by Cate, Marnie
“Mara, you are so quiet,” Essie said, turning her attention to me. “I think I know what you need…a night out. Winds has a fantastic bar with great music and lots of dancing at the end of Main Street. Grant's Tavern has not only the best night life but it has the best pizza I have ever had.”
Before I could say no, she was on her feet. “I have the cutest outfit that you could wear. Nothing fancy but just a little something for a night out with a cute boy,” she said, winking at Cole.
“That would be fun, Mar,” Cole said.
“I don't think so,” I said. I really didn't want to be alone with Cole.
“No, it will be what you both need,” Essie insisted.
“We haven't had a night out in a really long time.” Cole pleaded.
“Fine,” I relented, not wanting to argue. I will go but I will not be alone with him.
“Great, Marina, come with me,” she said. “Elliott, love, find Cole something to wear.”
As I followed her, I struggled with how perky she was being. She was too happy for us to be here. Was this my father's plan the whole time? Did he want to return to Great Winds?
“Can you call me, Mara?” I asked, when we stood at the entrance to her bedroom. “Only one person called me that name.”
“Oh, I am sorry,” she apologized. “Elliott only called you Caterpillar and I thought that would be way too familiar. Your father told me everything you had been through. I know you don't know me but I can listen if you want to talk.”
Clapping her hand together, she quickly changed her tone, “But, not tonight, Mara. Tonight, you will have fun. You are too serious. This is the time of your life to enjoy what the world has to offer.”
Opening the door to her bedroom, she led me into a room almost as big as the downstairs of the house I had grown up in. The large canopy bed had four posters with white curtains tied back onto each pole. The blanket on her bed was the same as the other rooms but covered with dozens of pillows of different sizes, colors and shapes.
On a nightstand, she had a picture of herself with my father. In the photo, he was laughing as she fed him a piece of cake. Both of them were wearing very formal attire. She had on a long, white dress and he was wearing a black suit with a green tie. I picked it up and began to examine it.
“This almost looks like a wedding picture,” I said. The smile on her face faded, silencing me. “It just looks like one, right? Were you at a costume party?”
Taking the picture from me, she calmly said, “Elliott and I obviously couldn't marry since he was married to your mother but we did have a hand fasting ceremony.”
“Well, you should marry him now,” I said coldly, as I handed the picture to her. “He is a widower now.”
“I am sorry. I didn't think to put anything away,” she said. “I was just so happy to see all of you. I love your father but I know that his children should come first. Mara, nothing has changed from when you walked in this room. The photo should only tell you how much I love your father. He fought me every bit of the way in making a life for himself. Not a day went by that he didn't regret leaving you.”
“Eliza ran off with Cedric. It's not as if he left us to find a new life. He was forced to leave. You can't help who you love. Please don't tell Meg yet. It will just be confusing when we leave.”
“Thank you for understanding,” she said. “Now let's find you something to wear.”
Fixing my hair and makeup, Essie fluttered around me. It reminded me of my visit to the elemental world. Thoughts of Kai flashed in my mind.
“Are you too warm, Mara?” Essie said with concern. “You are so flushed suddenly.”
Embarrassed, I quickly answered, “Just a bit hot. Maybe, I should drink some water?”
Taking a glass bottle from the small fridge, she had by her dressing table, she said, “Is this cold enough or would you like some ice?”
“This is great, thanks,” I said, taking a long drink. Stop thinking of Kai. You have enough to deal with now. You have given Snowystra enough to use against you.
“Who is this beautiful woman before me?” my father praised. “Stand up and let me see you.”
Standing up, I felt self-conscious in the fitted jeans and loose silver tank top I was wearing. The shirt had black beading running down the front in a series of teardrop designs. After trying on at least a dozen shoes that I was unable to walk in, Essie found a pair of strappy sandals with silver gems that fulfilled her idea of how I should look on my first night out on the town while still allowing me to walk without falling over. After pulling the sides of my hair back, she used a cream that she said would enhance the natural curl of my hair. Her final touch to my hairstyle was to mist glitter through my hair. With dark eyeliner and dark red lipstick, I felt like a little girl that had been playing in her mother's make up.
