A few hours later I arrive at the venue wearing a black tuxedo and looking pretty damn good if I do say so myself. My black hair is pulled back into a small ponytail to look respectable and the only jewelry I'm wearing is a black stud in my right ear and a watch on my left wrist. Looking good and feeling good aren't always the same. I'm more miserable than I've been in my entire life. My bow is burning so bad it's almost painful. I feel as if I'll embarrass myself by throwing up all over everyone. That is, if I'm seen. I know better than to crash the ceremony and the last thing I need is for Sy to see me. All I have to do is wait for Kathleen and Sy to stand together as they're about to make their announcement to the guests and shoot the arrows before they back out. If that's their plan anyway.
After receiving my mother's last reminder, I got off my ass with a new purpose. Regardless of how I'm feeling about Sy, I know I'll not be destroying my life over him. Thinking about Sy being human bothered me for the longest time after that moment.
What happens in a few decades when he's long gone and I'm stuck alone?
I'd have no family to go back to, no job, and no purpose. I'd be wandering around for the next few centuries without any reason to live, but with no way of ending it. As much as it hurts me, I know I'll be shooting those arrows, complete my assignment, and hope to be sent to Bolivia or somewhere far, far away from Sy Allen.
Broken hearts mend, right?
I drive up to the front of the huge estate and follow signs guiding me to the valet. When I'm out of the car and my keys have been handed to a cute guy in a funny uniform, I assess my surroundings. The estate once belonged to a Civil War general and his bride. After the war ended, it was in shambles but descendants had it fully restored to its past glory. It has been part of the city I've recently called home for generations. It might be part of history, but it's also the most expensive venue in town according to my research.
Would the wealthy bride and groom have anything other than the best? I think not.
I'll also go out on a limb and assume that Kathleen's parents wanted their only child married in such elegant surroundings. They seemed to be all about status and what people in the area thought of them and their daughter. They were also known to throw their wealth in the faces of those they considered beneath them. That's not me dissing the dead. It's a known fact according to what I've read and seen in my research.
There are dozens of couples outside of the estate, wearing their finest designer duds and expensive jewelry. I start walking toward the entrance, shaking my head a little over the people who act like because they wear five-carat diamonds hanging from their ears that they're somehow better than those who are homeless. I know better and I have more money than everyone here could muster up in a thousand lifetimes. One thing I don't like are people who think they’re better because they have a lot of material possessions. While I know not all wealthy people are like that, I'm guessing these are friends of Kathleen's mother and father. If that's the case, they could easily be just as homophobic and snobby as her parents seemed to be. Or maybe they aren't. I'm not here to care one way or another.
I ease my way past a teenage girl who stops walking to stare at me. I get that a lot. If that makes me vain, so be it. I know I'm not ugly, but it has something to do with my being the god of love and lust that draws people to me.
Which tells me to stay more out of sight.
I get away from the girl and try to stay just on the edge of the crowd. I'm tall so it's difficult, but I do manage to get behind a plant or two when someone starts looking too hard in my direction. I also eavesdrop. No one says anything about Sy and Kathleen, but surely that's why all these people are here? The talk is mostly mumbles and murmurs that I can't understand, even with my immortal hearing. All the people look like nothing more than props, which I find to be odd considering the surroundings. There's no laughing or really even any smiles. Everyone looks bored.
I glance at my watch. Seven forty-five. Fifteen minutes until the ceremony is to start.
I walk around the inside of the large home until I finally find double doors with a sign next to them that says Welch and Allen in black, bold letters. The burning in my chest tells me even more than the sign that it's about to be time. I look around but see no one coming near the door so I assume everyone attending the wedding is already inside. But what about the others I walked through to get here?
