by Mann, Cat
“Hmm?” he murmured softy in my ear.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“She put Max in our custody.”
I felt Ari’s arms go a little slack and I heard him suck in a breath. I could feel his heart pick up the pace. I felt his jaw against my cheek drop open, he pulled me back a little bit to look me in the eyes.
“Max?” He asked slowly.
“She didn’t have anyone else she trusted to care for him. We are the only family he has left and she had no one else to turn to for help. She couldn’t just leave Max alone with no one to care for him.”
I was getting defensive, as though I thought Ari had been going to say no. I was starting to panic. I was starting to fight for Max.
“Shhh,” Ari stopped me. He put his hands on my face.
“Ava, calm down,” he smiled at me. His smile was small at first then it grew bigger and bigger as he let the information sink in. His eyes sparkled with excitement. “We have to go get him!”
“We can’t…” I frowned. “Well, you can’t anyway, you have finals and work.”
“Well, you can’t go to Greece by yourself, Ava. It’s not safe for you.”
I let my shoulders drop. He was right. It wasn’t smart for me to travel by myself right now. “What about Rory or Julia; could they come with me?”
“They have finals, too,” he reminded me.
“Ok, August or Collin can come.”
“August has to work and don’t take this the wrong way, but you still make Collin a little bit uncomfortable.”
I bit the inside of my lip.
“Who then?”
“I bet my mom would be thrilled to go with you.”
I groaned at the thought of Ari asking his mom to babysit me in Greece, but there was no one else.
“Yeah, ok, you ask her. I’ll book the flight.”
I went down the hall to my study, stepped over a pile of scissors on the floor, got on my computer and booked round-trip tickets to Greece. We had a few hours to make an afternoon flight and we would be back by the end of the week. I hoped the window would give us enough time to pay our respects and get all the legal work started for Max. Maya had been adamant that he be put under my custody; she said, in fact that the legal work had all been taken care of and I hoped she was right.
I booked a few days’ stay at The Athenian Loft, the same place Ari and I lodged in a few months back. It was fairly close to Maya’s home, so packing up some of Max’s belongings and taking them back to our rooms would be simple.
I went back to our bedroom, took a quick shower and got ready for the trip. I do tend to be a major over-packer and already had half my suitcase filled before I even started on clothes. I sat down on the closet floor and readied myself for the chore of packing outfits, shoes and underwear. Ari walked through the door a few minutes later. He had gone next door to explain everything to Aggie. Ari never phoned home when something special was happening; he always had to tell his mom in person. He had been gone quite a while.
“Is she coming?” I asked.
“Yes. She’s glad to go along with you and is already almost done packing. I’ll put her stuff in the car in a little bit. I just wanted to see if you needed any help.”
“Sure,” I said with a smile and patted the space on the closet floor next to me. Ari took a seat next to me and at the same time handed me a box wrapped in Christmas paper. I had been so busy folding clothes into tiny squares I hadn’t even noticed him holding the package. I looked at him curiously.
“What’s this?”
“Well, it’s one of your Christmas presents. I want you to have it now; you may want it for the plane,” he shrugged.
A smile grew on my face, “are you sure?” I asked before tearing into the paper.
“Yeah, I’m sure; go ahead.”
“I love you,” I said before opening it.
He laughed then gave me one of his huge beautiful smiles and said, “I love you.”
I finished ripping the paper off and then squealed with delight.
“My very own iPad! Ari, wow, thanks!”
“You are most welcome, Ava; it’s actually more of a gift for me than it is for you...now you can give mine back to me.”
“Well, do you want this one? I can just use your old one,” I asked, thinking that letting Ari have the new one was the fair thing to do.
“Nope, this one is all yours. I know an iPad is not a very romantic gift, but I also know you’ve been wanting one. It’s already charged and I downloaded all of your favorite apps.”
I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“Oh, Ari, I am going to miss you.”
He ran his fingers down my arms.
