golden eyes were looking at me curiously.

  “Is it?” I had to know. She brought her hand up to my face and caressed my jaw.

  “You have always been quite handsome, in a bad boy mysterious sort of way. If you ever change your mind about her…” She let the last part of that sentence drift off and I wanted to puke. Never ever would I trade in Thalia for her, especially after all she put us through.

  “Is it over?” I reiterated. She rolled her eyes and placed her hand back on her legs.

  “Yes it is. I’m tired of this and Orion has decided to pursue other interests. Remember what I said if you ever change your mind.” She winked at me and disappeared with a flash of light.

  My exchange with Athena was short and strange. The Gods and Goddess did tend to grow bored quite easily. Besides Thalia, even I tended to get bored. That seemed to happen when you were destined to live forever. I was eager to get back to my charity for fallen hero families. I had my manager Tom running things while I was away. That job was something I had started in the nineties. It gave me a purpose that wasn’t there anymore. I still did my “Anubis” duties, but deaths of those in my faith were few and far between. I mostly helped protect burial rituals in this day and age. I pushed back all of those thoughts when Thalia re-entered the room.

  She sat next to me and leaned her head against my shoulder. I gripped her and tossed her body over mine so she was straddling me. My lips touched hers, ready to touch her body and make up for the week I missed. She pulled back and blushed.

  “What love?” I questioned with a smirk.

  “Uh. Sorry it’s just um… That time of the month.” She blushed even more. I shook my head and kissed her lightly on the nose.

  “No blushing love. It’s natural. Speaking of natural, I haven’t eaten in a week.” I changed the subject trying to make her more comfortable.

  “Yeah, it’s dinner time actually. Lacey just finished making dinner. Can you move ok?” She was always looking out for me.

  “Yeah love. I’ll be out there in a minute.” She gave me a sweet smile and turned to go out to the kitchen. I took a few minutes to collect my thoughts. Well, I guess Thalia wasn’t carrying my child. Feelings of disappointment fell over me. I hadn’t realized how good that actually sounded. But, everything happens the way it was supposed to. This just wasn’t our time, and that was ok. Gathering my renewed strength I stood and willed some new clothes onto myself.

  Everyone was gathered at the table eating lasagna. My stomach growled at the sight of food. It definitely had been a while.

  “Aw man, now I’m not going to be able to eat this all myself,” Leander bickered while grabbing a big helping of pasta. My eyes just rolled. He was a bottomless pit for food.

  “Nice to see you, too.” I sat next to Thalia and helped myself to some food. Leander and I did eat almost the whole pan. Lacey and Thalia were gabbing on about our upcoming wedding. She asked me questions here and there and I responded the same way every time.

  “As long as I marry you in the end, the details don’t matter.”

  She would just roll her eyes and mutter something about me being a typical man, and on that circumstance I was a typical man. I would wear and do whatever she wanted me to, as long as she was happy.

  The girls went off to Thalia’s room to plan some more while Leander and I just finished eating and hung out on the couch.

  Chapter 24

  Weeks passed in the same manner. I finally got to participate in my organization. Words can’t express how I felt when I met with a widowed husband and his two daughters one day. I was able to help secure them both college funds and set the father up with a nanny for when he needed help. One of the perks of being immortal was that I had endless funds. Money was never an issue for me. Thalia and Lacey squealed loudly when I told her that she could spend however much she wanted.

  Now that we were only a day away I was starting to get nervous. Not nervous in the normal sense, but nervous that something was going to go wrong. It seemed to be what happened whenever Thalia and I were trying to be happy.

  Aphrodite had stopped in quite frequently to help Thalia plan and picked a dress for her. It seemed to be their thing. When Thalia officially saw her mother in this life she was very emotional. Apparently her mother had come to her pretending to be a psychic before Thalia knew who she was. They sat for hours gabbing like teenagers. I left for a run before they started trying to paint my nails or something.

  Aphrodite ordered that Thalia and I weren’t allowed to see each other until she met me at the end of the aisle.

  So here I was sitting on Miami Beach with Leander, Horus, and Set. It was an interesting group. Set wanted to go to strip joints but the rest of us were just comfortable not doing much. Life had been complicated enough and relaxing was perfect. We did spend the morning doing water sports, which was fun. Not much of a challenge but it was entertaining. It kind of became a game of trying to knock the person on the wakeboard off the quickest. Leander hit the water pretty hard but bounced back quickly.

  “Sure you aren’t ready to call this whole thing off?” Set found a spot to relax next to me on the sand, water dripping off his blood red hair. He was somewhat of a rocker in this time. A troublemaker, but he was one of my best friends. Horus of course was my half-brother. We had some troubles after he helped my father take me away from Thalia, but we had worked it out a few centuries ago.

  “Yes. Nothing will change my mind,” I assured him. He scoffed and whistled at some of the women walking past us in bikinis. I shook my head as I lay back and closed my eyes. I was beyond ready to marry Thalia.

