Chapter 23

They found a place about thirty miles north of the city, an apartment on the third floor of a nondescript building, accessible only by a narrow staircase, worn down by decades of use. It had seen better days, but it worked for the time being.

Lilith was on the phone, talking about symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy, hand-flapping and asterixis.

“Who was that?” Mark asked.

“The hospitalist assigned to Roxanne.”

“What’s Asterexis? It sounds like that old comic book.”

Lilith smiled. “It does. It’s medical symptom. Of liver damage. Toxins in the blood.”

“Doesn’t sound good.”

“She’ll be okay if they give her the right treatment.”

“And you’ll make sure of that!” Mark said.

Lilith nodded. “Anyway, I’m going to go see her,” she said, standing up.

She turned to Mark.

“Wanna go?”

“Right now?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Good,” Lilith said, striding to the closet. She produced a baseball cap.

“Here, wear this,” she said, handing it to him. “And these, at least till we get into the hospital.” She gave him a pair of mirrored sunglasses. She swept her hair back and donned her own cap.

As they drove to the hospital, after a brief phone conversation conducted in French, Lilith gave him further instructions.

“When we get out of the car and walk in, hunch forward a little bit and take small steps.”

“Why?”

“They may be watching the hospitals. It makes you look shorter and twenty years older.”

Roxanne was in a private room on the tenth floor. She was clad in a green hospital gown, with tubes attached to her arms, surrounded by glowing screens. Her hair was down. She’d been wearing a cap with her hair tied back the one time he’d seen her.

“What’s up?” Lilith said, her hands on her hips.

Roxanne smiled and then looked at him.

“Hello, Mark,” she said. Mark detected a slight French accent. He realized it was the first time he’d heard her speak.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” he said.

“Fine,” Roxanne said. Her eyes were those of a different person. Soft.

Lilith knelt by the bed and kissed Roxanne’s cheek. She said something in rapid French. Roxanne glanced up at Mark, nodding.

“You’re not fine, yet” Lilith was saying. “We’re going to make you fine, though. I talked to your doctor. Has he talked to you recently?”

Roxanne nodded. “He came in and said they were giving me this and that – I don’t remember. An antibiotic and something else.”

“A laxative. Sorry!”

Roxanne shrugged. “Least of my worries.”

“Honey, you have some things that indicate your liver isn’t at 100 percent. We’re addressing that. But, in addition to the medicines, I want you to be careful what you eat.” She fished a piece of paper out of a pocket. “Here are the things you should encourage and the things you should avoid. They should be giving you the right things when they feed you, but I just want you to be aware, ok.”

Roxanne nodded.

Lilith looked at her.

“You look beautiful.”

She ran her fingers through Roxanne’s hair.

“You are beautiful. And we’re going to make sure this beautiful girl gets through this just fine.”

Then Lilith said something in French.

Roxanne thought for a moment and then responded in French. They continued to talk in French. At one point, Roxanne closed her eyes and shook her head.

Lilith spoke again and Roxanne giggled.

“Ooh, no. Sorry. No laughing,” Lilith said, putting her hands on Roxanne’s shoulders.

“But we’ll care of it, ok?”

Roxanne nodded. Mark saw her glance briefly at him again before turning back to Lilith.

“Need anything?”

“No. Thank you,” Roxanne said. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course! And we’ll be back. You’ll get sick of us!”

Lilith leaned over and kissed her again, this time on the lips.

“You’ll be fine, baby.”

Roxanne looked at Mark and then Lilith. She smiled and then looked back at Mark.

“Thank you for coming, Mark.”

“Get better soon, okay?” Mark said.

Roxanne nodded.

On the way back, Lilith said, “In other news, we’ll be getting a visit from Mother.”

“Really?” Mark said. “When?”

“Next week. She’s visiting Katherine and wants to come for a couple of days. Okay if she stays with us?”

“Of course! Fine.”

“Uh-huh. Fine for you. She likes boys. I think she’s only coming to check you out. How is your French?”

“Terrible.”

“Good, then you won’t understand a word when she goes off on me.”

“Really?”

“Oh, sure. She’ll update the list of my faults, criticize the way I talk to you, and warn me about the health hazards of everything I’m eating or not eating.’”

“I’m sure she won’t,” Mark said.

“I’ll slip a little lorazepam in wine from time to time to slow her down. She’ll be very nice to you. She can be very charming. And she’s still pretty hot at 48.

___________________________________________________________ Lilith hadn’t exaggerated. As Lilith’s mother emerged from the arrivals area, Mark’s eyes widened.

“That’s her?” he said.

“Yup. Right out of the pages of Vogue,” Lilith said, waving and striding toward her mother.

Camille was dressed simply but elegantly, with a form-fitting dress in a deep shade of emerald green with a décolleté neckline. It shimmered in the light as she moved, accentuating her curves. As she hugged her daughter, Camille’s smoky brown eyes appraised him.

