Cards & Consequences: Return of Marlena the Magnificent

Chapter 2: Two of Swords (reversed)

Movement, change, renewed action. You have recently made a decision, or circumstances made the decision for you. The stalemate is over, decisions made, now you must wait to see how matters unfold. Strong emotions come to the surface and can be dealt with head-on.

Marlena powered down both car windows, content to acclimate for a few minutes in Charlotte's brutal late afternoon humidity, gave herself an attagirl! for nailing down a relationship with the Caribbean soul-man painter Hemingway 'Shark-Mohn' Jones yesterday, scheduling a 30-Under-30 interview with Vogue, and events around five extremely social days at Wimbledon.

Being in the 'Friends' box for the men's semi-finals constituted terrific final icing, because she was now absolutely free of any business or required communications that might interfere with her focus here.

From the moment her talented Romanian's reading revealed that whiplash crack of lightening Tower card until thirty seconds ago, when she'd turned her granny-apple green Cougar into this C-level apartment complex, had been a week of continuous, whirlwind action. Long held and sharpened-to-the-ultimate plans were finally being set into motion, and she was confident, even stoked, about the challenge.

Edgar Allan 'Poe' Starkes, the man her heart of hearts believed Vatche's reading confirmed pursuit of, was entering an apartment building sixty-odd yards away, rubbing a cheek and favoring an ankle signs of a rough hoops session with Rahim, his Wesley Snipes-like, hard-games-for-cash partner.

After eight years, eight months, and an assorted number of days and hours without communication or a single kiss, there was no reason he should suspect this particular Tuesday would bring the tsunami waves of change she represented.

Confirming the accuracy of photos showing Eddie as somewhat thicker-bodied than the marvelously sculpted swimmer she'd shared mind-blowing sexuality with was easy from this distance. If reclaiming a carbon copy of that man was somewhere deep down inside desired, Eddie was obviously still up-scale physically.

And oh baby! nothing could ever take away my respect for those lips or hands.

She smiled at J.G.'s comments in a surveillance report about Eddie: "Starkes displays well above average range and accuracy on his jump shot, is a creative and consistent scorer. Good fakes, excellent passer, gets partner [Rahim] ball in favorite post positions for scoring. Tenacious defender with good footwork, decent rebounder-banger for white guy with only slightly above average size and speed. Not a pussy if things get rough."

His report had also labeled the six-foot-five Rahim Maxwell as 'Impressively gifted, almost a force of Nature."

Her half-marathon and canoe-cycle-run triathlon last year were definitive proofs about challenging anyone in the high-end athletics department. While she epitomized the body as temple both physically and spiritually, she'd never bought into the attitude of glory boy bodies.

Along with all of Eddie's sweet muscles there'd been an intellectual stimulation, an ability to articulate his dreamer-doer's humanity, plus a scary-good unspoken communication, turned cuddling into a personal portal to much more. Wanting to become the central reason for Eddie's inspiring, to share 1000% in a soul-satisfying combination, had overcome all reason from Day One.

As a partner, Eddie's creative and adventurous spirit had been ideal. During those hours, days, fifteen months! of mind-altering intimacy, his total emotional giving over to their Us-es had been skipping-in-the-rain beautiful. Two superbly trained bodies, linked in passions surpassing even those teenage fantasies she'd imagined reading romance novels, caused a shiver despite an already noticeable warmth in the car.