Hunter's Choice (10 page)

He doesn’t mean it like that John. That’s
just Charlie being Charlie.
I wrote out after one look
at John’s sour expression. He moved into Charlie’s seat.

“I’m worried about you Jess. I’m pretty sure
you’ve figured out by now that I like you.” He covered my hand with his own and
I smiled. I withdrew my hand from under his both because I didn’t want to be
that familiar with him and because I needed it to write.

I know John, but I’m not the girl for you.
I’m not in any kind of position to carry on a relationship beyond just friendship.

He scowled and I rolled my eyes and made an
exasperated noise.

That includes with Hunter.
I tacked on, erasing it quickly when he’d finished reading it as the
aforementioned person was walking back towards us to pick up another pair of
plates.

“Okay Jess, I can see you need some time,
especially given what’s happened. I’ll do my best to give it to you.” He said.
I closed my eyes and tried to be patient. John Baker was just not hearing me
but there wasn’t much to be done about it right now. Charlie set one of the
pies on the table, it had been cut into pieces but had yet to be served. Hunter
came behind him with plates and forks.

“Get Jess a spoon there Hunter.” Charlie said.

“I got it!” Aaron called from the kitchen. He
returned with a spoon for me and Coffee for Charlie and John.

“What does she need a spoon for?” Hunter
asked, brow furrowed. I smiled impishly as Charlie set a piece of pie in front
of me and dug into it with the spoon.

“It’s the way she eats her pie.” Charlie
answered. “Has been ever since she was a kid.” He smiled down at me but I was
in the little bliss coma Aunt Margie’s cherry pie brought on. Aaron laughed at
me before getting into his own pie, everyone else followed suit. I paid careful
attention to Hunter.

He put his fork with a generous bite into his
mouth and chewed thoughtfully. He smiled at me and nodded as he chewed slowly.

“That’s good, that’s really good. Well done
love.” He took another bite and soon all of us were leaned back in our seats
sighing at our full stomachs. I for one, was glad for the elastic waistband on
my sweats.

Rule here is, Aaron and I cooked, so you
guys get the dishes/clean up. John, Hunter, you’ve never had dinner here before
so you get a pass because you’re guests but you eat here once, you’re pretty
much furniture after that so next time, you get to it.

I smiled sweetly at Charlie.

“That leaves me then.” He smiled back in his
‘I am so getting you later for this’ way and I erased what I wrote, scrawling
out,

Maybe this is a lesson that you should be
nicer.
And I drew a face with its tongue sticking out
and stuck mine out for good measure.

“All right kid. All right.” Charlie said,
getting up. Everyone else was chuckling at his expense.

“Jess I really do hate to eat and run but I
have to get going. I’ve stayed too late as it is.” John got to his feet. I
nodded.

“I’ll help you in the kitchen Charlie.” Hunter
got up too and went after Charlie and I smiled. That might earn Hunter a few
points with the old codger. We’d have to see.

John came around and leaned down, kissing the
cheek that wasn’t spangled with color and nodded to the others. He stepped
outside and donned his hat and a short time later his Jeep fired up. I sighed.

“Come on Jess.” Aaron was at my side.

I let him help me up and he took me into the
living room. I sat down in my Uncle Dave’s recliner and curled up in it.

“I’m gonna help out in the kitchen.” He tucked
the blanket from the back of the couch around me and I smiled nodding.

“Need anything?” he asked. I swiped my hand
across my neck and he nodded at the familiar signal for ‘no’ before
disappearing into the kitchen where the sound of running water and low
masculine voices could be heard.

I smiled at the total domestic role reversal
going on under my roof and closed my eyes. I don’t remember falling asleep, but
I must have dozed off for a minute or two.

Hunter

“I’ve got to go back to the res and put a bag
together if I’m going to be staying here the next few days.” Charlie said but
he looked uneasy.

“Don’t like being away?” I asked.

“Naw, the res is my home. I love Jess and I
love it here, but the world out here is different.” He sighed and handed me
another plate. I rinsed it in the sink and put it in the dishwasher.

Out of all of my kind, I was pretty much the
only one that kept up with the human world and its technological advancements.
To ignore them would have just set me apart as ‘other’ more than I already was
and that was dangerous especially with a secret like mine. In short, I
understood where Charlie was coming from, probably more than he knew.

