Out of the Black - Lee Doty [112]
She didn't answer, but she didn't move.
"I ate eggplant for you." He said like the final statement in a brilliant oratory, and gave her just a hint of that crooked smile she loved so much it hurt. He took a step backwards, waiting for her to bolt, hands up between them. When he was convinced she wasn't going to flee immediately, he scooped up the necklace and returned to her.
"Look." He pointed to the wall mirror where this fight began. It was still cracked from the impact of her fist.
She made no move at first, but then turned slowly. She was a wreck, looking teary and weak. The crystalline cracks were a net cast over her reflection.
He was behind her. "Thirty seconds more. Please."
He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to make eye contact through the mirror. He reached around her throat. His hands met then separated again, trailing a silver chain between them. "Look." He said.
She forced her eyes to meet her own in the mirror.
"Watch for the change." Slowly he brought the necklace to her throat. The cool metal on the back of the cameo touched the skin at her collarbone, and a subtle twist seemed to tug at her vision. In the mirror, she shifted from herself into something truly impressive.
"Paper bag..." she mumbled.
"Paper bags cover you." He said, fastening the clasp. "This uncovers you. Tell me, what's different now?"
"I'm beautiful."
"No, I mean specifically. What's specifically different?"
She looked hard at her nose, which was no longer too wide. "My nose." She looked at her eyes that were no longer beady. "My eyes... everything."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Don't play with me."
"I'm not. Not at all." He unclasped the necklace. "Now watch your nose closely... don't take your eyes off of it..."
He removed the necklace, but the dimensions of her nose didn't change. "How?" She said, almost forgetting that he was there. She now looked like she always did, but her nose hadn't changed from when she was perfect. In fact, it almost looked good.
"Now look at your eyes."
She obliged, almost more curious than afraid now. He put the necklace back on; her eyes didn't change... yet they were beautiful.
"Now you see what I do. It doesn't change how you look." He paused for effect, "...it changes how you see. It makes you see yourself like I see you."
Something shifted in the universe; unseen shackles loosened, threatened to fall. "Who'da thunk..." She said, hot with emotion, yet lighter somehow. She put a hand on the glass, palm forward, fingers spread, feeling the sharp lines of the cracks. Through this cracked window, she saw herself for the first time. Through the tears, she smiled.
His reflection smiled back. "At last, we see the same thing."
"Why?"
His right hand slid from her right shoulder across her throat, coming to rest on her left shoulder. His left hand moved across her waist, completing the embrace. She felt his warmth behind her, his breath on her ear. "Selfishness." His reflected smile broadened.
He was baiting her. He must feel pretty confident that she was done with that face-smashing impulse. Her stare shifted from her reflection to his in the mirror. She waited.
When it became obvious she wasn't going to ask again, he continued, "I needed you to believe I could love you. When your dad looked at you, what do you think he saw?" He gestured toward the cracked glass. "He saw beauty, just like I do. The weird part is that you saw something else. Baby, you're beautiful... you're just stupid too."
"You... love me." The sarcasm wouldn't work, though she tried, it sounded as forced as a warped drawbridge with rusty hinges.
"Now listen, you stubborn woman..." he whispered, "I love you. I might screw up, might even hurt you sometimes, but I'm never going to stop loving you."
Though her cheeks burned, she didn't look away.
"Not till the end of the world."
She's never seen him completely serious before. "You proposing something?" She said with a twinkle in