We tried every tip there was. We tried the best recommended positions, and there were about five, since no one could seem to agree on it. We tried it first thing in the morning, the middle of the afternoon, and right before bed. For a while, we even tried the not moving afterwards for twenty minutes thing. Well, okay, there was no we involved with that one...just me. No, he got to go downstairs for a midnight snack, while I hung out, looking like an idiot with my legs up against the wall. Yeah, it was as lame as it sounds. I quickly gave up on that one.
I tried eating certain foods and avoiding others. I gave up my sweet, yummy afternoon coffee treats. I triple checked his underwear, making sure his clothes were...loose enough. Giggling like idiots, we even tried getting completely wasted and hav**g s*x in his car, in the driveway, of course. It worked for teenage girls everywhere, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
We were only slightly over two weeks into it and already Teren was having a great time. He told me on numerous occasions that we should have been trying to have a baby months ago. I rolled my eyes at that, but his comment did bring up some bad feelings. We'd never gone back to his parents' place since "The Weekend." We'd left so abruptly, and I still felt a bit guilty. There were plenty of back-and-forth conversations with his family though, and I apologized to his mother every chance I got. She always assured me that apologies weren't necessary, and that they were the ones who had been rude, but now that we actually were trying and we had every intention of giving them the heir they craved, I felt like it was the perfect time to go back.
Teren didn't seem quite so sure. Occasionally on the phone, I'd hear some foreign words being spouted, none too politely, and I'd place a flag in my brain to ask him what he was still arguing about with his mom. If they were bugging him about a baby, then he should just tell them that we were trying. I'd never heard him mention it, but it didn't have to be a secret, on his side of the family at least, so he could certainly tell them. In fact, he probably should, although, I liked the idea of telling them in person.
When he hung up the phone, and my question was on the very tip of my tongue, he would distract me with that darn capable mouth of his, and I would completely forget about both asking what they were discussing, and demanding that he teach me his secret language. But if I mentioned visiting again, he'd sigh and say, "It went so badly last time. Let's just wait until you're pregnant." I didn't mention that there was a large possibility that I'd never get pregnant. I wasn't entertaining negative thoughts-that was one of my conception tips. I wasn't sure how positive thinking correlated to my uterus, but I was trying to keep an open mind.
At work, I'd sneak onto websites when Clarice was busy with Mr. Peterson in his office. Thanks to her revelation on the nature of their relationship, I did not want to think about what they were doing in there. I was researching "Signs that you might be pregnant" (wishful thinking on my part) when Tracey popped her head up. I immediately snapped over to an Excel spreadsheet, but her eyes widened a bit-she'd seen.
"Oh my God! Are you...?" She pointed to my stomach.
I flushed all over and crossed my legs, resting my arms protectively over my stomach. "No, no, of course not. Have you heard from Ben?"
Her face fell immediately. After Hot Ben had made the mistake of professing his love for her, she had indeed come up with a list of reasons why the honeymoon was over. She broke his heart, dumping him cold. I hadn't seen or heard from him since. Tracey never talked about him, but in a move that I had never, ever seen from her before, she didn't talk about anyone else either. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was mourning the loss of him.
My bringing him up evaporated the embarrassingly obvious website from her mind. With life draining from her face, she ruefully pouted, "No...he hasn't called or tried to come over. He didn't even send me flowers." Tracey was used to a little bit of "take me back" wooing after her guy-dumps. I think the fact that Ben had just seemed to disappear was unnerving her more than she'd anticipated.
"Well you did dump him, Trace."
"I know...but he said he loved me. Shouldn't he try? Shouldn't he fight for me?" She tilted her head and I could see tears-actual tears-forming. This was new.
"Tracey...do you love him?" Tracey usually never dwelled on dumped beaus, and she definitely never cried.
She instantly shook her head. "Of course not. Don't be silly." She dropped back down to her side of the wall and I thought I heard light crying over the rustle and bustle of office noises. Hmmm...very new. Maybe if Hot Ben did show up again, there was hope for them yet.
Since our weekly habit of going out with Tracey and Ben was now over, Teren and I had been going out with Ashley instead. She loved hanging out with us, and she always had a new vamp-related question for Teren. He answered every question patiently, and nothing was ever off-limits for my sister to ask. She never asked him about turning someone, like, maybe her, which I'll admit, saddened me some. A part of me was hoping that if she asked him directly, with no prompting from me, he wouldn't be able to resist her. I had no desire to become a dark-dwelling creature, but for Ashley...
That evening, we were getting ready for another fun filled outing with my sister. Teren was standing in front of the massive wall of windows in his living room, laughing on his cell phone with a co-worker who had given him four tickets to a Giants game tonight. Good baseball tickets in San Francisco were hard to come by, the stadium frequently sold out, and these seats were really, really good. From what I could overhear of the conversation, his friend was leaving the tickets at will-call. Once he was off the phone, we were going to go pick up Ashley. Since we had an extra ticket, and Mom loved a good game, and a good stadium dog, she was coming with us. We were going to spend this beautiful summer evening watching an all-American game with an all-American vampire.
