Ellida (50 page)

“Great, Astrid! I know it’s not an opera
stage, but at least the students here will get a chance to hear
your voice.”

“Eamon, didn’t your professor ask how I ended
up as a bar singer, divine voice and all? Eamon? Do you hear
me?”

“Not really. I gotta go anyway. Bye,
Astrid.”

JACK AND I continued going to Copper Ridge
once a week so that I could spend time with my mother. As Christmas
approached, however, we were too busy at home to continue with our
visits.

Thanks to Red Cliffs’ multiethnic population,
Christmas was considered more as a time of social gathering than a
religious holiday. It was the peak of the season, and hotels and
ski-resorts were booked full. Many Red Cliffers couldn’t afford to
take a few days off, but they had their ways to enjoy the festive
atmosphere in town nonetheless.

There was a constant flow of visitors through
our house. People would pop in for a chat and a cup of tea or
coffee, bringing us boxes and trays with cookies, bars and small
cakes. Evenings were reserved for Christmas parties and dinners.
Jack and I had an obligation to attend as many of them as
possible.

Lots of families from Copper Ridge came to
visit their relatives in Red Cliffs and vice versa. There was a
Christmas parade through the main street. Dr. Falkenstein was Santa
Claus this year. Betty, Liv, Lily, Drew, Angela and I volunteered
to be his elves. Every single child got a small toy as a
present.

Jack had brought in a big Christmas tree and
we decorated it.

We were invited, together with the Blakes, to
Betty and James’ for Christmas Eve. We exchanged carefully chosen
yet inexpensive presents. Edible and wearable gifts were a big hit
that season. We enjoyed the feast the men prepared and stayed until
dawn, sitting in front of the fireplace in the Mohegans’ cozy
living room.

On our way home, Jack and I had walked
through the quiet streets, hand in hand. Happy, freed from fearing
the future, we were delighted with the peaceful night and the
swirls of snow that wrapped the town in a soft, white blanket.

MOM AND Ahmed came to visit us shortly after
the Christmas holidays. On the very first morning of their visit,
Jack and James took my mother into the town and had a coffee with
her in Café Insomniac. It probably hadn’t been necessary. After
Heather’s confession, public opinion of my mother had completely
changed. I was grateful, however, to both of them for their
gesture.

Mr. and Mrs. Ingmar Mortensen stopped by on
their way to the Bahamas, where they were spending their postponed
honeymoon.

My mother wasn’t ready to get married, but
she and Ahmed had bought a house, had it renovated and moved in
together.

It was a spacious dwelling that had belonged
to one of Seth’s high-ranked officials. Seth had been in the habit
of rewarding his favorite people with outrageously expensive gifts,
such as houses, cars and land, all of it abandoned now. The Copper
Ridge High Council had decided to sell those properties that now
didn’t belong to anyone and use the money to rebuild the city.

The problem was that few people in Copper
Ridge had money to buy the essentials, let alone houses and land.
Nonetheless, a few houses had been sold: aside from Mom and Ahmed,
Ingmar and Peyton also bought one, as well as my grandparents,
Takeshi and Amilla, and the Blakes.

Ahmed had a cousin in England, a wealthy land
developer recovering from an accident that had left him in a
wheelchair. Ahmed had convinced him to purchase the biggest and
most expensive estate in Copper Ridge. It had a charming Queen Anne
house situated on a hill. His arrival would be postponed until he
recuperated completely, but Ahmed said he expected to see his
cousin soon. “Khalid’s an introvert,” he explained, “and his
physical condition certainly didn’t improve his social skills, but
he’s a good man. I’ll be happy to have him close.”

IT WAS a freezing cold and snowy late
afternoon. I was at home alone and Jack was in his office in the
City Hall. I expected him to return any moment.

I heard two cars approaching the house,
neither of them Jack’s truck, and peered through the window. Deputy
Kowalski’s cruiser pulled into our driveway, followed by a
navy-blue sedan at least ten years old. A tall, dark haired and
beautiful woman in her late twenties was in the driver’s seat. A
blond, delicate girl, maybe a few years younger, sat in the
passenger’s seat. Mike escorted them to the door.

