Duet

by Aryn

Quatre pushed the paperwork back and rubbed his eyes. He was too tired to be faced with the stacks of paperwork that were beginning to pile up. Since Sally Po and his sister Iria’s diagnosis that Nari only had a few months left of her life, Quatre had moved all his work to the L-4 Colony mansion. He only went to the office when a meeting came up. Nari hadn’t been too pleased to learn he was moving his work home, claiming that he should "continue with his life as normal and not to worry about her." He looked at the framed photo on his desk of her and their two children. He couldn’t just continue with his life as normal. He wasn’t going to waste any time with her or their children.

Getting up from the desk, he stretched his back muscles and headed out of the home office to find his wife. As he walked through the mansion, he passed the library to find Meghan, his sixteen-year-old daughter, reading a book. Macale, his fourteen-year-old son, was at the desk, working on his algebra homework. Quatre was pleased to see that Meghan had wonderful musical talent, especially with the violin. And Macale had a gift for numbers and was constantly looking over his father’s shoulder as Quatre ran the business.

"Meg, where’s your mother?"

"She’s in the music room."

As he neared the large, brightly lit room, he could already hear the piano music as it drifted into the hall. Nari had gift to play the instrument with her whole being, bring a new life to music that Quatre had never heard before in his life. As he drew closer, he could make out the melody more. It was a sad, melancholy tune that had an Irish tone to it. It was beautiful but so mournful at the same time. Not wanting to disturb the song, he stood outside the door and listened for awhile. Just when he was on the verge of tears, the last note resonated through the room and he heard Nari shuffle through sheet music.

He stepped into the room and greeted her with a wide smile. "That was a beautiful song you just played. What was it?"

Nari returned his wide smile. "Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you."

"Fair deal." Quatre leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips.

"It’s an old Irish song called ‘Danny Boy’. It’s one of my favorites."

Quatre pulled his violin from the case and tuned it. "Well as lovely as ‘Danny Boy’ was, do you have anything slightly more upbeat?"

"Sure do." Nari placed the sheet music for a piece by Mozart up on the piano so Quatre could see it as well. She started on the piano and Quatre joined in, finding his own melody since the music was just for the piano. Time seemed to stand still as everything in life faded into the background. The only things he was aware of at the moment was the music. One of the many things that he enjoyed in this life was sharing his music with Nari. But just as they reached the crescendo, Nari hit an off key and stopped. By the time Quatre had set down his violin, she bent over the piano keys in a coughing fit. After it had passed, her good natured smile was on her face as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Sorry about that. I guess I messed up our duet."

Quatre put his arm around her thin shoulders. "We can always start over again. Are you all right? Do you need anything?"

"No, I‘m fine. But you know, while we were playing, I got to thinking. I think of marriage as a duet. Two people each playing their own instrument. Sometimes they play together and they sound beautiful. Other times, they each try playing their own piece of music and it comes out sounding horrid. And when that happens, you stop, get on the correct page of the same music and start to play again. But sometimes, you just can’t start to play again."

Quatre tightened his arms around her. "What do you mean?"

"The musicians grow old and tired. They’re unable to hold the bow, or strum the strings or," she ran a hand over the piano keys, "press down on the keys. When that happens, the duet becomes a solo. You said we could always start over again, but I’m afraid I’m too ill-"

"Shh. You’re still sitting here. You may not be able to play as much as you used to, but you’re still here. What was it you said, years ago when we were told of your disease. ‘I’m not dying. I’m living.’ I hate to break it to you love, but you’re still living."

Nari grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I know that. But I feel like my finale is coming up. And I want to know something."

"Anything."

"Why did you marry me? You knew I was going to die young. You could have married someone else and not had to worry about the doctor bills and the stress of having a dying wife. Why did you do it?"

"At the time when we were married, we weren’t even promised a day. Besides, if I had the chance to spend only one day with you, to feel your arms around me, to kiss you, to just be with you, I would have done it. Because that one day would have been better than to go a whole eternity without knowing what a kiss from you felt like."

Quatre saw Nari’s green eyes fill with tears as she tried to blink them back. "Thank you for playing a risky duet with me."

He pulled her close, resting his forehead on hers. "Thank you for playing it with me, despite knowing how risky it would be."

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She rested her arms on his shoulders, content to be in his embrace. He had never felt more at peace than when she was in his arms. He wondered if there could ever be something to fill the void in his life after she was gone? Running his fingers through her red-gold hair, he came to the conclusion, that there was nothing to replace this woman. His children would fill most of void, but never all of it. Nari was his soul mate, his best friend, his…duet partner.