He and I had spoken candidly earlier in the
day while Jess slept and Aaron had yet to arrive. It was a risk, but one I had
to take if I had any hope of staying here, with Jess. Charlie had mulled things
over for far too long before finally saying, again, that he’d meant what he
said, if Jess ever told me to leave, I’d better do it or mythical creature or
no, Charlie would have me stuffed and mounted. I believed him and we’d shook
hands on it. Agreeing that Aaron was to be kept in the dark, that my name
matching with the missing owls was just as I’d said it was, a coincidence.

So far I had been lucky in that the Sheriff
Deputy and the Fish and Wildlife man hadn’t recalled about the owl with the
same name. Perhaps that was for the best, and we should just deal with that if
and when it came up. I rinsed a dish and put it in the bottom rack of the
dishwasher.

“The house here is about to become crowded.” I
mused out loud.

“Yeah, I won’t be stayin’ once Dave and Margie
get here. I was being a dick last night. There’s a spare room up on the second
floor. You could have taken that one.” He shrugged and I smiled.

“I know, I figured as much. I saw it when I
carried Jessamine up. When you took the room down here I figured you wanted me
on the couch to keep an eye on me.” I smiled and he grinned back.

“Here it was I thought I was being sneaky.” He
said. I had a moment to appreciate what Jess had said, about the truth being
freeing, at least when it came to this cagy old man, it had been. Still…

“You’re crafty, I’ll give you that Charlie,
but really, I understand you wish to get to know me but Jessmine is safe with
me.” I took the last dish, rinsed it and put it in the top rack.

“Under the sink,” Charlie provided, figuring I
was looking for the soap.

“You know I believe you Hunter, not sure why
but I do. Probably has to do with you tellin’ the truth and me comin’ from
where I do…  I’m still stayin’ here tonight but I am gonna leave her in your
care for a couple of hours. You can take the upstairs room tonight. My old
knees don’t like the climbing.” He dried his hands on a dish cloth and tossed
it over his shoulder. I added the requisite amount of soap and started the
dishwasher. Aaron came in from outside where we’d sent him to do a final check
on the owls.

“Everything is good out there.” He said and we
nodded, both Charlie and I, as one. We smiled at each other. For being so
suspicious of me, Jessamine’s family was oddly welcoming at the same time.

“You better git, kid. You have school
tomorrow.”

“Yeah, about that… I kind of don’t have enough
gas to get home. I used the last to get here. I know you guys needed the help...”
He colored red with embarrassment and wilted a little under Charlie’s scathing
look.

“Take m-mmm-my tr-r-uck.” Jessamine said from
the doorway. She looked a bit sleep tussled and had the quilt I’d used last
night wrapped about her shoulders. She looked delicate, almost broken, the
bruises on her face standing out in stark relief against her porcelain skin. I
felt an odd mixture of anger and desire. Even as battered as she was, she was beautiful.

“Gas cann-ns too.” She ordered after he’d
collected her keys. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the last of my
money and held it out. It wasn’t much with petrol prices the way they were but
in the face of so much generosity I felt the need to be a part of things too.

Everyone stilled, staring at the bits of green
paper in my hand.

“Take it, it isn’t much but it should get you
where you’re going until you can make more.” I shrugged a shoulder.

“I can’t take your money man.” Aaron groaned.

“You can and you will. I’ll pick up an odd job
somewhere, same as you.” I smiled a one sided smile. He took the money
reluctantly from my hand and nodded.

“I’ll pay you back.” He said.

“You don’t have to.” I turned to Jessamine.

“Go on kid, the sooner you get home the less
your mom will holler at you. I got a long drive ahead only to turn around and
come back.” Charlie grated out and he and Aaron left the house by the kitchen
side door.

Jessamine and I were finally alone and I could
tell, I had some questions to answer. She picked up her little erasable board
and the pen that went with it and indicated I should follow her to the living
room.

I switched on the lamp standing beside the
couch, the stained glass lamp shade depicting hanging wisteria blooms glowing
in jewel tones of purple and green. She sat heavily on the end of the couch
beneath the lamp and her pen flew across the board.

I took the end of the couch opposite her and
waited patiently, memorizing the graceful line of her neck as it disappeared
into her sweatshirt.

