Love-in-Idleness

by Christina Bell

  “Why don’t you tell her what’s really happening here? For that matter, why don’t you tell me so that I can help?”

  “Trust me, son,” Miles smiled, “I will tell Grace before I tell you. And still, that will only happen if I am out of choices. She’s a headstrong young woman. If I’m very lucky, she’ll listen to what I have to say, but if I’m not, I risk alienating her. There’s too much at stake to run that risk.”

  “What if she turns out to be like Cam?” Puck asked.

  “Their children can still inherit the gift.” Miles felt that he had shared more than enough information with his sons for the time being. It would be nice if someone around here did what he asked without asking a bunch of questions.

  “I have to tell you, she didn’t seem very interested in him. Maybe I should give things a try,” Puck persisted.

  “Absolutely not. For you to be with Grace would be an abomination.” Miles fixed a hard stare on his son. He hoped to avoid disclosing the relationship between his family and Theo’s, but Puck’s jealousy was forcing his hand. He just needed one more night of total compliance from his boys.

  Puck returned his father’s stare. “Tell me why,” he said calmly, directly.

  “All in good time, Puck. Everyone will get what is determined by fate.” Miles sat back in his chair slowly, leaning his head upon the padded leather headrest. “I need a favor tonight.”

  Puck grinned. “Of course,” he said, “as soon as you explain this alleged abomination.”

  While Miles fully appreciated his son’s tenacity, he was too tired to play games. “I want you to go to Queens.” He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small address book. After flipping some pages, he found what he was looking for and grabbed a small piece of paper from his desktop and began to write on it. “I’m giving you an address. Take the car. Give the address to the driver. I want you to go there and pick up a package for me.”

  “Why don’t you send Cam the Golden Boy?” Puck sneered.

  “Don’t be petulant, Percival,” Miles commanded. He saw Puck shudder at the sound of his given name. That had been his mother’s idea; a small concession on Miles’ part. “I have another job for Cameron tonight.”

  “Does it have to do with Grace?”

  “Just get the package,” Miles said. The more trouble everyone gave him tonight, the more he was plagued by the nagging feeling that this night was going to be more complicated than he had anticipated.

  “What’s in it?” Puck asked.

  “A flower. Actually, an extract from a flower.” He took Puck’s glass and headed for the bar to refill it. “It’s actually quite an interesting story. Allegedly, many years ago, in the days of Roman Gods and faeries, Cupid set his sights upon some maiden or another. I can’t remember if he wanted her for himself or someone else. But, the point is, this one time, the unthinkable happened. Cupid, whose entire existence revolved around his true aim at lovers, missed. The arrow that was intended to coerce true love lay in futility upon a bed of small white flowers. Slowly, as the magic bled from its shaft, the blooms of the unremarkable little plant on which the shaft landed became gradually tinged with violet, eventually turning completely purple. Magicians who specialize in botany now call it love-in-idleness because of its hidden power.”

  “Which is?” Puck inquired.

  “The extract of this flower, when inhaled by a mortal, causes that person to fall deeply in love with the first creature that crosses her path. With Titania spending the next few nights here, it should be easy to cause her to fall deeply in love with anyone but me. “

  Puck waited for a moment before he spoke again. He looked more thoughtful than usual. “How is this different than the free will issue with Ana? You’ve said that you would have stopped anything that was against her will, but now you’re going way outside the box to do the same to Titania.”

  Miles had to laugh out loud. “By all means, Puck, speak your mind,” he said. When he finished being amused by his son’s impudence, he began to speak again, this time choosing his words carefully. “That’s exactly why I’ve been thinking so much about this. Yes, Titania has never based her actions on my desires. That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with her. There are a lot of people, both male and female, who will drop their convictions in a heartbeat if it means pleasing our family. The problem with sycophants is that they don’t see how obvious and disingenuous they really seem. Anyway, you’re right. I’m in a bind and I’m pushing the boundaries of my own convictions. But, before you judge me, ask yourself a question. What is love? It’s not a concrete thing. It can’t be possessed indefinitely, and its intensity can change on a passing whim, so doesn’t that make it nothing more than an illusion? If I provide Titania with a new lover, someone she will truly love beyond question, does it matter that it’s an illusion created by magic? To her, it’s real. So, it could be argued that I have given her the happiness of new love in the place of the sadness of a failed marriage.”

