I slid my hand from the back of my neck up to the middle of my head. It was a warm, hairy, wet mess. I hesitantly brought my hand to the front of my face to find dark thick blood dripping from my fingers.
“Why?” I looked up at him.
He can’t even look at me. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but just turns around and leaves. I can see his fists clutched tight as he walks away. I knew this wasn’t going to be the last time.
I went to the hospital and told them I had a trip in the garden and hit my head on the concrete steps. Everything looks good. They do an ultrasound and some blood work to make sure the twins are okay, too.
The blonde ultrasound technician smiles at me. “You’re twenty-six weeks along, right?”
“Yes, they are heavy.”
She giggles. “You mean, healthy!”
I return home and get ready for bed. John never came home that night. I open my eyes into the next morning and look over at his side of the bed—empty and cool to the touch. Today is the farmers’ market downtown.
We could use a walk. My little Sadie and Sarah should be here in a few weeks.
I pass by booths of honey, vegetables, and handcrafted soy candles. Pumpkin spice and cinnamon fill my nose. The chill autumn breeze blows my bangs out of my eyes, and I catch a glimpse of a peculiar booth; one filled with trinkets, elixirs, potions, and more. As I trace my eyes and fingers along the words on the glass bottles filled with thick liquids, I lock in with two bright green eyes on the other side of the table, a tiger’s eyes no less. She has golden hoops hanging from her pointy cat ears, a large smile, with large teeth, and lots of large jewelry hanging from her neck—a gypsy. She is intimidating, but then, I see it: “Love Potion” the bottle reads.
“A love potion can heal an existing relationship, you know? Doesn’t always have to be a love-at-first-sight situation.”
John hasn’t been romantic or intimate since we got pregnant… But I can’t afford this.
“Would you like a free sample?” The gypsy tiger steps closer to me.
My eyebrows raise in interest. “Free?”
The gypsy flashes me a smile that makes my palms and in between my fingers sweaty. A gradual cheshire cat smile. She knows she has me.
“Nothing to fear, Mama”—she walks even closer to me—“but just a little advice from an old gypsy, nothing is free in this world.” I can feel her soft paws place a small vile in my hands. She winked at me and said, “You’ll see me again one day when I might need a favor from you.” She softly pushes my back and I start to walk off, glancing back towards her after a few steps. She never stopped smiling.
As soon as I return home, I examine the bottle again.
Seems simple enough, right? Just drink the liquid and John will be head over balls in love with me again.
I down the potion like it’s a shot of tequila, which felt strange being pregnant, then I hear the garage door open.
John…
His footsteps make my heart palpitate.
Did I just make a huge mistake? What if it doesn’t work? What favor am I going to owe that gypsy?
He comes around the hall and meets my eyes with his. He stops in the doorway of our bedroom where I’m sitting on the bed. He looks at me up and down and then gives me a smile that makes my palms and in between my fingers sweaty. A gradual cheshire cat-like smile. My heart stops as he bolts towards me. And I scream.
“What? What is it? Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” John concernedly takes to his knees and kisses my hands one by one. I let him.
Then I let him lift my shirt and kiss my large pregnant belly.
Then I let him kiss much more than that.
John lay me down and made me scream in a completely different context.
It worked.
***
The remainder of my pregnancy was amazing. One full month of pure happiness and orgasms, and now the twins are coming.
Sadie and Sarah are very early.
“Can I get you some ice chips, my love?”
“Yes, babe, please.”
As John leaves in search of ice, a familiar smile enters my hospital room. A cheshire cat smile that belongs to a gypsy tiger.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in here?” I asked the gypsy.
“My darling girl, I’m here for what’s mine.”
“Nothing here is yours.” I started shaking.
“Nothing in life is free, I once told you before. I will leave here with one of your babies after you deliver them today, and just to sweeten the deal, I will give your husband a lifelong potion that will keep him as he is now. One baby and one amazing man, doesn’t that sound like a fair deal?”
“Fair! You want one of my children? They are mine! These are my babies!”
“Fine,” the tiger growls at me. “Once you deliver your babies, your husband’s generous love will be gone, and he will return to exactly the man he was before.”
Suddenly the scar on the back of my head starts to itch, and I remember the warm, hairy, wet mess. With difficulty, I stand up out of the rollaway hospital bed and walk up to the gypsy tiger, so close that I can feel her breath moving my bangs.
“What kind of monster makes a woman choose between her husband and children?”
The gypsy tiger gives me one last gradual cheshire cat smile and says, “A hungry one.”
