Matching Wits with Venus

by Therese Gilardi

  He pulled her left hand to his lips and kissed her fingers one by one. Amelia bit her lip to keep from purring with pleasure.

  “Good night.”

  As soon as she was on the other side of her thick wooden door Amelia scooped Petal up from her basket and waltzed around the living room, which smelled from the gardenias Colin had given her on their last dinner date.

  ****

  “That’s a lot of restraint for you, brother,” a jovial female voice called out from the shadows as Cupid walked away from Amelia’s house.

  Cupid turned his head and grinned at the round figure emerging from below a squat palm tree.

  “Concordia.”

  She tightened the pale blue sash around her robes and smoothed her blond curls as she wiped away a few crumbs of biscotti from her sleeve.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Thought I’d stop by the villa. It’s been ages since I visited Mom. When I saw she wasn’t there, I thought I’d just have a look around Hollywood in the evening, see what all the fuss is about. You know, see if the stars really do come out at night.”

  Concordia’s green eyes twinkled and her lips split into a wide grin.

  “Yeah, maybe,” he replied, distracted. “You said Mom wasn’t there? She was home a couple of days ago. You know, now that I think about it I guess it was last week when I saw her. Maybe she’s away. She was kind of depressed when I was there.”

  “That’ll be it then. We all know that’s as good a reason as any for her to take a vacation.”

  Cupid and Concordia smiled at each other.

  “Come on let’s head over there now. I haven’t beaten you at a game of backgammon in ages, not since that summer in Marseilles after they’d emptied out the French court.”

  Cupid opened the passenger door of the convertible. Concordia looked at the car approvingly.

  “That’s quite the flash car. Bet you’ve got all kinds of women coming after you in that thing. Not that you need the help.”

  Cupid shrugged his shoulders.

  “Don’t know. There’s only one woman I want.”

  “You’re joking right? You’re the poster boy for all the lifelong bachelors in the world. Whole rivers have been filled with the tears poured out by all the women you’ve left over the years. Your slogan should be ‘proudly unmarried for over four millennia and counting’.”

  “That was before I met Amelia.”

  Concordia slid into the car. She rubbed her hands against the leather seat. “These humans do know how to do leather.” She sat back. “So she doesn’t mind dating a god? I guess they’re into anything out here.”

  “She doesn’t exactly know.”

  Concordia leaned forward and said, “You know nothing can come of it. We have to stick with our own kind just like they have to stick with theirs. Remember the liger?”

  “It’s a beautiful animal.”

  Concordia shook her head. “That may be. But its creation was accidental. You’re making a big mistake, big brother. A big mistake.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Hey Renaldo, where’s Mama?”

  Renaldo beamed as Concordia kissed him on both hands and held out her right palm so they could exchange the secret handshake he’d made up for her when she was a child. He reached for her hands and held them for a moment as he took in her new robes.

  Concordia smiled. He’d been the perfect surrogate father, nanny, and companion for thousands of years; something she’d only recently realized had had a profound impact on her ability to strive for harmony.

  “Cruising the Aegean. She said she had a harkening for Greek salads. You know your mother and her feta cheese.”

  Renaldo chuckled with that deep, throaty laugh that had made him so popular as a storyteller with the children of the gods and goddesses.

  “It won’t do for her to be seen with anything but mozzarella, parmesan and pecorino in her larder, so she’s slipped away to Scorpios to sate her craving.”

  Concordia grinned.

  “Well then what do you say to big brother and I indulging one of our own food fetishes.”

  Cupid rolled his eyes and pretended to grimace as Renaldo smiled.

  “Your kimono is still out on the mannequin next to your bed, Concordia.”

  Ten minutes later the elevator operator hugged Concordia as soon as she and Cupid entered the lift. As usual Concordia was living up to her position as the goddess of harmony. She sighed happily as they leaned against the elevator wall.

  The ride to Kyoto took just under two minutes.

  “Sorry about the traffic,” the operator said as the lift glided into place. “You know how bumpy spring travel can be, what with all of the planting and toiling.”

  Concordia smiled as she slipped her arm through Cupid’s and they walked among the sacred shrines. She reached out her hand and touched a cherry blossom branch that hung near the entrance of her favorite temple. She caressed the delicate petals then turned to face Cupid.

  “Why do you think Mom went to Greece? If it was only for the feta….” Concordia looked at Cupid slyly. “We know Fleur’s smuggled much worse in to her in the past.”

  “Isn’t that the truth! Remember the luau?”

  They both smiled at the memory of the time Fleur had set up a luau on the back patio of the mansion, complete with orchids, poi and a pig pit so Venus could pretend she was in Hawaii. She had also required grass skirts, Waikiki sand and Don Ho so the evening would be truly authentic.

  Cupid turned and faced his sister.

