Fatefully Yours

by Misha Anderson

  I turn the doorknob slowly and what I see is worse than anything my imagination could come up with... Klaus is naked on the bed, lying belly up and Cláudia, his slut of an ex-fiancée, also naked, leans over to kiss him. She holds her breast and hides her nudity the moment I go inside the bedroom and yell Klaus's name.

  "Klaus, how could you do this to me?"

  He tries to push Cláudia from him and mumbles nonsense words, tripping on his own legs and falling over the edge of the bed like an old milk carton. He's so drunk he can't say anything that makes sense. Only moans and curls into the fetal position, like he's about to vomit. The son a bitch has drunk like a pig and brought this skank to our bedroom, our bed. I never, not in my worst nightmares, ever thought that I would go through this kind of deception. Tears fall from my face non-stop seeing the slut dressing quickly and my man, the man I thought had left behind a life of cheap, meaningless sex for love to me, thrown on the floor like dirty cloth.

  Cláudia tells me sarcastically, reaching for her high heels, "We didn't want you to find out this way, but we're back together. After all, four years don't just go away."

  "Leave now. You to deserve each other, you piece of shit. Slut. Leave before I do something crazy."

  "Safe me from the drama, honey. It's finished, life moves on. You don't think that Klaus Schneider would marry a savage, did you? Go back to your tribe, it's for the best, sweetie."

  Before Cláudia can reach for her purse I attack her and pull her hair, slapping her as hard as I can. She tries to get away but I scratch her perfect face, using my nails on her shameless face. She fights back and tries to escape my hands, but I hold her more firmly and slap her twice more, yelling out of control, "Now you see what the savage is capable of. Leave my sight you trash!"

  The door closes and I go straight to my old room, open my suitcase and throw all the clothes and shoes I can grab, shaking and crying out of control. God! And now I'm pregnant from that asshole. I knew there was no way for us to work, we're from completely different worlds, I'm a simple woman and he...once a playboy, always a playboy. Before I leave I call Magali, telling her what happened and she urges me to calm down and think about what I'm doing.

  "Don't do anything stupid. Where are you going to go?"

  "I'm sleeping in a hotel near here and tomorrow I'm taking the first flight to Matogrosso. I'm not staying in this city one more second, Lili."

  "At least give me your address in Matogrosso. That way I can go visit you. I'm still your friend, Anahí."

  I cry, venting with Lili and she writes down my address, promising that she won't betray my confidence and give it to Klaus-the-asshole.

  "I promise I won't give it to him. What did Klaus say when you caught them in the act?" Lili asks, supporting me in this difficult moment.

  "He didn't say anything. He's so drunk he can barely talk."

  I slam the door without a backwards look and my heart feels like it's broken in a thousand pieces. I drive seeing everything blurry from the tears that run down my face. I find a hotel near Flamengo, checking in for only a night.

  The day dawns and I go straight to the airport, and after a little time I'm able to board a plane back to my city. The plane takes off and I see the Guanabara Bay falling further away little by little, just like my best days. The time I've been happier and believed in that blue-eyed demon that took my body like no other man was able. Damn the day I opened the door to that hospital room and saw his eyes. From that first moment, I knew he'd brand me in a way I would ever forget.

  All I need know is to forget and take care of the innocent live that grows inside of me and is blameless of the mess in my life. Forget how happy I was, how much I still love him, how I'm going to rip him away from inside me. There's nothing else to do. It's what I need to do, as simple as it is impossible... FORGET!!!

  CHAPTER 25

  KLAUS

  Three days, in three days I've turned into a zombie, wandering around this house like a madman, a robot. I don't eat, I don't sleep. Shower? I took one today because Úrsula dragged me by the hand to the bathroom.

  I can't understand how this disaster happened to me, the images are blurry in my mind. I remember Anahí coming inside the bedroom and Cláudia trying hard to grab me, but my body was strangely numb. I couldn't speak, react, I could only curl up in the carpet naked, and thrown up my organs. From what I understand, Magali told Renato that I was in deep shit that night, and he and Úrsula went back to my house and got me to the hospital. I woke up the next day feeling like I’d been tortured and ground in a meat grinder. Renato and Úrsula were next to me and a doctor did a whole bunch of exams. In the end, he told me what had actually happened.

