9. I Am A Unicorn, Therefore I Sparkle
I Am A Unicorn, Therefore I Sparkle
“ M ore crystals?” Hale looked up from his laptop as I casually decorated every child-safe, unadorned surface of the house.
“You hush . I like them. They keep me centered and calm.”
“That used to be my job,” he mumbled, his gaze drifting back to the iPad.
“This one’s a moonstone. Willow says it can help balance my hormones.”
“Who needs Western medicine when we have rocks?”
“Western medicine can’t energize the divine feminine, Hale. And it’s not a rock, it’s a crystal.”
“And crystals are…?”
“Shut up. It’s supposed to strengthen my cycles and help with conception.”
“Sound advice from a woman you met in a cave below the New York subway.”
“Um, your sarcasm is not appreciated. And that cave-dwelling woman gives me the confidence that we will get pregnant.”
“The Reiki lady, not the renowned fertility specialists who collected actual scientific data.”
“That’s correct.”
“Just checking.”
I returned to organizing my crystals into cute little displays and ignored my husband’s skepticism. Hale liked facts and order. If he couldn’t make math out of something, it didn’t exist. The man didn’t have a spiritual bone in his body. I, on the other hand, was accessing my inner goddess and traveling down a fertile path to enlightenment.
Willow had taken on a prominent role in my life since my visit to New York. When she told me she worked with virtual clients all over the world, I hired her as a spiritual coach, sort of like a therapist.
Sure, she lacked some credentials, but she grounded me in a way few could.
She and I had a weekly recurring meeting, during which I expressed my worries, and she advised me. I didn’t see any difference between this and any other sort of coach, church leader, or advisor.
Did Hale think I was in a cult? Probably.
Was I?
Well, I wasn’t shaving my head or running around in robes yet, so I considered it more of a high-interest hobby. And even if it was a pricey placebo, Willow’s advice was helping me.
My IBS—a condition I’d struggled with since puberty—was less frequent. My breakouts had cleared up. And I seemed to have a natural glow that wasn’t there before.
My job was still stressful. Hale was traveling as much as ever, and Elara was burning through my energy faster than a kettle that never stopped steaming. But my stomach issues were calm, and my mood was Zenner than ever. I wasn’t living off plants or doing that whole no-alcohol thing, of course. I mean, come on. I was never going to be that Zen. Chocolate and booze had been my crutch for far too long, and I owed them my loyalty, even in a time of pure enlightenment.
“If Willow sells you any more rocks, she might be able to relocate to a nicer place above ground.”
“Joke all you want, Mr. Davenport. But as the newest Davenport, I’m expected to have a few weird, rich-girl interests. It’s in the gold digger handbook. This can be my first frivolous, eclectic hobby as your wife.”
It still felt strange calling myself rich. Every time I signed into my bank account, I felt like I was shoplifting. The monthly statement was obscene, and my brain still thought like a girl who sometimes bounced checks and regularly paid overdraft fees. It would be impossible to overdraw my accounts now.
“We’re not rich, Rayne.”
“Uh, I beg to differ.”
“Rich is unstable. We’re wealthy.”
“And wealthy is somehow more stable?”
“Wealth is generational, so yes, it’s much more stable.”
“Could you be more pretentious?”
He met my stare. “Your rock is crooked.”
“It’s a crystal!”
“And a crystal is…”
“A pretty rock. Why are you picking on me?”
“Because you’re cute when you're flustered.”
I wondered how cute he’d think I was once I saged the house. “Just think of them like jewels. You love buying me diamonds. Now, you can buy me crystals.” I abandoned the shelf I’d been decorating and brought him a palm stone. “Hold one.” I placed it in his hand. “They all have different meanings. This is rose quartz. It represents unconditional love and emits a healing vibration. It’s a symbol of love and joy.”
He turned it in the light. “Pretty.”
I smiled and took it back from him. “I think so.”
I never did well with houseplants. And Hale’s home was already decorated when we got together, so this was technically the first time I tried changing the aesthetic.
“Do you mind having them around?”
