I was uncharacteristically terrified of what I was about to do. Mostly because I actually had no idea how she was going to react or what her answer would be. I had been asking her to move in for weeks and she hadn’t agreed, what made me think she would agree to marry me? I don’t know, I just knew I wanted her to be my wife, and the only way it stood a vague chance of happening would be if I bit the bullet and asked her. Properly, with a ring.
Said ring sat in the pocket of my shirt, just waiting for me to get the nerve to stand up and open my mouth. I had been pretending not to notice the looks and raised eyebrows from both Mari, Nic and Eli, who were all clearly wondering when I was going to get on with it. Eventually I took one deep breath and got to my feet.
“Um…could I have everyone’s attention please?” I heard myself say. Gradually they all quietened down and all eyes turned to me. I swallowed, the fear drying my mouth right up. “Thanks. Uh…I just have something I need to say, and quick before I lose my nerve. Jewls, will you stand up a minute?”
She did, looking beyond puzzled and more than a little afraid. God, I really hoped I was doing the right thing here.
“What’s going on, babe?” she asked, searching the other faces around the table for some sort of clue. They all just sat grinning at us.
“I love you.” I said. It was the first thing that popped in to my head, and as good a place as any to start.
She smiled brightly. “I love you too.”
“I want to be with you forever,” I powered on, keen to keep things moving forward. “I know you get scared sometimes, but I swear to you, I am here, and yours, always. Please tell me you believe that.”
“I do believe that.” She said, surprisingly quickly. I let a little sigh of relief out. Good start.
“Okay, good. With that in mind…” I dropped to one knee, vaguely registering her gasp of surprise and pulled the ring from my pocket, holding it out to her. “Jewls Isobel Dempsey…will you marry me, and make me the happiest man in the world?”
She stared at me for an agonising few seconds that felt more to me like years, “I’m sorry, what?”
“Marry me, Jewls. I want you to be Mrs Jewls Machvaya, I want you to be my wife.”
“Oh Micah, it’s a beautiful ring, but I don’t think I can.” She whispered, trying to keep it between us and I felt my heart sink. The others were all still watching us, expectantly, waiting for her reply.
“You don’t want to?” I whispered back.
Tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “I’m already married.”
I smiled at that. God, if that was the only issue, there was no issue as far as I was concerned. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll sort it. Just say yes, and we can sort the rest.” I grinned. “You know you want to. Be brave.”
She considered that and grinned back. “Okay,” she said, raising her voice so they could all hear. “Okay, yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Before she had a chance to change her mind, I slipped the ring – white gold with a large oval sapphire surrounded with diamonds – on her finger, sealing the deal.
I got to my feet to rapturous applause from my family and wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Nic said, with a broad smile, “to the future Mr and Mrs Micah Machvaya!”
Again they all cheered as I planted a kiss on the lips of my future wife. Easily, the greatest moment of my life.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Micah
An hour or so later, desserts polished off, Nic suggested everyone might like to go back to the house to continue the party there. He would tidy up at the restaurant and follow us along later.
“I’ll do it.” Marco said and Nic raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Huh?”
Marco rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. I know what needs doing, I’m perfectly capable. This way with you, Lisa and Eli driving you can get everyone back to the house in one go.”
“I don’t know…” Nic said, unconvinced.
“Come on, bro. You lot did all the work putting this together, let me sort this. My twin brother got engaged tonight, I want to do my bit too. I’m not a total idiot, you can trust me.”
Nic exchanged a look with Eli who shrugged. “If he wants to do it, let him. He’ll be fine, won’t you Marco?”
Marco nodded. “Perfectly fine. Now go, all of you. I’ll be along later, save me a beer, right?”
And with that, a decision had been made that would be much more significant than any of us could have ever imagined.
As we were leaving, Marco stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and extended his hand. “Congratulations, twinnie,” he said, “It’s about time one of us grew up, huh? I’m proud of you brother.”
I shook his hand and pulled him to me for a hug. “Thanks, bro. See you back at the house, yeah? Don’t be long, a party’s not a party without Marco Machvaya.”
He winked at that, the serious moment gone and nodded. “You know it. Now get out of here and let me get sorted. I promise not to burn the place down.”
We all laughed at that, words that would haunt some of us for a very long time, and we left him there to his fate.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Jewls
When we all left Marco there we had no idea we were being watched. We didn’t know we were leaving him to fend for himself against an as yet unseen enemy. I didn’t see the hooded figure across the road observing us, even though I walked round to that side to get in the car. Micah stopped to tie his shoelace before getting in on the kerb side, and I can only presume that’s why he wasn’t seen by our observer. Maybe if he had seen Micah he might not have done what he did. Maybe if we had all stayed it wouldn’t have happened. There were a lot of maybes, I know we all asked ourselves a lot of agonising questions in the days and weeks that followed.
Nic agonised about leaving the most inexperienced of all his brothers alone with such a responsibility, Eli agonised about whether he had turned everything in the kitchen off, Micah agonised about whether he should have had the party in the restaurant at all.
