She woke with a start, sat up, and called frantically, “Ron!” But he wasn't there. Oh God, I'm at home, in my own room. I was with Ron. I was! Jake’s booming voice rang in her head. She sank back and pulled the covers over her head. Maybe she could go back. Maybe, if she closed her eyes and wished hard enough she could leave this life. Run away. Go back. Be with Powers and Ron forever.
*
“What shall we do today?” Em turned off the TV after checking the news.
“I’d suggest golfing but it looks like rain.”
“Frank could take us to the gym for a workout. I haven’t had time to go for days. Would that be all right with you?”
“Sure, but I don’t have any workout clothes with me.”
Em could have told him not to worry. The stuff he needed would be there. “Let’s check the closet.”
Ron found shorts, T-shirt, socks, and runners. Em put on spandex tights and a navy blue T-shirt with “dos” on the back and “devant” on the front in large fluorescent orange letters. She tried to explain the word play to Ron but the subtlety was lost in the translation. Just as they were tying their shoelaces there was a knock on the door.
“How does he do that?” Ron asked.
“Frank? Mental telepathy. Come on.”
“We’re near the bar we were in last night,
right?” Ron said as Frank pulled up to the curb. “It’s just a couple of blocks over.” Em led the way to a door under a small sign that read simply, “Jake’s.”
“It figures,” Ron muttered. “Mr. Muscle doesn't even need a proper sign.” Em liked that he was a little jealous. She felt warm and loved.
A trio of old guys and two young women, whose babies slept peacefully in their strollers, ran on the treadmills. They greeted Ron and Em with waves and then left them alone.
Em worked with free weights and a stability ball doing exercises a policeman had taught her.
Ron watched her do flies with twenty-five pounds in each hand. He laughed.
“What?” Em wasn’t sure if she should be offended.
“Remembering my first workout with eight- pounders. My arms shook uncontrollably and Tony laughed, called it muscle fatigue.”
“I know that feeling. I was a body of flab when I first started working out.”
Jake came in midway through their workout. He watched them for a while and made suggestions. No kibitzing.
At the end of the workout, Ron and Em lay side by side on the mats, stretching. Em laughed at some silly pun of Ron’s.
“God, Em, I love that I can make you laugh.” Rita’s scoffing had taught him to curb his quips. Sandra had enjoyed his humor at first, but after a time the wit and word plays slid off with little or no acknowledgement. Em seemed to genuinely enjoy his repartee; another reason to love her, he thought.
Jake sauntered over and suggested drills. Em agreed. She took off her runners and socks and stashed them under the bench that held their towels. She removed her ring and asked Ron to hold it. He studied it carefully. The large stone had a flat dull gleam, which he realized was a contradiction of terms, but nevertheless a true description. Ron was still studying the ring when it winked at him.
He started and almost dropped it. “Em, your ring….” He shook his head in disbelief and looked almost stricken. Em didn’t even try to explain. How could she? All these months later and even after the visits with the voice, she didn’t really understand. The ring was as surreal as the rest of it.
*
Played with his head, there. Couldn’t resist. Elspeth huffed and defended Ron. And Mentor gave me hell of course.
*
Ron shook his head again and slipped the ring onto the end of his little finger. “Go.” He waved Em away. “I’ll watch.”
Em joined Jake in the center of the gym. They practiced footwork and sparring, both punches
and kicks, working their way back and forth across the room.
“It’s a drill, called lines,” the elderly attendant, James, explained to Ron.
Jake and Em alternated making offensive moves while the other provided a moving target. Their moves were slow, flowing, and controlled. Then they went to the mats by the ring to do some light sparring.
“Empty hands. No gloves,” James said. Ron winced
Em didn’t stand a chance against Jake but neither did she back away. Ron groaned each time a punch connected. He pictured new bruises he knew Em wouldn’t even notice.
Finally, Jake called time out. James gave them each a towel and a bottle of water. Between gulps Jake gave Em additional pointers and they played out certain punches and blocks over again. Em seemed proud to be able to show him a trick or two. Then Jake handed her her gi pants and top and a white belt. She took them and her face fell. She held up the belt. “White?” She looked at Ron, her face a mask of confusion. “I’ve a blue belt in jui jitsu now.” He moved towards her, but Jake was there first. Her training session wasn’t over yet.
