The Nineties Novels & Stories

At the very end, James placed my hand into Elijah’s. “Kid, she’s yours now. “But remember this. “She’ll always be the daughter of ninety-nine men.” As we exchanged rings, a thunderous roar echoed across the sky. Ninety-nine helicopters formed four giant words overhead. [Congratulations, Newlyweds.] When I was thirty-two, I gave birth to twins—a boy and a girl. Outside the delivery room, ninety-nine white-haired old men packed the entire hallway. The head nurse almost thought a mafia war was about to break out inside the hospital.

Ninety-nine canceled weddings were enough. This time, I wasn’t waiting anymore. I was going somewhere that truly belonged to me, where I could finally live my own life.

The paper slipped from his fingers and scattered across the floor. The contract clearly stated: Zoey had been given 99 chances. If he chose her even once, she’d be allowed to stay and marry him. If not—she’d be forced to leave the country and never return. And he… He had chosen Claire. Every. Single. Time. He had ignored Zoey. Let her get hurt. Rejected her. Again and again. What the hell had he done? Adrian leaned against the wall, stunned, unable to breathe. Linda finally spoke.

’ she interrupted in disbelief. Andrea nodded. ‘Tiny … I didn’t shoot up until I was well into my teens.’ ‘Were you bullied too?’ ‘Of course not.’ But Elena caught a certain intonation in his dark-timbred drawl and sighed. ‘Yes, you were. I can tell.’ ‘How? With your crystal ball, bella mia?’ Long, taunting fingers explored beneath the shirt she wore and she shivered, her breath catching in her throat. He cupped a pouting breast and in coaxing its tender pink nipple to straining prominence he provoked a gasp from between her lips.

For a month, I tried getting a hold of Vivian. After all, my documents were with her. But she was busy preparing Nolan's birthday and had no time to deal with me at all. It was not until the day before the birthday that she finally came back in a rush. Vivian had forgotten what had happened a month earlier. "Tomorrow is Nolan's birthday. He likes a lively crowd, so he wants you to come racing with us." I paused, remembering that Nolan had been a race-car driver before he retired.

"Where did Ada go? Where did she go?" When my flight landed in S Country, I dropped my luggage at the apartment and went straight to the National University to pick up my faculty ID for the classical music professorship. Wyatt, the university's chancellor, was waiting at the entrance. We hugged. "Thank you, Wyatt. When the whole world was tearing me apart over my so-called 'private life,' you still wanted me to teach here." S Country was the birthplace of classical music, and the National University was home to the world's finest musicians. Teaching and composing here had been my dream since I was a child.