“Why would I mind? This is our home. Decorate it however you want.”
I rushed back to the sofa and kissed him.
He caught my hips. “What was that for?”
“Just for…being you.”
“Well, if you wanted to really thank me…” He glanced at his watch. “Elara and Andrew won’t be back for another thirty minutes.”
I slithered off of his lap, landing on the floor between his knees. “Is this what you had in mind?”
“That’s exactly what I manifested.”
I laughed and unzipped his pants.
Despite all of Hale’s teasing, he really did listen to me and love me enough to support anything I was into. A few days later a package arrived. I waited until Hale got home since it was addressed to him, but when he saw it, he smiled and handed it to me.
“It’s for you.”
“For me?” I loved prizes.
“Open it.” He handed me a knife and I sliced the carboard open.
“It’s another box.” I pulled the luxe white box from the paper and set it on the table. “It’s heavy.” The suction of the lid made it difficult to lift off. When I finally got it open, a piece of foam covered whatever was inside, so I suspected it was fragile. I tossed the foam board aside and gasped when I saw pale pink rose quartz in a cushioned bed of satin. “You got me a crystal?”
I carefully pulled the tower from the box and gasped. Hale laughed. “Do you like it?”
I tucked it in my lap, blushed, and whispered. “Hale, this is a penis.”
“Actually, the proper term is wand . ”
I ran my fingers over the smooth flared head. The pink quartz was heavy and cold in my hand, but it was definitely a dick. “Well, we can’t display this on a windowsill.”
“It’s not for display. It’s for you.”
I looked up in shock. “What do you mean?”
He took the crystal wand and dragged it between my legs. “You know what I mean.”
I gaped at him. “It goes inside?” I whispered.
He nodded. “Not the sort of vibration you’re used to, but according to what you told me…”
“Oh, my God. You’re going to Reiki my vagina?”
“What do you say we give it a spin?”
It turned out, that not all sex toys were created equal. Most of the toys Hale added to our collection were soft or chargeable. This was nothing like the others and when he used it on me, it was unlike any other time.
Hale teased the cool crystal over my skin slowly. He took his time and was excruciatingly gentle. He didn’t fuck me with the wand, he made love to me with it. It was sensual and scintillating. He worshipped my body, anointing every inch of flesh with the crystal, until I was begging for the real thing. And when he pressed inside of me, there was something powerful about his intentions.
“Can you feel me, Rayne?” He pulled me onto his lap, his arms winding around me as he closed his mouth over mine and flexed his hips. “Can you feel me inside of you, deep in your core? Feel me in your heart. I’m there, Rayne. Always with you.”
My lips dragged over his jaw as he pressed deeper. “I feel you.”
“Can you picture what it will feel like when our child’s in there?”
“Yes.”
“A piece of me, growing inside of you.”
Every slow stroke enunciated his whispered words. My entire being became part of him in that moment as he held me in his arms and made love to me.
“That’s what I want, Hale.”
“You know I’ll give you anything you want, baby. I’ll always take care of you.”
My head tilted back as my pleasure peaked. His grip tightened as his swollen cock pulsed inside of me, and we shivered. I had never felt so connected, so unified with another person as I did in that moment as our bodies fused as one.
Even if that wasn’t the moment of conception, it was a fundamental moment for us, one where we recognized each other’s commitment and poured all of our love into one shared purpose. That night, Hale healed something in me. He reminded me that while our lives would be fuller with a second baby, our love was far from empty. And that was a truth I needed to remember.
The following week I was at Remington’s organizing the outdated file system he used in his house. “Remington, why do you still have the rebate paperwork for a vacuum you no longer own?”
“Meyers, don’t ask stupid questions. Do I look like the person you should be asking about vacuums?”
He was right. I pulled out the overstuffed file bursting with outdated manuals and rebates and went to find Marta.
She was making something that smelled divine in the kitchen. “Hey Marta, do you have a second?”
“What is it, Ni?a?”
I dropped the heavy file on the counter. “Could you look through this and tell me what appliances he no longer has? I’m trying to make some room in the filing cabinets. The man is still holding on to his tax returns from 1970.”