Jake called out to the young guys who had come in about half an hour earlier. There were six of them, high school students, loaded down with backpacks and team jackets. They were strong and fast with the agility and quick reflexes of youth.
They circled Em and took turns attacking, ambushing her, some with plastic knives, and others with sticks or mock guns. She used every takedown she knew to defend herself.
*
If what came before shocked Ron, this made him physically ill. Shocked me too even though I knew she’d be okay. I hated watching her in the dojo. Why she insisted on martial arts for her workouts baffled me. What was wrong with yoga, or Pilates, or running?
Elspeth puffed up at that moment, ending her run with a good sprint. “Hey, Bro, how the heck are ya?” She punched my arm.
My mouth fell open. “Elspeth!” She giggled. “You're seeing entirely too much of Earth life, if you're talking like that.”
“Gotta admit it's kinda cool.” She jogged on to the gym, waving a hand over her shoulder at me. Big sister or not, she had no business dropping our traditions and ways. I'd have to have a serious talk with her.
*
Em backed away from an armed attacker, hands raised, as if pleading for mercy. An instant later, she was on her back on the ground, toy gun in hand, aimed at her assailant.
“Just where did you learn that?” Jake demanded.
“From the soldiers.”
“Soldiers?” one of the boys asked. “They know everything.”
“Show us,” Jake said. Em broke the move down into its component parts and had the guys practice. Then she showed them two more ways to face an attacker with a gun.
Soon they were back to what Jake called the “circle of love” and she was attacked again. Jake
watched as she grappled with whichever of the boys had been able to take her down, encouraging her to use strategy rather than brute force.
Over and over again Ron watched Em defend herself. He was both torn with a desire to turn away, but held in a trance that kept his attention glued to the scene. By the time it was over Ron’s whole body ached and he felt slightly sick to his stomach.
Finally, Jake seemed satisfied with the training session. He examined Em's hands and sent her off to cool-down and stretch. He came back with an ice pack for the bruised and swollen knuckles of her right hand, said he’d launder her gi and put it away for next time. Ron winced when he heard that. Jake walked Ron and Em to the car, hugged her and shook hands with Ron.
Em groaned as she lowered herself into the car slowly and gingerly. “I’m too old for this,” she said.
“You could always give it up,” Ron said encouragingly.
“No way!” She stifled a yawn and groaned as she reached for her seat belt. “Ouch!” She rubbed her shoulder.
“It’s too much fun.”
“Fun! God Em, that was brutal.”
“Actually, I like Predator and Prey better. It’s a game where—”
“No, don’t tell me,” he said.
“I don’t want to know.”
Em closed her eyes and drifted off.
Ron slipped her ring off his little finger and studied it. What do you see in the ring, Em? He'd asked her about it once. “It tells me things,” she’d said. “Tells me where I’ll go and what I’ll have to do. What to watch out for.” He looked at the ring half expecting another wink but the stone was flat and dull. He slipped it on her finger.
Such an enigma, this woman he loved.
*
Ron went back to the gym some days later with Tony. Jake met them as they entered, greeted Ron cordially, and looked Tony up and down critically with his usual scowl.
“Cool space you’ve got here, man,” Tony said as he checked out the gym. He headed to the far wall and chatted with three youths working out. Ron watched Jake, wary of his reaction. He wanted Jake’s approval of his best friend. Ron hoped to work out here regularly, another way to stay closer to Em, and he wanted Tony to come with him. Jake glowered. His gaze never left Tony. Ron’s attention was diverted by a burst of laughter from the youths with Tony.
Tony eventually returned to join Ron and Jake. “You’ve got good equipment,” he said to Jake. “Having trouble with my back. Acupuncture and massage help but not enough. What would you suggest?”
“You a dancer?”
“Yeah.”
