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Not willingly, at least.
She didn't trust Roland not to try and manipulate Jay's innocence to his advantage or trick Jay into drinking blood, thinking it was something else.
Rosalie squeezed his hand tightly. "All right, I trust you." She stood to her full height, staring her brother down across the room. "Think you could go into the bedroom for a moment, sweetheart? Your uncle and I need to have a little chat."
"As you wish, Mother."
Jay withdrew again, leaving Rosalie and Roland alone in the large, overstated lounge that could have comfortably fit twenty guests.
"I'm at your service, sister." Roland gave a mock bow. "What do you require?"
Rosalie frowned, trying to find a way to describe the twist of thoughts rolling through her head. "It was wrong of me to deny Jay the other half of his identity completely, and I realize that. He deserves the opportunity to learn how to be a vampire just as much as he does about his humanity."
Roland raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You mean it? You're going to let me teach him?"
"I've never been equipped to give him that education, but I used that as an excuse. You have my permission to correct my mistake. But I require you to treat my son with respect and to be honest and open when teaching him about your way of life. No tricks, no manipulations, no lies. Do I make myself clear?"
Roland's smirk returned, although it wasn't as wide or as menacing as it was earlier. "Crystal," he said softly. "I can do that. More than a compromise than I expected, to be honest."
"Good," Rosalie said with a satisfied nod. She paused for a moment, then added: "But if anything makes Jay uncomfortable at any point, then don't push him. For the love of God, he's still a child and needs to be allowed to learn at his own pace."
Roland nodded in agreement. "I understand the gravity of this situation. He's still my nephew, or sister have you forgotten that much like Jay's father, I have never had the opportunity to have him in my life, either? I won't do anything to jeopardize that again, I promise. The best way to teach Jay about the vampire lifestyle will be through example and experience rather than lecturing and force-feeding information. I assure you, our lessons will be tailored from one day to the next based on what Jay wants to learn and discover at his own pace."
"Thank you, Roland. Truly. If anyone can provide Jay with a well-rounded education in vampirism, I believe that to be you. I appreciate the time you're taking to do this."
"I'm surprised to hear you say that, sister. To be honest, I didn't think you'd want me anywhere near your son."
Rosalie paused and looked away. "Jay almost died because you snitched to Dominick. I won't just be able to forget that. But I also don't believe that was your intent, so I'm willing to give you a chance to make it right. Don't make me regret it."
"I won't," Roland said, and then a beat after, "I'm not the only one you should give another chance. Dominick is—"
She raised her hand. "Don't. I won't hear any excuses on Dominick's behalf. I gave Dominick plenty of opportunities, and he's failed every one of them. He would havekilledJay if he wasn't his son. In what world should that be acceptable?"
"It shouldn't be," he admitted. "I understand how you feel."
"I don't think you do," Rosalie said, "or else you'd see how difficult it already is for me to trust Dominick around Jay without me being there to protect him. But I'm allowing you that responsibility instead because I don't want to be anywhere near Dominick, and I also don't want to deny Jay access to his father."
Roland sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I see we're not going to get anywhere on this topic."
"No, we're not. You'd better leave with Jay before this escalates again."
He laughed and shook his head, muttering to himself before finally leaving to grab Jay from the other room. Moments later, they were sweeping out of the suite, leaving Rosalie alone to torment herself with her own thoughts.
She went to the window, pulling the drapes open to reveal the late evening, the sun falling steadily below the horizon. Outside her window, she could see the garden that Jay loved so much. Still, whenever Rosalie looked at the towering statues and elaborate arrangements of flowers and plants, she saw all the times that she and Dominick had frolicked through the garden like a mated pair of rabbits. They must have defiled every flowerbed in that garden back when their relationship was in its prime, back before all this darkness and despair took over their lives.
Back before Rosalie had felt like she had no choice but to leave or risk losing herself to Dominick and his desire to make her immortal.
Sometimes she wondered if she could have been happy as a vampire. If she had given up her humanity, which was the source of so much of her pain. But she also knew that if she'd agreed to Dominick's demands, Jay, who had unknowingly been growing in her womb then, would have died during the transformation.
Perhaps Dominick and Rosalie had argued over a matter that, ultimately, Rosalie would have submitted to sooner or later because she loved Dominick enough to want to be with him regardless of the consequences. But knowing what she did now, she couldn't regret turning him down and leaving him for the simple reason that she wouldn't have had Jay otherwise.
Vampire women could get pregnant, but the circumstances were much more difficult than it was for humans.
A half-vampire baby had been hard enough for her to carry. She could only imagine the agony of carrying a full vampire child to term.
But that said ... had she really needed to keep Jay from Dominick for ten years?
Ten years, she'd let Jay live without a father. Kept Dominick in the dark about his own son. Though she knew the deceit was partially made of fear for what would happen when she went back to Dominick to tell him the truth ... she also knew she'd kept Jay away from Dominick out of resentment for being pushed away in the first place.
