Susana - Sins of the Mothers

They sat in silence, staring at the glowing embers of the fire. After what felt like an eternity Virginia opened her mouth to speak. Wolf turned to her and gently lay two fingers on her lips. "Not yet" he whispered. He turned toward the wall and pulled out a small, battered guitar. He was quite a good guitarist, depite the fact that he was largely self-taught. He loved Tenth Kingdom music. "Wild Horses" was his favorite song and he often would play it over and over in times of stress.

"Wild horses could not tear me away..." he sang in his his deep, clear voice. He sat cross-legged and rocked hs body in time to the music, as he repeated the lyrics over and over. It was almost a mantra to him. His eyes glazed over again, but this time Virginia could see that he was in a happy place this time. When he finally lay the guitar down, Virginia took his hand and spoke softly.

"Wolf, we need to say it. There is no other way out for us. You will have to choose me. You have to say it. We have had so much happiness- enough for two lifetimes. Oh sweetie don't cry. I don't want to leave you either." She sniffed and wiped impatiently at her tears.

He looked at her with his huge green eyes, a single teardrop balanced on the tip of his nose, and ridiculously, made Virginia smile. He wiped his nose and whimpered, "You are my mate for life. If you die I will die. We were supposed to be happy ever after. Not like this. How can you ask me to do this? To you? Cripes! You are a part of me. The better part. The part with manners that knows which knife to use at Wendell's stupid banquets. How could I wake up every day without your creamy skin next to mine? I need to see those perky lips smile everyday. Whenever I look at Wolfie I see your eyes. How can you ask me to do this?"

Virginia prodded the fire with a stray twig, gazing straight ahead she continued, "Our little girl has a right to grow up. What's our alternative? Could we live with never hearing her little footsteps racing around the hallways? Never to hear her giggle again. Could we deprive her of school and friends? Her first ball? The chance to grow up and meet her true love? Because we were too selfish? No Wolf, there would be no joy in a life like that for us. A life without our Lambchop."

Wolf shook his head wearily, "No Virginia, that would not be a life worth living. We must keep our little girl safe."

They fell asleep after a long, long, time. Their tears dried into salty tracks on their faces. When they awoke the air was icy, at least ten degrees colder than when they had fallen asleep. Virginia could barely move, her joints seemed frozen. Wolf was a shocking sight. He had grown a full beard overnight. She shook him roughly "Wolf! Wake up. How long have we been asleep?"

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and mumbled, "I don't know, but these spiderwebs all over my jacket are not a good sign.

They rapidly gathered their belongings and sped down the mountain. The farm couple seemed shocked to see them. The old woman sputtered, "It's been three weeks, we thought you were dead." Viginia handed over the last of their Wendells to cover the added time the horses were there. A quick look at the farmer's calender revealed the truth. Victoria's birthday was in just five days.

"Magic," Virginia muttered. "She put us out for three weeks just to make things even worse."

They rode the well-rested horses like fiends. They ate nothing but what they could scrounge from the fields and trees. Virginia refused apples. She was too superstitious, and magic had not been very good to her so far. By stopping only long enough to rest the horses, they rode up to the manor after dark on the eve of Victoria's birthday. The weary horses staggered down the gravel drive. Dismounting in one leap, they ran into the house to find a very startled but perfectly fine, Tony, Wolfie and Lambchop.