  Puck shook his head. “Or,” he suggested, “it could be argued that I would be providing Ana with an opportunity if I convinced her that my bed was the place she most wanted to be in the world.”

  “You would have just won this argument if it weren’t for one thing.” Miles lingered for dramatic effect before he continued. “You’re talking about sex. I’m talking about love.”

  “An illusion is an illusion, and if we’re operating under that conviction that belief is all the rationalization that we need, I don’t see the difference.”

  Miles shook his head. “Well, as valid as your point may be, I have no choice. Titania has absolutely no desire to give India to me. So, I’m forced to look outside the family for assistance.”

  “Who will she be falling in love with?”

  “I don’t care. Maybe she’ll see Ana,” Miles teased.

  “Perish the thought!” Puck cried in mock horror.

  “I don’t care if she falls in love with the dog, as long as she is so blinded by devotion that she will gladly hand me India in favor of her new love.” Miles grinned at the thought of his beautiful wife falling in love with the family pet. Damn the ethics. He wanted his son. Guilt fades. “Go get me that potion, and I’ll consider telling you more about Grace.”

  Cameron Oberon was thoroughly pissed off. While his household had been filled with a lot of angry people over the years, he was usually not one of them. He’d weathered Miles’s wives storming about, angry and heartbroken. Puck spent the better part of his life provoking Cam, but Cam considered it his role, as the mild-tempered brother, to work toward peace. He endured any torments his brother dished out, excusing them as Puck’s way of adjusting to powers that were larger than his ability to handle them appropriately. In short, he prided himself on being the voice of reason within his family.

  Perhaps, if it weren’t for Chloe, this approach to life would have endured. He felt a lot of things toward her in the past year; lust, affection, even friendship. Lately, though, all of these feelings had given way to a deep and abiding hostility that he worried was a composite of every angry thought he’d suppressed over the years. At the end of the last school year, he had taken an interest in her. She was beautiful and as long as she had his full attention, she was fun to be around. Unfortunately, they had only hooked up a few times when Chloe made it clear to him and to everyone else that she intended to make Cam her personal property. As soon as he figured out that her preoccupation with him was becoming abnormal, he broke things off as politely as he could. He was, after all, a kind person.

  Ever since then, Chloe’s version of trying to get him back bordered on stalking. She was everywhere he went and denied to everyone who would listen that he ever broke up with her. Unfortunately for Cam, she had the kind of social power that made people hesitant to contradict her. He was at the end of his rope.

  It had taken all of his strength to handle Chloe gently downstairs. He hated public spectacles, so he kept his temper. He called upon years of experience in keepin
g calm and did his best to pacify Chloe, resisting the urge to call her on the fact that she had let it be known at St. Helen’s that he was off limits to any girl who didn’t want to become a social outcast. Instead, he explained that there was someone else, someone who was, at least for now, outside her realm of influence. In his nicest tone, he appeased and flattered her until she was so confused that he was able to escape back upstairs.

  Once he was safely upstairs, it took a moment to find a quiet spot to relax. Puck’s ridiculous friends had taken over the big living area. Puck had disappeared into their father’s office, so he couldn’t sneak in there. His bedroom felt claustrophobic, so he settled for the formal living room. The boys normally avoided this space because it was so fastidiously clean and uncomfortable. The white silk couches made people live in fear of spilling something. All of the other furniture had been in the family so long that no one knew how much it was worth, but everyone knew better than to leave a glass ring on the end tables or wear dirty shoes on the carpets. But tonight, Cam found a beer in the kitchen and wrapped it in a napkin to soak up any condensation that might drip onto some heirloom, and parked himself in a chair in the middle of one of the most expensively furnished rooms in Manhattan.