“Evening, Astrid.” Mike greeted me in his
deep, southern drawl and touched the brim of his black Stetson.
“The ladies are lookin’ for Liv and Tristan, but they’re in Copper
Ridge this weekend, so I brought them here.”

“Of course. Please come in. It’s freezing
outside.” I stepped aside and let them in.

The willowy blonde introduced herself as
Lydia Watson. I recognized the name. She was Darius’s ex-girlfriend
from Scotland.

Even before I heard the name of Lidia’s
companion, I guessed who she was: Lanni Blackwell, Jack’s big
heartache and Livia’s recent protégé.

She was stunning: tall, slim, curved in all
the right places. With her thick, rich auburn hair, high forehead
and cheekbones, beautiful eyes the color of whiskey, ivory-white
skin, full lips and small nose, she looked alluring, classy,
sensual and challenging.

I didn’t know the exact reasons why Livia had
disliked Lanni during the time Jack and she had dated, but I could
understand why Jack had been attracted to her: Lanni Blackwell was
a woman with a capital W.

I glanced at the fair, petite Lydia. She was
tired and shivered visibly. Lanni, on the contrary, didn’t seem
affected by the long drive and cold weather.

Now it was time to learn how these two had
ended up in Red Cliffs.

Lanni apologized for disturbing me, and,
glancing toward Mike, asked if she and I could talk in private.

Mike didn’t budge. Leaning against the
kitchen cabinets, his arms crossed over his chest, he kept his eyes
on the two women and remained in my close proximity.

“Mike, do you mind making a pot of tea?
Lydia, please sit closer to the fireplace, you’re shaking. Mike,
find Lydia a blanket.” I turned to Lanni. “We can go to my
office.”

“Astrid, why don’t we wait here until Jack
returns? I phoned him. He’s on his way.”

I gave Mike a reassuring smile. “It’s okay,
Mike. Lanni is Jack and Liv’s friend and Lydia knows my brother
well.”

Lydia’s eyes widened. “I don’t think I know
your brother.”

“Darius is my brother.”

“Oh, I didn’t know he had a sister,” she said
even more confused.

“Stepsister, in fact, but it’s a long story.”
I smiled. “You’ll hear it one day.”

“I BELIEVE you know what happened to me last
spring,” Lanni said when I closed the door. She stopped and made a
vague motion toward the living room. “He can’t hear us, can
he?”

“No, the room’s soundproofed.”

“All right, then. My ex-husband almost killed
me. Jack came to the hospital, along with Livia and Ingmar. I was a
hair’s-breadth from death. Liv thought it would be best for me to
become one of her kind. And I’m grateful and honored. She didn’t
have a very high opinion of me before, maybe you know that.”

“I know. But that’s changed.”

“Yes. And that means the world to me.”

“Livia was completely convinced you were a
decent human being, otherwise she would have never given you her
own blood,” I said. “It’s very dangerous turning an individual with
serious personality issues, regardless of the race, into another
kind.”

Lanni smiled. “I’m sure she conducted her own
security clearance before she turned me.” She ran her fingers
through her hair and let out a deep sigh. “See. I was just a human,
I didn’t know about Langaer. Liv says that’s the name for all of
you… all of us, I mean. I didn’t know that Jack was any different
from me when…”

I helped her. “When you two dated.”

She nodded. “It took me a while to accept it,
but now I’m content with who I’ve become. Well, most of the time,
at least. Anyhow, after I recovered, Livia and I stayed in contact.
She helped me to deal not only with the change, but also with
everything that happened before I ended up in the hospital, almost
dead—emotional and physical abuse, loss of self-confidence and
respect, loneliness... I recovered physically. I’m still recovering
emotionally. It takes longer for those wounds to heal.”

“Livia likes you and she feels responsible
for you since she made you one of her kind.”

“She granted me longevity, excellent health
and sharp senses, but I’m afraid I still need her help. There’re
too many changes in my life.”

“Of course there are. You must not go through
it alone, Lanni.”

“I feel lost,” she said quietly. “Liv and
Tristan told me to always count on their help and support, they
even offered to stay with me for a while, but I thought I’d try it
on my own first. It’s difficult. I still need help. I don’t feel I
belong to the human world anymore.”