This was going to be uncomfortable for me, but
she was correct in her earlier assessment, in a way, this was also going to be
oddly freeing. I could count the number of times I had come clean to a human
about what I was, it was a low number. Further still I could count how many
times that the consequences of my actions weren’t disastrous and that number
was zero. It had been a very long time, hundreds upon hundreds of years.

This was a different time, but still, humanity
was not so very different in its attitudes then as it was now. I was taking a
very large risk in telling her anything more than she already knew. I caught
her staring at me and I gritted my teeth.

I get the impression you told Charlie, now
you can tell me… What are you?
She asked and
immediately erased what she’d written once I’d read it.

I prayed to my great grandmother, the mother
goddess
D
ôn, that I hadn’t and wasn’t about to commit a
horrible mistake. I closed my eyes and took a leap of faith, leveling this
woman with my gaze I told her the absolute unabashed truth…

“I am the son of a Welsh god and a construct
made for him by his Uncle, the sorcerous god Gwydion.” Her eyes grew a little
wide and she swallowed.

“Tell me.” She urged and relief flooded my
veins. I smiled at her momentary lack of stutter and tried to think where on
earth to begin.

Jessamine

I blinked momentarily stunned by what he was
saying. If I hadn’t seen him turn from an owl into a man and back again I would
be laughing. I would think him certifiably insane and would be calling the
police, but I know what I’d seen in the barn yesterday and so I did none of
these things. Instead I was surprised to hear the words “Tell me.” Escape my
battered lips without as much as a quiver in my speech.

The beautiful man on the end of my couch took
in a deep breath and let it out. He seemed just as surprised as I felt that I
wasn’t calling him barking mad. I waited patiently for him to find where to
begin as I was sure this was going to be a very long story.

“Do you happen to know the old Welsh myth of
Blodeuwedd?” he asked.

I know the myth has to do with a woman
being cursed into the form of an owl, but that is about it.
I answered him honestly. Of course the only reason I knew it was
because the story had an owl in it.

“Okay good, that’s a place to start.” He
looked relieved.

“So, uh, my father’s uncle Gwydion was both a
god and great sorcerer. He created Blodeuwedd, my mother from the flowers of
oak, broom and meadowsweet.” He checked to see if I was following.

“W-w-why?” I asked.

“My father, Llew Llaw Gyffes was kind of an
accident, an embarrassment to his mother, the goddess Arianrhod. So she cursed
him. Back then it was a big deal for a man to have a name, to be able to take
up arms and to take a wife, so she cursed him that he would never be able to
have a name unless she named him. My father’s uncle, Gwydion, felt bad about it
and tricked Arianrhod into naming her son. Llew Llaw Gyffes is what he got
stuck with. It loosely translates to ‘the fair haired boy with a good arm’.

She was kind of angry about it and so she
cursed my father again, this time that he would never be able to take up arms
unless she gave them to him. Well Gwydion figured a way around that too, which
really made Arionrhod angry so she slapped my father with another curse, that
he never be able to take a wife of flesh.”

My eyebrows went up and I tipped my head to
the side, considering him. I reached out and touched the back of his arm. He
felt like flesh and blood to me. He smiled and figured out pretty quickly what
I was doing because he went on.

“So Gwydion, that’s my father’s uncle, went to
his
uncle, Math and they put their heads and magic together along with
the flowers of the oak, broom and meadowsweet. They
created
my mother, a
woman of flowers not flesh, for my father thus negating my grandmother’s final
curse. Gwydion named her Blodeuwedd which means ‘flower face’, and just kind of
gave her over to my father.” Hunter scrubbed a hand over his face.

“My mother came into this world of magic by
the magic of these two but neither Math nor Gwydion ever bothered asking her if
she
wanted
to be married to Llew. She was as sentient as you or I and
was just forced into this marriage. It was simply how things were done then.
There was no such thing as justice…” he grimaced and I folded his hand between
both of my own. He took a deep breath. I could tell this was a source of
embarrassment to him and I hoped he would continue, though I don’t think I
could bear to make him, he had such raw pain imprinted across his features.

“Right,” he pressed on, so I let him.

“So there’s my mother trapped in a loveless
marriage with a man, having no say in any of it because she’s a woman and a
construct to boot… Eventually she would become the goddess of spring but during
that time, she was just a beautiful maiden and the wife of Llew Llaw Gyffes. She
spent as much time as she could outside my father’s castle, preferring her own
company to his. One day, while he was out doing whatever it was that he did,
the lord of the neighboring land of Penylln, a man by the name of Gronw Pebr
was riding by on a hunt. He happened upon my mother and well, yeah… they fell
in love.” He shrugged.

