The Fortune Teller's Fate

by Audrey Berger Welz

  At eleven o’clock sharp, Roman put Bess out into the pasture. She ambled out and immediately tucked in cheerfully to some newly grown grass. “She hasn’t had a day off in years,” I said, smiling at Henri. “This must seem like a vacation to her—only instead of lazing around drinking martinis, she’s lazing around being fed fruits and berries.”

  “We’re as ready as we’re going to be,” Harsita said when I checked in with him, and I walked back to where the others were standing.

  I felt like an anxious gambler at a horse race, only here we had two elephants, leaving from two different gates, taking an undefined course to an unknown finish line. On the other side of the fence, Harsita walked Emily out with a harness to guide her first moves. Then he gently removed it. The hair on my arms stood at attention.

  In the distance, Emily heard an elephant call. I couldn’t tell if she knew it was Bess, but she perked up her big ears. Then Bess came into view. Emily let out a loud, primal cry and charged at Bess and Bess in turn charged at her.

  I grabbed Marvin’s hand so hard he flinched. I couldn’t take my eyes off the elephants. Their tusks were in the air as they charged toward each other. They were moving so fast, it looked as if they’d trample or kill anything in their path. There was nothing I could do to stop them.

  Almost to their marks, I closed one eye and squeezed Marvin’s hand even tighter. I could have broken it and I wouldn’t have known. “Please, God!” I said under my breath. I didn’t want to watch my dream turn to dust, blood, and hide. With my one eye barely open, I saw Emily and Bess plant their combined eight legs firmly. Like two giant trucks slamming on their brakes, they came to a screeching halt. No one said a word.

  Slowly I opened both eyes. Serenity filled the air and dissipated the fear. Everyone present was aware that we had witnessed a scene worth every day, hour, minute, diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald that it had cost and I silently thanked Hervé too for regaining his humanity when it really counted.

  Each elephant had her trunk and tail wrapped around the other’s, and they were nuzzling and making noises. It seemed like they would never let go. I will make certain you are never separated again, I said silently to myself. Till death do you part.

  Then I remembered the promise I had made to Marvin. When the soybeans and peanuts flourish on the farm and Emily and Bess are reunited once again, then I might say, “Yes.”

  Marvin had been waiting for years, patient with me in every way. He shouldn’t have to wait any longer. I turned to look at him and asked, “Marvin, will you marry me?”

  Oh, the look of shock on his face! But after all these years, he smiled and said, “If we can find a priest who will marry us with these two elephants and all our friends.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Bella looked at me before Marvin had a chance to answer. “He’s saying, let’s do it today. He wants to marry you this afternoon.”

  Just at that moment, Harsita and Roman came running to us.

  “Could you believe it?” Harsita said, trying to catch his breath.

  “Have you ever witnessed anything more beautiful?” Roman chimed in.

  “Do you boys have plans for later today?” Marvin asked.

  “Of course not,” they said almost in unison.

  “Well, you do now. Harsita, will you be my best man?”

  Harsita answered by giving Marvin a giant hug; me, a big kiss on the cheek.

  “Henri, Patrice, we would be honored if you’d stay.”

  “We wouldn’t miss a second of this day,” Henri said.

  “It’s all been so exciting,” Patrice chimed in.

  Then I looked at Bella and I took her hand. “You’ve been my dearest friend all these years. Perhaps this is why you returned to us when you did. Will you be my matron of honor?

  “I’m marrying Marvin,” I said out loud, as if to make it more real. Then I looked out at the pasture and admired Emily and Bess. I was quite content.

  “Scarlett, will you be my flower girl?” Bella explained to her what a flower girl actually did.

  “Kyle Jr., will you do us the honor of holding the rings?”

  Before leaving to get ready for what had already been an incredibly big day, I went once more to see the elephants. “I’m going to have to tell Spade the new ending to our story,” I said to Emily. “Vladimir will be so happy to know you are back with us. I’m sorry he had to let you go, but you’re safe now and I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again. But now I have to go get ready for my wedding.”

  I asked Polly and Ben if they would join us. It had been more than twenty-five years since we first met. They represented a part of me that few had ever seen or known: the insecure Russian girl who had lost her life, her family, and home, the one Irina had breathed life into until she found her truest self, the one Mary Bradley had comforted as a child.

  ¯¯¯

  At five, we met outside next to my garden. Bella had picked out a flowing lavender dress for me and she wore navy blue. Scarlett had on a purple dress and she insisted on wearing a scarlet ribbon in her hair. Kyle Jr. wore a gray suit that made him look like a miniature of his father. Marvin, in deep charcoal gray, looked extremely dapper. Harsita, never one to dress up, wore the suit he’d bought in New York. Ben wore his old chauffeur tuxedo, and Polly, in the middle of fixing our dinner, had on her favorite flowered apron and a simple but pretty yellow dress.

  Kyle and Ann Marie had been very busy in the hours since the reunion of Emily and Bess. They immediately called a judge we knew from our circus days and asked him to officiate. Marvin took out the ring that he had been saving in his sock drawer for years, and Bella gave us a most generous gift.

  “I think Vladimir would want Marvin and you to have this. We had many happy years of marriage and I know that’s what he would want for you. Besides, you don’t have time to shop and I had this tucked away in my closet.” Then she placed Vladimir’s grandfather’s wedding band in the palm of my hand. “He was a larger man than my Vladimir and he had big, thick hands, I was told, so I think it should fit your taller, thinner Marvin.”

