The Otherlings and the Crystal Amulet

by S V Hurn

  Alex listened and tried to make sense of her relationship with her ex-husband but thought the man must have been nuts. “That life is over now, it’s all in the past and for sure I’m not the only one who thinks you are an incredible woman.”

  Dorathy looked up at him, face streaked with tears and said, “Yes, I am.” She wiped her eyes with her hands. “I’m okay, darling, I need to just let it go. His rejection has been eating at me for far too long. I love you, sweetheart.” She kissed Alex and got out of bed. “I need to make a few calls.” She looked at the clock. “I’ll call Jack in a while to let him know the plan, no need to wake him up this early.”

  After making the arrangements for her jet and packing, Dorathy called Jack to tell him they needed to leave. She had already received all contact information for the scientists at CERN and was linked into the main server to receive all new data as it came in.

  Jack was speechless. “Dora, I’m so sorry. Give me about thirty minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “Great Jack. I’ll call for the car and we’ll meet in the lobby at 6:30.”

  Dorathy stood in the shower with the hot water running over her body, trying to wash the past aches down the drain. Every time she looked into Athena’s eyes, she saw her father and now her daughter’s father was gone for good as well. She had never wished him harm, and had hoped he would find happiness. But she didn’t think Tiffany had been what he was looking for.

  Dorathy thought, how could it be that that woman could make me feel so inadequate? Was Steve really that shallow? Was it as simple as him wanting a trophy wife? Dorathy could see her reflection in the mirror opposite the shower. She had a near perfect body, full breasts, small waist, long shapely legs, and nice backside. “God damn it,” she said, under her breath, “he always complained I was too tall and never thin enough . . . screw him, a size ten is not fat!” She was having a hard time keeping her emotions under control. She started to cry. The pain of the past was creeping into her like harsh weeds covered in thorns.

  Just then she felt Alex’s arms come around her as he joined her in the shower. He said, “I’m here for you darling, I’ll never disrespect you and I will love you ‘til the day I die.” Dorathy looked into Alex’s eyes, and knew he would be there for her through hell or high water and felt safe knowing she could be herself—that there was no need for her to hide or to try to be someone she was not. Alex loved her for who she was. That would be the last time she would shed a tear over past hurts.

  The group managed to get it together in a timely fashion and were sitting on the jet waiting for their turn on the runway. Hendrik had been able to file the flight plan in record time. Once in the air they could relax and have a nice breakfast and a much-needed mimosa to take the edge off. The trip back seemed to take forever.

  Dorathy stared out the window into the emptiness below, knowing Athena had Kevin to comfort her but knowing she needed her mother with her as well. Dorathy was dreading having to face this reality and the fact she would have to deal with Tiffany, who would have, most likely, some very unrealistic demands. The woman was insufferable. It seemed as if her every sentence began with I.’ All Dorathy ever heard was, “I need, I want.” I’m pathetic, Dorathy thought.

  It was still early in the day California time when the plane landed. Athena and Kevin were there to pick Alex and Dorathy up, while Jack’s wife Mel was on her way. Athena ran into her mother’s arms and the tears started to fall again. Dorathy kissed her daughter and murmured words of comfort.

  Jack said, “If you need to take some time off to get things sorted out, no worries. Please let us know if you need anything.” Jack shook Alex’s hand and gave Dorathy a quick peck on the cheek as the women piled into the back seat. Alex threw their bags into the back of the SUV and gave a wave to Jack. He sat in the passenger side beside Kevin.

  On the ride home Athena said, “Tiffany wants to come over tonight to discuss memorial and funeral services.”

  Dorathy sighed, “Of course, that’s fine. I’ll make us a light dinner and we can go over the details with her.”

  “Mom, she says she wants you to pay for everything and she sort of mentioned she needed money as well so she can pay the household bills until the life insurance policy is paid.”

  Dorathy rolled her eyes and said under her breath, “When does it end,” knowing it had just begun. But she had had the entire trip back from Switzerland to prepare to deal with that dimwit.

