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Luckily, I avoided having to answer her because we heard the overhead boarding call for our flight. “That’s us.”
Once loaded, we were seated on the plane and I couldn’t stop thinking about the happiness she felt during her pregnancy dream. I felt a renewed sickness with myself because I was reminded of how I would never be able to give her the child she so clearly would love to have.
After the plane was in the air, I turned to look at Chansey and her head was rested against the back of the seat and her eyes were closed. She was tired. We both were because we had taken advantage of the last night of our honeymoon well into the morning.
I wondered if she would fall asleep and dream of swollen bellies and babies, but she opened her eyes and looked at me. “You’re anxious about something.
I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what, so I shook my head and said, “It’s nothing.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you take a little nap? It was late when we finally went to sleep.”
“It was late for both of us, so maybe you should take a nap, too. I’m sure you and Solomon will be up late talking rescue strategy.”
I was certain she was right, but I was too disturbed by her dream to go to sleep, but I couldn’t tell her that. “I’ll try.”
She reached for my hand, rested her head against the seat again and closed her eyes. She was quiet for several minutes, but I knew she wasn’t asleep because I had learned to feel the difference over the past six days.
She lifted her head from the seat and looked at me. “What has you so rattled? Please, don’t tell me again that it’s nothing because that would be a lie.”
I wasn’t loving this part of the bond. I admit I had a small habit of occasionally lying to Chansey, but it was always for her own good. I was sure she didn’t think that would make it alright, but what was I suppose to say in this situation? ‘I’m sorry that you’ll never know what’s like to be pregnant or have a baby because of me.’
I mean...there were always medical interventions if she wanted a baby.
She sat up and twisted toward me. “You’re scaring me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
I stroked my thumb across the top of her hand. “You know I would move heaven and earth to give you the things you want, right?”
“Yes,” she slowly drew out because she was so afraid of what I was going to say next.
“I’m sorry I can’t give you a baby, but there are ways to make that happen if you want to try.”
I felt her mood change instantly and it wasn’t one of happiness. She shifted her lower jaw and shook her head at me. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I felt her anger rising, but I needed to say these things. “No, I’m quite serious.”
“Is this about that stupid dream? How could you propose something so absurd based on a dream I had no control over? How do you even know I would want a baby?”
“You told me you wanted children. Two or three, as I recall,” I reminded her.
She looked lost. “When did I tell you that?”
“When we were taking care of Lorelei and Lily,” I said to jog her memory.
“Things were different then. I didn’t know what we were when I said that,” she argued. “I was just a girl thinking about making beautiful babies with you because you were so hot. Girls imagine stuff like that.”
“But I felt your happiness when you were dreaming of being pregnant. I felt it again when you were watching those little girls in the airport,” I argued.
“You are reading way too much into all of this. You were happy in my dream and that made me happy. When I saw those little girls at the airport, they reminded me of myself and my little sister when we were small. They were thumb wrestling and that’s something we used to do all of the time. It was a happy memory for me. That’s all. I wasn’t sitting there pining for babies.”
Shit! I felt like a total jackass. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. It’s this bond thing. I’m still trying to figure all of this out.”
“Curry, my body being able to conceive and carry a baby means nothing to me unless it could be your baby. If you can’t have children that means that I can’t have children. It’s that way for a reason. Kids don’t fit into the whole vampire/human equation.”
“You’re right. Forgive me?” I leaned over, hoping for a forgiveness kiss and she didn’t let me down.
She laughed as she said, “Now, I’m super tired because some wild, sex machine kept me up all night, so I’m going to shut my eyes and take a much needed nap.
˜ ˜ ˜
We found my black Lexus sedan in the parking lot of the airport, just where Solomon said it would be, and Chansey was surprised when I unlocked it with the keyless remote and opened the trunk to put our luggage inside.
“Let me guess. Solomon’s car, right?” Chansey asked.
I began transferring our luggage into the trunk and replied, “No, it’s mine. Do you like it?”
She laughed and said, “Uh, yeah...just a little bit.”
“Then, it’s yours,” I offered.
The shock registered on her face and I loved the way she could be so easily pleased. “What? You’re just going to give me an expensive car like this?”
I put the last bag in the trunk and closed it. “I’m not a stranger, I’m your husband. It’s not unusual for a husband to give his wife a vehicle.”
She continued to admire the car. “Most husbands don’t provide their wives with cars that cost as much as this one.”
I walked to her side of the car. “I can afford it. Besides, I like my truck. It’s a classic, sort of like me.”
“You mean antique, not classic,” she laughed.
I opened the passenger door for her and kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’m like a fine wine, Love. I only get better with age.”
I shut the door to walk around to the driver’s side, but I heard her whisper from inside the car, “Yeah. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it if you get any better.”
I laughed to myself as I opened the door and got into the driver’s seat because I wasn’t sure if she meant for me to hear her comment or not.
I backed out of the parking place and we began our drive toward home. “Is the compound far from here?” she asked.
“Maybe about 20 or 25 minutes if traffic isn’t bad.”
The sun was shining directly in Chansey’s eyes, so she reached for her purse and put on her sunglasses. “This fledgeling at the compound...she’s mine to follow, right?”
I wasn’t expecting that, but I should have. I was disappointed she brought it up so soon because I thought she would want to wait a little while after the things we discussed on our honeymoon. I wasn’t ready to give her up the way she was.
While I was thinking of how to answer, she said, “You promised, Curry.”
I reached for her hand. “I know what I promised. I just didn’t want...” Wrong choice of words. “I’m just surprised because I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon. We’ve only been married six days,” I tried to explain, but it wasn’t going to make her happy anyway I put it.
Her eyes were on me as I drove and I felt her disappointment rising. “Are you going back on your word?”
There was no way for me to win. If I didn’t allow her to follow this fledgeling, she was going to be pissed. If I did allow it, she would get what she wanted and I would pay the cost of losing her as human. “I’m not going back on my word. It was my idea and I made the agreement, so I’ll stick to it even if it is much sooner than I wanted.”
She leaned over and kissed the side of my face. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t bring myself to reply. I couldn’t give her a cordial ‘You’re welcome,’ because I wasn’t glad to do it for her.
We rode in silence the rest of the way to the compound. She could feel my sour mood and she didn’t want to provoke it any further by discussing the fledgeling.
I felt her relief when I turned off of the road and
we saw the gates to the compound. I stopped to enter the pass number on the keypad and then we watched the gates slide open.
I felt her surprise when she saw the large stone house at the end of the drive and I wanted to put our recent discord aside, so I said, “Welcome home, Mrs. Brennan.”
“It’s so different from the compound at New Orleans. I think I expected another 200 year-old plantation.”
Sol didn’t enjoy living in the past. He embraced change and a plantation would never be his first choice. “Sol likes modern things as you see from his choice of design.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
I parked in the garage with our other vehicles and we got out of the car. Chansey studied Sol’s eclectic collection in the garage and said, “Let me guess. All of these belong to Sol?”
I nodded and she said, “A boy and his toys.”
“Sol has this way of trying to find happiness in things. When he doesn’t find what he’s looking for in one thing, he moves on to the next. It’s one of his many character flaws.”
