Authors: A.J. Downey
Hunter
The day had been too long for Jess, I could
see it in the lines of exhaustion taking up residence on her fair face. Once
inside the house I helped her out of her clothes and into bed. Her skin was
chill against my own and I pulled the extra blanket folded at the foot of the
bed over us. She cuddled in close to me and I kissed her forehead.
I did not regret my decision, calling upon
Gwydion for help. I was, however, beginning to regret taking her with me as I
had. She fell into an exhausted yet troubled sleep as I held her to me and I
sighed.
I was glad to be here, with her, despite the
obstacles in our path. I had asked Gwydion for one other thing before he had
taken his leave. Papers. A birth certificate denoting that I was a man of
twenty-nine years born of the United States to an American mother and an
Englishman father. I also wanted a passport showing multiple trips between
America and England from my youth until now. I wanted Jess and I to be able to
marry within a normal course of time. So too did I wish to find employment
nearby. In this day and age, having the correct papers was so much a part of
that and in order to thrive and grow into a life with Jessamine I would need
such things to seed the way.
Jessamine stirred in her sleep and I kissed
her forehead. She quieted once more and I wondered what he’d told her. It had
to be more than what she was telling me to cause her to cringe as she had.
It didn’t really matter.
He would hurt her over my dead body.
I closed my eyes and willed sleep to claim me.
Tomorrow would be a new day, the first of the rest of our lives, even with our
future uncertain.
Jessamine
I didn’t like to hurry up and wait, but while
I was and daily life was slow providing no distraction, I decided to do some
homework. I was sitting in my small office at the animal hospital staring at
the Google search screen. I could ask what Hunter what Gwydion had meant but I
still didn’t think it was a good idea. I entered ‘Welsh Gwydion’ into the search
box.
The first two returns were Wikipedia articles
which I dismissed in favor of the third which was a webpage associated with
Princeton College. I read the article completely, twice over which concerned
several legends associated with Gwydion. The first was about how he assisted
his brother Gilfaethwy in raping a virgin woman by the name of Goewin.
According to that legend, Goewin was the virgin foot holder of Gwydion and
Gilfaethwy’s Uncle Math who would die without a virgin to hold his feet when he
wasn’t in battle.
Apparently Gwydion went on to throw his own
sister Arianrhod under the bus by suggesting she replace Goewin who he had
started a war to distract Math from her so Gilfaethwy could rape her. Math was
suspicious of Gwydion though, so he used his magic to test Arianrhod who gave
birth to a boy on the spot who was named Dylan. Ashamed by being called out on
her lack of virginity she took off but not before a lump of flesh dropped from
her which Gwydion picked up and put into a chest at the foot of his bed.
I sped read through the rest of it as it made
me pretty queasy to think about it, but apparently the small lump of flesh that
dropped from Arianrhod became Hunter’s father, Llew, and the father of Llew?
Probably the child of Arianrhod’s rapist which was assumed to be Gwydion.
Awesome, so far Gwydion started wars with
trickery in order to help his brother rape his crush, had potentially raped his
own sister and had offspring with her, and then went and threw her up under the
bus of public humiliation. I sat back and had to wonder how Hunter had turned
out to be such a good and loving man after being raised by such a monster.
I was suddenly very, very glad that I hadn’t
asked Hunter about any of this and I paled when I read between the lines of
what Gwydion had said to me. Seems in addition to being a great sorcerer and
the trickster god of the Welsh, Gwydion was the poster child for rape and
mayhem. I chewed my lower lip and had a sudden aching need to hug Hunter.
I thought my childhood had been messed up.
Good God. I closed out the window and got up, stretching and went back out
front. Jodi looked up from behind the front desk and smiled.
“What’s up chica?” she asked. I screwed up my
face and shrugged.
“I know, it’s been a while since we’ve been so
quiet.” She smiled and looked out the window past me.
I turned to see Aaron’s little tan rust bucket
of a truck stop in front of the bay of windows. Hunter climbed out of the
passenger side and Jodi let out a low whistle of appreciation. I smiled from
ear to ear. He opened the door to the lobby and stopped, a bouquet of wild
flowers in his hand.
“Hey.” He said softly.
“H-h-hi.” I gave back tentatively,
self-conscious of my coworker’s stare.
“Who’s this Jess?” Jodi asked curiously.
