OCR Text |
Show Motherlunge a novel 204 "We ended up at Lake Winnipesauke." Pavia's voice was the same as always-lowish, assured-sounding. She pulled Xavier into her chest and faced me and Eli. "Jack's folks' timeshare." She shook her hair off her forehead, and there it was at last: a small smile from Her, one compatible with fear. "Did Jack tell you...? We are together?" "Yeah." Eli and I answered together like a pair of backup singers, the What Ifs. Now Jack moved in on his wife and son to form a more symmetrical nativity, scene, the miraculous child at the center, the overhead light on the ceiling burning like a steady star. "And lo," I said. "Tidings of great joy." Eli stepped closer and put his arm around me. "Hmmm?" Pavia's eyes widened slightly. "You're not...pregnant? Are you?" She looked at Eli. I quickly shook my head. "Just glad you're back. Xavier missed you." At his mother's waist, Xavier grasped her dark hair and frowned with concentration. I could almost feel his body on my own hip again, his imperial heaviness. Xavier, my former prerogative, my phantom limb.... "You okay?" Eli asked into my ear. He pressed my shoulders against his side. "Thea?" Pavia's smile subsided as she looked at me. A person in ill repair in many ways, I couldn't help the leaking tears and the way my face-that bad contraption-was breaking down in bits and parts. "Eeeh," Xavier commented, glancing over at me. |