  "You were drugged, Klaus. Your labs show a high dose of rohypnol, also known as the date rape drug. The drug plus the alcohol made a mess of your body. I'll prescribe something for the nausea and headache, and you should keep hydrated. Drink lots of water, later on the drug will have left your system and you'll feel better."

  As soon as the doctor left, Renato and Úrsula try to figure out how this could've happened to me and who would want to hurt me like this.

  "Did you leave your drink unattended? Even for a few minutes?"

  "Yes, I was fighting with Cláudia and went to the bathroom. She has to be the one, that whore drugged me and then set up the scene to break up Anahí and me. I need to go after my woman, I won't let us go out like this. She has to come back to me, she needs to listen to me. You two, for the love of God, help me. I need to know where Anahí went and find a way for her to listen. She needs to know this was Cláudia's trap, we can't break up because of this. Our wedding is in one week, it's not fair to me, it's not fair to us, after all we've been through, all we suffered to get me standing up, how much we fought together. If she really loves me, I know she'll listen."

  Úrsula paces while listening and Renato scratches his head thoughtful, worriedly. In the end, Big says, "This morning I heard Lili talking with someone, she was wishing them a good trip, at the end of the conversation I heard her saying 'bye, girl. Keep in touch'. It's likely she was speaking with Anahí."

  "She probably knows where Anahí is, but I'm sure she won't tell me. Please you know how difficult Lili is. Help me out, man."

  "There's no use figuring out where she went if you can't prove you're innocent. We need to make Cláudia admit she was the one that drugged you. Leave it to me, give me her address. I'll set that bitch straight. I never liked her anyway, I'm sure I can get the truth out of her."

  I don’t know how Úrsula got Cláudia to confess she drugged me but by her scared voice in the recording I'm sure Úrsula didn't tickle her for the truth.

  I hurry Amanda and Bruno to finish getting ready, while Renato puts our bags in the car. After a lot of begging and swearing I wasn’t to blame for the whole thing, Magali gave me Anahí's address in Matogrosso, saying that she hated to betray a friend's trust and that if I hurt her again, she'd rip my balls off with a tourniquet.

  The plane landed in Campo Grande, South Matogrosso's capital and we drove three hours to Dourados. We checked into a hotel then went back on the road, heading to the Terena's reservation, where Anahí's family lives.

  The heat is hellish, Amanda cools herself drinking water, her face red because of the sun and I dry my forehead with a handkerchief. On the way there the guide tells us how to behave. My back screams for rest, I walk with the support of Lady Godiva, my cane, and when we stop in the reservation's road, I want to fall to my knees and thank the heavens we've arrived at our destination.

  Cristiano Aimoré, our guide, also of Indian descent, mediates with the shaman for our entrance in the reservation, and after a long wait, Cristiano comes back and makes me happy by saying that he’s agreed to speak with me. The nature here is practically untouched, the red dirt track leads us to huge ocas, made of dark, dense straw, on the left there’s an improvised soccer field and up ahead a huge space, like a big yard, where women and men work separately.

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p; I climb out of the car and I'm led to the oca where the leader of this Terena reservation is. I go inside, suspicious, and in front of me await four men, three relatively young, their hair perfect bowl cuts, tall, very strong, dressed in nothing but black shorts. In the middle of there's an elderly man, his reddish skin wrinkled and weather-beaten, his hair long and gray, but what makes me certain that he's the leader of the men is his proud, forceful, powerful look in spite of the skinny, and apparently fragile, body. He signals me to come closer and as soon as we are face to face he asks me in well-articulated Portuguese, despite the thick indigenous accent.

  "So, are you Anahí's ex-fiancé?"

  "I'm still her fiancé. At least until she hears me out and tells me straight to my face that she doesn't want me anymore."

  "Hmm, brave, bold, let's see how long that lasts. What is your name, boy?"

  "Klaus Schneider, sir. And with whom do I speak?"

  "Apaioká Cauré, shaman of this tribe and Anahí's grandfather."

