Saved and SAINTified (41 page)

Xenia
flung the sheets violently off her body, jumped out of the bed and stormed off into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. He looked at the closed door for several seconds, sighed, and fell back onto the bed.

Uh-huh
, that went well.

“So I guess this means no sex tonight?”

There was no response.
He knew she wouldn’t understand. He knew that no matter how close they were, Xenia dealt with facts and figures and this simply didn’t compute. She didn’t recognize how he knew the things he did, or the feelings he got—which confirmed the actions he was taking, regardless of how it appeared. He was more right than wrong, but all she knew—and he understood it—was that her baby was in jeopardy. He didn’t know if she trusted him to do what he promised, take care of the situation once and for all. He had help, he had understanding, and his dreams continued to fuel him with much needed information. Just as his father had told him.

Everything you need to know, you will know in time
...

And he was right.

Saint waited for his Goddess to calm down.

He slowly sat up and removed his clothing until he was down to his boxers. He sat back on the bed, turned the television on and leaned back against the headboard
, flipping through the channels, looking for something, anything, that would distract him from the fact that shit was about to get
real
...

****

A few hours later...

“Mrs. Aknaten, this is all that I brought
,” Beset explained as she opened her bag further, offering full disclosure for Xenia’s observations. “I want nothing from you.” She removed her hijab from her head, exposing long silver waves with strands of black throughout. “But, I want you to be comfortable with me. I wish to do no harm.”

“Beset
.” Xenia put her hand on her hip. “You could be sweeter than sugar, I have no idea, but I’m very protective of my children. Saint is as well, but I’m sorry, he is not their mother and he sometimes thinks everyone is as good and caring as he is.”

“I understand. Ask me all of the questions you wish. I’m here for you and I
am also a midwife.”

“But I don’t know you
. Yet I’ve been given a line that you are here to help protect me and my child from this Nizsm person. My life revolves around my family. I use a little time for my career, which is also important to me, but... ”

“I know that you do. I know much about you. You are the mistress of the house and you are a very good mother and wife. What can I do to help you trust me?”
she said in a stilted accent.

“A background check would be nice!”
Xenia hissed. “Saint!” she called out, turning briefly away from Beset as she leaned against the door frame. He was downstairs, fixing the boys breakfast. She’d had a night of no sleep, tossing and turning and keeping an eye on the boy’s cameras in their rooms. She went as far as to lock them inside, just in case.

Xenia
stormed out the guestroom and stood at the top of the steps, her hand on her hip. “Saint! Can you come up here, please?” She tried to take the edginess out of her tone but was certain she’d failed.

“Yeah, baby
, give me a second,” he hollered back. She heard the refrigerator door close.

Xenia
returned to the guest room and stood by the door, staring at Beset, who sat meekly on the bed, slumped forward, her hands clasped together and back bent. A few moments later, Saint came up the stairs and stood behind Xenia. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She wriggled out of his grasp and turned toward him, her finger in his face.

“Beset and I have been talking for a while now, and I’m still not sure about this. It feels strange to me. You are
enough
strangeness for me to have to deal with. Now this,” she said between clenched teeth, not caring that she’d taken a jab at him for the sake of argument.

“
Xenia, if you want our lives to be back the way they were, then this is what’s necessary. You should know that I’d never bring someone into our home to live with us and be around you and our children, if I didn’t trust them.”

“You trusted Payton at one point in time, too
,” she said under her breath. “And look what she tried to do to us.”

“Now that was just a low blow
.” Saint looked down at Beset who appeared to be unwilling to make eye-contact. “Anyway, she wasn’t brought to our house, to be around our children. There’s no comparison. You wanna fight, Xenia? Is that it? We have a serious problem here, and you want to bring up Payton’s ass?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Do you want to stand here, wasting time and arguing, or get down to business?” His eyebrows furrowed. Xenia looked away over her shoulder at Beset then back at her glaring husband. She threw up her hands and crossed her arms over her breasts.

“S
aint, I’m sorry. I’m just a little shocked right now, okay? I don’t like people I don’t know around the children for extended periods of time. Couldn’t she stay at a hotel? What do we do now?”

“
Maybe I should go,” Beset said, embarrassment on her face.

S
aint looked at the old woman with a grim expression.

“Mommy!!! Can we go outside?” Hassani called out. “We finished eatin’!”

“No!” Saint responded before Xenia had a chance to reply. “Wait until I come back down, Hassani.” Then he addressed his wife. “Xenia, she needs to be with you. So, that won’t work.”

“I
have something that will help you, so you can rest easy until the baby is born.” Beset turned and reached into her bag. She removed a small satchel. I made this right before I headed to the airport, for you, Mrs. Aknaten.”

Xenia
hesitated. “What ... what is it?”

Beset shot a look at S
aint.

“Tell her,” he encouraged as he took
Xenia by the hand.

“Mrs. Aknaten, if
Nizsm wants Isis dead, then
dead
is what we will give him.”

Xenia
gasped and snatched her hand away from Saint. “I won’t! I won’t do it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, making her way across the room as fast as her feet could carry her. She stood in the corner like a trapped animal ready to strike. Saint raced toward her and grabbed her flailing arms, but not before being struck repeatedly in the face. His cheek burned but he was more concerned about the shocking, ferocious display right before his very eyes.

“
Xenia! Baby, no!”