  Ann Marie approached me with a fresh bouquet of yellow daylilies, two white trumpet lilies that she accented with purple iris, and dark purplish-red blanket flowers tipped with bright golden yellow. She filled it out with baby’s breath and a little honeysuckle draping from the sides. “I feel like a real June bride-to-be,” I said.

  “You are,” she answered.

  Bella, Kyle—who would give me away; Scarlett and Kyle Jr. were so excited, they couldn’t stand still—Ann Marie, Roman, Henri, Patrice, Polly, Ben, and the judge all waited for instructions. Kyle and I stepped out of the house together and started walking toward what had become our little family plot. The others followed. I had decided that I wanted the spirit of Irina, Spade, and Vladimir to be close by.

  As we got closer, I noticed that Harsita was missing. He must have forgotten something, I thought. But when we got to the cemetery, I understood where he had gone. Standing next to him, in the spot where we would marry, were Emily and Bess.

  We all took our places. Scarlett swam down the makeshift wedding aisle with Ann Marie holding her hand, strewing petals everywhere. Kyle Jr. walked with pride, knowing he was the one responsible for the rings. Then Kyle left me at Marvin’s side, with Bella next to me. The judge said only what he deemed necessary to make our union legal and prompted us when it was time to speak what was in our hearts.

  I took out a piece of paper on which I had written my vows. “You have supported me and stayed by my side when many a man would have walked away. You are the greatest gift God has given me and it is my one desire now and in the years to come, that I remain worthy of the love you so generously have bestowed upon me. We have witnessed and shared joy and pain, hardship and sorrow, good times and happiness. Today, in front of our extended family and close friends, I vow that
I will honor and nurture this love we have been given. I promise to never take it for granted, for you are my partner, my love, and my best friend.”

  Emily trumpeted as if to shout hallelujah, making the judge smile. “Thank you, Donatalia. Marvin, what say ye?”

  “Donatalia, my Donatella, you know I have loved you for years. You started out as my confidante and then I realized that my life would have so much less meaning if you were not a part of it. Your psychic intuitions, the way you still dance when no one is looking—you are my exotic flower who fertilizes my passion and dreams, the one ingredient that means more to me than any other.

  “I too will strive to continue to earn the love you so freely give me and promise always to respect our union and all that happens between us. Consider me your humble servant in this life and the next, knowing I will love you always.”

  We were just about to kiss when three hummingbirds appeared and circled above our heads, as if there were a pot of honeysuckle. Then, as quickly as they came, they flew away.

  Marvin and I kissed, and everyone cheered and shouted congratulations. Emily and Bess intertwined their trunks, as if they’d taken vows too. Before we went back to the house for the lavish dinner Polly had so quickly put together, I asked Marvin if we could make a detour. “I need to visit Irina.”

  “Thank you for asking me to come along,” Marvin said.

  “Of course, husband. Who else would go with me to ask her for her blessing?”

  In truth, I knew I already had it, but I did need to pay my respects.

  Dear Irina, I silently said,

  Today I married my Colonel Butler and I think we will be as happy as you were. I know I’ve said this before, but once again, I am so grateful. You saved my life when I thought that it was over. You showed me how to believe in myself, and I will never be able to say a big enough thank you for giving me the gift of me.

  We brought Emily and Bess home. Maybe tomorrow I’ll bring them for a visit so you can officially meet them. Well, maybe not tomorrow—Marvin and I might have other plans—but soon. I asked my friends to go into Savannah and buy caviar so that tonight we could honor you, my father, and mother, Colonel Butler, and even Mme Strachkov, my friend Vladimir, and his parents. What a journey I am on! Well, I can see Marvin’s ready to go up to the house, so we’ll be on our way. I’ll be back with Emily and Bess very soon.

  “Are you ready, Marvin?” I asked.

  “Yes, my queen,” Marvin replied.

  Just before we departed, I closed my eyes and I saw Bella and me as young women again, with her daughters at our side. Flying high above the big top was a banner much larger than the one that it replaced. Where the Vronsky Family Circus had flown for generations, now—with a heart and spade on one side of it and a diamond and club on the other—it proclaimed Circus of the Queens.

  I saw our lives, the legacy, the legends and myths, all intertwined and woven into those four words. My heart full of love and life, I smiled at Marvin. “Let’s go back to the house,” I said. “We have a celebration to attend.”

  The End

  A special thank you to Donatella,

  for telling me her story

  so I could share it with you.

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to Tyson Cornell, Julia Callahan and all the people at Rare Bird; my early champion Miranda Ottewell and her husband Krister Swartz; book cover designer Alice Marsh-Elmer; and author photographer Marianna Newman. Thanks to Dianne Athey, Theresa Renaud, Gail Currey, Michelle Dennis, Patrice Kavanaugh, Lillian Neiman, Martine Bellen, Sandra Sokoloff, and Merle Saferstein for their input and love; to generous souls such as Daniel Nayeri, Suzie Hollander, Scott Ross, Neil Young, Pegi Young, Rhonda Novick, Stan Greene, my sister Laura Berger Crossland, and my brother in law, Danny. My angels: Julie Harris, Dove, and Zviki Govrin; the entire Welz family especially Peggy; my inspirations: Jonathan, Kaya, Sky and Solaura; Rachel, Isaac, and Max; Becky and Lennon; my husband Gary Welz who loves The Circus of The Queens: The Fortune-Teller’s Fate as much as I do and is my biggest fan. In memory of my old friend Lew Fein who predicted this novel before I ever saw it, the always smiling Richard Harris, my cousin Alan Flatt who will promote my book in heaven, my mother Beatrice Berger who taught me how to love, my father Louis Berger who taught me how to live and who together gave me the strength and courage to fall and the confidence to get back up again.