undefined

by Jade Griffin

3-19-99 to ? ? ?

"We’ll see you in two days, son."

"…Okay, dad." Malcom responded reservedly to his father’s cheery voice.

"Bye." The connection ended.

Malcom slowly hung up the phone and looked to his watching Lady.

The half-ki-lin/ half-gargoyle went over to put her arms about him. "They are coming."

"Yeah. They wanna come out and see us again before the baby’s born." He pulled her around to stand in front of him. Her large middle only made her more beautiful to him, but the fact remained that she was not human and his parents thought she was. They didn’t know about gargoyles, fey, dragons, unicorns, and all of the very real things he’d seen and met these last few years… And that was the problem.

The Lady Epona squeezed his hand. "You fear they will not accept me."

"Yeah… I do think they should know. And this is as good a time as any. But they saw you as human at the wedding. I just… I just don’t…" He trailed off. There wasn’t any way of knowing.

She wrapped her arms about him and held him as close as her child-round body would allow.

Malcom paced slightly, not realizing it. He couldn’t keep busy enough. Lady, nervously hidden, also could not keep inactive. She glanced at her husband, then walked the short distance from his apartment’s kitchen to wrap her arms around him as he paused at the window.

He almost jumped at her touch.

"Be calm, my love."

"I know… But… Maybe we shouldn’t have talked to them about the baby as if it were a human baby… Maybe we shouldn’t have been so excited."

She gave him a smile. "There is nothing to be done about it now." Her taloned hands gently went to work on his tensed shoulder muscles. "Remember how Dr. Barnes accepted who and what I am."

"I know." He sighed and closed his eyes, remembering how his parents acted at the wedding. As if she were just a human. A very special one. He smiled at the memory, hoping he could be that happy today. If—

There was a knock at the door. They were early. The Lady rushed back into the kitchen and Malcom straightened. Taking a deep breath, he made for the door.

Opening, he was assaulted by open arms and packages, both pressing him into his mother’s embrace.

"Caliii!"

So surprised by the welcome, Malcom didn’t get after his mother for the name called. "Hi, mom. Dad’s beneath all those boxes?"

"Yep!" came a grinning voice as the small tower proceeded through the doorway.

Mom set her armload on the coffee table and looked about, puzzled. "Where’s the Lady Epona?"

Dad placed his burden similarly.

"Uh, she’ll be out in a few minutes."

"She’s the kitchen?" She pointed and started in that direction.

Malcom quickly intercepted her. His swift hand on her arm paused her, startled.

Dad also stared at him, shocked. "Malcom?…"

"Mom, dad, there’s something I need to talk to you about." He gestured slightly toward the couch.

His seriousness stunned them further and they numbly took the seats. Malcom didn’t feel like standing or sitting. He stood anyway and was honest and brave enough to look them in the eye.

"It was probably wrong for me to do it but… I’ve been lying to you and everybody else since the wedding. I just… We were afraid you’d all react badly if you knew the whole truth." They were so quiet. He’d never lied to them before.

"Is it about the baby?"

"No, mom…" There were so many things they could be thinking. He was sure none of them was even close to what he was about to say. "I’ve been lying about my wife."

They each frowned at him.

"I’m going to tell you some things in a minute that you may not believe at first, but you’re just gonna hafta trust me. The Lady’s listening right now and she won’t come out until I’m done.

"You’ve all heard stories of mythical creatures and magic. Faeries, dragons, wizards, unicorns. A few years ago, I was on vacation, wandering in the brush at night, and I saw a strange creature. When I was able to talk to her, I found out that she was a gargoyle. She told me about other creatures that I thought only existed in story but were actually real. I was eventually introduced to some of them. That’s how I met the Lady.

"When we got married, her guardian cast a short-term magic spell on her so she’d look like a human; but the fact is she’s not. That’s the real reason why nobody could see her before that night. The Lady Epona isn’t human.

"She is from China. We didn’t lie to you about anything else. The person you met was the real Lady. She just looks different. She’s half-Chinese unicorn—a ki-lin—and half-gargoyle, and she can heal by magic and—"

"Malcom…"

His parents’ eyes jumped at the voice. Malcom turned. Epona had stepped out into complete view. She was much more braver in this than he, he thought.

