Woman King (36 page)

I laid still for a minute, feeling the
outline of his body on mine. He smelled of cinnamon and cumin, like
some exotic spice out of the East. I suppose I was testing his
mettle as much as my own, but I could sense he was merely playing
with me. He had no intention of betraying his brother. We both
stayed silent apart from the sound my deep breathing, and then I
pushed him aside and got up to leave the studio.

“
Au revoir, mon frère.”

“
A bientôt
,” he said, with a mock
salute. “I will see you again, yes, and soon.”

Twenty minutes later, as I walked into my
house, I heard the phone ringing. The caller ID told me it was my
mother. I hesitated to pick up, cognizant of being only
intermittently in touch these last few weeks. I hadn’t been
avoiding her exactly, but there were so many events, so many
revelations, that I wasn’t feeling up to telling her everything.
Learning of my injuries from the robbery alone would have been
enough to send her over the edge.

She sounded happy when I answered, though I
gave off the vibe that I was very much on the move yet again. “Are
you coming or going? Do you have a minute to speak?”

“I’m just walking in from working out,” I
said, “What’s up?”

“My trip to Paris is coming up,” she said.
“I’m leaving in two days. I think I may have mentioned that I was
invited to show my paintings at the Left Bank gallery. It’s down
the way from the Musée d’Orsay on the Quai Malaquais.”

“Two days?” I said. “Is someone already in
Paris helping set up?”

“Yes, darling, you know me well enough to
know I would never agree to an exhibition on such short notice. I
chose the paintings weeks ago and an assistant flew ahead to get
started. The show doesn’t actually begin for two more weeks, but I
would like some time with my work to decide its final
arrangement.”

I was happy for her. Paris was her refuge, a
place she felt welcome and safe. The customs of the French and
their rituals were second nature, and I knew she would spend the
next few months at peace.

“Wonderful, I am so thrilled for you,” I
said, wanting to emphasize how I felt as she was heading out of the
country.

“You sound good too,” she said.

“I am,” I said. “The campaign is keeping me
very busy, but I’m enjoying myself. Gabriel is very pleased with
how things are going. I will have to mention your show. He keeps an
apartment in Paris; perhaps he will get a chance to see it after
the election is over.”

I felt a deep pang of alarm from my mother
across the phone line. “Mom, what is it?”

“Olivia, how old is Gabriel?” she asked.
“What does he look like?”

“I don’t know, I’m terrible at guessing, but
I would say he is in his mid-fifties,” I said, amused. “He has
salt-and-pepper gray hair, dresses like a Frenchman and has an
obsession with ordering everyone’s food and wine for them.
Why?”

“I’m curious about this man who has so
changed your life,” she said, trying to mask her anxiety. “I’ve
been meaning to ask you more about him, but it never came up.” The
worry she had so clearly transmitted was gone, but I sensed she was
still concerned about something.

“You needn’t worry, Mom. He has given me the
freedom to do great things.”

“I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry, and
to lobby. Would you consider coming to Paris when your work allows?
It would be nice to spend a few days with you.”

I thought about for it moment and knew that
it was the perfect place to escape to with William when the
campaign was finished. “Sure, I’d love to come,” I said. “Let me
look at my schedule and I will call you when I figure out the
dates.”

“Will you be coming alone?” my mother asked,
the tinge of concern back in her voice.

“No,” I said. “I will probably bring a
friend.”

“OK. I’ve taken a suite at the Ritz.
Extravagant, I know, but at my age I need the pampering. There will
be an extra room for you if you want it.”

“
Merci, maman, je t’aime.”

“Love you too,” she said.

After the conversation, I began to daydream
about walking the streets of Paris with William. It was romantic
and thrilling—except the part where I explained to my mother that I
have a vampire for a companion. I wasn’t sure how much she would
pick up, or how much I should tell her. I needed to discuss the
situation with William and see what he wanted to do. Meanwhile, my
conversation had thrown me off schedule, leaving me little time to
clean up. I raced upstairs, excited at the prospect of Paris in the
autumn, strolling carefree through the city’s magnificent
arrondissements.