And me? I agonised about the fact that the as yet unseen, unknown assailant that was going to blow this family apart came into their lives purely because of me.
Back at the house Mari put the stereo on, filling the house with music while Nic searched the fridge for alcohol, making sure everyone had a drink before getting one for himself and joining us on the large corner sofa in the lounge. I sat back in Micah’s arms, dreaming of our future, so content and peaceful I could not stop smiling. I looked up at Micah, expecting to see him smiling too and frowned when I realised he looked deep in thought, almost worried.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
He shook himself off and managed a smile, but it didn’t seem genuine.
“Yeah, course babe.”
“No second thoughts?” I asked. I tried to be light-hearted but the truth was, I was scared. His whole demeanour was off, and he was far from relaxed. He shook his head.
“Of course not, not ever. Just have this niggling feeling, that’s all. It’s…” he sighed and shrugged. “Never mind. Another drink?”
I nodded. “I’ll get it.”
He got to his feet. “Stay put, your future husband will get it.”
Everyone cheered again at that, Eli laughing and clapping. “Check you out, all grown up now! You know the sex stops when you get married, right?”
Micah, popped his head up from behind the open fridge door, frowning as Lisa gave Eli a hard shove, unimpressed.
“Eli!”
“Yeah well maybe for you, but I-” Micah started, but that was as far as he got. The bottle of beer in his hand dropped to the floor, smashing at his feet and he just stood there, frozen on the spot. Before any of us could react his put a hand to the side of his head and dropped to his knees as though some unseen force had punched him. There was a short delay before anyone reacted, it
was so unexpected. Nic was the first to his feet, and we all rushed to where Micah was, still on his knees amongst the smashed glass.
“Micah, what is it?” he asked, concerned.
Micah let out a hiss of pain and shook his head. “I don’t know…it’s not me. Something’s wrong.”
“How many beers have you had?” Kris asked, half-joking.
Nic shot him a look that said now wasn’t the time for jokes and Micah shook his head, then looked up at us with wide eyes, scrambling to his feet. “Marco. Something’s wrong with Marco.”
Without hesitation Nic nodded and looked over at Eli. “Let’s go. Girls, stay here with the kids. Micah, come with us.”
With that they headed for the door. I didn’t even think about it, I just followed. Outside Nic unlocked his car and Eli did the same. Luca and Kris climbed in with Eli, Micah with Nic. I opened the back door on Nic’s car and he looked at me.
“Jewls, maybe you should-”
“I’m coming.” I said in a tone that said it wasn’t negotiable. Thankfully he didn’t press the issue and nor did Micah.
Eli’s car sped off into the night and within seconds we were following. We had to stop at the junction as the lights changed to red, pulling up beside Eli, who was revving his engine impatiently. I studied Micah carefully. He was chewing his nails and I had never seen him so agitated. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but gathered there was some sort of twin telepathy happening. Whatever it was, his brothers were obviously taking it very seriously.
It was a fairly short distance to Carousel, but that night it seemed to take forever. As we got closer, the smell hit me for the first time. It shouldn’t necessarily have been an unusual smell – it was, after all, bonfire night – but this was different. It smelt different and it felt different.
Smoke.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Micah
As we got closer to Carousel, I felt something new. In the house, I had felt a pain in my head as though I had been struck with something, but now I had a feeling as though I were slowly choking, like invisible arms around me squeezing my chest. My throat felt hot, my breathing laboured, and so I was the only one who probably wasn’t as surprised as I should have been when we rounded the corner and saw the first flickers of orange flames glowing through the glass front of the restaurant.
The panic that gripped me in that moment I cannot even begin to describe. I vaguely heard Nic mutter holy fuck, before I jumped out of the car and ran to the restaurant.
The fire had already taken hold, tearing through the drapes, the furnishings, the only sounds popping glass and creaking timbers.
“MARCO!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, grabbing the metal door handle, finding it hot to the touch. It was locked, and I began furiously kicking and punching it, desperate to open it and get to my brother. I knew he was still in there, I felt it in my gut, and I knew he was still alive.
I could hear Jewls somewhere behind me on the phone, asking for emergency services and reeling off the address and then Eli was beside me, a crow bar in his hand. He swung once, narrowly missing my head and the glass shattered. The heat from inside was incredible, briefly forcing us both back. I looked at Eli, and he looked at me, and I knew what he was thinking. Don’t do it.
“Micah…” he started. It was the first time I had ever seen fear in his eyes. He was torn between the same desire I had to get to Marco, and keeping me safe. I didn’t give him time to react, or to stop me and I charged straight in.
“Micah!” Nic’s voice stopped me again, he was standing just outside, next to Eli, his eyes wide. “You can’t go in there, it’s not safe! I can hear the sirens, wait for the fire engine, yeah?”
