Tempting Fate

by A N Busch

  Abby had to fight hard not to smile. She was very happy with Westly. He was more than she was looking for and much more than she could ever have hoped to find.

  “Again the fifth and sixth Runes represent advice or what is to come. The DAEG here is generally a sign of increase and growth but… oh, dear.”

  Abby sat up quickly and leaned over the table. “What do you mean by ‘generally’? ‘Oh, dear’ WHAT?”

  Isabella’s eyes grew worried, “Well um, how do I say this? This Rune can also mark a major change in your life. When it is paired with MANNAZ like this, it tells me that there will be a radical change in your life, one that will cause you to never live your life the same again. You will make a new start in your life.”

  “I don’t understand what you are saying,” Abby crossed her arms again and sat back in the chair. This really was crazy! Little symbols on pieces of wood were telling her what? “Is that a good thing or a bad because you are acting like it’s bad?”

  Isabella didn’t look up to meet her gaze and just continued, “The last Rune is HAGALL; it represents forces outside your control, a symbol of elemental disruption. Laid out with these others, it seems the result would be to learn from what is going to happen. You need to live with it and try to be content.”

  Abby watched as Isabella finally looked up from the Runes and meet her gaze. She tried to hold back the tears that were surfacing in her eyes. “Okay, so what does this mean?”

  “Abby, I’m sorry. I will be honest and tell you that I have never seen such a cast of Runes. They are very negative as well as direct. Most of the time they show some kind of alternative or a way to change things. Even happiness in the end, but I don’t see that for you.”

  “So basically,” Abby’s voice faded away. She was not sure if she really wanted to know.

  “Basically,” Isabella sighed and looked back down at the table, “you are happy now, you have found the great love of your life. Your soul mate if you will. The Fates do not want you together in this life. Your happiness and your relationship will end soon. You are going to be forced to make a change in your life. It will not be a pleasant one, and you will have to…”

  “To…. live with it and try to be content?” Abby looked at the last Rune on the table, the one Isabella had called HAGALL.

  Isabella tried to reach for her hand but Abby pulled it away quickly, “I’m sorry Abby, but yes.”

  Abby quickly felt a fire ignite within her, it was building up fast and filling her with anger. “I’m sorry but I just don’t believe in this stuff. I picked these polished pieces of wood out of a bag at random. Who knows what you would have read if I had pulled out different ones instead. You are wrong anyway! I am happy, more than I have ever been in my life!” With that Abby stood up and walked out of the small room without another word to Isabella.

  As she was walking out the door of the shop, she heard Isabella’s voice behind her but did not turn around, “Please keep your friends close Abby, I think you are going to need them very soon.”

  She started to think about what had just happened. Abby didn’t want to believe her, but it was like there was a voice in the back of her head telling her that maybe it was all true. No, she thought and shook her head, she couldn’t let that thought cross her mind again. She couldn’t think for one second that she was going to loose him, it wouldn’t happen. All this stuff was a big joke and there was no reason to take it seriously. She wanted to kick Rachel’s car tire and scream out a line of awful words hoping that Isabella would hear her rant.

  Rachel practically came bounding out of the door twenty minutes later, and Abby forced a smile on her face. She would tell her it was fun and that she had received all good news. That would be what she wanted to hear anyway and it seemed that what she had gotten was good news.

  “Oh Abby was that awesome or what? She told me I’m going to meet a man in Paris this summer that was literally going to sweep me off my feet. I can’t wait to go now, sounds like I’m going to get my own Westly. And I am going to start to turn my passion for something into a career; she says it will be easier than I think! I will be good at it and successful, so exciting! I wonder what it will be though? Oh, what did you find out? Tell me, tell me.”

  “Come on let’s get going. I’ll tell you in the car.”

  Thankfully Rachel was still talking about her own reading most of the way back to campus. Abby told Rachel what she knew she would want to hear and it made Rachel that much more excited. When they pulled up to Abby’s dorm, she insisted that they had to go again when school started up in the fall. Abby agreed and hugged her friend good-bye. Rachel said something to her in French and Abby rolled her eyes as she waved.

  She was packing a few things up in her room to mail home when the phone rang. Abby jumped to her feet to get to it, the phone seemed to be singing his name as it rang.

  “Hi Westly!”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “I guess the crazy fortune teller’s powers rubbed off on me.”

  They both laughed nervously at the same time. Abby knew what was making her feel uneasy. She just assumed that his was nothing because thinking it was more would only make her paranoid. There was a moment of silence that scared Abby but she shook it off as fast as she could and spoke first, “So are you done packing?”

  “Not really, I have had a busy day, a lot of phone calls I had to make. Um, are you coming over soon? I need to see you.”

  “Need? Why? Is something wrong?”

  “Um, no, I just really miss you Abs. I have been thinking of you all day.”

  Abby smiled, she was missing him too. That lady was nuts, Westly was more than the world to her. She wasn’t going to think of it again. “I missed you too. I’ll be over in about a half hour, and I have something for you!”