****

Election Day is always a strange day for
campaign consultants. After weeks and weeks of nonstop work, there
is nothing to do now but wait. When a race is in play, it can feel
like the longest day of the year. The polls in California don’t
close until 8 pm and the results don’t begin to trickle in until an
hour or so later. That means that from the minute I wake up, and
then for another ten hours or more, I have to find a way to occupy
myself, hoping that in the end, all of my hard work pays off. Every
consultant has a different way of coping. I know some who arrange
long, extravagant lunches with friends. Others go into the office
and busy themselves with other projects. For me, it’s a rare day to
get in plenty of exercise.

On this Election Day I got up early, as I had
for the last several weeks. But instead of heading to Josef’s
studio, I had another idea in mind as I stared at William in my
bed. With a little prodding, he agreed to join me for a run in
Golden Gate Park.

“Let’s run to the beach and back,” I said, as
we stretched at dawn on the sidewalk in front of the house.

We jogged through the Music Concourse, its
rows of sycamores fading with autumn. A dozen Chinese senior
citizens were doing their
tai chi
exercises, accompanied by
traditional music coming from an old cassette player. We passed the
de Young and then quickly turned behind the museum and headed west
toward Ocean Beach. I looked up at the now-empty floors of the
tower, where we normally met with our colleagues. Still dark
outside, the copper skin of the building was illuminated by the
white glow of interior office lights, giving the building an odd,
artificial color.

“It’s amazing to realize this building leads
two lives,” I said as we jogged past.

“Sort of like you,” William said.

“I guess so,” I said. “All of us,
really.”

“A necessary evil,” he said. “Because in this
case, the truth is more complicated than the fiction.”

As we continued to run, I picked up on the
distinctive caw of a raven somewhere behind us. I stopped for a
moment to stretch and casually turned toward the noise, and there
atop a streetlight was a trio of the black birds. William, who’d
run a few paces ahead of me, realized I’d stopped and circled
back.

“Why’d you stop?”

“I was distracted by the ravens,” I said,
pointing. “I’ve never known them to be so bold, so early in the
morning.”

He eyed the enormous creatures with
disdain.

“Get out of here, you three!” he said, facing
in their direction. “Tell your master you’ve been discovered.”

The ravens didn’t move, nor did they make
another sound either. We were locked in a staring contest, making
me feel like a character in a Hitchcock film.

“They can understand you?” I asked quietly
under my breath.

“I’m guessing,” he said, never taking his
eyes off the trio. “You said it yourself, these birds are normally
not this active so early in the morning. I think they’re spies,
shape-shifters that report to someone, perhaps Nikola.”

“That’s odd. I don’t sense anything. How can
you be sure?”

“I can’t,” he said. “All I have is my
instinct, but their presence is odd.”

“Let’s ignore them,” I said. “You might be
right, but what can they tell him anyway?”

“OK,” William said. “But don’t say anything
you don’t want him to hear.”

“You mean Nikola?”

William nodded.

“Oh, but I should like to send him a
message,” I said.

“That’s exactly what I was afraid of,” he
said. “Say nothing, love. Let him know nothing of what you’re
thinking.”

Reluctantly, I agreed.

“Come on,” I said, turning my back on the
birds. “I feel like going over to Strawberry Hill instead of the
beach. We can run up the hill and look out at the Golden Gate.”

A few minutes later we turned onto the access
road that climbs up to Stow Lake, and followed the pavement until
we reached the opening for the trails that lead to the top of the
hill. Morning was in full swing for the creatures of the lake, the
ducks and geese quacking and honking, waddling back and forth as
they searched for their morning meals. Small pink crayfish were
crawling out of the muck onto the grass, creeping slowly toward a
point unknown. I marveled at the activity as we slowly zigzagged up
the dirt path, climbing up the hill, the city panorama coming into
view. Our climb finished, I paused with my hands on my knees to
catch my breath. I looked around for the gathering of fallen tree
trunks we’d first sat on months ago after the bluegrass festival
and pointed them out to William.