My plan is to get a feel for the situation, sneak in and stay as hidden as I can until Sy and Kathleen make their way to the front. When they're within a few feet of each other, voila! Back-to-back shots with my arrows. They won't see them coming and I'll be able to sneak back out before anyone is the wiser. That's simple enough. Sure, I'm cutting it too close, but Aphrodite's last message said both of them would be here at the same time to make the announcement together. Silly really, they could've avoided the embarrassment by making a public announcement long before now. That is, if they truly intend on canceling. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they have every intention of going through with this farce for whatever reason. Nobody waits until the time the ceremony is to start to stand up before the guests and say “Sorry you got all dressed up and showed up for a wedding today, but it won't be happening.” Not unless a bride or groom has cold feet at the last second anyway.
I wonder why I was told not to show up until right before it's supposed to start. I've always worked my magic as far in advance as possible and hung around for the vows to be spoken if I'm ordered to. Usually my job is done once the arrows make contact. This whole assignment is strange. It's bad enough I'm being forced to bring a couple together that shouldn't be, but everything else just seems off.
One of the doors is cracked a few inches so I risk a glance inside and see exactly what anyone would expect at a wedding. There are glittery decorations and flowers all over the place in a red Valentine theme. It's Valentine's Day so that's expected, I suppose. Tacky, but expected. What I don't see inside the large decorated area are people. There are no guests in the white chairs. There's no pastor or officiant at the front. Nothing. I turn to look behind me and all the people I'd previously seen milling about are nowhere to be seen. I rush from room to room and it's as if they were never there. I look out a window and don’t see one vehicle in the lot other than my own.
My heart starts pounding and I hurriedly make my way back to the large ballroom where the ceremony is supposed to take place. I have to stop to catch my breath when my bow starts burning to the point of almost taking me to my knees. I take a few deep breaths, knowing I'm probably too late and that Sy and Kathleen have called off the wedding.
But where is everyone? They were just here moments ago.
What's going to happen to me now that I've failed my only assignment ever?
I open the doors, no longer caring if I'm seen or heard. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. When I'm completely inside the ballroom, I hear a voice I never expected to hear. I look up in shock.
“It's about time you finally stopped dilly-dallying and came inside. It's almost time.”
“Mother?”
Standing under a rose-covered gazebo is Aphrodite wearing a silver dress that falls just to her knees. Only a hint of cleavage is shown in the front. Other than gaudy diamonds dangling from her earlobes, she's dressed appropriately for a wedding. No flashy, revealing clothes, like she's been known to wear. Her make-up is understated and her long hair is pulled back in a loose chignon. Her heels are only a couple of inches. Her usual stilettos are nowhere to be seen.
“You look as if you've seen a ghost, son.”
Resigned, I walk down the aisle toward her and my fate.
“I’ve failed, Aphrodite. I'm too late.”
“You didn't fail, Eros. Your eyes have been opened and so have mine.”
“What do you mean?” I ask when I'm directly in front of her.
She takes my hands in hers and I see tears in her eyes.
Aphrodite? In my long life I've never seen her eyes slightly misty, much less teary. Tears can mess up your make-up and my mother is all about looking perfect at all times.
“I failed you, Eros. A long time ago. I only hope I can make it up to you here and now. And that maybe you'll find it in your heart to forgive me, that you both will.”
“I don't know what's going on,” I whisper. “I failed the assignment. I'm ready to take my punishment, however you and the Elders see fit.”
“There won't be a punishment, son, or any going before the Elders.”
She takes a step back and wipes her eyes with a lace handkerchief before continuing.
“I accused you of being cynical about love when I made you that way.”
I look back at all her relationships and think, 'yep, that'd do it’.
“I'm not talking about my own life, Eros,” she snaps.
“Get out of my head, Mother.”
She motions behind me and I turn to see Sy standing in the middle of the aisle several feet away from us. Like me, he's wearing a black tuxedo. He looks as nervous as I am.
“Sy?”
What's going on?
I want to scream it, yell it, but I can't. I'm struck silent by the man slowly making his way toward me. I look back at my mother who's crying openly now.
“Eros,” I hear the man I love say. I immediately turn back to him. “You really don't remember, do you?”
I finally find my voice.
“Remember what, Sy?”
He takes my hand in his and looks deep into my eyes.
“My name is Psyche. P S Y C H E. Does that ring a bell?”