“Mara, you look so grown up,” he said. “I would hug you but I don't want to mess up your makeup.”
“It's ok. She has plenty of make up to fix anything I mess up.”
“Mar,” he said, sitting down. “I didn't mean for you to find out about Essie and me this way.”
“You don't have to explain anything to me,” I said. I didn't want to hear about the life he had built without me.
“No, I need to explain,” he said. “When I came here, I was hoping for a place to hide. I never planned to meet a person like Essie. Before, I let myself love her I was crumbling. Leaving Eliza never meant I stopped loving her but what I had…what I have with Essie is different. She loved me unconditionally knowing that I would leave one day to return to you.”
“I understand,” I said, “but there is no need to tell Meg and Miles. We will be going home soon. This was a mistake to come here.”
“It's not like that Caterpillar,” he said. “I will respect your wishes for now but Essie is part of my life. Can you accept her into yours?”
“I will try,” I said.
“That's all I can ask,” he said, escorting me to the door. “Now I want you to go have a good time tonight.”
“I love you, Daddy,” I said. The sadness that I had felt when I lost him the first time slightly swelled up in my heart. Would I lose him again?
Chapter 22
The distance from the hotel to Grant's Tavern was far enough for Essie to insist I let her driver take me. Cole had decided to walk ahead to see the town while I was getting ready. As I was leaving the penthouse, Hazel stopped me.
“If you feel unsafe at any time with him, sprinkle this into his drink or worse case throw it in his eyes,” she said, handing me a small white envelope. “Don't worry it will only subdue the dark magic if it emerges.”
Clutching the packet tightly, I thanked her and left to find Cole. The street was crowded with people visiting all the local businesses. I was going to try to have a night of fun with Cole. With luck, he will be one hundred percent Cole and not the ice touched version that I had seen tonight. Pushing back my negative thoughts, I focused on the evening ahead.
The tavern that I entered was busier than I had thought it would be. Customers drinking brightly colored drinks sat at the bar on horse saddles stools. Behind the bar, there was a picture of a gorilla holding a slice of pizza. Elsewhere people were sitting at small tables sipping their different concoctions of bright colored drinks and eating fried foods. A crunching sound came from under my foot as I continued into the establishment. Checking to see what I was stepping onto, I found the floor covered with discarded peanut shells.
Ignoring the crunchy distraction, I continued searching for Cole. Along the wall, a large box caught my eye. The machine kept lifting records and dropping them down. Each time the record released, it started to play a new song. I looked around still not finding Cole.
Going to the music machine seemed a smart place to wait. On the top of the music box, the words Mr. Jukebox were flashing. As the song playing ended, a screen flashed to say “Two credits available. Pick a song.”
Peering through the glass, I saw rec
ords with artists and titles that were familiar from my childhood. I recognized some of the songs that Gram had loved. A couple of the songs flashed an image of her singing and dancing with me. The images were so strong. It was almost as if I was that small girl in the arms of the woman that had always cared for me. My heart ached at the loss of my grandmother. I would give anything to bring her back…just one more chance to tell her how much she meant to me.
I pushed the button to flip through the records. I stopped when I reached the album with a dark-haired boy with a curled lip on the cover – Elvis Presley. He had been one of my Gram's all-time favorites. I recalled a time my grandfather had acted out a scene from one of his movies where he was dancing at a jailhouse. Lost in my memories, I was taken from my thoughts by a warm breeze from behind me. Turning to face my greatest temptation, I stared into fiery eyes and I felt a flutter in my heart.
“You really should play this one,” Kai said in a sultry voice. He punched E16 into the jukebox and a record began to play a song about blue shoes.
