An Elf's Rose

CHAPTER 7

Orli sat at the kitchen table at lunchtime, eating a turkey sandwich and paging through the new PC World magazine. His father walked in with Victoria on his heels and headed towards the fridge. Victoria paused next to Orli and ran a fingertip down his arm, giving him a look.

Robert turned at that moment to ask Orli if he’d left any turkey and saw it. He kept his face impassive but was shocked to see the look of withering scorn Orli threw at her back before going back to his magazine.

Robert cleared his throat. “What are you interested in, love? A sandwich like Orli’s or should I throw something else together…”

Victoria smiled lasciviously and looked at Orli. “A sandwich….That sounds excellent,” she answered, not meaning turkey.

Robert grunted, wondering how he was going to derail this situation when Orli crammed the last bite into his mouth and chucked the crumpled napkin in the waste bin.

“I’m heading out to the dojo, Dad. Then Marc and Sean and I are going into the city to see Uisge* play tonight. I’ll be in late so I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Very well. Say hello to the lads for me, won’t you?”

“Sure.”

“See you later, Orli,” Victoria called to him as he left the kitchen.

He completely ignored her.

~~~

Sunday morning dawned hot and bright and Victoria had a hangover. They’d ended up going to the country club for dinner and dancing and she’d had one too many martinis. Well, two or three too many, maybe. She groaned and covered her head with the pillow, but could still hear the splashing of Orli swimming in the pool. Robert liked to sleep with the sliding patio door open on warm nights, and every damn sound outside seemed to reverberate in the bedroom. She looked at Robert, but he slept peacefully on. He was apparently used to the noise.

“Well, then. I’ll just have to take steps,” she muttered. She got out of bed and was about to slide the door closed when she got impsimpse of Orli’s long sleek body cutting through the blue water. She smiled. He was young, but damn, what a body. The memory of the day before when he’d taken her so brutally aroused her and, forgetting her prickle of fear at the dangerous look in his storm-cloud eyes, she made her decision. She grabbed her kimono robe and slipped it over her nude body.

He won’t ignore me now, she thought, walking out onto the patio and pulling the door closed behind her.

~~~

pul pulled himself out of the pool and was wiping himself down with the towel when he noticed Victoria lounging on the chaise, her silk robe half open.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“What the devil do you want from me, Victoria?” he asked tiredly.

“Want from you? Jesus, what else would I want from you?” she asked, laughing, and opened her legs to give him a good look.

Orli went rigid with fury, tears burning his eyes. Is that all anyone fucking wants from me?

She mistook his stance for arousal and undid the sash of her robe, spreading it open. “Come to mamma, honey. Give me some of that sweet stuff.”

His hands were shaking, but only because he so badly wanted to throttle her. He walked up to her and untied his swim shorts and shucked them off. “I’ll give it to you, but you may not like it,” his voice hoarse with rage.

She purred at the sight of his naked arousal. “Don’t worry baby, you know I like it rough.”

“Really.” Orli grabbed her ankles and pulled her down the mesh of the chaise. He flipped her over on her stomach as if she weighed nothing and she whooped in surprise.

“Oh yeah,” she gasped as he grabbed her by her blonde hair at the crown and yanked back. “Shut up,” he whispered, flipping the hem of her kimono above her waist and spreading her legs wide with his knees. Orli plunged into her, but not where she expected. He clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream. “I told yyou you wouldn’t like it,” he panted in her ear.

She made mewling sounds behind his hand and he could feel hot tears on his fingers. It didn’t take Orli long to finish and he pulled away, chest heaving.