Teren was focused on his conversation with Mike, whose name I'd also overheard, when his home phone rang. Looking at the handset resting in its charger on the table beside me, I noticed it was his mom calling and I automatically picked it up. Teren glanced over at me as I whispered, "Your mom." He nodded as I pressed the talk button.
"Hello."
"Oh, hi, Emma. Is Teren there?" Alanna's warm voice filled my head, and I pictured her leaning against a counter in her massive kitchen, a button-up work shirt tucked into dark blue jeans, her long hair brushing her shoulders, and a huge smile on her beautiful, youthful face.
I smiled at the image. "Yeah, he's on the phone. Do you want me to let him know you called?"
She paused. "Actually...maybe I could talk to you." The image in my head changed to a shifty smile, as I heard a slight plotting note in her tone.
"Sure...what's up?"
"I keep asking Teren to come back out here. Jack misses him so much. We all miss him...and you too, of course, dear." I could hear the warm smile returning in her voice and my mental picture shifted as well. "Anyway, we'd like both of you to come out this weekend. There is something very important that we need to talk to Teren about."
I blinked at the intenseness in her voice now. "Of course...of course we can do that." We actually had important news to tell them as well. I wondered what they needed to talk to Teren about though.
Her voice got hurried and rushed, like she was really late, for a really important meeting. "Okay, great. We'll see you this weekend. Have a good evening, dear." And then she hung up the phone.
I barely had a chance to say "bye" into the now dead line, before Teren was ripping the handset out of my limp fingers. His cell phone was clenched in his other hand and he was staring at me with his mouth open in disbelief. "What did you just do?"
I looked up at his face, confused. "I...have no idea. What did I just do?"
He sat down beside me on the couch and ran a hand through his hair. "You just agreed to go to my parents' place this weekend."
I stared at him as I repeated the conversation in my head. I couldn't be positive, but I was pretty sure those words had never crossed my lips, which meant he had heard his mother talking through the phone, while standing over by the windows, while chatting to Mike. His hearing was astounding...as was his lack of privacy. I frowned at him.
"I was having a private conversation." I crossed my arms over my chest. He needed to grasp the concept of boundaries, regardless of his super abilities.
He brushed aside my irritation with a sweep of his hand. "You were talking to my mom." He looked at me with an intent expression as he sat with his elbows on his knees. "We should have talked about this, before you just agreed to it."
I matched his intent look. "They want to talk to you. It sounded important."
He shook his head. "I know what they're going to say, and it's not important."
I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to fill me in...he didn't. I sighed. "Well, we have news for them." Smiling, I grabbed one of his hands; he was still clutching the home phone with it, like somehow he could undo what I had just done, by squeezing the life out of the handset. "We can tell them we're trying, Teren. Think of how happy that will make them."
Sighing, he shook his head. "We're only trying. There's no guarantee..."
"They won't care, Teren. Just trying will give them hope...think of it." The sullen look on his face didn't change and I frowned. "I want to go over there...okay?"
Teren closed his eyes and I could see the resignation in them when they reopened. He exhaled a dramatic breath. "Now you want to go into a vampire nest?"
I grinned and, removing the tightly held phone from his hand, slipped his arm around me. "Yes. This time...yes, I do want to go."
He shook his head again. "It's your funeral," he said even more dramatically.
I kissed him, lingering a bit on his softly smiling lips. "They won't hurt me...not since you've claimed me," I murmured between kisses.
Pulling back, he cocked an eyebrow at me. "I've claimed you?"
I nodded and bit my lip as I examined this beautiful man beside me, casual and perfect in his just-tight-enough Giants shirt and khaki shorts. I ran my hand down his chest, feeling the life beneath my fingertips as his shirt rose and fell, perhaps, just a touch faster than before. My eyes watched my fingers, of their own accord, trail down his body to rest on the edge of his shorts. They went under his shirt and curled over the inside of his waistband. The skin of his trim waist pulled away from the backs of my fingers as his stomach clenched. Taking the fabric of his shorts with me, my fingers pushed back to find that skin. They trailed back and forth along his warm stomach and his waistband, while my eyes watched them, fascinated.
"We don't have time to make a baby right now."
My eyes snapped back up to his at the sound of his clearly strained voice. His eyes were unfocused, staring at my lips, and his chest was most definitely rising and falling faster. Enjoying his obvious reaction to my touch, I smiled demurely. "I know."
He dropped his cell phone and slapped his palm over my hand that was still caressing his stomach. Flattening my fingers against his waist, he said, "Then you really need to stop doing that."