“Absolutely.”
CJ frowned. “Really? I’ve never known you to be scared of anything.”
Conrad nodded. “Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. Last night scared me, and honestly, I’ve been in a perpetual state of fear since your mother passed away. Just because you become an adult doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. Vampires are scary. Losing a loved one is scary. Even taxes are scary.” He gave a faint smile. “See? Being an adult is full of scary things. But what matters most is how we react to the scary things and how we learn from them moving forward.”
The room fell quiet again.
“I was terrified,” Conrad admitted. “But I kept going because you three needed me.”
Billie grabbed his hand. He squeezed hers.
CJ looked at me. “Were you scared, Winnie?”
I laughed softly, a sad little noise. “Very.”
His eyebrows shot up. “But you’re a vampire.”
“Vampires can be scared.”
“Of what?”
I looked around the table. “Mostly losing people.”
Nobody spoke for several seconds. Then Billie reached over and patted my arm. The gesture was so sincere I nearly burst into tears.
“You’re not gonna lose us,” she said.
Conrad’s eyes met mine. There was something steady there. Certain. The same certainty I’d seen when he’d told me I wasn’t going anywhere.
Outside, the world continued as though nothing extraordinary had happened. The sun shone. Birds sang. Inside, pancakes disappeared. Coffee was refilled. Plans for the weekend somehow shifted toward soccer practice, laundry, grocery shopping, and whether Billie could convince everyone to watch a cartoon movie later.
Life. Beautifully ordinary life. I was sitting right in the middle of it and nobody seemed interested in letting me leave.
24
CONRAD
Three weeks later, once I was fully recovered, I took Winnie to dinner.
The kids had been deeply offended that they weren’t invited on our date. CJ claimed that after helping save both our lives, he had earned at least an appetizer. Bianca argued that she was responsible for eighty percent of the research and should therefore accompany as a chaperone. Billie simply asked if she could come hide under our table.
We compromised by allowing them to have a sleepover at their Aunt Amethyst’s house. She’d promised to make it fun for them, complete with pillow forts, popcorn, and movies.
The children had looked suspicious when we dropped them off. As if they expected us to vanish into the night and get married before morning. Honestly, after the week we’d had, I couldn’t entirely blame them.
The restaurant Winnie had chosen looked unassuming from the outside. It was in a narrow brick building tucked between twonewer storefronts downtown. A faded sign swung gently above the entrance. The King’s Arms.
Inside, dark wood covered nearly every surface. There were low ceilings with exposed beams and a massive fireplace on the back wall. The smell of roasted meat, ale, and fresh bread lingered in the air. It felt comfortably old. The kind of place where people stayed longer than they intended.
Winnie looked almost giddy. “I’ve wanted to bring you here for ages.”
“You have?” I asked.
She nodded, looking a bit embarrassed. “I mean...”
I grinned. “You’ve been planning pub dates?”
She pointed a finger at me. “I have survived cholera outbreaks, two world wars, and being kidnapped by my homicidal sire.”