Hunter came fully into the lobby and held the flowers out to me. I took them
and smiled. He stuck his hand over the counter at Jodi.
“Hunter Grayson.” He said by way of
introduction.
“You’re Jess’ Hunter?” Jodi asked blinking and
I blushed. Hunter looked at me and smiled.
“Absolutely, yes I am.” He said and I went to
him and hugged him, sighing in contentment.
I rested my chin on his chest and looked up
the short distance at him. He smiled down at me and kissed the tip of my nose.
“Wh-wh-what are y-y-you doing here?” I asked.
“Thought I would surprise you. Felt like
getting away from the house for a bit, I’ve run out of projects. Aaron came by,
we took care of the birds and he said he would give me a ride out here. Thought
I could explorer a bit. Mostly I just wanted to see you.” He bent and kissed me
for real then and I smiled against his lips. I felt a touch guilty having kept
him for myself these last few weeks.
“Wow Jess…” Jodi said and I turned. She looked
both happy for me and impressed. I blushed again and Hunter laughed.
“Meet you back here in a few hours?” he asked
softly and I nodded my agreement.
“See you then.” He went back out and met up
with Aaron who waved at me through the glass. I waved back, and looked down at
the splash of color in my hand.
“Let’s go find some water for those.” Jodi
said and I nodded. We went into the back and arranged them artfully in a spare
vase left in the little kitchenette portion of the break room. I set them out
at the receptionist desk for everyone to enjoy and went on my rounds. Suddenly
the day couldn’t end fast enough.
It was nice to have a slow Thursday every once
in a while. Thursday was my Friday after all, but for once I could have killed
to have a busy day. I checked on all of our patients, and even pitched in on
some of the technician work, cleaning cages and the like.
It felt like the clock was mocking me. Every
time I looked at it, it seemed only five to ten minutes had passed. Finally it
was six and as I was picking up my jacket and purse I heard the lobby door
chime.
“Hey Hunter, she’ll be right out,” I heard Jodi
say, followed by, “Jess! Hunter’s here!” I went out front and sure enough there
he was, smiling. A canvas tote bag over his shoulder. He held it out to me.
“A change of clothes. I am under orders from
Charlie to take you away from the house for some fun.” He smiled at me, I
smiled back and traded him my jacket for the bag. I slipped off to the bathroom
and changed from my fur laden scrubs into the jeans and blouse in the bag. It
was a peasant like blouse I usually wore in the summer. Scoop necked and embroidered
with lavender sprigs along the neckline and down the long sleeves which were
gathered in a simple no frills cuff at the wrist.
I tucked the white blouse into my jeans,
grateful I had on a white camisole under my scrub shirt. The blouse would have
been too see through otherwise. I threaded my brown leather belt through the
loops on my jeans and buckled it and pulled down my ponytail, running fingers
through my hair until it was as presentable as I could make it. A little lip
balm and I was as good as I was going to get.
I returned out front. Jodi and Hunter were
talking about the bird festival next weekend, she was filling him in on what to
expect and he listened politely even though he’d been present for enough
conversations between me and Aaron that he should know everything and then some
twice over about it.
“Ready then?” he asked me. I nodded and
shivered internally at the way he raked his gaze over me.
“It was nice meeting you Hunter,” Jodi was
saying, “You two have fun. You know where you’re going to go?” I shook my head
and Hunter smiled.
“I heard about a bar playing live music
tonight over in Port Townsend, I thought maybe dinner and then drinks?” I raised
my eyebrows. Charlie and Aaron must have planned this, Hunter’s closed lipped
smile pretty much told me what I needed to know on that front. I smirked and
put my hand in his, waved to Jodi and we were out the door.
“Charlie suggested it was time to get out and
have a real date.” Hunter confirmed my suspicions. We climbed into my truck and
I started the engine.
“I l-l-like keeping y-you to m-mm-myself.” I
mock pouted. He laughed.
“I love keeping you to myself too, but at some
point we need to join the rest of the great wide world love. Do you know where
the Siren’s Pub is?” he asked. I nodded, it was in Port Townsend nestled in the
heart of old downtown on the main drag.
Port Townsend was a small Victorian town
nestled on the North Eastern tip of the Peninsula and was surrounded on three
sides by water, to the East lay the Salish Sea, the North, the Strait of Juan
de Fuca and to the South, Port Townsend Bay. Fort Worden State Park provided a
small buffer between the town and the Strait to the North but not much of one.