“I know, and I am going to miss you, too, but it will only be a few days and you’ll have my mom to keep you company.”
“Lucky me,” I said sarcastically into his shoulder.
“She won’t be that bad, besides she’s great with little kids. She’ll probably be a really big help to you. I should know -- she was the best mom ever when I was little.”
I unlocked my arms from around Ari’s neck and rolled my eyes at him, “Ari, you are such a mama’s boy.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, it certainly isn’t good,” I teased.
He shrugged his shoulders at me and then zipped up my bag and took it to the car.
Ari drove Aggie and I to the airport. I held on to him for as long as I could in the noisy, crowded corridor, not wanting to say goodbye. I hated that he couldn’t come with me. I hated being apart from him.
“Hey,” Ari tilted my chin up with his finger. They had just announced our flight over the loud speaker and I was beginning to cry.
“It’s just a few days, Ava. Call me anytime day or night.”
I nodded my head up and down and wiped my nose with my shirtsleeve.
Ari smiled a smile that was so huge it made my breath catch in my throat. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it to me.
“Be safe. You hold my heart in here,” he gently placed his hand on my chest. “I can’t live without it.”
“Okay,” I hiccupped and sobbed simultaneously and gave him one last kiss before we parted.
****
“He loves you so,” Aggie said quietly as the plane taxied down the runway.
“I know,” I laughed. Even then, after all Ari and I had been through, my cheeks still turned pink at the mention of him.
Aggie took my hand and placed it in hers. She fidgeted with my wedding ring.
“You were right at the gym...I need to be more respectful of the fact that the two of you are married. I did overstep my bounds, Ava and I am sorry. I will give you two the space you need. I am glad I have you as a daughter-in-law. I couldn’t imagine losing my son to anyone else.”
“You haven’t lost him, Aggie. Ari would do anything for you.”
“It’s not the same,” she said and frowned out the window.
The flight to Athens was sixteen very long hours. I stayed up and worked my way through my mother’s journal. “She agreed to give the man her soul to spare your life but only temporarily.” My tray table was covered in post-it notes as I arranged and rearranged the sentences. But I couldn’t come up with the sequences that fit into my interpretation of what had happened. As we readied for landing, I sighed and repacked the notes for another try later on that day.
As soon as we arrived, Aggie and I took a cab straight to Maya’s home. I found Max there with a social worker. He was quiet and seemed scared and sad. He sat perched by the garden door with his ball. The social worker spoke English, so I explained who I was, providing the proper documentation. She told me that she had been trying to call me and had reached Ari earlier, who told her I was on my way. I sat at the table with her to figure out some of the arrangements for Max while Aggie took him to his bedroom to pack.
The following day, we attended a small service for Maya at a church down the st
reet from her home. People from gathering neighborhoods and hill-top homes had come to show their respect. Women dressed in black patted Max on the head and looked down at him with sad eyes. Clearly Maya had been loved. The day was very long and we didn’t get to our room until late in the evening. Aggie and I were beyond tired and Max was exhausted. Aggie took the smaller room down the hall and Max and I snuggled into the bed in the bigger bedroom. One minute we were awake and the next we were dead asleep. I don’t know how much time passed before I woke to Aggie shaking my shoulders and calling my name.
“Ava!” she yelled. “Wake up! You’re screaming in your sleep again. Max is terrified. Ava, open your eyes!”
I shook my head trying to clear my mind and wake myself up; Max was crying so hard his whole face was bright red. I had scared him bad.
“Oh Max! I’m so sorry. Sweet boy, come here.”
I took him out of Aggie’s arms and held him close, hugging him and kissing his crumpled forehead.
“I was just having a bad dream, it’s okay… calm down. Shhhh,” I crooned over and over. But Max pushed against me and pawed at the air in Aggie’s direction in an effort to get back to her arms. I couldn’t blame him. I was sure he was scared and confused. Ari was a grown man but still my screams scared him most nights.