What kind of parent would name their kid something like that? But then again, it explains why I couldn't find any information on him. I was spelling it wrong.
“I'd remember someone named Psyche. I may be old, but my memory is pretty damn good.”
He growls at Aphrodite.
“You gave it back to me, give it back to him. You've fucked around with our lives for long enough. Fix it.”
“Mother?”
She shakes her head.
“I didn't give it back to you, Psyche. It came to you, and it has to come to him. He has to remember on his own. I'm sorry.”
He lets go of my hands and I have to hold him back from advancing on Aphrodite.
“Fix it. Now.”
I fall into a nearby chair, forcing him to take a seat next to me. Anger gone for the moment, he takes my hands in his again and starts telling me a story.
“I knew you once upon a time and you knew me. We were young and we were on the verge of something wonderful.” He glares at my mother. “Until someone with too much power decided that her son couldn't do what he was created to do if he himself was in love. She ripped us apart.”
I rub my hand across my chest, the burning intensifying with each word Sy speaks.
“No. I'd remember knowing you.”
“Eros, we were in love. This is why I see your bow and arrow when others can't,” I look at him in shock, “and this is why you feel as if your insides are burning because you yourself are with the one you're meant to be with. I feel it too, only in a different way. I don't have the bow and I don't have the arrow, but I do have this... feeling... that's like thousands of birds are taking flight inside me. I've ached since you left me the first time. I've wanted to spend every single second with you, even when you were trying your best to be an asshole. I've felt this familiarity that made no sense. Each time you've so much as glanced in my direction I've felt as if we've been here before. You. Me. Us. I've felt it since I saw you the first time at the bar and it's gotten stronger each time I've seen you since. I just didn't know what it meant. I do now.”
“I don't understand.”
Aphrodite squats down in front of me and takes one of my hands in hers.
“What Psyche is saying is all true and I take full responsibility.”
“Explain it to me, Mother.”
“In your early days on Earth you met a boy, a human, and you fell in love, like he said. In those days, think centuries, Eros, Earth wasn't even remotely like it is now. Psyche was basically an orphan who'd just lost his entire family to disease. He had no one. Twenty-two to your seventeen in human years, who knows what would've happened to him? Back in those days homosexuality was unheard of. Maybe not in Olympus, but here everything was much different. Anything could've happened to him. I may've been wrong to separate you two, but I couldn't sit back and watch this boy be harmed simply because he loved my son. You two didn't exactly try to hide your relationship. I did what I had to do at the time.”
“No,” Sy interrupts, “you did what was right for you at the time. You fucked with our lives.”
Ignoring him, she continues, “I had Zeus make Psyche immortal. The boy literally had nothing left for him here-”
“I had nothing left after you ripped us apart!” Sy yells. “You made sure I kept my memories for all those years. I was miserable, thinking Eros had abandoned me. You punished me simply for falling in love with your son. The only good thing you ever did was wipe those memories when you brought me back here fifteen years ago.”
She wrenches her hands. “I'm now trying to fix the mistakes I made.”
“When was this and why don't I remember it?” I ask Aphrodite.
“It was a long, long time ago, Eros. I thought you were too young to know what love was so I banished Psyche from Earth until I felt enough time had passed. I brought him back a little over a decade and a half ago as a teenage boy. Until then, he'd been wandering along, a lost young man. I realized I'd not been fair to him.”
“Gee, you think?” Sy throws out angrily.
“He had identification set up as Sy Allen where his identity wouldn't be questioned anywhere. He lived with a family of ours in Florida until he turned eighteen - again, in human years - and went to college. When he moved to Carlton, they stayed in Florida, where they've been living for centuries.”
I stand up, almost knocking my mother on her ass.
“Of ours?”
“Yes. We have families all over the world who are used as needed for special circumstances, like Psyche here.”