“Everybody likes that one. Who doesn't love the King? What do you think?” he said.
Wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt, he dressed as if he had been working on the land. Even his boots were scuffed creating the illusion of a real ranch hand. Tipping the brim of his cowboy hat, he said, “Nice to make your acquaintance, ma'am. My name is Kai.” Holding his hand out to shake mine, I ignored it.
“What are you doing?” I hissed at him.
“I've been sent to keep an eye on you. Where is everyone?” Kai asked.
“Cole is meeting me here. I am not sure they should have sent you,” I said with frustration. “You are only go to make this worse.”
“Mara, did you miss me?” he said, as he touched my arm.
“No Kai, I have not even thought of you,” I said. “I have Cole to occupy my mind and he is going to be here soon. He is not going to be happy if he sees you with me.”
“Why would he be upset to see me?”
“Snowystra told him about my visit to your world. She has planted a seed of doubt in his mind that I do not think he will ever forget. Seeing you is definitely not going to help.”
“Well, that is just silly, Mara. We are from two different worlds and quite frankly you are not even my type,” he said, gesturing to a blonde with big hair and equally large breasts standing in the corner watching us. “Now, she is my type. So there is nothing for him to worry about.”
Slightly offended by his comment, I instantly felt angry. You are being absurd, I scolded myself. Realizing that I should be encouraging his pursuit of the blonde rather than feeling insulted, I said, “Good. So make that very clear when Cole shows up.”
As the peppy song stopped playing, I felt like I was being watched. I was. Cole was standing across the room. Our eyes locked, I put on a bright smile and waved him over to us. His cold stare focused on the two of us.
“I guess it's time to get this over. Let me introduce you to Cole,” I said with trepidation.
Cole walked towards us with his eyes dark and fixed on Kai. I could see the anger building up inside him.
Taking my hand, he pulled me to him. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend, Mara?” He said the word friend as if he had eaten something sour.
Holding out his hand, Kai ignored the cold welcome. “They call me Kai. I have been sent by Danu to watch over you.”
Kai took his hand and gave Cole a hearty handshake, Cole's jaw clenched. Roughly, he pulled his hand out of the fire elemental's. “So you're the elemental I need to keep my eyes on,” Cole said, in a low growl.
“Keep your eyes on me?” Kai said, playing dumb. Looking from one to the other of us. He started laughing. “You think I am interested in Mara?” Laughing harder, he continued, “I am sure my intentions have been misjudged. I am very aware that Mara and you are to be wed and I am very happy for both of you. I am just here to watch you guys. Anything that happened while we were in my world was just to prepare her for what she would face in this world. Everything was innocent with no harm intended. While I would love to discuss this further, today is my first day out in your world in this form without a chaperone and I plan to have a lot of fun before I am called back.”
Punching some buttons on the jukebox, he said, “And right now I am going to take advantage of my freedom. I am going to introduce myself to that sexy blonde who has been eyeing me and I am going to ask her to dance with me. Let's meet up later, guys,” he said as he walked away, not giving Cole a chance to respond. As he left us, the warmth that had been emitting from his presence slowly cooled.
“What is he really doing here, Mar?” Cole said with such anger in his eyes.
“Cole, he was sent. I didn't know anything about it and honestly I don't know what you want from me” Feeling angry at Cole's insecurity, I warned, “Trust me or don't. I am not going to defend myself anymore.”
As I tried to walk away, Cole grabbed my wrist. “Please don't go, Mar. I don't know what's going on inside my head.”
The record switched and a new song began. This time the music was slow. As the singer crooned a story of distrust, his silky voice warned that their love was not going to last if she didn't stop being suspicious. Cole held out his hand to me. I let him lead me to the dance floor.
Cole pulled me into his arms and we danced closely. As the words in the song played, Cole held me tighter, whispering in my ear, “Mar, I trust you…I want to trust you. I don't know how to remove what she has put in my head but I'm trying. I am trying hard, Mar.”