  As soon as he sat down, the buzzer from the lobby sounded. Cam didn’t move until it buzzed several more times and it became clear that the staff had either been dismissed for the night or was otherwise occupied. He didn’t dare put his drink down, so he carried it with him to the intercom.

  “Yes, Julius?” he asked.

  “Good evening,” Julius’s voice greeted him through the speaker. “I have Chloe down here. She’s twisted her ankle and is hoping you can help her. Shall I bring her up?”

  Damn her, thought Cam. I’ve seen her run in four-inch heels. There’s no way she twisted her ankle. He pushed the button again. “This is Cameron, Julius. Tell Chloe I said that she’s full of crap.”

  There was a pause before Julius’s voice came through the speaker again. “I believe you just did, sir. And while I’m usually inclined to agree with you, she does appear to be quite uncomfortable. Shall I help her get upstairs?”

  Cameron stared at the intercom as he considered his options. He could send her away and risk her freaking out in the lobby of his building, which he hated, or he could just deal with her upstairs. If he told Julius to call her a cab, he would look insensitive. Why wouldn’t she just disappear from his life? A girl who looked like Chloe had infinite choices when it came to men, so why the fixation on Cam?

  “She can make it up on her own. Just get her to the elevator,” he barked. Then, remembering Grace’s earlier lesson about being friendly with people, he added, “Thank you, Julius. I appreciate your help.”

  Five minutes later, Chloe was walking, pain-free, into the Oberon apartment. Her face was lit up with joy, which amplified her attractiveness, but Cam remained unmoved. His extensive experience with physical beauty rendered him immune to its powers of persuasion.

  Before she could speak, he held up his hand, as if to block her. “Chloe, you shouldn’t be here. We finished talking downstairs, and there’s no more to say. I know you thought we had something lasting, but we really didn’t. I’m sorry you had the wrong idea.”

  Chloe grinned and pushed her way past him. She loosened her jacket and slipped it off her shoulder like a runway model and handed it to Cam as she passed him and walked down the short hallway. Cam had no choice but to follow as she strolled into the formal living room and settled herself into one of the white silk wing chairs that flanked the sofa. She positioned herself sideways, her willowy legs draped over the chair arm. Cam watched impatiently, hoping that she would keep her temper better than she did downstairs. He didn’t like to parade his personal life in front of his family.

  “It’s fascinating to me,” Chloe began, “that the more you reject me, the more I am drawn to you. No one has ever tried to get rid of me. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

  Cam fought the urge to scream out in frustration. He walked to her and handed over her jacket. As she took it, she also plucked the bottle from his hand and took a drink before she plunked it down on a table. Cam snatched it up and wiped the table with his sleeve. “Look, Chloe,” he said. “I didn’t say that I loved you. I’ve been honest with you from the beginning. We have the same friends. We go to the same parties. We were going to hook up sooner or later. But that’s all it was. We messed around a couple times, just like everyone does. I don’t know why you thought we were a couple.”

  “But isn’t that why we’re perfect? We’ve known each other forever. I know your family and your friends. I know how to be an Oberon woman.” She waved her hands a little when she said this, as if to emphasize what a grand proposition it was to be an Oberon.

  “I’m already annoyed with you. Don’t make it worse by starting in on my family.”

  “But you don’t annoy me at all.”

  “You’re not doing yourself any favors here, Chloe. What would your friends say if they knew that you were here, trying to convince someone who doesn’t even like you to be your boyfriend? Aren’t you above that? You’re beautiful. You’re rich and connected. Just choose one of the guys who want you.”

  Chloe yawned dramatically, covering her mouth with her hand. “They bore me.”

  Cam could feel his sympathy waning. He tried so desperately to be patient with her, but she wore him out. He knew that she was smart enough to understand that he was finished with her. She just didn’t seem to care. Cam had never seen a girl so eager to overstay her welcome.