“I had good parents,” Sy interjects in a calmer tone, “but I knew they weren't my real ones. I was told I'd been in a bad accident and that's why I couldn't remember my early years or my biological family. Only in the past few hours did I remember everything.” He glares at Aphrodite again. “I had to prove myself, didn't I, Aphrodite? Everything I did had to be perfect. From my grades to my behavior to the constant studying that prevented me from having any type of social life. Even when I assumed I was a typical teenage boy, I was constantly on guard and pushed to do just a little bit more. If my grades were excellent, I had to strive to make them even better. I learned six languages before I was even sixteen-years-old. That still wasn't enough. I had to constantly be doing more, learning more. Did I prove myself, Aphrodite? Was I successful in your silly games? I'm going to guess I was because I ended up becoming a millionaire as a result.”
He takes a deep breath before turning back to me.
“When I left your place this morning I was furious. Everything had come back to me so fast I didn't know how to deal with it. I knew what I was feeling for you went beyond lust, but nothing else made sense. I was overwhelmed when our past slammed into me and I remembered it all. As soon as I left your apartment, I contacted my parents in Florida - my adoptive parents. They talked me through it and contacted Aphrodite, though they didn't have to. She'd seen it all as she continued playing her silly games with both of us.”
Sy implores me with his eyes to remember.
“We loved each other, Eros. I was your first and you were mine. We spent hours just lying together planning our future. It didn't matter that we were young. It didn't matter that the world thought our love was wrong. All that mattered was us. We knew what we had was special and would last forever.”
“Who were all the people who were here earlier? The teenage girl?”
Aphrodite speaks up. “All ours, though Jessica wasn't supposed to stare. She'd never seen you before and was, shall we say, enamored. That's neither here nor there. You ended up where you were supposed to be.”
“What about the fake text and voicemail? It was all a setup?”
“I was responsible for those messages, Eros. Don't blame Psyche.”
“I want to know why.”
I'm on the verge of tears and getting more confused than ever. I look at the man I now know to be Psyche and am hit with a memory of my early days on Earth. There was a field and a large oak tree. Beside it was a very young me. I looked happy. Wearing nothing but a pair of trousers, I was lying on my side on the grass and laughing at something just on the edge of my consciousness. I remember that old tree well. I spent countless hours under it enjoying my new life on a planet most young gods only dreamed of going to. I was so naive back in those days and thought I had it all. I believed Aphrodite when she'd told me I'd have a great life because I'd be able to live forever. What I don't know is why that memory is hitting me now when I've not thought about that tree in centuries. Did I know Psyche then? Was he why I looked so happy?
“I was trying to right my wrong,” Aphrodite says desperately, pulling me from my thoughts. “I saw where you were going with your life and it wasn't fair for you to be so cynical when you had found love once upon a time. I knew about the bachelor party. Psyche seeing you weeks before that was a fluke and I had nothing to do with that. But I knew the moment you had found him again. Why do you think I had you meet me that night? It wasn't a coincidence, son.”
“If you knew I found him, why the games?”
“Because you never would've allowed yourself to see him again had I not made sure you had no choice. That's why you were given the fake assignment and the threats were thrown out. Sure, you'd made mistakes with others but I'd never have had your position taken from you. You're my son, whether you like it or not right now, and I love you. You deserve to be happy.”
“I need you to remember, Eros,” Sy whispers. “Please remember. Everything came back to me when you made love to me last night. It slammed into me like a freight train and I remembered every moment we spent together.” He throws a hateful look at Aphrodite. “And I remembered being forced to this unknown land in the mountains and having to endure such loneliness knowing you were out there somewhere and I'd likely never see you again. She may've wiped your memories when she banished me but I was forced to remember every little detail until she brought me back here. For centuries I waited and hoped for you to come back to me. You didn't.” He wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “Until now. I'm not letting you go again.”
“What about Kathleen and the wedding?”
“We became fast friends in high school. I was the new kid and she kinda took me under her wing. She's a lesbian and I'm gay. To keep her family from discovering her sexuality, we played along as being boyfriend and girlfriend until she turned eighteen. I never had sex with her and never did more than kiss her on the cheek. She knew I was gay the day we met. It was a good arrangement for both of us for awhile. Of course, her parents hated me and fought our relationship. They never thought I was good enough for her and made this known often. It didn't matter to either of us, of course, because we were just friends. When I became wealthy everything changed. After that, there was no stopping them from trying to keep the two of us together. At this point they knew we weren't a real couple, but it didn't matter.”