  Later that afternoon, after unpacking and a trip to the grocery store, Alex and Dorathy sat in the spa together trying to erase some of the day’s stress before having to pile on more—Tiffany was sure to cause them grief. Dorathy said, “I’m pretty well numb from everything coming at us at once—the impact of the discovery, to the news of Steve, to the frantic flight home. Dealing with Tiffany is just going to be the icing on the cake, so to speak.” Alex agreed, positioning himself behind Dorathy so he could give her a much-needed back and neck rub to ease the tension in her shoulders and the pounding in her head.

  Tiffany arrived at the house thirty minutes late, as usual. Athena answered the door and invited her in with a quick hug. Athena knew Tiffany had never thought much of her and could see right through the attempts at friendship as being phony and an attempt to align herself with the Rosen fortune.

  As expected, Tiffany was dressed like she was ready to walk the streets of Hollywood—the seedy parts. She wore a dress that left not much to the imagination: very low cut and so short it barely covered her nonexistent backside, and a pair of platform stilettoes reminiscent of something one might find at a strip club. She was draped in every piece of diamond jewelry Steve had showered her with over the years. Dorathy grimaced when she remembered when she had asked Steve to buy her a keyring that had a little leather pouch attached to it and he had responded, “What makes you think you deserve that?” She immediately pushed that thought aside; it was not going to benefit the situation at hand.

  Tiffany shimmied right past Dorathy to introduce herself to Alex. Dorathy was thinking, ‘this woman is so unbelievable. Her husband still in the morgue, she comes into my home, dressed like that, ignores me and makes a beeline for Alex, and wants me to give her money on top of it. Un-freaking-believable!’ Dorathy took a very deep breath and slowly let it out. “Can I offer you a drink, Tiffany?”

  “Yes please, a white wine, if you have it, something good.”

  Dorathy moved into the kitchen and caught herself staring at the knives, but with another deep breath, rummaged in her wine cooler for a bottle of French sauvignon blanc. She murmured to herself, “As if she would know the difference.” After opening the bottle, Dorathy poured a healthy portion and put the rest on ice. Grabbing a crystal lowball glass, she tossed in a couple of cubes of ice and poured herself a double tequila with a squeezed wedge of lime. She thought, this is my much-needed tonic for tonight.

  She handed the wine to Tiffany, who took it with an overly sweet, “Thank you, you’re a doll.”

  One would never know that less than forty-eight hours had gone by since she had found her husband dead and now this woman was gushing all over Alex. Alex had had enough and excused himself to the kitchen to see how dinner was coming along. He was a great cook and was preparing a simple roasted chicken with veggies and wild rice.

  Dorathy asked him, “How long?” hoping to rush the night along.

  “About twenty minutes.” He suggested, “Perhaps take Tiffany out back while I cook.” In other words, get that woman away from me . . . please. Dorathy read his mind and turned to say to Athena, Tiffany, and Kevin, “Why don’t we take this out back since it’s such a nice night?”

  They sat around the patio table and Tiffany started to cry. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without Steve. He was the breadwinner and we have so many bills to pay. If I can’t come up with the mortgage payment the bank will take the house and, you never knew this, he was playing the stock market and he lost all our money. We’ve been living on credit to ma
ke ends meet. Now Tiffany was sobbing hysterically. Dorathy you have to help me; I just don’t know what to do.”

  Dorathy tried to calm her down as she was not devoid of sympathy. “Look,” she said, “I know Steve had a big life insurance policy, because he took my name off it when he met you. So, unless he’s cancelled it, you’re going to be fine.” Tiffany almost screamed, “But it’s only for five million dollars!”

  Dorathy said, “That’s more than enough to pay the house off and most likely the majority of the debit, I assume.”

  “But then what,” Tiffany said, trying to catch her breath.

  Dorathy was confused by her question. “You pay it off and life goes on.”

  “How will I live on what’s left?”

  Dorathy shook her head, having no idea where this was going.

  Tiffany, in hysterics, and in no particular order, shouted at her, “Food, taxes, entertainment, travel . . . bills, Dorathy! And I have a face lift already scheduled.”