“Better be careful next time you want something from me.” Orli wheezed. He wrapped the towel around his waist and turned back to the house, leaving Victoria sobbing into the chaise. He caught a movement at the corner of his eye. His father had been watching at the glass.

~~~

At the same time Orli was making brutal use of his father’s mistress, Rose sat at Mass with her family, her mind and body in a turmoil. She had snuck peeks at Carly’s little paperback book over the last few days, alternately mortified and aroused. It wasn’t only about the “m” word, but about the “o” word, what was “safe sex” and what to expect during and after. She hadn’t got up the courage yet to do her own experimentations, but she thought she would have to do something soon, before she exploded.

She closed her eyes and tried to follow the liturgy but visions of Orli danced through her brathe the memory of his warm lips and wet swipe of his tongue, han hands on her back, pressing her body to his. The feel of his – manhood -- against her hip. Rose shuddered.

“Are you all right, honey?” her mother’s voice whispered in her ear. She placed the back of her hand against Rose’s cheek. “You look feverish.”

Oh, God. I am going straight to hell for thinking about this stuff right in church, Rose thought. She opened her eyes and whispered back, “I’m ok, I just -- got dizzy for a second.” Her mother remained worried, however.

Rose didn’t want to go up for Holy Communion, but her parents would have asked her why. Now she was compounding her sins – having impure thoughts and taking Communion, knowingly having sinned. She was going to have to go to confession soon. Hopefully she wouldn’t get hit by a bus first. She didn’t want to die a virgin and still go to hell.

~~~

Her mother ordered her to bed as soon as they got back home. She stuck a thermometer in her mouth despite Rose’s protestations of health. It was Rose’s demeanor that had her worried, not necessarily her temp. She had been acting oddly all morning.

“I’ll make you some tea, and I want you to rest. You’ve been working long hours and I’m sure that aikido class is very hard on your body.”

Rose couldn’t argue – what was she to say? So she changed to shorts and a tank tee and lay stiffly on top of the bedding.

The thermometer read normal, but her mother was not one to have facts change her opinion of things. Rose was given tea, baby aspirin, and told to sleep.

“Daddy and I are going to the supermarket. I’ve told your brother not to disturb you. Rest now, honey.” She kissed Rose on the forehead.

Rose lay staring at the ceiling, listening to thr ler leave the garage and the door come down. She could faintly hear her brother playing video games. She unbuttoned the top button of her shorts and slid her hand underneath her panties down the cleft of her legs. She was very – wet. The book said that was a good thing.

Would she really dare? Would her mother see it on her face?

Rose gasped and shuddered at the touch of her fingers. As she stroked, her hips moved of their own volition. Her whole body felt electrified. Something was building, building, spreading outward from the core under her fingertips. Rose became senseless to her surroundings, gasping and crying out incoherently, hips and legs jerking. It was over seemingly as soon as it had come upon her, but left her body and mind feeling both limp and sensitized. She curled up like a shrimp on her side and wept into her pillow.

“Oh, God! Orlando…” she cried.

~~~

Rose did sleep, and her mother said she looked much better, more relaxed.

“Yeah, it was just what I needed, Mom,” Rose replied, smiling.

~~~

Orli was trading bawdy jokes with one of the office clerks in the kitchenette during morning break when he was paged. He picked up an extension.

“It’s Orli. What’s up?”

“Your Dad wants to talk to you in his office,” Suzie the receptionist told him.

His stomach clenched. “All righty then,” he told her cheerfully. “Tell him I’ll be there in a minute.” He hadn’t seen his father since he “lost it” with Victoria the day before. He’d left right after, driving to the local state park with Maude, to do some hiking and thinking. He’d practically run up the damn trail to the top of the mountain, Maude happily trailing behind.