“You’ve made the right decision to come here,
Lanni. You’ll be among your kind. We’ll help you to adapt, don’t
worry.”

“We’d need formal permission to reside here,
right?”

“Consider it done. Jack and my mother will
grant it. Or I will.”

“When are Livia and Tristan coming back?
Should we continue to Copper Ridge?”

“They’re in Copper Ridge till Monday. We’ll
call them there, but feel free to stay here with us until they
return. Now tell me, how did Lydia become a part of this? Does she
know Darius is engaged to Jack’s sister?”

Lanni confirmed it with a quick nod. “She
knows. She isn’t in love with him anymore, but she still regards
him as a friend. Lydia and I met accidentally. Her parents died in
a car accident last summer. She was the only child, and her only
relative was an old aunt in San Francisco, who also died in
October. She left Lydia a small house and some money. Lydia decided
to move to the States. Long story short, we both used to have lunch
at an eatery near the hospital where I worked. We became
friends.

“She mentioned once she’d had a boyfriend
back in Scotland, who was originally from a small town in Colorado,
Copper Ridge. I remembered Jack talking about that place being the
closest town to Red Cliffs. I knew Livia and Tristan moved here.
Anyway, Lydia couldn’t get a job and the money she inherited
started melting away quickly. She didn’t have any relatives or
friends except me. I’d already decided to see Liv, so I convinced
Lydia to come with me. I couldn’t leave her there. She’s sort of my
family now.”

LANNI AND Lydia stayed with us for a few
more days. Jack spoke to my mother and Ahmed, and they invited them
both to Copper Ridge. Lydia accepted a job as a music teacher and a
part-time librarian.

As for Lanni, there had been several openings
for a pediatric nurse in both towns. She decided to take one in the
Copper Ridge hospital. Ahmed found her to be hardworking and
reliable. She was a part of Ella’s pediatric team, and my
grandmother said she’d never worked with a more competent and
compassionate nurse. Even Peyton had reluctantly admitted that
Lanni had changed for good.

Lydia and Lanni rented Arina Landau’s house.
Arina had some close relatives in Winston, so she had decided to
stay there for a while.

Soon Lydia and Mike started dating. Lanni
seemed content with her single life. “Don’t be surprised,” said my
mother, who’d also become Lanni’s friend. “She was an abused woman.
Her wounds might not be bleeding, but the scars are still fresh.
She’ll need to learn how to trust men again. It takes time, but
she’ll be fine.”

I PARTED the curtains and glanced through
the window. It had started snowing in heavy, wet clumps of flakes,
and soon the ground was covered with sticky slush. It looked
dramatic, but in fact it was likely the last snowfall this spring,
and the snow would melt soon.

Jack had gone to Copper Ridge this morning. I
expected him back soon. Rosie turned one month old today, and Jack
and I had planned a small family celebration later that
evening.

Rosie was peacefully sleeping in her living
room crib. According to Jack’s parenting theory, somebody always
had to be in the room with Rosie so that she could hear, smell and
feel us as soon as she was awake. As a result, she ended up with
four cribs. One was in the nursery room, which hadn’t been in use
at all; the second one in our bedroom, although she preferred
sleeping in our bed. The only crib she occasionally tolerated was
the one in the living room, although she was happier sleeping
sprawled across somebody’s chest. The last crib was across the
lawn, at her grandparents’ house, and served for decorative
purposes only. Grandpa James wouldn’t let her out of his arms,
sleeping or awake.

I walked to the crib and looked at her,
suppressing an urge to take her in my arms. My eyes got misty and
my chest swelled with emotions. I gently brushed a soft, silky lock
from her forehead.

“You look so much like your daddy,” I
whispered the same sentence for the umpteenth time, breathing in
her sweet baby scent.

As if she could hear me, my daughter stirred,
opened her eyes and smiled.

I took her out of the crib and gently pressed
her against my breasts. Together we sat in the nursery chair, an
old and beautiful piece that Brian had made for Betty when Jack was
born, and for a while we just gently rocked back and forth, back
and forth…

Rosie made a soft baby sound and looked at me
with her eyes, already amberish instead of the dark blue color
she’d been born with. She turned her head toward my breast, heavy
with milk, and opened the sweet button of her mouth.