“Lifting the girls?” Tony nodded. Jake turned to Ron. “He’s okay, but don’t bring no others.” He took Tony by the arm and Ron could hear bits and pieces of a medical discussion. From then on, they went to Jake’s regularly and before long felt comfortable with Jake and the crowd who worked out there. Tony’s back improved steadily and Ron got stronger and leaner.
*
Wasn't that just jim dandy? I pounded the arm of my chair. Em would probably think Ron looked sexier than ever now.
“Oh, look at Ron.” Elspeth cooed. I swear she was drooling. “Hum, maybe I should take my honey to the gym with me.”
I was so mad I wanted to spit.
*
It was late afternoon by the time Ron and Em arrived back at the house after their workout. In spite of a mad dash through the pounding rain they arrived in the foyer soaked. Ron dried off and started a fire to ward off the chill while Em showered. After his shower, they curled up in front of the fire. Em had brought over a bottle of Muscat, two glasses, and a plate of freshly cracked walnuts.
Ron helped himself to some walnuts raising an eyebrow quizzically.
“With my teeth.” Em laughed and handed him the bottle to open. She also had a pile of books by Nick Bantock. “These are so clever. Look, they have envelopes with letters on some of the pages. Others are postcards and Bantock's art is amazing.” They read aloud, playing the roles of Griffin and Sabine, pulling the letters out of the envelopes, unfolding them with care and stopping often to admire and discuss the art.
By the end of the third book, Ron was convinced that Sabine was a figment of Griffin’s imagination or that she was the other half of Griffin’s split personality. Em believed that Sabine was real and did exist. Ron accused her of being an incurable romantic.
“And you’re not?” Em's eyebrows rose. “No one has ever accused me of being romantic.”
“What about us?”
“Are you suggesting we’re like Griffin and Sabine?”
“Aren’t we?”
“But we’re real.”
“So are they.”
“You win!” He grinned. “Are you sure you’re not a lawyer? Don’t move,” he said as he rose and went to the bedroom. He came back in a few minutes and settled beside her. “Em, I have something for you,” he said hesitantly. She hadn’t wanted to accept any gifts from him in Greece and he hoped desperately that she would accept this.
Ron handed her a small box covered in faded blue velvet and seemed to brace himself, as if expecting her to hand it back. Em gasped as she lifted the hinged lid. “Ron, these are beautiful.”
Ron had marshaled all of his arguments as to why she should accept his gift in one compelling speech rehearsed over and over again, even in his sleep. He rehearsed it yet again as he waited for the inevitable no, but it never came.
*
Guardian and damn. She was going to accept it. A gift! From him! The man who had taken my rightful place in her heart.
She removed the earrings carefully from the box and put them on. Diamonds. A girl’s best friend. She liked them, no question. Why do you think I chose that ring from the Antiquities room? Solid diamond.
My heart ached as I watched her reach for Ron’s hand and lead him to the bedroom. She stopped in front of the mirror where she could admire the earrings. Ron stood behind, his arms wrapped around her waist.
She’d accept his gift this time. She felt she had to. She understood his need for a tangible connection. She understood because she needed that connection to him too. She prayed that she wouldn’t lose the earrings in a transport or in her other life, but she had no intention of taking them off, ever.
Hopelessly outmaneuvered by an oafish human bearing a little gift. I felt hollow. I gulped tears and then let them flow for there was no way I could go down to Earth and give her a gift to show my love.
The diamonds sparkled in the light. Their gold settings shone dully. Like her wire bracelet.
“These are old, aren’t they? Have been well loved? Where ever did you find them?” Em said.
“I searched for a long time. I found them in a small shop in London.”
Don't look so Guardian damned smug, buddy. Mentor found them for you.
Ron shivered and glanced around the room fearfully.
“What's wrong?” Em turned from the mirror and placed her hands on his chest. “Your heart's beating a mile a minute.”
“I felt ... something.”
That something was me of course, I wanted to throw him off balance, disrupt his smug pleasure with Em, but Mentor snuck up from behind just then.
*
Em looked at Ron worriedly. “I’m okay,” he said. “Really.” He scanned the room again as if looking for someone or something, and then shook his head. Em wondered if Powers…. No, surely not. He wouldn’t bother with something like this.