My heart sank. “I’m so sorry,” I cried to him again, willing him to understand.
Aggie ran her fingers down my cheek. “Max knows you are sorry, don’t worry,” she said. “This situation will just take some getting used to, that’s all.”
She took Max from my arms and carried him out the door and down the hall to her room, where the two of them slept for the rest of the night. I stayed up and worked through the rest of the night on my encrypted message. At dawn, I had no more information than I had had at dusk.
Aggie spent the next two days with Max while I took care of some of the legal matters dealing with Maya’s will. Back home, Andy stayed up half the night helping me with legal documents and addressing all of the questions I had. Maya had left everything to Max. Her little home was beautiful and quaint. It had been in her family for years, so I arranged for a caretaker. I boxed up some things that belonged to Max and some of Maya’s personal items and had them shipped home to Ari.
I met up with Aggie and Max for dinner on our final evening in Greece at a kid-friendly restaurant by the sea. Max had seemingly forgiven me for scaring him and sat on my lap for a while, coloring the back of a menu. He sang a little song that Aggie had taught him and I applauded and cheered when he finished.
What a sweet little boy...Chubby pink cheeks, wide-open brown eyes like Ari’s, and a wonderful, loving smile. Brown spiky hair flopped forward over his brow, sometimes covering his eyes and I fell totally in love with him.
After dinner, I called Ari. The phone rang three times before he answered my call.
“Hi,” he whispered in a sleepy, groggy voice.
I smiled into the phone and longed to be in the bed next to him.
“Hi. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“Mmmm,” I could hear him stretch and yawn. “Don’t be. I’m happy to hear from you.”
“We’ll be in California tomorrow at three thirty in the afternoon; will you will be okay to pick us up at the airport? Ari, Max is so adorable. But he’s sad; we will have to careful with him.”
“Yes, I promise to be there...and I am ready to do whatever I need to do to give Max a secure and happy home...and I am so excited to see you; to see you both.”
“It’s not the same here in Greece without you,” I whispered softly in the phone. “I miss you. The balcony at The Loft misses you, too.”
“Is that so?” I could hear him smile in to the phone. “Well I miss you and that little freckle.”
“I love you, Ari.” I could feel tears stinging the backs of my eyes.
“I love you. Be safe, Ava.”
Chapter 21
Bad Decision
Sixteen hours on a plane may as well be an eternity for a three-year-old. We were only two hours into the flight home when Max started to get bored and restless. Aggie, a mom after all, had thought ahead and planned for the long trip. At a moment in the trip that might have seen Max in a major meltdown, she pulled from her carry-on a tote bag full of crayons and coloring books, storybooks and puppets, little race cars and trucks she had found in the airport shops. She entertained us both with a little puppet show and then gave Max a turn to play out a story of his own. I laughed until my stomach muscles started to complain. Aggie’s animation and Max’s little-boy enthusiasm gave life to the little plays and when Max was ready to settle down, he had pictures to color and little books to look at. Aggie’s gift for soothing him made me think of all the cute projects she must have shared with Ari when he was little.
Once Max started to get sleepy, I put some PBS cartoons on my iPad. He took to them immediately and very shortly after, he fell asleep.
“Ava?” Aggie said quietly.
“Hmm?” I asked shutting my eyes and leaning my head back on the seat.
“How are you going to do this?”
“What do you mean? Do what?”
“Well…” she started, “I mean, how are you going to make living with Max work? You have a house full of people living with you. You are newly married. And you scream all night long in your sleep. Max can’t stay in your room, surely you see that. And you are busy, sweetheart; you have a very full plate right now and parts of that plate are scary and threatening. You have to figure out your issues with Margaux. Max isn’t safe as long as that last Kakos is out there.”
I placed my head on her shoulder, “I don’t know what to do, Aggie. What choice do I have?”
Just weeks ago, Aggie was pressing Ari over having children and here she is telling me I’m not ready for a child. Her signals were full of contradictions, that was for sure.
