AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not immediately,” I said reassuringly. “Or ever, if you’ve changed your mind.”
“You never said you wanted children. I assumed you didn’t see them in your future.”
I shook my head. “No, sunshine, it was never that. To be honest, I never let myself dream of having children. If I went the traditional routes available for gay couples, then any child I had would be human.”
“Oh,” Matty said softly as the realisation hit him. “You’d outlive them.”
I inclined my head. “As would my mate.”
“If I was your mate, would I become a vampire?”
I smiled, joy bursting through me just at the idea that he was contemplating it as a possibility for his future. “No, sunshine. Vampires are born, not made. You’d share my strength, healing abilities, and lifespan. You’d no longer age, but everything else about you would remain the same.”
I slid my hands into his as I continued. “Knowing that any children we’d have would be human, that we’d outlive them, possibly by centuries…I didn’t want that for you, Matty. You love with your whole soul. I wasn’t prepared to let you go through that. I’m not sure you’d survive it. To be honest, I’m not sure I would.”
“Yeah, I don’t think we would either.” Matty blew out a breath before glancing around the room in confusion. “Hang on, if that’s the case then why did you suggest this could be a good nursery?”
“Well, when Toby realised this was one of the main reasons I broke up with you?—”
“Wait,” Matty interrupted me, rearing back. “It was?”
“Yes,” I murmured softly. “Children and family are what you want in your future, Matty. I didn’t think I could give you that, and I didn’t want you having to compromise for me.”
Matty’s eyes darkened. “That was a choice for me to make. Not you.”
“Believe me, I know, sunshine.” I kissed his forehead. “Just add it to the list of ways I fucked up. I won’t ever assume I know best again.”
“Good,” he said, leaning his cheek against my chest. “Because you’re rarely right, and I always am.”
Another bit of darkness faded away as I laughed. “I’m definitely smart enough to know not to argue there.”
“What did Toby say?”
“He pointed out that we have other options I hadn’t considered,” I said slowly. “It’s rare that supernatural children need adopting, but it does happen. We could also see if we could find a female vamp to act as our surrogate.”
“They do that?”
“Not traditionally,” I hedged. “And to be honest, it’s kinda risky. Vampires are possessive and territorial creatures. Even with contracts in place, her instincts might kick in after birth and have her spiriting the child away.”
Matty hummed. “In that case, we should look into adoption. When we’re ready, I mean.”
My throat thickened as my vision blurred again. Fuck me. Almost six centuries of no tears, and now I was leaking like a faucet every five minutes.
It made sense though. Matty was waking up every part of me that had been dormant. Not only that, but he was talking about a future I hadn’t even allowed myself to dream of.
A future that involved us being together.
“It might take a while,” I warned him. “It’ll likely be decades. Centuries, even.”
Matty lifted his head to smile at me. “Then it’s a good thing we’ve got time. I trust fate will give us the children we’re meant to have, when we’re meant to have them. Until then, we can just enjoy each other.”
“I love you,” I blurted out. “Sorry. I know we’re taking it slow, but I needed to tell you. Again.”
He didn’t freak out. No, he snuggled back into my chest, trying and failing to hide his grin. “Tell me how you see this room.”
Now that I could do. Stepping back, I started to whip around the room, sweeping my arms to show where we could put various items of furniture.
“So I’m thinking we can have the cot here,” I said, indicating the far wall. “It’s close to the door so we can be in here fast if needed. Over here, I was thinking we could get one of those dressers with a built-in changing table. Oh, and we should get a few of those changing mats so we can have them in several rooms, and maybe some caddies full of nappies and wipes. That way if they have a nappy leak we don’t have to worry about rushing upstairs, we can just change them wherever.”