  “Look, I screwed up. I forgot to send out the spring arrows.”

  Concordia stopped walking.

  “You’re joking! You, do anything less than perfect?” She wagged her finger.

  “Yeah, hard to believe,” Cupid replied sarcastically as they resumed walking.

  “I gotta tell you something. But you can’t tell anyone, especially not Mom. Ever.”

  Concordia raised her eyebrows and grabbed Cupid’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

  “When Mom called me out on my mistake, I promised her I’d shoot all the arrows right away. Only, you know, I was kind of busy….”

  Concordia nodded.

  “You mean there was someone you had to see.”

  “Something like that.” Cupid laughed. “Anyway Inuus offered to do some of them for me, so I let him.”

  Concordia’s jaw dropped.

  “I know I shouldn’t have done it.” Cupid kicked a small stone.

  “It was the first time I ever let anyone else touch my arrows, and I’m sure it’ll be the last. I just had to tell somebody. I feel like I let Mom down.”

  “Well don’t worry about it. I’m sure Inuus did it.”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t he?”

  ****

  Venus sipped some ouzo from the green glass in her hand. She pulled the large sunglasses she’d purchased years ago down over her eyes and smiled. They were the same shades she’d seen on Sophia Loren as the legendary actress strolled the Via Veneto with Carlo Ponti. Feeling glamorous for a change, Venus licked her lips and leaned back against the rattan chaise lounge of Aphrodite’s yacht.

  “So how has business been for you?” Venus asked. She tried to adopt a casual tone as she spoke to the woman in the next chair.

  Aphrodite had recently begun a combination travel/honeymoon business for those of Greek descent who wished to celebrate their marriages back in the homeland.

  “I’d like to say it’s never been better, but you’d know I was lying.” Aphrodite replied as she slid a lacquered, red nail beneath the leg of her black and white striped maillot and snapped its elastic band.

  “That’s how it’s been for me all spring, absolutely punishing. No honeymooners so no honeymoon cruises of the Greek Isles.”

  Aphrodite pulled her wide brimmed black hat over her inky hair, picked up her glass of ouzo, and looked at Venus as she said, “To our utterly forgettable, hopefully never-to-be-repeated spring.”

 
; Venus raised her glass, and they toasted.

  “You have no idea.” Venus said as she set down her glass then squirted her arms with suntan lotion. “Everyone’s blaming me, but I think there’s something in the air.”

  Aphrodite leaned back on her left elbow and pointed slightly in the direction of the galley, where a laughing Greek man of about twenty was climbing the steps bearing a tray of baklava. Aphrodite pulled her sunglasses down over her nose and grinned.

  “There’s something in the air all right. I’ve got spring fever. Wait. Make that cabin fever. There’s just something about cabin boys.”

  The young cabin boy placed the tray of sweet pastries between them and licked his lips. Aphrodite kissed the air and waved her fingers in his direction.

  “Darling,” she said, “ I believe I need to be all lathered up.”

  The man reached into the leopard print bag next to the boat rail, withdrew a bottle holding the massage oil Venus occasionally bought at a stand in Venice Beach and motioned for Aphrodite to roll over. When the Greek goddess was on her stomach, he carefully lowered himself onto the chaise lounge until he was straddling her, mere inches between their bodies. He poured the orchid scented oil into his unlined palms and began rubbing Aphrodite’s shoulders as she moaned.

  Venus bit into a piece of baklava and sighed. She longed to have a man ran his hands across her skin. It had been centuries since she’d had a lover.

  As if sensing her friend’s distress, Aphrodite snapped to attention. She waved her arm. The young man gave her shoulders one final squeeze then stood to the side as Aphrodite rolled onto her back.

  “Elias, please go and fetch George. Venus is in need of a massage.”

  “Aphrodite, I couldn’t…”

  Aphrodite turned to her. “Don’t be absurd! We deserve it after the year we’ve had. We’re always thinking of the happiness of others.” She shook her head of blue-black curls. “What about our happiness? Who thinks of that?”

  “You know,” Venus sat up and leaned forward, “in Los Angeles they actually have whole books and meetings, for some reason they call them workshops although the attendees aren’t working or shopping. I suppose it’s one of those vagaries of the American version of the English language. Anyway, these workshops are devoted to the idea that women need to take care of themselves.”

  Aphrodite nodded. “That’s how it should be. You need more than Fleur and Renaldo looking out for you.”

  Venus smiled wistfully. It was so soothing to hear Aphrodite say this. Ever since the peace agreement had been brokered between the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses there had been harmony between the communities.

  The Romans had been humble as they were awarded world dominion and the Greeks had been gracious in defeat. Still, Venus occasionally wondered when the day would come that shifted the balance of power once more. Or when the day would come that more and more matches would slip between her fingers, having been made by people like that mortal, Amelia. Sure, there had always been the occasional lapses, figures she couldn’t help even within her own house. Renaldo was proof of that.