“Of course. You sit. I’ll make you lunch.”
Oddly, I wasn’t that hungry, but I never turned down Marta’s cooking. “What’s on the stove?”
“Today, I make a white bean chicken chili.” She set a steaming bowl before me with a spoon and a linen napkin.
“Smells good.” I lifted the spoon to my mouth and blew on the creamy chili to cool it off.
“It is good for you, Ni?a. You need all the protein and nutrients you can get in your condition.”
I stilled, a mouth full of beans and delicious chicken on my tongue. “Huh?”
She looked at me with a knowing grin and whispered, “ Estas embarazada .”
“No compre-hendo. English, please.”
She glanced at the door and then stepped closer, planting her hand flat on my belly. “You have a baby in you, Ni?a.”
I lowered my spoon. “Nuh-uh.”
“Whatever you say.” She tapped my hand with little conviction. “Eat up before your food gets cold.”
I numbly finished my lunch, and she said nothing more about it as she sorted through the file. When I left the kitchen, I went right to Remington’s office. “I, uh, have to go deal with something.”
He didn’t look up from his desk. “Are you coming back?”
“Maybe.”
“Who’s going to clean up these files, Meyers?”
“I have a system. Just leave them. I need to… It’s an emergency.”
At that, he glanced up from his work. “Is everything all right?”
“Mm-hm.”
Everything was fine. It wasn’t like Marta was some sort of prophet. She was a housekeeper who liked to cook spicy food. However, she did tell me that the first time she met me, she knew I was going to be essential to the Davenports. Apparently, her intuition influenced Remington’s decision to hire me, which, now that I thought about it, was really odd. She also once told me that she had a bad feeling the day Remington fell from his heart attack like she knew something was going to go wrong that day.
A flutter of excitement rippled through my belly. “ Is Marta psychic?”
He rumpled his bushy white brows. “What? You do realize we have actual work to do, Meyers. Go deal with your thing and get back here to clean up this mess. I want to review these reports tonight. Marta’s making chili, so bring Elara back with you and we can do the reports after dinner.”
“Uh-huh.” I grabbed my purse, not hearing a single word he said.
Twenty minutes later I was washing my hands and staring down at a pregnancy test. I promised Hale I'd wait for him the next time I took one, but he was in Colorado visiting wind farms for the next three days.
Only in the land of wishful procreation did three minutes take this long. Seconds passed like fortnights as I impatiently tapped my foot and stared at the unchanging stick.
“Ugh!” The wait was killing me, so I called Tyler.
He answered right away. “Calamity, what’s shaking?”
“You busy?”
“Just developing some photos I took last weekend.”
Tyler had recently discovered a love for photography after speaking to Rarity Lockhart, the photographer at our wedding. She gave him a bunch of old equipment, and he’d started taking night classes. He even booked a few local gigs around town, which was exciting.
“Pictures of what?”
“Just a few architecture shots and some landscapes. I’m experimenting with shadows and light.”
“Cool.”
“What’s up with you?”
“I’m currently sitting on the toilet waiting for a pregnancy test to process.”
“Shit. Really?”
“Yup.”
“Is that… I mean, are you and Hale trying?”
“We’ve been, but it’s not as easy as it seems. My expectations are low.”
“Oh. Well, how long does it take?”
“We’ve been trying for over a year.”
“No, how long does it take for the test results, Rayne?”
“Oh. Three minutes.” I stared down at the tiny window where one blue line appeared.
“This is a big deal. I feel so special being a part of it.”
“Shh.” I couldn’t think or blink and Tyler’s words were making it harder to see. I just needed him on the line for emotional support.
“You called me.”
“I think I see something.”
“What do you see?”
Was that another faint line? It was so light. Sometimes that happened, but it never got any darker. I swallowed tightly, an uncomfortable tension headache developing behind my eye.
“Ray?”
“Oh, my God.”
“What is it? Should we Facetime? I can’t see your face.”
“Tyler… I’m pregnant.”