“Hello, Mark,” she said, holding out her hand as Lilith released her.

“Hello, Camille,” he said, shaking her hand.

“Well, Lilith didn’t exaggerate for once,” she said. Mark could hear a very slight trace of an accent.

“Yeah, he’s okay looking,” Lilith said.

“Not the right adjective at all,” Camille replied, still looking into Mark’s eyes.

“Shall we?” Lilith said, taking her mother’s arm. “The traffic’s just hideous – sorry, Mother.”

As they walked arm-in-arm toward baggage claim ahead of him, Mark could hear the two speaking in French, Camille letting out an occasional laugh. He found his eyes drifting downward and forced himself to pull them away.

_________________________________________________ They were sipping coffee at the kitchen table. Camille wasn’t up yet.

“You know,” said Mark. “You two seem to be getting along quite well, notwithstanding what you told me.”

“Darling, there’s a very simple dynamic to our relationship. Mother gives me advice. I don’t follow it. And then we fight. This is one of the rare exceptions. She seems to think I’ve scored with you. She’s been after me to find the right man for years. She objects to my general fuck-’em-and-leave-’em style.”

Camille appeared, speaking in rapid French. “Lily, pourquoi parles-tu comme ça? Montre un peu de respect!”

Lilith looked at Mark with a raised eyebrow.

“Good morning, Mark,” Camille said.

“Good morning.”

Lilith turned to him. “Did I offend you, Marky? Sorry?”

“Please don’t call him that, Lily,” Camille said, sitting down at the table.

“I’m just trying to facilitate his language acquisition skills, Mother.”

Camille glared at her.

“If this were a Marvel movie, I’d be bursting into flames!” Lilith said.

Mark laughed. Camille just shook her head. “Have you called your father recently?” she asked.

“I called him about a month ago,” Lilith said.”

“Good.”

“He told me a good Dad joke. Why do French people eat only one egg?”

“For their health,” said Camille.

“I knew you’d say that,” Lilith said. “But it’s wrong. It’s because one egg is un oeuf.”

Mark groaned. Camille tried to keep a straight face but broke into a smile.

“Your father’s pretty silly.”

“Do you ever call him?” Lilith asked.

“Why would I do that?”

“He misses you. He always asks about you.”

“Cherie, it’s been years.”

“I think he’d like it if you checked in,” Lilith said. “You can talk about me!”

Camille smiled. “I’ll think about it.”

_______________________________________________________ Lilith was out with her mother most days during Camille’s visit. They’d go shopping or Lilith would take her to museums or on drives to see the sights. They also visited Roxanne every day. Roxanne somehow knew Lilith’s grandmother; Mark couldn’t recall exactly how.

“You tease her and bait her, Lilith,” Mark said, as they lay in bed.

“And she never fails to rise to it,” Lilith replied. “It’s irresistible!”

Mark shook his head. “Who does that to their mother?”

“Girls, Mark.”

“Hey,” she said. “I need you to do me a big favor.”

“Sure,” said Mark.

“You don’t know what it is yet.”

“Anything for you,” Mark said, kissing her cheek.

“Okay, good. I need you to have sex with Roxanne.”

“What?!” Mark said, his head jerking back. “Roxanne?”

Lilith nodded. “Roxanne.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t have sex with Roxanne!”

“Why not? She wants to have sex with you.”

Mark stared at her open-mouthed.

“It’s a practical necessity. Her jerk of a boyfriend is in Belgium.”

“But what about ... us?”

“I’m fine with it. In fact, I’m the one who suggested it. Look, Mark. This is just a fact of life. It’s something you’re going to have to get used to. Random woman are going to ask you to go to bed with them and I’m mostly going to be fine with it. It’s what we do. It’s what we have to do.”

Mark just stared at her.

“Mark, you do know that Amritan women have to have sex every month or they die, right? That’s just reality. And it requires a degree of flexibility as well as sloughing off the illusion of monogamy. Most people aren’t monogamous – particularly men, but a lot of women too. They just pretend to be because that’s what’s expected. We don’t pretend. We’re polyamorous partly by choice, but also by necessity.”

“But aren’t most people paired up? Isn’t that how you solve that problem?”

“A lot of people are paired up, yes. But many aren’t. And with those who are, there are break-ups, there are long business trips and illnesses, there’s this and there’s that. It’s the real world; it’s no different for us.”

“But why me with Roxanne?”

“Well, she likes you, for one thing. That’s important. And she needs it, and she doesn’t have a lot of other options right now.”

“Doesn’t she have any other ... friends?”

“Not really. At least not male ones. She’s shy, Mark. She’s not very social. And it’s hard to meet Dacians. There are very few around. The Elysians try to keep it that way. You really have to work at it and she doesn’t.”