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Thin air

Кейн Рэйчел

This could not be happening.

“I’ll have her call you back,” David said, hung up, and put the phone back on the table. He leaned forward, hands folded, watching me. “You’re scared.”

I nodded, with way too much emphasis. “Reporters. I hate reporters. I hate reporters from little weekly papers in One Horse, Wyoming. How much do you think I hate somebody from The New York Times?”

“You don’t even know him. Maybe this is a good thing.”

“Are you on crack? Of course it’s not a good thing!”

I grabbed for the phone and dialed Lewis’s cell. It rang to voice mail. “Lewis, call me back, I don’t know who stuck me out as the sacrificial goat for the media, but I am not-”

David took the phone and hung it up, very calmly. “You don’t need to flail around. You know what to say,” he said. “Deny everything. They won’t have proof. They never do. And even if they do, refer them to the government and the UN. It’ll go away.”

“What if it doesn’t?” I chewed my lip in agitation, tasting tangerine gloss. “Look, it’s the Times. It’s not the Weekly World News-jeez, those people practically have us on speed dial. This is different. I’m worried.”

David cocked his head, looking bemused now. “I’ve seen you face down monsters, hurricanes, and tornadoes, and you’re scared of a phone call?”

“It’s bigger than that.” I felt it in my guts. “There was a reporter a few months ago-when I was on my way to Sedona with Ve

He leaned forward and took my hands. His felt warm, strong, calming. There was love in his eyes, deeper than the sunset.

“I have a question that will scare you even more.”

I frowned at him. “No games.”

“No. A serious question.” He slipped off the deck chair, and one knee touched the concrete balcony floor. He never looked away from my face as he did. “One that’s going to need a serious answer.”

My heart froze, then skipped to catch up on its beats. “I-” I couldn’t begin to think of what to say. I just waited.

“Will you marry me?” he asked.

My lips parted, and nothing, absolutely nothing, came out. Was he serious? He couldn’t be serious. We were comfortable together, we had love, we had partnership, we had-everything.

Everything except this.

It didn’t even seem possible. He was a supernatural Dji

But he was immortal.

I wasn’t.

And I was achingly aware of that, every day that passed between us.

“David,” I began, stricken, and came up against an absolute blank wall. “I-can we talk about this later?”

“Why? So you can come up with reasons to justify your fears?” He wasn’t angry; he didn’t mean it to hurt. It was matter-of-fact and, strangely, even gentle. “Jo, I need to know that you feel as I do. I need to have you with me. And…it’s mortal custom.”

“Have you been married before?” There, I’d asked it. We didn’t go into his past a lot, but I knew it was ancient, and there had been plenty of relationships. Dji

He gave me a slight, aching smile, and raised my hands to his lips. “Yes,” he said. “Ages ago. Before I knew what I was waiting to feel.”

I stared at him, frozen. “And now you know.”

“I was waiting for you.”

The phone rang. My eyes cut to it, startled, but I didn’t move to get it. One ring, and it cut off. I wasn’t sure if the caller had thought better of it, or David had cut the co

“If you say no, it’s all right. I will stay with you as long as you want me to stay,” he said. “You won’t lose me. You don’t have to agree if it’s not right.”

“But it’s important to you.”

“Or I wouldn’t have brought it up.” David looked troubled for a second, as if he was unsure of how much-or little-to say. Then he plunged ahead. “When humans make their vows to each other, it’s the closest they can come to the depth of commitment from a Dji

“It’s just…big.”

He nodded slowly. “It is.”

And it had taken him a lot to risk the question-I knew that. David’s feelings for me were fierce and constant; it was part of who the Dji

Being married wouldn’t lessen that risk, but it was a symbol. A trust.

It all came down to trust. His, and mine.

“This is crazy,” I breathed. “What the hell are the Dji

“Nothing, if they know what’s good for them.” There was a glimmer of coldness to his tone. David was the leader of about half of the Dji

But I had to think about that, didn’t I? It wasn’t just the two of us. The Wardens might have a thing or two to say about a human marrying a Dji

The day was getting darker, the sky sliding from denim to indigo. On the horizon, the sun was nearly down, pulling its glorious trailing rays with it.

“Jo,” he said. “Please. Give me an answer. Either way, I still love you.”

I ought to say no. I knew that. I just knew.

“Yes,” I said, and something in me broke with a wild, silent cry. I was off the cliff now, and I realized, with a fierce joy, that I wasn’t falling-I was soaring.

His eyes ignited into the color of melting copper. “Yes?”

“Yes, already. I’ll marry you. Yes. Hell, yes.”

The phone rang again. David let go of my hands, picked up the extension, and thumbed it on without looking away from my face. “Mr. Garrett, I’m taking my lover to bed,” he said. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll reschedule your deadline.”

And he crushed the phone as if it were made of marshmallow crème, and dropped the smashed pieces on the patio table.

“Oh,” I said faintly. “Problem solved.”

On the horizon, the fire in Alligator Alley continued to glow. I discovered that I didn’t care at all.