“There wasn’t any such thing as divorce in
their time, so in order to be together my father had to die. It’s a tricky
thing killing a god, especially a Welsh one. So many ridiculous conditions have
to be met, so in order to kill my father, my mother had to pretty much ask him
how it could be done.” He sounded bitter and I squeezed his hand in sympathy.

 “To make this long story a bit shorter, he
told her but it could only be done with a weapon that took an entire year to
forge. Gronw got to work on it and both he and my mother stole what time they
could together. Of course she still had to fulfill her duties as a loyal wife
in the meantime...” he let out a breath and rolled his shoulders. This was an
awful lot of his family’s dirty laundry being aired. I swallowed, and he
leveled me with his gaze, the light caramel color of his irises growing dark
with the retelling, expanding to wall to wall darkness with his distress.

He was looking at me with an owl’s eyes in his
beautiful human face and my heart began to break for him.

“She got pregnant with me,” he said, voice
cracking, “She gave birth to me and there was no question about it, I was my
father’s son. I look just like him. Anyways, she convinced my father that
Heliwr was a good name for me. It means ‘Hunter’,” he said but that went
without saying. I smiled and nodded. It suited him and it
was
a good
name.

“Anyways, she loved me, at least I was told
she did…” This was my second indication that this story was not going to have a
happy ending, my first was the obvious pain it caused him to recall the events.
I waited him out patiently and he began talking again.

“Some months after my birth, Gronw had his
weapon and my mother tricked my father into demonstrating just how he could be
killed. Gronw used the weapon on him and struck my father a grievous injury, however
before he could be finished off, my father turned into a golden eagle and flew
away. His uncle Gwydion found him and together Gwydion and Math nursed my
father back to health. With that accomplished, my father and Gwydion sought revenge
on both my mother and Gronw.” Hunter pursed his lips and was lost in memory for
a time.

“My father caught up with Gronw and killed
him. Gwydion went after my mother and cursed her.” He swallowed hard and his
tone and inflection switched to that of a recital…

“
You will not dare to show your face
ever again in the light of day, and that will be because of enmity between you
and all other birds. It will be in their nature to harass you and despise you
wherever they find you. And you will not lose your name - that will always be
‘Bloddeuwedd’… and he turned her into an owl.” he looked at me and I closed my
eyes.  

“He was angry and well, I’m half my mother so
guess what?”

“H-h-h-he h-h-half cursed y-y-you too…” I was
vaguely proud of myself for getting the words out with only moderate difficulty
but the look of raw pain on Hunter’s face squashed it. I did the only thing I
could think of to do and went up on my knees on the center couch cushion and I
put my arms around his broad shoulders.

He returned the hug and I sighed. His family
sounded more dysfunctional than mine without the added benefit of them being
gods and magic and things. I closed my eyes and breathed him in. He smelled
crisp and fresh like the outdoors. Of clean air and freshly fallen rain, earthy
like the forest beyond the borders of my yard.

“I’m so s-s-sorry.” I breathed and I meant it,
I mean I saw him change into an owl, I had to believe him… and I decided that I
did. If all this was true that meant that he’d been alive for a
very
long time and that was just too much for me to really wrap my head around. I
mean how
lonely
!

His arms went around me and he held me as if I
would break. I liked that about him. That as big and imposing as he was, that
he was so gentle with me. I appreciated it. He really was too nice, and a god,
or part god part magical creature… I swallowed hard.

How did a girl like me end up with a god on my
couch taking comfort from me? I was all torn up inside. I didn’t know what to
think or what to do. I wanted so much to tell him that I understood at least
some of what he’d been through.

I drew back and smiled at him, he gave me a
tentative smile in return before letting me slip back to my end of the couch.
We stared at each other a long time. I had so many questions but I didn’t know
how to ask.

I wanted to fix it for him so badly but I knew
better. When it came to ugly family matters there wasn’t any fixing it. No one
could hurt you like family. Hunter and I both sat there living proof of that.

I was in way over my head on this one. This
wasn’t a broken wing, this was a broken heart and they were much,
much,
harder
to mend.