  His eagle eyes sink into mine and I make my best to keep the firmness in my eyes and legs. He raises his chin and comes closer, touching his cane on my chest.

  "Let's talk man to man. If we come in to an understanding, then I'll think if I'll allow you to speak with my granddaughter or not. Come, sit down, let's drink some kauim.”

  One of the man serves me a strong drink made of sugar cane, corn, and cassava in a coité, a type of bowl made from dry coconut husk. The shaman Apaioká made me tell him all that happened, from when I talked with Cláudia at the bar, to the moment where Anahí entered the room, and I fell down, numbed from the drugs. He listens attentively, and in the end, tells me seriously, "I don't know if I like you. I don't think so, I don't like the fact that you hurt my granddaughter. I honestly don't know if you're the right man to marry my Anahí, my daughter Jaci made the same mistake in marrying a white man, going against tradition. But even though you're weak, because of your health issues, I see that inside of you lives a warrior. You're a man with a strong, fighting soul. Anahí is here for a short time, the way we life is different from how she's used to living. She was raised with her mother, almost like a white woman, in the center of the city. Your separation helped to bring her closer, even if briefly, to her origins, her people. I will allow you to speak with her. If you can convince her to go back to you, which I think will be very difficult, I demand that before the white man's wedding, you receive a blessing according to our traditions. Our women will show you where to stay, wait here while I have someone bring Anahí."

  Renato and my siblings stay outside, along with Cristiano, while I remain inside the oca, desperately waiting for Anahí to show up and agree to listen.

  After a few minutes she comes in with to her grandfather, wearing a beige, rustic cotton dress, barefoot and distracted. As soon as she sees me her eyes widen and she faces me with sad eyes, looking crestfallen.

  "Klaus, what are you doing here?" She asks, surprised.

  "I came so we could talk. Would you listen to me for a few minutes?" I ask, desperate that she'll listen.

  Anahí looks at her grandfather and he leaves us alone, then she says seriously, hurt, "Five minutes, you have five minutes to say what you want. Then I want you out of here, Klaus."

  "I don't even know where to start, little cabocla."

  "Don't call me that. Why don't you try starting from the beginning?"

  "I never cheated on you Anahí. I couldn't. Specially the way it happened, on our house, our bed."

  I tell her how it all happened, from the moment I spoke with Cláudia in the counter, until I squirmed out of her grasp in my bed, and fainted on the floor.

  "I can proof I was drugged, Anahí, look at the results of my medical exam. That bitch drugged me and set up that circus because she was angry I wouldn't have a threesome with her and her little friend. Úrsula recorded a conversation with her, and all I'll ask is that you listen, please."

  "Tell the truth Cláudia, the doctor has already confirmed that Klaus was drugged and he's sure that you were the one that doped him when he left his drink on the counter."

  "And if I said I did it, what are you going to do to me, you dyke? I did it and I'd do it again. He deserved it, he humiliated me because of a miserable little Indian girl. Who does he think he is to treat me like that? I never loved him, I was disgusted every time that I had to kiss or have sex with him. Klaus always thought he was better than me, full of fake morals. Do you know why I sent my friends to fuck him? To get rid of that arrogant piece of shit. All he was worth to me was the jewels he'd give me, the media attention, the money, nothing else. I was even willing to go back to him, it would've been good for mine and his career, but no! He'd rather fuck that dirty little Indian girl. So gross!"

  Anahí listens to the whole thing in silence, and hugs her own waist, as if needing some kind of comfort while she cries quietly, silently. I get closer to her and raise her face, drying the tears that insist on falling from the eyes that I love so much.

  "Ever since you left, I can't eat, I can't sleep, all I think about is you day and night. My life without you is colorless, dull. I know I don't deserve a woman as perfect as you, I've always been an arrogant, vain guy, the world spun around me. Until you showed up in my life, in a time when I was torn, broken because of the accident, when all I wanted was an end to the pain. You came into my life bringing back my dreams, a reason to get up and face every day of my recovery. I'm so lost, so empty without you. Come back home, love. Come back to me, little cabocla."

