Blind Fate

Lycoris sat by the Christmas tree in her aunt’s large home, watching her father unwrap the gift she’d gotten for him.

“This is a beautiful book, Ly,” he said with a small smile. He pushed his glasses up his nose and peered at the cover-page, running his fingers over the red leather. “I’m surprised you remembered that The Great Gatsby is my favorite.”

“Of course I did, Papa. I remember you reading it all the time when I was little.” She smiled at the memories of sitting in the cozy living room of their old house, Papa reading in his big leather chair and Mama leafing through an old fashion magazine. She had been so beautiful, even after she got sick. Lycoris missed her mother terribly, especially at Christmas.

Thaliana got up and retrieved a small gift from under the tree. “My turn!” She grinned. “This is for you, bumblebee.” Lycoris blushed at the nickname from her childhood. She couldn’t bring herself to dislike the name, even if it was embarrassing. Both Aunt Thaliana and her mother had called her ‘bumblebee’, along with the rest of her mother’s family, back in Greece. Ly had never met most of them, but they emailed and called fairly frequently.

Ly took the gift and shook it teasingly. “What is it?” She asked. Thaliana simply gestured for her to hurry up and open it. Ly slowly tore off the paper, revealing a small rectangular box. She opened it and inside was a large antique opal locket. Lycoris opened it; inside was a small old-fashioned wedding photo on one side, and on the other a photo of her mother, perhaps sixteen years old and heart-stoppingly pretty. It was no wonder that the one visit Papa made to Greece was enough to fall in love with Osanna. People tried to tell Ly that she took after her mother in looks, but she didn’t see it—she knew she didn’t come close.

“It was your mother’s once,” Thaliana said of the locket. “It only had the one picture though. It’s our grandparents—your great-grandmother and –grandfather. I thought I would add a picture.” She smiled sadly and kissed Lycoris on the head.

“Thank you, Auntie. I love you.”

As Ly fastened her gift around her neck, she glanced at her father. He was running a hand through his short blonde hair, apparently engrossed in The Great Gatsby.

Unfortunately, Lycoris knew better. He always pretended not to be listening when they talked about her mother. Mama was twelve years gone and Papa was still broken. He had been so incredibly in love with his Osanna... When she got sick, he was everything for her—her caretaker and confidant and comforter. But when she died, part of him went with her. He never got that piece of himself back. More than a decade and he was still mourning her. Ly knew he would never love another woman.

As badly as Lycoris wanted to fall in love someday, she never wanted to be like him. She didn’t want to lose herself in a man. She wanted to keep herself.

It wasn’t just her father who’d given up things for love—her mother had been a budding model, slowly becoming popular in Greece, when she met a young photo-journalist from America. She fell in love with him, left her home and family and promising career at twenty-three to live in a country she’d never even visited. Three years later she gave up even her new job as a secretary to stay home with baby Lycoris.

Ly wasn’t sure she understood it, never having been in love. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be, if this was the result. It was too frightening.

Sure, in theory she wanted to be loved and cared for—she wanted to get married and have babies and live happily-ever-after... But at what cost? To be as wrecked as her father for the rest of her life? To live on as a ghost?

She’d really never spoken to her father about it, but she couldn’t imagine the pain. He was so changed after Osanna died, a mere shadow of himself. He couldn’t even bear to talk about his wife. Papa still had family—his daughter, his mother and his sister-in-law—but he still made himself alone.

-----

Jake was so ready to head back to his own apartment in New York. Not that Christmas with his family hadn’t been wonderful—it had—but his mother fussing over him and his father telling him over and over that it was time for him to get settled like his brother (which meant that Jake should get back together with Hayden) had gotten old after a few days.

It had been great to see his brothers and sister, and to see his niece again. She would be one soon, he thought with a grin as he wrestled his key into his door. She was a beautiful little thing, all fuzzy blonde hair and big bright blue eyes and tiny up-turned nose. Seeing her again had made Jake realize, regardless of his father’s pushing, that he really did want to settle down—someday. Once he found the right girl. Of course, that thought drew his mind in a direction that he didn’t want it to go.

Pushing away thoughts of hopeful brown eyes looking up at him, he reflected on his brother Daniel’s “soulmate”. He shuddered to even think the word. It was such a cliché. There wasn’t one right person for everyone, it simply didn’t make sense. If that was true, how could people get married and be happy for a while and then go and get married again after their spouse left or passed away? Danny’s “soulmate” was a tall, lanky girl with dirty blonde hair—a self-proclaimed “eco-activist” and vehement vegan. Trying to eat Christmas dinner with Miss Poppy River in the room, staring you down with disgust, was near impossible. The woman had even named his poor niece “Sparrow Snow”. If that wasn’t cruel and unusual, he wasn’t sure what was. Jake snickered, whispering “Sparrow Snow Finnegan” quietly to himself and cringing. It was a horrible name. Frankly, Jake thought Poppy was sort of a horrible woman. That didn’t change, however, that Dan seemed really happy. Jake and his sister had made bets on how long it would last, but Dan and Poppy had been married for four years now, and still seemed sickeningly blissful. Jake wasn’t sure that he understood, but he could at least accept it and pretend to be happy to see Poppy twice a year. Maybe when Sparrow was a bit bigger he would even go to Ohio to visit.

Jake smiled to himself, humming a bit as he unpacked his bags. It had been a nice trip, and he’d gotten a chance to drive his car—something that didn’t happen very much in the city. He couldn’t bring himself to give up the car he’d gotten for his sixteenth birthday—a beat up ’96 Volvo. It still ran alright, which was a near-miracle, but in New York it just didn’t make sense to drive when he could snag a taxi or take the subway. It was a five hour trip, but it was nice to just drive and think. Jake had left early that morning to avoid getting stuck in traffic, so he had some time to kill before dinner.

And five days before I have to go back to work!

Jake wasn’t a huge fan of New Years as a holiday, but every year he still took vacation for the end of December. It was nice to just hole up inside and stay warm for a bit before the year ended. There was rarely much to do around the office during that week anyhow.

He looked around his apartment. It felt so empty without Daisy scampering around, thwacking his knees (and nearly breaking them) with her tail every time he moved. She’d been at the dog boarders for five days, and he wasn’t picking her up until tomorrow. He couldn’t stay here. It was too vacant after staying in his parents’ full house, and without Daisy for company it seemed enormous. Jake decided he would have to distract himself. He went to the door and put his coat and gloves back on, eager to brave the cold outside if it meant he got to visit his favorite place.