He’d felt alternately furious at the gall of the woman and completely ashamed at what he’d done. After kicking some trees and throwing rocks at the hillsides, he let himself collapse in the sage bushes and cried into his hands. Maude had walked over to him and licked his ear, laying down next to him to give him what comfort she could. He’d laid in the bushes until nightfall. He’d snuck in the house later, still not able to face his father, but the elder Bloom had already closeted himself in his rooms. By the time Orlando had gotten up for work the next morning, his father had already left for an early meeting.

~~~

“Sit down, son,” Robert told him as he walked in and closed the door.

Orli didn’t play stupid. They both knew what this was about.

Robert looked at him for a bit, not knowing where to start. The boy was hurting, that much he could see, but wasn’t sure what had caused such rage.

He opened his mouth to speak but Orli beat him to it. “I’m sorry,” he said wretchedly, looking at the wall above Robert’s head. “I feel terrible about what I’ve done. Do you hate me?”

“Hate you? Christ no. I could never hate you, no matter what you did. You could disappoint me and confuse me, but Orlando – you’re my son. Your face is my heart.”

Robert’s heart hurt to see tears course down Orli’s cheeks. “Orli…”

“That’s my problem, Dad. My damn face. It makes people crazy. They all – want – something from me.” He dropped his eyes. “Usually just one thing,” he whispered, roughly wiping away the tears.

“And Rose,” Robert asked gently. “Does she just want one thing from you?”

Orli looked up and his eyes and mouth had softened. “No,” he replied. “She definitely is not interested in that. She actually likes me for me, not my face.” He laughed humorlessly, “She says I’m an Elf.”

Robert knew what that meant to him. Orli had fallen in love with Tolkien’s Elves, not only for their beauty, but their strength and grace and wisdom, fairness and goodness. Qualities that a young boy craved to have for himself, qualities that a dead mother had had.

“And she is a Hobbit, eh?”

“Yes!” Orli grinned. “She’s little, but strong; brave and practical and determined. And she has a great heart. Like Sam and Frodo. It shines in her eyes. And she sees me when she looks at me.”

Robert looked down at his own clasped hands and cleared his throat. “I should ask for your forgiveness, Orlando. I’ve done you a great disservice by my endless parade of women.”

Orli said nothing, looking at his father intently.

“My own inability to cope with the loss of your mother has blinded me to the needs of a boy for a loving woman in his life. A woman that his father respects and is not simply using for physicratiratification. How can I condemn you for using one of them in anger. At least, unlike myself, you are being honest with your hostility.”

“Th – that’s part of it, yes.” Orli looked down and turned red. He opened his mouth as if to continue, but lost his courage and covered his face.

“What is it?” Robert asked, alarmed. “What’s happened?”

Orli’s shoulders shook, and he gasped behind his hands. Robert rounded the desk and pulled him into his arms. “God in heaven, what’s the matter? What have I done?”

Orli sobbed into his father’s expensive silk suit. Robert clutched at his son, on the edge of panic. His son’s tears were inexplicably disturbing. “Tell me, Orli!”

But it was a bit before Orli could speak. Father and son continued to hold each other tightly. “Remember – remember when I was thirteen and you took me to Paris for the year while you worked on that building?” Orli began haltingly, barely murmuring into his father’s ne
“
“Of course.” Robert stroked his son’s back gently.

“Remember Claire?”

“Yes.” Claire had been a friend of a friend and they had got on well and like most women, she just ended up in his bed. She’d sort of moved in to their flat for the summer, teaching Orli how to speak proper Parisian French and making wonderful meals for them.

“She – she taught me a lot more that just French.”

Robert stiffened. “Oh? And was it so terrible?”

“Not just her. Her brother.”

Robert lost the breath in his lungs. “What?” he wheezed.

“She would invite him over when you were gone. They – made me do things. And Jean-Louis would do – things – to me.”

Robert lost his grip of Orli and had to lean against the desk. “You – never said anything to me. My God, why didn’t you?”

Orli shrugged. “I tried. I remember begging you not to leave for work. And Claire told me you’d just laugh at me and tell me to act like a man, because that’s what men did. Jean-Louis was a man, after all.” Orli laughed ruefully. “I was very conscious of acting a proper man, then.”

Robert clutched at his head, his whole body roiling with horror. “And I let Michael tease and play with you, like it’s a big joke.”

“Well, it is, with Michael. I’m not worried about him.” Orli sat down in the chair, breathing in deeply, relief washing over him at finally being able to speak of it. “I thought I might be – gay – for a while, Claire told me because of my face, men would want me always. I experimented with it a few times, and it has it’s – pleasures – but I found I really wasn’t interested in men. I don’t loathe it. There’s precious little love in the world to condemn people loving each other in any way they find it.” He looked up at his father, his face losing it’s red flush, although his eyes were still puffed from the weeping. “I suppose I’ve just been very angry about it for a long time.”

It was Robert’s turn to weep, and Orli held him for a very long time.

He went in to the small bathroom, wet a washcloth and handed it to his father.

“I think we need to go get drunk.”

Robert laughed, wiping his face. “I think you’re right.” He picked up the phone and told his secretary they were leaving for the day and to reschedule his meetings.

Orli hugged his father one last time before they left. “I love you, Dad.”

*Uisge is a Scottish Gaelic word for “water of life” or more commonly known as whisky. I’ve used it to name a non-existent Celtic band that will recur in another chapter.