  Still, something had to be done. Venus frowned. She was suddenly aware that the time when she and her compatriots would see their influence disappear could arrive sooner rather than later if she and the other Romans failed to successfully execute their powers.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I see you took my advice and dressed warmly,” Colin said with a smile, as he looked at Amelia in her emerald jacket, black jeans and hiking boots. “Although I have to say, I wouldn’t mind keeping you warm.”

  “I just may take you up on that offer.” Amelia replied as she grinned. “So where are we going?”

  Colin handed her a helmet as he pointed at the black motorcycle parked in front of Amelia’s bungalow. He shook his head.

  “No, no, no. I’m not going to spoil the surprise.”

  Amelia swung her leg over the seat, put her arms around Colin’s waist and pulled herself toward him. She pressed her cheek against his soft leather jacket, which smelled of citrus and musk, and edged even closer to his body as she wrapped her legs around his.

  Amelia sighed happily as the motorcycle purred beneath her and Colin pulled out into the lazy morning, the sun bouncing off of the chrome handlebars. She didn’t care where they were going, just that it was far away. She just wanted to hold onto Colin for as long as possible.

  They rode along in silence, toward the Pacific then up to a remote point overlooking the ocean. Colin stopped the bike next to a tiny wooden outbuilding. He climbed down and reached back for Amelia. As her feet hit the ground, he pulled her close. He kissed the top of her nose. Amelia raised her head, pressed her mouth onto his warm lips, and ran her tongue along the indent of his front tooth as his hands rested in the small of her back.

  “How’d you get that?” She asked a moment later.

  Colin laughed.

  “Funny you should ask.”

  He led Amelia around to the back of the little outbuilding, where two bows sat propped against the wall, a quiver full of arrows between them.

  “It happened when I was a boy, just learning to shoot. I didn’t know how strong the force would be when I released my arrow. My bow snapped back and hit me.”

  Amelia reached up and patted Colin’s smooth jaw. She couldn’t help herself; she felt compelled to see if his face was as soft as it looked. As her hand caressed his skin he smiled.

  “How do you get your skin so soft? Do you have any idea how much money people in this town would pay for a face that feels like this?”

  Colin shrugged.

  “Olive skin, what can I say? The sun and I, we go together well.”

  Amelia pulled her hand down walked over to the bow and turned to face Colin.

  “I can’t believe you did this. It was so generous of you.”

  “You said you always wanted to learn to shoot, but you never told anyone because you thought it sounded too old-fashioned.”

  “I can’t believe you remembered. That was the night of our third dinner together,” Amelia said with a smile. She looked longingly at the bow and arrow. “Guess your family didn’t find archery old-fashioned.”

  “You could say my parents admire the classics,” he replied as he tucked a lock of Amelia’s hair behind her ear and traced his finger around her small gold earring. “I remember everything about you,” he said softly. “Now let me show you how to stand.”

  Colin picked up the small bow and pivoted Amelia. As he stood behind her, his legs pressed to hers, his arms wrapped around her and his hands atop her fingers, Amelia wanted to melt into his body. As his forearms brushed against her ribs she felt her chest muscles tighten. His hair, like his face, smelled musky, with the faintest hint of the sea breeze that swirled around them, carrying twigs across the field below. She was so overcome with desire she had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying She hoped, despite Colin’s apparent concentration on the task at hand, that he too was enjoying their close proximity.

  ****

  “You’re really getting good,” he said two hours later as they looked at the heap of arrows they’d shot toward the water.”

  “Can we do a few more? I feel like I’ve almost got the stance down.”

  Cupid opened the door of the wooden outbuilding and pulled out a bag of green and gold tipped arrows. Quickly, he reached for the golden arrows, the magical ones that made people fall in love with the first person they saw after being stricken, and tossed them onto the dirt floor. The last thing he wanted Amelia to do was to see or touch his mother’s arrows.

  “How’d you know about this place?” She asked as she loaded another arrow into her bow. “Jennie and I were here at the beach all the time during high school and college, but I don’t remember ever noticing this shooting range.”

  “It’s not public.”

  “Really?” Amelia released her arrow. “Whose is it and how did you find out about it?”

  “It belong
s to my father,” Cupid replied quietly.

  Amelia turned around. “I thought your parents lived in Italy.”

  “They do.”

  “Geez and they’ve got property here?”

  Cupid nodded.

  “Funny huh?”

  “Must’ve been nice growing up like that. You must have been able to have anything you wanted.”

  “Not at all. If anything, my parents made sure I had to work hard for everything.”

  “Interesting." Amelia reached toward the arrows Cupid had thrown to the ground.