  “Well, Tiffany you’re just going to have to get a job.”

  “Oh my God, Dorathy! I’m forty-two years old! Who is going to want to hire me at my age?”

  Dorathy had had enough, “Look, you’re just going to have to suck it up and figure it out. I’m fifty-one and I have a career . . .”

  Tiffany shot back, “Oh spare me, Dorathy, you don’t even have to work if you don’t want to, you have billions.”

  “Yes, true, but I don’t draw from it. My house, my car, I earned myself and so can you. Without a mortgage payment and no debt hanging over your head, you’ll be fine. Christ, sell the big house, buy a condo and invest the rest.”

  “A condo,” she screeched, “are you kidding me? I can’t live in a condo!”

  “Jesus Christ, Tiffany, why the hell not?”

  “Oh my God, Dorathy, you would love to see me living in squalor!”

  Dorathy rolled her eyes and said, “Well, this conversation isn’t going anywhere. I will arrange the memorial service and the funeral . . . and pay for it. As far as I’m concerned, you can do whatever you want with your life, but I’m done.”

  Tiffany lurched to her feet and screamed, “You are such a selfish bitch for not wanting to help me. I can see why Steve left you.” She stormed out of the backyard, through the house and slammed the door on her way out, without any further words.

  Dorathy grabbed her drink off the patio table and slugged it back. “Crazy wench!”

  Athena started to cry. “OH Mom, how could Dad have been happy with her?”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart.”

  Alex came out back and said, “That went well. Guess I’ll set the table for four?”

  After dinner Alex and Kevin cleaned up while Dorathy spoke with Hugo on the phone. They discussed both CERN and the situation with Tiffany in depth. Hugo was sympathetic and told Dorathy to take care of family matters first, then start fresh the following Monday. That would give her nearly a week to get this whole thing over and done with. Then she could finally put the past in the past.

  It was a trying few days. Athena and Dorathy planned the services for Steve without much help from Tiffany. It was surprising to Dorathy how few friends they had as a couple. Steve was an only child without surviving parents and had no other relatives, so the guest list was short. Most of the people who attended were with the company where he had worked for so many years.

  Athena was really the only family he had, but he had never really been involved in her life. Not because Athena didn’t try, it was his choice. Dorathy would never know why, and Athena was without her father now.

  Standing next to Steve’s coffin, listening to the sermon, Alex kept his arm around Dorathy and was holding Athena’s hand. Athena was leaning into him, holding his arm tight. Dorathy knew that they were a family and that Alex would always be there for her, for both of them. On such a sad day, she was feeling a quiet joy and felt guilty for it. She turned to look at Tiffany, dressed in a very little black dress and thought, she would eventually find her way as it would only be a short time before she met someone else and he would then take his turn taking care of her. Tiffany would be fine.

  CHAPTER 11

  Monday seemed to come too quickly. Dorathy woke refreshed and eager to get to work on her design for the cryocapsules. This was the most exciting project she had ever worked on, and deep down inside she was convinced that this was going to change the lives of every living soul on the planet. What she didn’t know was how much this discovery was going to change her life.

  Alex decided to fly back to Phoenix briefly so he could get things sorted out with the business and his house. “Darling, I won’t be gone long, I just want to tie up these loose ends then I’m all yours.” He added, “I’m going to get a contractor out to do a little updating on the house and sell it turnkey. It’s a great place for a retired couple looking for a second home. And, as far as the business is concerned, I feel confident putting things in Stuart’s capable hands. I’ll arrange to fly out there every now and again, as needed. Then we can work here, together, with the team to get the project off the ground.”

  Dorathy knew he was right, but hated being parted from him, even if only for a few weeks. She said sadly, “I know, honey,” and they kissed each other goodbye. Athena was waiting in her vehicle to take him to the airport, since she was going in that direction anyway.

  Dorathy stood outside in the driveway, waving as they drove off. She looked down at her watch and decided that even though it was early she would get to work and get a head start. She went in, grabbed her things, and drove the way she had always driven . . . fast.