H
e blocked her repeated attempts to strike his face and body. She was in an uncontrollable violent rage and she knew it took more strength than he’d anticipated to hold her in place. She knew deep down she was no match for him, but she had to fight with all that was in her.

“It’s not like that! I will put the powder in your drink but the baby will be f
ine! I’d never ... Xenia!” He blocked another attempted blow. “I’d never try to hurt our child!”

Xenia
began to slowly calm down, but she was afraid to completely let down her guard. She kept her fighting stance ... just in case.

“It makes it seem as if the baby’s heartbeat has stopped, okay? The baby will still be alive and healthy, but it masks the heartbeat for
Nizsm—so that he will believe that she is dead and that we did what he asked. That way, you can be left alone during the pregnancy, and she can be born with no interjections. Now calm down, it’s okay.”

He held her tightly, hugging her to his chest with determination.
Xenia couldn’t stop trembling.  She could feel his rapid heartbeat and smell his skin, his cologne. The calm returned. At that moment, her love for her unborn child tripled. The thought of possibly being tricked, cornered by her husband and this strange woman, sent her over the edge and she’d climb the walls to get away from them if she had to. She ceased shaking and hugged him back with all of her might. 

“Look
.” He pulled away from her, gripping her shoulders as the tears continued to flow down her cheeks. “I know it’s scary, baby, but we are in this together. You know me better than that!” Xenia detected anger in his voice, but she knew he could sympathize with her reaction, so he’d let it go.

“I would
never
ask you to do some shit like that. Whether we were married or not, had other kids or not, only a penny to our name ... I would
never
ask you to end a pregnancy. That’s
my
baby, too! That’s
my
seed; we
made
this baby! Nobody, and I mean,
nobody
, goddamn it,” He forced her gaze up to his. “Nobody, is going to take this baby away from us, do you
hear
me?” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, seriousness in each syllable he uttered.

Xenia
nodded, then lowered her head again and hugged him so tight, she thought she may break him in half. After a few moments, she regained her composure. She looked around Saint’s body, at the old lady, but didn’t let him go. He affectionately kissed the side of her face and gently stroked her hair.

“Okay, Beset. I give up. Fear no longer has any room
in this situation,” Xenia choked out. “What is the plan?”

S
aint rubbed her back in appreciation.

“Mrs. Aknaten, all you need to do is to continue to grow the baby and enjoy your life. Be happy so
Isis knows that her mother is okay. She is very connected with you. She lives for you,” she looked at Saint, “and her father. She knows you well. She chose you to be her parents. Just, uh … what is that word?
Rejoice
, yes. Rejoice in that and I will take care of other things.”

****

Xenia sat in Saint’s office alone, with only the glow from his laptop illuminating the room. She tried to busy herself with work related tasks, only to be completely derailed time and again. Her brain was a runaway train and there was no end of the line. This was Saint’s private sanctuary, but he allowed her in without a word. He always knew when she needed time alone, and this was one of those times.

She picked up her warm glass of water and took the final sip, then turned on the desk lamp and swiveled around to look at her husband’s extensive library—alphabetized pornography, novels, tapes for shows and DVDs for sex techniques. It still always made her laugh but this time, she was barely able to muster a smile.

What if Saint is wrong? What if this Beset person really wants to kill our child? I know that he trusts her. I can see that, but, I just don’t know.

She turned back toward the computer and slumped down in her seat.

We’re in a world of a mess. I fell in love with him; there was really no way to escape that. But now, look. I never expected this. I love the man he is, not this—but that’s not fair. This is who he is, and I accepted it. He showed me who he was early on. I was afraid then, and I’m still afraid. When in the hell will I stop being scared? I told them both I’d do what was necessary, but I don’t think I want to do this. Can I change my mind? We’ve been together seven years. I trust him. But not with this. Do I? Oh my God, what am I going to do?

She reached down to her stomach and slowly rubbed her tummy, refusing to cry again. Just then, a soft knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.” Xenia looked up and rubbed her eyes.

Beset peeked her head inside. “Saint said you were in here. Do you mind if we talk for a little while?”

The woman’s smile was warm. Xenia couldn’t deny it—she looked completely innocent but she knew, from experience, that looks could be deceiving.

If this woman was able to get out of
Egypt, convince Saint she was there to help and make a concoction to hide a baby’s heartbeat, the old lady was far from stupid and way past naïve.

“Sure,”
Xenia said begrudgingly.

Beset walked in and sat down across from her, the desk being their divide.
Xenia felt suddenly warm all over, as if Beset had brought an invisible ray of sunshine upon her entrance.

“
Xenia, I would like to tell you more about myself.” She clasped her hands tightly on her lap. “I am going to tell you some things I haven’t discussed in a very long time because it was too...”

“Upsetting?”
Xenia offered.

“Yes, upsetting for me. I told your husband already that Nizsm killed my daughter. Well, actually he read me, but I confirmed it. However, I didn’t get into the other details. Like you, despite my abilities, I’m considered a commoner. I am not an Angel Child. I have the gift of intuition, but that is all. Thanks to that intuition, however, I’ve had dreams about your husband for a long time. I knew he was coming, so I watched and waited. My husband,
Xenia, was an Angel Child, just like Saint. I was in your shoes. The life of an Angel Child’s wife isn’t always easy, especially if your spouse is as gifted as Saint.”