“Cole, I chose you. There was never really a choice to be made. It was just a kiss.” I said. Even with the tempting thoughts I had of Kai, I knew I loved Cole. “I can't live like this. You have to decide here and now if you can get past this.”
As I said those words, my eyes drifted to Kai who was slowly dancing with the blonde he had pointed out earlier. I felt a flicker of jealousy that she was in his arms. Fear filled me. Maybe Cole wasn't wrong to be worried. This wasn't the first time I had thought of kissing Kai since I returned. My thoughts confused me. Just because I thought of the kiss and his presence made me feel excited, it doesn't me that Cole and I were not meant to be together. Did it? My inner battle was cut short.
“Mar, I said I promise to work harder on pushing out the vision she painted in my mind,” Cole said. “Can't you forgive me?”
Completely confused, I was not sure I heard everything he had been saying to me. Stammering, I tried to come up with a response.
“Mar, I want to be with you forever. Do you still want to be with me?” The hesitation in responding even though it was only a half a second hurt Cole.
He loosened his hold on me. I had made things worse. Once again, I had an intense feeling of not wanting to lose him. Holding onto him tighter, I said, “Cole, I love you and you are the only one I will ever love. You don't have to ask that question.”
Sighing, I held him even tighter and whispered in his ear, “Cole, we can make it through this together. We just have to trust each other.”
As my eyes caught Kai's, I sensed sadness but he smiled and winked, recovering from whatever he had been feeling. When the song ended, he approached us. He stopped in front of Cole. Instead of anger and distrust, Cole welcomed him and held out his hand.
“I am glad you are here, Kai,” Cole said. “Let's talk business. What do we need to know?”
“Great, mate. Let's get a table in the corner and we can start talking,” Kai said. “We have a lot to discuss.”
Chapter 23
As we settled in a quiet corner, Kai went over his concerns about our safety. “Snowystra will do anything to force you to her side. She will go after everything you care about and will twist reality to make you believe your only choice is to pledge your loyalty to her. You will be safest if you stay together. You cannot fight her alone”
“How do you expect me to stop her if Danu couldn't? I asked. The conversation was interrupted by a loud shriek.
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br /> “Kai, are you ignoring me?” the blonde called from across the room. “You promised you wouldn't be gone long and you join these people. Are you ditching me?'
“There is nothing we can do about Snowystra tonight. Go deal with your friend,” I said.
Kai smirked, “I will spend some time with Ginger and then I will meet you guys back at Charlemagne's later this evening.”
Cole said, moving his chair closer to mine. “We have the whole evening to ourselves now. Let's enjoy the time we have free from everyone.”
Cole led me to the dance floor where he held me close while a slow song played. The music changed and a crowd of people began to fill in around us. We danced until I thought I could not go on anymore.
Cole seemed like his normal self but I wasn't sure he would remain this way. I wanted to ignore what had happened earlier. There was no need to be afraid. We were in a busy place.
“I think I should get you something to eat and drink before we head out on another adventure. Any requests?” Cole asked.
“I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine,” I said, not caring. My worry had killed any appetite the dancing should have sparked.
Kissing me on the head, he left to place an order. Returning to the table, I read the notes Cole had written as Kai spoke. This only made me feel more worried about my family. I felt a need to be with them. No longer wanting to be in the noisy tavern, I decided to tell Cole we could take the food to go. Not seeing Cole at the bar, I became anxious. Kai was at a table with Ginger draped on his arm. He was feeding her bits of the food that they had ordered and whispering something into her ear that sent her into fits of laughter.
I had a feeling that something wasn't right. Picking up the napkins and shoving them into my pocket, I scanned the bar for any hidden places that Cole might be waiting for our order. A large worn sign at a far end of the bar swayed slightly from the overhead fans. The sign had the words Exit and a finger pointing towards a hanging slated door leading to the kitchen.