  “Whipped,” Set whispered next to me. I shook my head, a gesture I seemed to do a lot around him.

  He gave up and we spent the rest of the day traveling and doing different adventures across the world. Rock climbing in Colorado, Horus wanted to race some cars on a speedway, so we did that as well. We laughed and acted like normal guys. No one suspected we were Gods and a demigod. Leander also came back alive, which was a plus.

  That night I lay in my bed at my apartment staring at the ceiling. I was so ready for the next day to come. Thalia’s only real friends were Lacey and Leander, so she planned a destination wedding. When she told me the plans I was impressed. We were getting married along the Nile in Memphis where she and I first kissed, where she first found out who I was, and where we first tried to get married. It was a big spot for us. We had visited it before she was taken. She was smitten with the idea of marrying where it all started. Goddesses and Gods of both religions were invited. It wasn’t going to be a big shindig, mostly our families, which happened to be a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins. There was no real way to tell them they weren’t invited because you didn’t tell deities they couldn’t go to a party. The reception would then be at the museum there in Memphis.

&nbs
p; I sucked in a deep breath and let it go. Tomorrow I would finally marry the girl I had waited over two thousand years for. It was almost surreal. I warned everyone, including the Greeks we had seen recently, that if anyone interrupted our wedding I would find a way to destroy them. Rolling over I felt disappointment when Thalia’s body wasn’t next to mine. I wanted to wake up with her always. Knowing that staying up thinking would do me no good, I willed myself to go to sleep.

  It didn’t take long, and I sought Thalia out in her dreams.

  She was just lying on her bed. It was a strange place to meet but more than anything I just wanted to lie with her on that soft mattress.

  “I’m glad you couldn’t stay away.” She turned over to see me.

  “Happy to please you, love.” I walked over and took her body with me as I rolled over her so her body was on top of mine. She kissed me quickly and rested her head on my chest.

  “Did you enjoy your bachelor party?” she inquired.

  “Yes, those strippers really knew what they were doing.” I flinched even before she lightly smacked me. I knew it was coming.

  “Yes, we just played in the water, on rocks, and drove race cars.” When I said it like that it seemed like we were four-year-olds. A giggle erupted from her. Once again I relished the sound. It was so good to hear it. We just lay there, silently enjoying each other’s company.

  “I wish my parents were here.”

  She hadn’t ever really talked about her parents, so I waited for her to continue.

  “They would have liked you. I mean dad would have probably tried to keep you away from me since you look like bad boy incarnate, but he would have come around. Mom would have helped. She always had a way with making dad change his mind.” She let out a long sigh.

  “I miss them.”

  “It would have been a pleasure to meet them.” I didn’t want to upset her by talking about death the night before her wedding, so I brought her hand up to my lips. I felt her smile against me, she knew what I was doing and so far it seemed to work since she was smiling. She snuggled more against me and started to drift off. I was about to leave so she could get a good night’s rest when she murmured, “Stay. Please.”

  I could never deny her. Staying where I was, it wasn’t long before she drifted off. Before I let sleep take me, the wheels in my head were turning. I had a plan, I just hoped I could make it happen.

  Just before Thalia woke up we parted ways. I looked around at all of the beautiful deities standing along a rose petal aisle. Greeks on one side, Egyptians on the other. I shook my head then looked at myself in the linen pants and off-white shirt she had picked for me. It was not something I would wear normally but it was what she and Lacey had decided we men would wear to the wedding. Any moment now my Thalia was going to walk down this aisle and we would finally get married. I turned back to the person who was to marry us, Hera. She looked beautiful in a light blue dress that stopped at her knees. Her long, light brown hair pulled back behind her ears, and each had a big blue diamond hanging from it. Her purple eyes looked over everyone with happiness. Marriage was her domain. Aphrodite actually suggested that she marry us. It made sense to Thalia, so here we were.

  “Relax, Anubis. Your love is coming,” Hera whispered to me. I was relaxed. I just wanted to hurry up and marry Thalia before anything could go wrong. Why did no one see that? Suddenly the playing of a piano brought my attention to the aisle. One of the musical deities was creating the music without a piano anywhere nearby. Neat trick. I looked around trying to see my woman. Everyone around looked towards the beginning of the aisle and then all went silent.

  My heart stuttered and my eyes widened. There was my love. She was so beautiful she could outshine even the sun. Her light brown hair was cascading down her back. Loose braids were wrapped towards the back, getting hair out of her face. Gardenias were tucked into her hair in random places.

  Her dress fit her perfectly and accentuated her luscious hips. It was strapless, and tight until right below her hips before it flared out to the ground. Floral patterns of purples, pinks, greens, and tans were lightly stitched on the whole cream-colored dress. My mouth watered when thoughts of fucking her in that dress assaulted me. My eyes left her dress and found her eyes. Never in my life would I have thought I would be that guy that reacted so fiercely when his woman walked down the aisle towards him. Even though she had walked towards me before, this time was different. This was it. Nothing was stopping us. We would be together forever.