Siren’s Pub was on the East side of Water St. on the second floor of an old
Victorian brick building.
Hunter held my hand on the hour long drive,
the radio playing softly in the cab of my truck. It was a comfortable silence
and I appreciated that he didn’t feel the need to always fill it. He would
raise the back of my hand to his lips every so often and plant a gentle kiss on
my skin. It drove me a little crazy and it was a concentrated effort not to
turn down my driveway when we passed it.
I found a spot along Water St. and parked. The
sign to the Siren was visible just up the block so we locked up the truck and I
went around to the sidewalk. Hunter stood, hand outstretched for mine and I
smiled, taking it. We walked up the side walk at a leisurely pace, looking into
shop windows and just enjoying the early spring evening.
It was chilly this close to the water with a
brisk wind coming off the waves. I brushed an errant lock of hair out of my
eyes and ducked into the doorway with the Siren’s shingle over it. It was a
long climb up a straight and narrow flight of carpeted stairs but it was worth
it.
The atmosphere in Sirens was warm and
inviting. The hardwood floors and tables were dark, rich wood. The walls
painted a deep red with just a touch of brown to them. The edges to the
doorways and windows were painted a hunter green, accenting the walls and
giving the bar a rustic, cozy feeling. White Christmas lights crisscrossed the
ceiling providing a diffuse ambient light, enough to see by, while little
crystal oil lamps flickered invitingly at each table.
We were seated at an intimate little two
person table near one of the many windows that looked out over the unused deck,
still too cold, and beyond that, the gently rolling waters of the
small
Salish Sea and Port Townsend’s ferry dock. A white and green Washington State
Ferry bobbed gently at its pier in the light of the setting sun as cars and
passengers disembarked.
Hunter took my coat, hanging it gently on the
back of my chair and pushed my chair in for me. I smiled at his old fashioned
gentlemanly ways and loved every minute of it. He took his jacket off and sat
across from me. He was in his comfortable, work worn jeans and had on a new,
inky black tee shirt that hugged his chest and arms and made my heart skip a
beat. Our waiter came and took our drink orders while the band that was playing
set up in the corner.
Self-conscious due to our very public venue I
resorted back to pointing at the menu and writing in my little leather bound notepad,
glad I had plenty of paper. I think I was more reassured than anything that
this was Hunter’s idea, that he
wanted
to be seen with me.
Who’s playing?
I
asked.
“An Irish folk band. Aaron assured me you
liked their music.” Hunter smiled, “He said if you liked Loreena McKennitt that
you would like this particular band. He said that was the music you played in
your kitchen while you cooked.” He was watching me and I was smiling like a
loon. I hadn’t realized Aaron paid so much attention, Hunter was turning out to
be quite detail oriented himself. It warmed me to my toes that he had planned
this entire evening with me in mind.
What other surprises do you have up your
sleeve?
I asked.
“I have a job, and this is all paid for by
me.” He propped his chin in his hand and smiled across the table at me. I
blinked several times to see if I had heard him correctly.
A job? When!? Where!?
He laughed, his eyes sparkling.
“As of Monday. Charlie has been taking me
after you’ve gone to work and has been getting me back just before you get
home. It’s at a hardware store in Sequim, it’s not much, only a few days a week
to start, but I wanted to surprise you, take you someplace nice.” He grinned.
So Charlie is in on this, is Aaron too?
“Yes. They’ve been taking care of the owls so
I could do this.” He smiled and I was filled with a mixture of joy, pride and
love for all three of them.
The waiter came back with our drinks and for
our food order and we both laughed when we both ordered the Shepherd’s Pie. He
set down a Finn River Cider in front of me and some sort of amber colored beer
in front of Hunter.
The band, having completed their set up and a
short sound check was introducing themselves. It consisted of three men and one
woman with more instruments than people on stage. Hunter and I watched as they
introduced their first song, an old English favorite, Green sleeves. I smiled,
recognizing the title and we settled in to listen.
The woman sang for the most part, one man
played a haunting violin, another the guitar and the third a guitar like
instrument I had no name for. The girl played a keyboard while she sang and
they were all very good. We listened, ate and drank and I watched Hunter. At
certain points his eyes shone with pride, and at others with nostalgia. The
play of emotions on his beautiful face were almost more entertaining than the
music itself. From time to time he would catch me looking at him and would
smile at me and my smile would get that much bigger.