  “Something for me? Well if it is what I think it is, you better be over in fifteen!”

  “Well then I’ll be over in fifteen; I wouldn’t want you to have to wait. I love you Westly.”

  “I love you my Abs.”

  Abby finished the box she was packing and swore not to think about what that woman had said to her again. Westly had sounded odd on the phone, but he sometimes sounded distant when he had work on his mind. She opened a box she had already closed and pulled out some clothes to change into. It was nice to be able to wear shorts and a tank top again; the warm weather was wonderful. She grabbed her bag and put the wrapped present for Westly inside. Three boxes were ready to get mailed home and she put them out into the hallway before locking the door.

  Once she got the boxes into the elevator, she took in a deep breath. Thoughts of what Isabella had said were trying to sneak back into her head. They were harder to keep out than she thought they would be. She had never been a believer but she had always felt like Westly was too good to be true. That thought alone mixed with Isabella’s sheer belief of it all ending, was enough to make Abby unsettled with the whole thing. Yes, they were going to be apart for most of the summer, but she had made Abby feel it would be much worse than that. A feeling she didn’t even want to admit had passed through her heart. The elevator doors popped open with a ding and she pushed the boxes out one at a time into the lobby.

  It would only be the summer, she would spend a week with him in New York and then he would come spend a week or two with her in Texas. Next fall they would be together again, everyday just like the last few months had been. Isabella had to be wrong even if Abby still had that voice in the back of her mind telling her that Westly was a perfect dream.

  Abby shook her head and her thoughts out with it as the doors closed behind her and she called out into the lobby, “Paul are you at the desk?”

  “I’m here Abby. What’s up? Everything okay?” She could hear the door to the desk area open and then close before Paul appeared near the elevator doors a moment later.

  “Hey Paul, I’m good. Can you help me get these to the room behind the desk to go out with the mail tomorrow?”


  “Sure, we have quite a pile in there already but there’s room.” He grabbed two of the boxes and Abby followed him with the third.

  “I have a couple more still but I’ll bring them down in the morning.”

  “Going over to Westly’s?”

  “Yep. I hung out with Mel and Jamal last night and with Rach earlier today, so tonight is just us.”

  “He said he is heading home tomorrow, right?”

  “In the afternoon. Hey why don’t we have dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Sounds good to me. I’m just glad I got into my last class this semester. Had to take a couple extra classes to stay in the dorms, but I don’t mind. I will be done after the summer semester.”

  Abby threw her arms into the air. “You are going to be leaving me too? Great, now you, Mel, and Jamal will be gone.”

  “Jamal is leaving?”

  “Yep, he is switching to a bigger college near Harvard to be closer to Mel.”

  “Oh, well I have some good news - I won’t be that far away from campus.”

  “Really? How come?”

  “Well this coming Monday I start my internship at the accounting firm a town over and then a spot will be opening up in the fall. I was told that I am the only intern for the summer, and if I do well that getting it will be promising.”

  Abby hugged him. It was great news. “Paul how great for you. Good luck with it. Scratch that, I know that you’ll do well this summer and get it.”

  “Thanks Abby. It was all your idea.”

  “Might have been my idea, but you did it!” Abby glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh shoot I’m late. Dinner tomorrow night; seven good for you?”

  “Let’s say seven-thirty. Meet you here in the lobby.”

  “Sounds great. Bye Paul.”

  “Bye.”

  Westly had the door cracked open for her when she got there, and she could hear him humming in the bathroom. She locked the door behind herself and called out to him. He soon came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and was smiling at her. “I was going to hop in the shower real quick, make yourself comfy.”

  “Well,” Abby said wrapping her arms around his waist, “what if I would be most comfortable in the shower with you?”

  He picked her up to bring her lips to his, and she pulled off his towel in the same second. He looked at her with shock on his face and she giggled, “Oops, sorry.” She bit her lip and then he kissed her softly and carried her into the bathroom.

  The shower was hot and steamy and the bathroom was already thick with fog. Westly took his time taking her clothing off and then pulling her into the hot water with him until it poured over both of them. His touch on her bare wet skin was wonderful - firm and strong holding her close.

  Abby knew every inch of his body now. The way the muscles were carved in his arms. She knew the line that lead from his collarbone to his navel, each defined muscle on his stomach, and if she touched him in just the right spot, she knew she could light a fire within him. His perfectly carved hipbones, like those on a man made of marble in a museum.

  She knew the way his hands would touch her. How his lips would feel on her neck and ears. The slight touch of his tongue on her breasts and stomach. He knew just where to touch and kiss her to make her surrender to him. She loved that he could lift her onto his hips with little effort and his strong arms could hold her to him. She ran her fingers through his wet hair as he slid into her. They were one, together in the hot steamy rain of the shower.

  They took their time washing each other slowly. Soap covered them both and Westly washed Abby’s hair gently and massaged her head as he kissed her more.