  Chapter 25

  Thalia

  Tears threatened to break the brim of my eyes. The way Tristan was looking at me was like I was his very world, he made me feel sublime. I had always loved this Lazaro dress, and when he first saw me, it would seem he loved it too. I didn’t look at anyone else but Tristan as Leander walked me down the aisle. He was my everything.

  Words couldn’t express how happy I was that this was finally happening. Memories of when we tried before flashed through my mind, but I pushed them back. It was getting a little bit easier to control myself. I made it about a foot away from Tristan and gave Leander a kiss on the cheek, then opened my hands for Tristan to take. Instead of doing what he was supposed to do, he crushed my body to his and pressed his lips against mine. My big smile made it hard to kiss him, but I tried anyway.

  “Ok, we get it, she looks beautiful. Now break it up. You can come back to that when I announce you as husband and wife,” Hera’s voice interrupted us. Tristan’s lips were coated with my gloss and his smirk was fully in place. I looked at Hera and shrugged sheepishly.

  “Sorry.”

  She just shook her head and begun the ceremony. I decided simple and quick for this part would be best. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to Tristan, I too was worried something would go wrong. We agreed to love each other for all of existence, and placed the tourmaline rings on their proper finger. Once mine was in place I felt power surge through me before everything inside me was calm. Like water after a storm, I felt at peace.

  I looked up at Tristan and his eyes told me he had felt it too. I knew Hera was about to announce us as married, and it now felt like my soul was trying to jump out of my skin to join his. I was itching to kiss him and seal our love forever. Finally, as soon as Hera started to say we were husband and wife Tristan lunged at me and kissed me fiercely. It finally happened. We would now be together for the rest of our lives. Eternity!

  Sounds of happiness surrounded us while we savored this moment.

  “Hey get a room,” a man hooted from the Egyptian side. Tristan growled but parted his lips from mine. He looked towards the man with the red hair and narrowed his eyes, probably wishing he could turn him into ash for interrupting our kiss.

  “Come on, there is plenty of time for that later.” I tugged on his hand and led us down the aisle, where he transported us to the reception area.

  Aphrodite had really outdone herself. You wouldn’t have guessed we were at an Egyptian museum that housed big statues. Lanterns were hanging from the ceilings, along with vines and beautiful white flowers hanging from them. Tables were strewn about with floating candles arranged in the middle. Someone was using their powers to keep them steady.

  One by one we said our thank yous to all who came to our blessed day. It was unreal to meet so many Gods and Goddess. All of my recent life I had wished for a moment like this, for mythology to be real. Little did I know I was a part of it all.

  “Excuse us, Father, Isis. I think Thalia needs to step outside for just a moment. Get some fresh air.” I looked up at Tristan in confusion. We had just started talking to his father and stepmother, why did he think I needed a break? Without another word he took my hand and led me towards the door that led to the gardens.

  “Tristan what are you…” My words died in my throat when I saw what was waiting for me. Or should I say who.

  “Mom?” “Dad?” I stared at them in shock. They both smiled at me and the tears flowed freely. Looking up at Tristan I tried to spea
k but there were just no words.

  “I called in a favor.” He smiled knowingly and subtly nudged me towards them. Oh, they were just like I remembered. Mom’s brown hair was short, showing off her lovely neck. Her brown eyes were filled with love and adoration. I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her body. She felt real.

  “Oh, Thalia. We are so proud of you. You grew to be the woman we always thought you would be. Someone to be painted in the stars. You grew to be the hero and warrior you always dreamed of. We love you so much.”

  I looked at dad while still holding my mom. His dark blonde hair was cut short and his glasses did nothing to hide the pride that was beaming from his hazel eyes. I reached out to him and he wrapped his arms around both mom and I. Tristan had given me the one gift I thought impossible. He had given me my parents one more time.

  “We can’t stay much longer, Thalia bug. Tristan could only give us these few minutes. Thank you, Tristan. You are worthy of my daughter.” He winked at my husband and his embrace tightened. There were so many things I wanted to say to them but decided to leave it where it was. I got to see them, and even if for five minutes, it was more than I had ever expected to see them again. They both pulled back and said I love you before shimmering out of view.

  “Tristan...” I wanted to tell him how much that meant to me, but he already knew. He grabbed my hand in his and squeezed it, showing me comfort.

  “I know, love. Let’s go get back in there. There are many Gods in there unsupervised,” he teased and we went back inside.

  “Finally, you are back and I can give you a proper welcome to the family.” Isis surprised me by coming up to me and wrapped me into a hug. I smiled at her statement. I was part of their family now. I started to pull back but Isis wouldn’t let me go. I tried again and she seemed reluctant to let me go. I looked at her pale face in confusion. What was wrong with her? She looked ill.

  “Isis? Are you ok?” She was starting to scare me. Her eyes were wide, and she had a scared look on her face. It was freaking me out a little.