  “Listen,” he said quietly and slowly. “This is over. I’m interested in someone else. You and I aren’t going to happen.”

  “Oh, you mean Grace?” Chloe laughed.

  “Yes, Grace,” he responded. It was true. It had been a full week since his father suggested that he take her to the wedding. Cam said that he would have to see her before he agreed, so Miles took him out to the penthouse balcony and pointed her out through binoculars as she sat on the Met steps one afternoon. By coincidence, Grace had been sitting quite close to Chloe and her gaggle of followers. The contrast between the two girls was striking. In terms of what the media might consider marketable, Chloe had the whole package. She was larger than life with her blonde hair and long legs. Even her gestures as she spoke to those gathered at her feet implied a powerful charisma. However, as Grace sat there sketching in a book, seemingly oblivious to Chloe, she had such a quiet simple elegance to her that Cam instantly agreed to offer himself as her escort. For the next week, he positioned himself on the balcony at the same time every day, hoping that Grace would make an appearance. He watched Grace arrive and eat fast food or draw in her little book before she packed up and went home. There was something about the way she seemed comfortable in her skin that appealed to him. Now that he had met her, he knew that his impressions were right. She was confident enough to reject the superficial and keep her values in spite of the opportunity to become materialistic and shallow. Tonight, he felt that she was the first person he’d met in ages who he might be able to fall in love with. It was insane to think that after such a short time, but he didn’t care.

  Cam couldn’t hide his horror at hearing Chloe speak Grace’s name. Chloe smiled, as if this were precisely her intent. “We had a little talk downstairs. Poor confused little thing. She just doesn’t understand all us big city kids. She thinks we play too rough.”

  “What did you say to her?” Cam felt his face flush with anger.

  “It’s not what I said to her that you should be worried about. It’s what she told me.” Chloe stood and picked up her jacket. She pulled it on and slowly tightened the belt. “She’s running away to her Brooklyn boy. From what I could tell, she might not come back.”

  Cam grabbed her arm and held it tightly. “She told you this?”

  “Yes,” Chloe answered, pulling her arm free. “She’s probably gone by now.”

  At that moment, they were interrupted by Puck, on hi
s way to the front door. He paused when he saw Chloe, looking her up and down, as if she were for sale. “Good evening, Miss Thing. A pleasure to have you with us again.” He looked at Cam and sneered. “I thought you were done with this one.”

  “Leave us alone, Puck,” Chloe snarled. When she looked at Puck, her face twisted with revulsion until she was almost unattractive. Cam wished she would look at him that way. Maybe she’d leave him alone if he could manage to inspire such disgust.

  Puck laughed quietly and shook his head. “Always a pleasure, Chloe. Always a pleasure.” He continued to head toward the door, still talking as he departed. “I’d love to stay, but Miles needs a favor.” And as quickly as he appeared, he was gone.

  Cam returned his attention to Chloe. “What else did she say?”

  “Forget her, Cam. She doesn’t want you. She doesn’t want any of this. Let her go.”

  Cam sighed. He was so screwed. Puck was out on an errand for Miles, Grace had taken off. “What part of Brooklyn?”

  Chloe laughed out loud. “What? Are you going to chase her? Are you going to wander around Brooklyn, yelling her name? Do you even know what neighborhood her boyfriend lives in?”

  Quietly, yet assertively, a voice behind them said, “I know where she is.”

  Both Chloe and Cam turned to see Miles Oberon standing in the doorway, watching them. “Here’s his address.” He held out an index card. “All you had to do was ask.”

  Cam almost leapt across the room to get to the card. He took it from his father and read the address. Park Slope, Brooklyn. It could have just as easily been on Mars. Cam had never even been to Brooklyn.

  “Can I take the driver?” he asked.

  “He’s with Puck. Take the Aston. Put the address in the GPS.”

  Miles never let anyone drive that car. It hadn’t even been out of the garage in ages. It was a 1986 Aston Martin Vantage. While this wasn’t the most expensive car Miles owned, it was the first car in his collection and therefore his favorite.