  When they were done, he dried her with a towel and then picked her up again and carried her to his futon. The two of them spent hours there together and made love three more times that evening. Westly said he loved her a thousand times and that he never wanted her to leave his arms again. Abby was happier than she had ever been in her life. She had almost forgotten about the gift she had brought for him.

  “Oh, your gift.” She jumped up and grabbed it out of her bag. “I almost forgot about it, here. It’s nothing that exciting but I thought you might like it.”

  Westly sat up in the bed and kissed her before he took it from her hands. He opened it slowly, with his eyes on hers till it was almost unwrapped. When he looked down she could see sadness fill his face. He held the silver eight by ten frame in his hands and just stared at it. Abby had placed a picture of them in the frame on one side and the other was engraved with a little love sonnet. She had the bottom of it engraved with Remember when we are apart you are in my heart as I am in yours. I love you till the end of time.

  Westly’s voice cracked as he read it aloud. Abby could tell even though he looked sad, he was pleased with the gift. Just knowing that he liked it touched her heart and Abby started to cry. As she threw herself into his arms, she started to cry even more. “I love you,” was all she could say.

  The two of them lay there, Abby curled up as close as she could be and clinging to his body, his arms holding onto her just as tightly. The two said nothing but I love you to each other until she was just about to fall asleep.

  “Abby, I was…”

  Abby moved herself around to look at him and almost jumped up because of the look on his face. “What? ‘Abby, I was’… what? You never call me Abby.”

  “Nothing; I’m sorry. Just try and go back to sleep.”

  “No, what’s going on Westly? I don’t like the look on your face.”

  He was trying hard to change his facial expression and force a half smile. “Nothing, really. I was just… What if we are apart longer than the summer? Have you thought about that? Things can happen we have no control over.”

  “Westly, what is going to change? Do you think you are not going to come back, or do you?” Abby stopped herself in mid-sentence. She didn’t want to finish it. “You know what, we can cross that bridge if we get to it.”

  “But Abs. I think that…”

  Abby cut him off with a finger over his mouth, “No Westly. No more what-ifs or anything else like that. Relax. I don’t want to think about anything like that right now. I am so happy right now. It has been a great night.” Abby pulled her finger away slowly but moved it back as he started to open his mouth to speak again.

  “No, not tonight. We can talk about it in the morning or later. We have had great times together these past few months. Just be happy with me now. Lay with me and stay in this place where we are safe from the world outside. Okay?”

  Westly nodded his head and kissed her again. “I love you Abigail Nickole. Forever. No matter what happens or where we are in the world.”

  “I love you Westly.”

  He pulled her back into him, kissed her gently and held her tightly as she fell asleep.

  Chapter 19

  Abby awoke the next morning and stretched her arms; it only took a second for her to notice that Westly was not beside her. She opened her eyes immediately and looked around. At first she was confused as to where she was and then shocked. How did she get into her room? Her hand pressed down on a piece of paper as she sat up quickly. She looked down moving her hand to see the familiar heart around his nickname for her, Abs, and knew at once that it was from Westly. She felt her hands shaking as she opened it slowly. Tears started to roll down her face as she read his small handwriting.

  My Dearest Abs,

  I carried you home, I wanted to tell you everything last night, but I just didn’t know how. I have to go my love, and I could not ask you to go with me. I just couldn’t. I know you don’t understand and I am sorry.

  Just know that you are my love. Our love has been the best thing that has ever happened to me, like it was designed perfectly or written in the stars. I know that it will never die. You will always be in my heart, my mind and my soul. Abs you are my other half and I will love you until the end of time.

  I am sorry that it is this way. I hope some day you will understand. I
just have to go; some things are… the way they end up. I can’t ask you to carry the burden of what is to come in my life. It’s too much to ask you to do. You have given so much to me already.

  I’m so very sorry my love. Keep me in your heart forever. Forgive me for leaving like this. If fate brings us together again someday, I will give up anything to be with you. Right now I just cannot ask you to do that for me.

  So sorry my love,

  W

  Panic hit Abby’s chest the instant she was done reading the letter. A thousand questions starting racing through her mind, all of them competing to be answered first. What did he mean by “carrying a burden”? Didn’t he know she would do anything for him? Go anywhere as long as she knew he was going to be with her. Tears were smearing the ink on the page now, making it even harder to read over the second and third time. She dropped the paper as she stood; the clock said it was after 11:30 in the morning. Her first thought was to stop him and she raced for her door. She didn’t take the time to put on shoes or even close her door. She hit the staircase running, her face soaked with so many tears that they were streaming down her chest and onto her shirt.

  When she got to the lobby and headed for the doors, she didn’t even hear Paul call out her name. As she raced out of the front door of the building, she took off running at top speed. Abby didn’t look at anything around her; she just needed to get to him before it was too late. Melanie and Jamal were holding hands walking back to the dorm and Abby pushed right past them, throwing them apart from each other.

  “Abby, what the HELL?” Melanie fell to the ground as she screamed at her.

  Jamal was yelling at the same time, “Abby! Come back here Abby! Where are you going?”