Yes, this was the wedding of every girl’s dreams.
Dropping my hand, I sat up. “I bet the Order of Spiritus will show up too. I mean that’s kind of their thing, lurking about. I found out that was how my parents crossed paths. They sent my mother to witness an “event” that may or may not have led to the death of my dad, but she messed it up and that’s how they ended up meeting.”
“Yeah, your dad told me that too. Hell of a meet cute.” She stared off in the distance. “Yeah, you’re right. Better set a plate or two out for them and see if they show themselves like the fearful deer they are.”
I warily eyed my phone where it sat on the coffee table. “Regina is not going to like this.”
Krystan barked out a laugh. “If your mother in law had control, she would cut the wedding down to you two and her and Phillip and make it an extravagant VIP event for four. Besides, now is your chance to get some passive aggressive payback.” She picked up the phone and held it out to me. “Put it on speaker, I want to hear how she takes the news that you’ve added more guests from other Orders days before your wedding.” Then she said to Tristan, “Want to hear someone’s head pop off lil’ bean?”
12
“Do you want kids?” Emma’s fist connected with my gut. I blocked the next punch.
We were sparring at the jiujitsu studio that was a three-minute walk from our house. When they weren’t holding lessons, we let ourselves in to spar on their matted floor. I paid off the owner for a key so we could do it whenever we wanted.
Tomorrow we were getting married, and when we admitted neither of us could sleep, we decided to come here and work off some energy.
“Travis asked me the same thing,” I responded, grabbing her arms. I put her in a headlock. It took her only two tries to get out of it. We broke and circled each other.
“What did you say?” Emma asked, taking a moment to tighten her ponytail. I’d already peeled off my shirt, and by the way her eyes continually swept up and down my torso, I could tell her thoughts weren’t entirely on our fight. Perhaps we would resort to another manner of stress relief...
“I told Travis I couldn’t anticipate I would be lucky enough to have you in my life. I haven’t thought to ask for more.”
“Hashtag blessed, right?” she asked, running up to me, trying to kick me in the chest. I caught her leg and threw her off. She easily recovered my stance. Neither of us were really trying very hard.
“What?” I asked. What was a hashtag?
“Nevermind.”
The concept was still new to me that I wasn’t sure what to think. I suppose our lives had calmed down enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about the Orders stealing our child, or something equally heinous happening. At the high school, I couldn’t protect Emma. What if there came a time I couldn’t protect our child? Did parents go through their whole lives worrying about the safety of their child? I'd carried the burden of having to try and save the world from the Stygian on multiple occasions, but was I strong enough to bear parenthood?
I broke my defensive stance a moment to ask, “Should I want kids?”
Emma shrugged. “I can’t tell you that. Only you can decide that.”
I didn’t speak for a moment, then kicked out at her middle. She pushed my leg away before it could connect. I tried two more times but Emma repeated her blocks.
“Doyouwant kids?” I finally asked.
Her face emptied of expression and she blinked. “I don’t know.”
The corners of my mouth turned down. “Then why do I have to know?”
The laugh that exploded out of her mouth seemed to surprise even her. “You’re right, it’s not fair for me to make you decide if I haven’t.”
I threw another kick and she blocked it but tried to grab me to put me in a headlock. I maneuvered my way out in seconds.
“How do you do that?” she grumbled. “Slide out like a snake? You'd think I could hold onto all that hard muscle.”
I tilted my head toward her. “You’re getting really good.”
“You’re holding back,” she accused.
The corner of my mouth lifted. “So are you.”
She tried to suppress a smile but failed. Emma took off the kiddie gloves and laid into me, throwing punches and kicks in a torrential fury. I was strong, but she was faster. Several of her hits landed with bruising force, but I still had a lifetime’s worth of taking hits.
Emma’s furious pace doubled, her blows landing hard enough to send me staggering back. I struggled to keep up, but she seemed to barely notice. Her eyes were glazed, distracted as she moved supernaturally fast.