“Do you remember when we sat on those logs?”
I asked. “I told you my story and then you disappeared.”

“That’s not exactly how I remember it,” he
said.

“How do you remember it?”

“I kissed you,” he said. “I kissed you, and
then I disappeared.”

“That’s right,” I said. “I was so
disappointed. When I opened my eyes you were gone.”

“I was disappointed, too, darlin,” he said.
“But I thought it better to leave.”

“Did you know I would find you?”

“I hoped you would try.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” I said,
surprised at my admission. “I mean, I wanted you so badly, but I
didn’t realize…”

“I know,” he said. “That is why I decided to
leave that day.”

“And now?”

“Now,” he said, pulling me into his arms.
“Now I know that you
know
exactly what I’m thinking.”

What he was thinking is that he wanted to
kiss, so I obliged, several times over. And this time, when I
opened my eyes, he was still there, right by my side. The moment
wasn’t lost on me and I decided to make my long-term intentions
clear by mentioning Paris.

“My mother has invited me to visit her in
Paris,” I said. “She has an exhibition there. I told her I would
come for a few days to visit after the election. I thought maybe we
would go together.”

“You want me to meet your mother?” he
asked.

“Isn’t that normally what people do before
they get married?” I asked, hoping my proposal would make him
happy. “But I need some help. What should we tell her? Will she be
able to sense you’re a vampire…the way I can?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “We’ll have to see
when we get there. I have an apartment in Paris, the one my father
bought before the war. It’s near the Canal St. Martin. We can stay
there.”

“You still own an apartment in Paris…from the
war?” I asked.

William nodded. “After we’re married, I’ll
tell you more about our holdings. We’ve been very fortunate over
the years.”

“Can we have a ceremony?” I asked.

“If you can live with a judge instead of a
priest, then yes,” he said. “We can have a ceremony in Paris if you
like, or wait until we’re back home.”

I was already imagining a small café on the
Left Bank, or maybe inside the Hôtel de Ville, City Hall. And then
by chance I got to the part in my daydream where they say “till
death do you part,” and I caught myself wondering what life will be
like watching myself grow old, when he would not.

“I can hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about
that now. We have many years together before that is an issue.
Let’s enjoy our fortune in finding each other. Even human couples
have no guarantee that they will grow old together, Olivia.”

“You’re right,” I said, taking his hand in
mind. “Let’s take it one day at a time.”

We jogged back through the park and returned
home, no ravens in sight. By the time we showered and changed, it
was time for me to leave for Palo Alto. William said goodbye,
promising to meet me at the campaign offices later in the evening.
We would monitor things for a while from there, and then move to a
restaurant nearby that Levi had rented for the evening.

After I arrived at the office, I passed the
last few hours until the polls closed packing up boxes of
confidential documents and organizing the equipment and other
supplies we’d rented so they could be returned.

By 7 pm I was ready to check in with the
local news outlets and see what they had to say about election
results. I managed to stay calm most of the day, reminding myself
that our own internal polling had shown Levi ahead in the race by a
solid ten points for several weeks. The numbers for undecided
voters, however had not moved, making it possible we could still
lose the race if those votes went to Lacy.

Levi had texted me earlier, letting me know
he would see me at the bistro at 8 pm. I didn’t see any reason for
him to arrive sooner. Gabriel was also coming around that time, and
I suspected William, Lily and perhaps even Josef would follow. At
the last minute, I’d sent Josef a text inviting him to the dinner,
figuring I should include my future brother-in-law in our
plans.

Just as I turned on the local news a reporter
began discussing the station’s process of exit polling. It is
possible
to predict the outcome of a race using exit
polling, although not always. Exit polls, they said, showed Levi
Barnes as the winner. I could only hope they were right, I mused,
as I tried to stay busy for the final hour of voting.