  As soon as our lips meet, I close my eyes, and if I'm dreaming I don't want to wake up. Anahí opens her mouth slightly and our flavors mix, as if we're one. I suck on her tongue and she moans when our kiss turns urgent, holding to my hair. My cane falls and I slide my hands down her back to her waist and hold her fast, bringing her perfect body close to mine. She can feel my erection that hardens with each kiss and rubs her hips on mine, driving me wild with desire. I hold her face delicately and ask, begging the heavens to listen to my prayers.

  "Will you come back to me? To our home?"

  She nods and whispers, "Yes, I'll come back, Viking."

  "Ha! Little cabocla, never leave me like that again. I almost went crazy."

  "I was hurting too, Klaus. It broke me to see you with that skank."

  "Shh, let's not talk about her anymore. It's over, everything is good now."

  After a few minutes, Anahí's grandfather comes back to tell us seriously, "I see you came to an understanding, and even though I don't like it, I want you to stay at least until tomorrow. I'm going to set up a blessing according to our traditions for tomorrow afternoon."

  Anahí leaves the oca and greets Renato, Amanda, and Bruno, and shows us, all while holding my hand, to a simple and small hut, next to the river.

  The hut is completely made of wood, whitewashed, small and simple, with a dirt floor. The house has a straw rug, some clay jugs and rustic bamboo chairs. There are four hammocks hanging from wooden beams, and up ahead, there's one more room with two big hammocks, a closet made of hardwood and a little bedside table, with a clay jug.

  Renato, Bruno, and Amanda get settled in the room while Anahí and I go to the bedroom. I lay on the hammock to get some rest and Anahí lies next to me, curled up in my arms, with one leg over mine. I take a deep breath feeling her body glued to mine, and it's like she can guess how glad my heart feels for having her in my arms one more time. She kisses me slowly and moans glued to my mouth.

  "I missed you so much."

  "Not more than I missed you, little cabocla."

  Anahí lowers her small hand from my chest to my belly and settles on my body, rubbing her skin on mine lazily, like an oncilla. She closes her eyes and naps while I stay awake, watching over her sleep, torn inside, thinking how much of a lucky motherfucker I am. My woman is back, and if there's anything better than having this little piece of caboclo hurricane back, I don't know what it is.

  CHAPTER 26

  ANAHÍ
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  My Viking’s still sleeping, on his face a peace the peace we had lost a few days ago, his lips half stretched in the beginnings of a smile, and as soon as I get up, even asleep, he turns and stretches his arm looking for me, mumbling my name. This instinctive act of his warms my soul and fills me with a silly feminine pride, because it makes me realize that even in his dreams, he still thinks about me. His gorgeous face is battered by sleepless nights, half covered by a scruffy beard and with dark circles under his eyes. But even like this, he's an incredible man, of a masculine and rustic beauty that stirs any woman's libido. Klaus is masculine and striking like a Nordic conqueror, a Viking warrior.

  I clean myself up quickly in the tiny bathroom of the hut and my morning sickness hits me hard, kicking me as soon as I step on the porch. I hold myself up on a tree and throw up until there's nothing left in my stomach. When I look to the side a small person comes from the trees and surprises me by holding my hair and carefully drying my forehead.

  "Take a deep breath, the sickness will be gone soon. You need to start the prenatal vitamins and exams."

  "I don't know what you're talking about, Amanda," I answer in a quiet voice, feeling confused.

  I lower my head looking at my feet and pretend I don't know what she's talking about. In exchange I get a raspberry and little medical class from this slender girl that leaves me astonished.

  "Nausea, sweating, puking, dizziness, mood swings, and appetite changes, clearly hormonal, plus that small bump on your lower abdomen. These are classic symptoms, you're pregnant, very much so, Anahí." I open my mouth to answer but she seems to guess what I'm about to says and promptly counters my thought, "Yes, you're going to say I'm not a doctor. But I'm going to be one, dear, and you can be sure I'm going to be one of the best pediatricians on this country. You can deny the truth, but we both know I'm right. So, when are you telling foolish Klaus? The guy has have been very distracted to not have seen it. I think it's best if you do it soon, since I'm not one to keep a secret. But so you see how nice I am, I'll give you til the end of today to tell him. If you don't, I will."