“You were going to marry her.”
“No, I wasn't. Her parents did all that. They announced an engagement that never happened and they sent out the invitations and booked the venue. This was done strictly behind our backs and it was canceled within minutes of us finding out about it. Because they'd always controlled every aspect of Kay's life before that, they thought we'd play along and get married when neither of us had any intention of doing it. You would've had to have known her parents to understand how it all snowballed. Neither of us would have gone through with the ceremony.”
“There was a bachelor party, so try again.”
“That was set up weeks ago as a joke and we decided to go ahead with the parties. She had hers and I had mine. Hell, she actually scheduled mine after I told her about the sexy bartender I saw at the bar that night. The wedding was not going to happen, Eros, whether her parents were here to see it or not. They knew it would never happen. I'd never really hidden my sexuality, but Kay did until she was eighteen. She came out to them right before we left for college, years ago. It didn't go well, but she was finally able to be herself. It got nasty and because they'd always pretty much gotten what they wanted, they did things behind our backs anyway, not caring an iota what we said or thought about it. Hell, we even chose a university in a different part of the state to get away from their influence. That was also a bit of rebellion on her part because they thought she should be going to Harvard or Yale. They followed her to Gainesville, just like they followed her here. Once they did, they figured if they made a public announcement about Kay marrying this young and wealthy businessman she'd back down from the 'gay nonsense' and continue to be controlled by them. She came out to them twelve years ago and they were still fighting her on it when they died, even going so far as to publicly support candidates who were against gay rights and contributing to every anti-LGBT charity they could find. Publicly, of course. It was all about publicity and being seen with them. They couldn't handle the fact that their daughter didn't fall into their bigoted mold. They were not good people, Eros.”
“Again, try again. I checked this morning and there was no announcement anywhere saying it had been canceled.”
“Me again,” Aphrodite throws out. “I made sure you wouldn't know the wedding was called off. I also threw out a lot of hints, and Psyche's phone number, to get you two together again. I'm out a couple of grand, but that's nothing in the grand scheme of things, now is it?”
“You set me up. You had me thinking I was on the verge of destroying everything I'd ever known by not telling me the truth and by pushing me to go through with this farce. You did this when you knew how I was feeling about him.”
“What do you mean by being on the verge of destroying everything?” she asks with a grin that pisses me off.
“I wasn't going to shoot the arrows, Aphrodite.”
“That was my hope.”
Psyche turns me so I face him.
“Why not?”
“Because I love you. I figured it out for sure after you left this morning. I came here thinking I'd do it and move on, but I can tell by looking at you right now that no way in Olympus would I have been able to go through with it. Sure, I know now it wouldn't have happened anyway, but I didn't know that when I showed up here earlier.”
He pulls me into his arms and kisses me until I have to come up for air. When he pulls back and I look into his teary eyes, I remember everything.
Seeing him the first time as he bathed naked in a cold river in what is now called Tennessee.
Summoning up the courage to speak to him when my stomach was in knots.
Holding him while he cried as he shared the heartache of losing his parents and two older brothers.
The first connection.
The first kiss.
The first time we, two clumsy virgins, made love under that same oak tree from my memory.
The first time he called me baby.
Later as we hid in barns and other private places, loving each other until we thought we'd die if we had to spend even one second apart.
The months we spent together before Aphrodite ripped us apart.
I remember the loneliness and the pain of knowing there was something missing in my life when those memories were no longer there. I felt empty for so many years and I didn't know why. That is, until this very moment as I look into Psyche's eyes in front of my mother, surrounded by gaudy Valentine decorations.
“You remember,” he whispers.
I nod and pull him tight against me.
“I love you, Psyche. This time I'm not going anywhere.”
“I love you too, Eros. For eternity.”