“Here is what I am thinking, Baby. Let Andy and me take Max,” she said cautiously, as though she were afraid of my response.
Her proposal completely floored me. I furrowed my brow and frowned. My emotions rebelled against the idea but my serious side saw the wisdom of her idea. Still I felt asking Aggie and Andy to take Max would be placing a burden on them.
“Aggie, I can’t expect you to drop what you’re doing to take on my responsibility. I can’t push Max off on you.”
“My kids are grown. They don’t need me anymore and you aren’t pushing anything off on me. I know you would never do that. I want this. I want to take care of Max.” Her sentences were careful and full of conviction.
I looked her in the eye, then looked down at Max. His little head was nestled into a pillow on Aggie’s lap. I could tell she was serious. In fact, I could tell she was more than serious. Her heart was already involved.
I pushed back tears.
“Um, ok,” I said nodding my head. “Okay, Aggie, I can tell he already loves you.” Saying the words aloud hurt and I immediately regretted my decision. I think my heart may have been involved as well. She was right though, Max would probably be safer and more emotionally stable if he stayed away from me – stayed safe. I knew not to allow Max in to my life considering that my time on earth was at the mercy of No. 7.
“Thank you, Ava,” she said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“I think Ari is going to be disappointed though; he was pretty excited about having Max.”
“I know, I know,” she said quietly while softly rubbing my cheek, “but you and Ari will be right next door; you’ll see him every day. And you will give Ari his own baby one day.”
I couldn’t respond to her. I put my head back against the headrest, closed my eyes and stayed that way until we landed.
****
At LAX we gathered our bags and set out to find Ari. As soon as my phone got reception, a dozen texts came flooding in, the texts told me that Ari was stuck in a meeting all day long and couldn’t get away in time to pick us up from the airport. Andy was in court and everyone else was somewhere e
lse, either at work or in class. Ari’s last text let me know that he had arranged for baio’s car service driver to pick us up instead. I grabbed our bags and sent him a quick “ok.”
By the door, I spotted a man waiting and holding a sign that said “A. Alexander.” I waved my hand at him and he came to collect our luggage and guide us outside to a waiting car. I opened the car door and was relieved to see a child’s car seat strapped in on the back seat. Aggie got Max buckled up as I climbed in on the other side of them. The driver pulled away from the airport and turned into L.A. rather than towards home.
“Are you taking us to Dana Point?” I asked hoping he had taken the L.A. exit by mistake.
“No ma’am, I am taking you to baio. Ms. Baio is in need of the car. I will be dropping you off there with Mr. Alexander.”
“Terrific,” I said, wanting to kill Ari.
We pulled up to baio and the driver switched the car seat and the luggage out from his car into Ari’s. I sent Ari a text letting him know we were outside in the lot. He called me back, “Ava, I am so sorry. I’m stuck here. Can you come up and sit in my office for like one hour? Then we can go, I promise.”
“You have to be kidding me, Ari!”
“I’m not and I’m sorry, but don’t worry. Margaux is in a meeting right now and when it’s over she has to go straight to LAX to leave for Chicago. Chances are you won’t even see her.” I hung up the phone and started inside. Aggie and Max followed behind me.
Up on the twenty-second floor we found baio’s business office teaming with people. Margaux’s business office was very chic and modern. She had had magazine covers, blown up and framed, showing popular models and movie stars wearing her clothing designs. In the vast waiting room were stylish club chairs and a matching sleek couch for seating. All of her employees were dressed in top fashion and spoke in hushed tones and whispers.
I made my way to the back towards the large, executive offices. Every single person we passed greeted me as if I were Margaux herself. I had never met ninety-nine percent of them, but they apparently knew exactly who I was. After I heard the hundredth, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Alexander,” I reached Ari’s office. He was nowhere in sight. I walked in; Aggie and Max followed in behind me and I closed the door with an irritated sigh.