I think I hesitated for maybe a second, but the knowledge that my twin, the other half of me was in there somewhere hurt and I was almost sure, in serious trouble now, overrode any common sense or feelings of self-preservation. I only knew I had to get to him, and get him out.
With that thought in mind, I ventured into the thick smoke, my only protection the sleeve of my shirt over my nose and mouth.
I opened my mouth to shout my brother’s name and instead inhaled choking on thick, acrid smoke, feeling it burn my throat and lungs. It was like being inside an oven, a huge, pitch black oven and I couldn’t have found my way back out if I had wanted to at that point. I was disorientated, with no real idea of where I was or where I was going. I was moving forward on pure instinct and adrenalin, relying on that sixth sense to guide me to him.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Jewls
The scene that was unfolding before me was more horrific than I could ever begin to explain. I was crying hysterically, being held back by Luca and Kris as instinct alone had me trying to follow Micah into the burning building we had been celebrating my birthday in what now felt like a lifetime ago.
The fire engines arrived first, followed swiftly by the police and ambulances. A crowd had formed watching the unfolding drama, being held back by the police as the fire crews fought to put out the fire. I watched with horror as some went inside, praying with everything inside me that they would be able to get the love of my life out, and his twin brother, and out alive. Every fibre of my being wanted to believe they would and they would be okay, but there was a tiny corner of my mind that couldn’t see how that could be possible.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Micah
I found him almost by accident, breaking through the office door and amongst the smoke and flames seeing his legs under the desk, which burned away. A horrible smell hung in the air and I realised with utter terror that it was burning flesh I could smell.
Marco was caught under a roof beam that lay burning across his legs. I don’t think I even thought about it, I reached down, grabbed the wood and tried to pull it off of him. That was when I felt hands on my shoulders, pulling me back and I was virtually dragged from the building, fighting all the way as I was pulled from my brother and out into the night air.
I say air, like I knew what it felt like to breathe easy, but in that moment, I didn’t. All I could do, was cough and wretch and cough some more. I dropped to the floor and onto my back, looking up at the night sky, ordinarily clear and brightly with stars, tonight an ugly grey colour, full of smoke. In the distance I could hear and vaguely see the colours from fireworks being let off, fleetingly thought about the people watching those fireworks, people who were still alive, healthy…like I had been and Marco had been an hour before.
I turned my head to the left just in time to see Marco laid out beside me. He was not moving and the paramedics were fussing around him, trying to pump oxygen into him and pressing on his chest, performing CPR. I blinked slowly, dazed and then managed to turn myself over. A paramedic put his hand on my arm, trying to get me to lay back down and I brushed him off, crawling over to Marco and just watching him, willing him to open his eyes and look at me. Praying to every God imaginable to spare my brother’s life. My eyes stung furiously and refused to focus. My nose was thick with soot my throat hot and burning. Every breath was a monumental effort and yet still, all I felt I needed was for my brother to be alright. Still I felt those arms on me, trying to pull me away, heard voices talking to me, but not the words they were saying. I could feel the very life escaping from his battered and burnt body, that warm feeling deep inside me dissipating with every pump on his chest that he failed to respond to.
And then the paramedic sat back, looked up at someone and shook his head.
With that I finally found my voice and was able to let out some sort of sound.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, using up the last of my air to let out a wail of grief and total and utter despair before my world too went black.
Chapter Twenty-One
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Jewls
The only sound in the sterile hospital room was the clock ticking on the wall. I sat on a plastic chair staring at the wall opposite, in complete shock. Across
from me Luca and Kris sat, equally as stunned as I was, Nic sat by my side, Eli pacing up and down anxiously, occasionally stopping to have another look out into the corridor before letting out an impatient sigh and resuming his pacing.
Tears streamed from my eyes, and my hands shook beyond my control.
“Eli, sit down.” Nic said, his voice flat and weary.
“I don’t want to sit,” Eli snapped, continuing his walk the length of the room and back. His customary cigarette dangled from the corner of his mouth, unlit. He was the only one not crying, he looked angry, furious almost. He spotted a nurse out in the corridor and caught her arm, practically dragging her into the room.
“My brother, Micah. He was in a fire, brought in here, where is he? And our other brother, Marco he…where is he? He shouldn’t be alone, neither of them should be alone. No one is telling us a damn thing.”
The poor nurse, a young timid girl looked up at this irate man with wide eyes and stammered a response. “I’m sorry I just came on shift. If you’d like to take a seat, I can go and see if I can…”
Eli nodded erratically. “You do that, sweetheart.”
“Of course, Mr uh…?”
“My brothers are Micah and Marco Machvaya. Brought in from a fire, a fucking hour ago. We would appreciate an update, if you people can manage that.”
Nic sighed, “Eli…”
“What?” Eli snapped, and Nic said nothing. No one did, what was there to say?
“I’ll see what I can find out.” The nurse said, and then added, “You know you can’t smoke in here, sir. There’s a designated smoking area outside the main entrance where you-”
Gypsy Kiss: Book 1: Micah (The Gypsy Kiss Series) Page 32