  On her way into the building she stopped to greet Lisa and, no surprise, Lisa immediately asked where Alex was, just in case she would need to file a report with the other members of the gossip chain that they already had broken up.

  Dorathy said, “Yes, we are still together. He had to fly back to get things sorted out. He’ll be back soon.” Lisa was always left wondering how Dorathy knew what she was thinking.

  She got to her office and no sooner had she seated herself than Lucy, walking past from the other direction, noted her arrival. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Where’s Alex?”

  “He had to go back to get things in order, he’ll be back for good in a couple of weeks.”

  “Oh my God, Dorathy, I heard what happened to Steve, I’m so sorry, that’s crazy! How was CERN? I heard what you did over there, that’s awesome. God, I wish I had been there to see their faces. Wasn’t the hotel just fabulous?” Lucy took a breath, sat down opposite Dorathy and for once, calmly said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you, but with everything going on we haven’t had a chance to visit. I want you to know that I am so happy for you—happy you met Alex. He seems like a wonderful guy.” Then Lucy started to cry, tears rolling down her face, and sobbed out, “Peter and I are getting divorced.”

  Dorathy loved Lucy to death and jumped up to comfort her. Dorathy was beginning to feel drained by all the drama in her life. “I am so sorry, Lucy, how can I help?” Lucy sighed and reached for a tissue on Dorathy’s desk to wipe her eyes. She assured Dorathy she would be fine. “Peter moved out and is signing over the house.” Then, with a bitter little laugh, she said, “Well, let’s face it, I’m a veteran at this. I swear I’m never getting married again!”

  Dorathy had heard her say that the last time two times she got divorced. Trying to cheer her up, Dorathy said, “I know you love weddings, so how about you be in mine?”

  “Oh my God, Dorathy, did Alex propose?”

  “No, he didn’t, yet, but I know he will . . . eventually.”

  Lucy came up out of her chair to give Dorathy a hug, “Oh, yay, I love weddings! Are we on for Friday night?” Dorathy knew there was a lot of work ahead of her but couldn’t disappoint a best friend in her hour of need, “Yes, absolutely.”

  The days seemed to whiz by as Dorathy worked relentlessly, but the nights were terribly lonely. Dorathy would lie in bed thinking about all t
he years she had spent alone. Had Alex come along when she needed him most—was there some kind of divine intervention? She didn’t care, she was happy and was comforted knowing that she would never be alone again.

  Meetings with Hugo and Jack became an almost daily occurrence. Dorathy plugged away at the data and figured out a remarkable design for space bending. God, she thought, the endless bickering over the discovery and the data coming in was always so fragmented that she wanted to pull out her hair in frustration.

  “Damn it, Hugo those dimwits over there are always dragging their goddamned feet. I come up with a design, I shoot it over to them and then it takes them days to tell me what they think. So, to hell with them. I know this will work and they are being so damn noncommittal.”

  Hugo leaned back in his chair, plunked his handcrafted western boots on his desk and said, “Shit, Dora, those bastards don’t want you to take all the credit. Comes down to bruised egos, plain and simple. Look at all the folks they got workin’ over there, most of the brightest the planet’s got to offer. You throw a crapload of money at them to get the job done and, with their shit eatin’ grins, they take it so they can do all the fine tunin’. Trust me when I say they are takin’ your designs and usin’ them. They figure they’ll take their sweet time figurin’ out how to make something they already got, better. I’m gonna have a little talk with them over there and tell ‘em, ‘shit or get off the pot.’”

  Dorathy agreed with him and said, “Thanks, Hugo, but I know what I have and I’m telling you it’s going to work.” Dorathy got up and left his office, knowing if anybody could get this crap sorted out it would be Hugo. True to form, as illustrated by the sticker on his door that read, don’t mess with Texas.

  It was a happy day for Dorathy, because Alex would be at the house when she got there—home for good. Athena was going to pick him up from the airport and bring him to the house with whatever belongings he had been able to check packed into the back of her SUV. The rest of his things and his car were due to arrive in the next few days.