The Lady approached slowly, not hiding her wings but too much aware of her swishing tail, furry legs, four-fingered hands, pregnant form, and the clepping of her hooves on Malcom’s floor. She looked so different. They could not have been expecting anything like her.

Malcom reached out to take her hand when she faltered. This emboldened her to proceed. She stepped aside of her husband, spread wings and arms away from body, and met their astounded gaze.

"I am as you see before you. I will hide nothing more from you. You may say or ask anything you like."

Throughout Malcom’s speech, his parents just stared at him as if he were a two-headed dragon. And upon seeing the Lady and hearing her words, they just stared. And they wouldn’t speak.

This scared Malcom. He looked worriedly at his father. "Dad?"

Jim set his eyes on his son, who was a solid piece of reality in all this. He opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. Not a single word.

The Lady started up again. "Perhaps you are wondering about the baby." She smiles slightly, laying a hand on her large belly. "We do not know what she will look like but it is female."

Malcom took her hand again, needing her touch. "And I found the Lady a great doctor. He says as far as he can tell, the baby looks fine and Lady’s doing great. And, mom, dad, you won’t believe who the doctor is… It’s Dr. Barnes, from Arizona? You remember him."

Jim’s brows rose as his son’s words sank in. "Bill Barnes?? You told him, and he’s okay with…?"

"Yeah." Malcom smiled, relieved somewhat by the response. Any response. "We kinda blew him away at first. We see a lot of him nowadays. He lives in Oregon but he’s down for a while because the Lady’s real close."

"And… You said everything’s okay? For the baby?"

"Yeah. As far as he could tell."

Silence blanketed them like a night’s blackness.

"…We have lunch all made." Malcom motioned toward the kitchen.

His parents rose after a moment and proceeded on. There was great worry in the Lady’s eyes. He held her close as they made their way in.

Eating was slow and very little was consumed. His parents didn’t speak a word. Barely made a sound. Dad looked like he wanted to say something a few times but didn’t, just poked around his salad.

Malcom was afraid to say anything. Maybe… Maybe just staying in the Lady’s company would make things better. Just sitting here doing something normal like eating lunch. Trying to strike up a conversation now might hurt that. He didn’t think they could afford that at this point.

Lady was holding out okay. She didn’t look ready to talk either; maybe even thought what he had just now. But her eyes… He could see her losing hope.

"M-Malcom?"

His bowed head snapped up, but dad still looked lost. "Yeah?"

"How… How do you plan… to live?"

Lady showed no sign of answering.

"We have a big place, very secluded and difficult to find. We’re already moved in, and have everything we could want."

"But… What about your job at the Bureau?"

"I couldn’t keep it. And it isn’t needed. Dad, you should see this place. It’s got everything. Food, water, and our home."

"But you need an income. What about taxes, car payments, doctor bills?"

He didn’t understand. Malcom held his sigh. "Where we live now, there’re no such things. My life with the Lady necessitates a lot of changes, like cutting those ties. It’s one reason I wanted a public wedding. Then everyone would know why I was going off and not raise too many questions."

"You’re saying you’d just have disappeared if you couldn’t’ve had the wedding?"

"No, dad. I’m saying Lady can’t live out here. I’m her husband; I can’t live out here anymore. Especially not with our baby on the way."

He had to calm down. He was just upsetting dad. Malcom spared a glance at his wife and saw her tears. Oh no… He took her in his arms and let her weep, needing to release his own feelings and wishing so hard that they could see Epona wasn’t any different than before. Why? Why were they reacting so badly??

Malcom didn’t realize he was watching him hold the creature, and it dawned on Jim that she was crying. This… this person his son comforted and loved was crying. Why?

Malcom didn’t know how much time had passed. He measured it by Epona’s quieting. She did not yet release him, and his shoulder was still wet.

A noise startled him. A chair pushed back. He looked at his father, risen from his chair.

"Malcom? I think it’d be better if we left now. It’s getting late."

"No. You can stay here as long as you like. I’ll take Epona home and we can talk. Please stay."

A glance at his own semi-oblivious wife cemented it. "I don’t think so, son." He pulled at her shoulder and she rose, her eyes never on Malcom nor his Lady.

They left very quietly. And it felt like Epona was asleep. As hurt and helpless as he felt, Malcom was glad no one was around to see his own wet grief.

TO BE CONTINUED