Laughing at the memory, I watched him gallantly swing open the door for me right as I approached it. His timing would have seemed miraculous, if anyone had noticed. "Thank you, sir," I told him huskily, pausing to place a light kiss on him before sweeping past.
"You're welcome, my lady," he laughed back, grasping my hand as he led us to a corner table in the back.
The memory of our embarrassing encounter fresh in my head, I flushed a little when Debby popped over to say hello. The waitress had probably forgotten the odd greeting, but my vampiric mind held onto stuff like that. Teren tilted his head at the rush of blood in my face, but didn't say anything. I shoved down the lingering uncomfortable emotion and greeted her warmly. We really had done the best we could with that intense connection.
Squishing close together in the semi-circle bench seat, I leaned against Teren's cool side and focused on the feeling of my children approaching me. Teren kissed my head, whispering that he missed me. I clenched his hand, whispering that I missed him too.
Resting my eyes, I let the sound of the world flow through me. But for low, even, faked breaths, Teren was silent as he rested beside me, but the others around were not. Clangs and curses streamed from the kitchen, laughter and whispered conversations echoed from the customers, and the hostess that had greeted Teren and I at the door, was commenting to her friend about how nicely shaped Teren's backside was. Teren chuckled at the same time I did, clearly having heard that as well. I lifted my head to smirk at him. He only smiled back at me, shrugging his shoulders.
Then the conversations shifted to hushed mutterings of, "Oh, wow, look at that," and, "Ugh, grab a bag, I'm eating." A low growl rumbled from my chest before Teren jerked my hand, shaking his head. I forcefully stopped the reaction, but I knew who the comments were about and it boiled my blood.
My sister had just entered the cafe, and she always garnered a reaction from people. Having been caught in the fire that had destroyed our childhood home, Ashley was horribly scarred, head to foot. The burns had been so bad that she'd had to have several painful surgeries to heal properly. As a result, her body was blanketed with overlapping skin graft lines. She was a patchwork of imperfection, and in a society that placed more emphasis on external beauty than internal beauty, she stood out.
Of course, not everyone who saw her reacted with vitriol. In fact, most people's comments were sympathetic or encouraging, commending her for her bravery in the face of adversity. But the negative ones were the ones that I picked up on, since they greatly bothered me. I was tired of my sister being considered different, being noticed just for her appearance. It had bothered me so much at one point that I had asked Teren to change her, just to heal her. I knew how stupid and dangerous that request was now, having gone through a change myself, but at the time, I'd just wanted her to walk down the street without a thousand stares following her.
But as Teren had told me once, she was happy, and as she bounded to the table, a slight spring in her hobbled walk, I thought she looked happier than usual. Tilting my head as she carefully sat down and scooted around to sit beside me, I asked, "You seem extra chipper, something up?"
Ashley shook her head, the half of it that could grow hair swishing around her shoulder. "Just had a good day at work. You should see the way this little girl there idolizes me." Ashley's eyes teared up as she shook her head again. "I give her hope."
That made my eyes tear up too. Ashley had finished school, and being in the top of her class, had gotten the dream job she'd wanted in the burn unit ICU at San Francisco General Hospital. She was more than just another nurse there, she was a living, breathing example of what the patients there could be, if they just plowed through the horrible fate that they'd been given. I could not have been any prouder of my sister, and once again, I wished to be just like her when I grew up.
"That's amazing, Ash. You're amazing." I reached around her body, hugging her to me, and felt Teren wrap an arm around her too. He adored her as well, completely understanding what it was like to feel different.
Ashley laughed and flushed under my praise. "Yeah, well..." Her brown eyes perked up as she spotted what I'd already felt. "No...they are the amazing ones."
I released her and looked over at the two boisterous toddlers clutching my mom's hands as they came up the aisle. The trio were a happy sight, Nika still in her mismatched outfit, Julian's mouth covered in some sort of chocolate treat. I shook my head at the spoiling grandmother that my mom had become, then smiled when my children let go of her to get to me.
"Mommy! Daddy!" they both exclaimed in unison. Teren chuckled as they hopped up on the seat to crash into his side. Nika squirmed over his lap to sit in mine, throwing her arms around me and showering me with kisses. I laughed and kissed her back, loving how kids could make you feel like you'd been away from each for decades, instead of just a few hours.
"Oh, I missed you guys," I said, giving them each sloppy kisses. Teren tickled Julian with one hand as he wiped off his mouth with the other; Nika laughed at Julian's joy. "Any problems today?" I asked my mom as she sat down next to Ashley.
Smiling broadly, she tucked her chin-length hair behind her ears. "Of course not, those two are perfect."
"Perfect little monsters," Teren chuckled, tickling Julian even more, until he squirmed and tried to get away from him. I elbowed Teren in the ribs for his comment, but everyone at the table laughed, entertained by the fact that technically, in the eyes of most people, they really were monsters.
Chapter 3 Forever
A few days later, we were packing up the kids and their things for a weekend at the ranch. We tried to go out there most weekends, especially when they were in-between busy times and the hired help wasn't around, so the toddlers could frolic and play uninhibited. There, safe at the ranch, we let the twins play to their full capacity. They loved it, loved the freedom of not having to rein in anything.
Personally, I loved it too. It was unbelievably frustrating to have to walk at a normal pace when you were in a hurry to get something. It was so hard to not blur down to the espresso stand on the corner and then blur back. I knew I could do it in the same amount of time it would have taken me to brew a pot in the break room, but I wasn't going to blow my cover for coffee...even really good coffee.
Pulling out my daughter's favorite fuzzy pink blanket and my son's must-have fire truck, I shoved both coveted items in an overnight bag for them. I followed that up with about six pairs of clothing changes; the kids got remarkably dirty playing out in the countryside.
Teren slipped his arms around my waist, kissing my neck. I shivered as his cool breath tickled me. "You know, we could always leave them overnight and go on a date."
I twisted to look back at him. "An overnight date?"
He smiled and nodded, holding me tighter. Cocking an eyebrow, he added, "You wouldn't have to worry about being quiet."
I flushed and smacked his chest, then thought about it. We hadn't spent a night apart from them since they'd been born. Sure, we'd gone on dates - a movie here, dinner there, drinks with Hot Ben and Tracey - but we kept it to a three or four hour maximum. Maybe it was because they were so young, maybe it was because I missed being with them for the bulk of the day while I was at work, or maybe it was just because I was a first time mom, but the thought of them being gone an entire night tightened my stomach.
I bit my lip and shook my head, tears even stinging my eyes at just the thought of not hearing them say goodnight to each other. Teren cupped my cheek as he watched the emotion flood my face. "Not yet...they're not ready. They're still too young."
He smiled crookedly, clearly knowing that I meant that I wasn't ready, but he didn't call me on it. Instead, he only kissed me softly. Our tender moment was interrupted by a set of giggles at the door. We both twisted to look at the children we both knew were there, watching.
Nika held her hand over her mouth as she laughed. Julian tilted his head, curious. Smiling at them, I asked, "Are you two ready to go?"
Julian dashed off to their bedroom, but Nika stayed, pouting. "Can we bring Spike, Mommy?"
I walked over to her, frowning. Explaining the situation to a toddler was tricky. Halina had a thing for dogs. I really didn't want to freak out my daughter by telling her that though. She loved Spike. She loved Halina. Just as I was about to tell her that Spike would want to stay home, Teren walked over and squatted in front of her. "Do you really want him to come?" he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She nodded, cupping her hands together in a prayer position. "Please, Daddy?"
I glanced over at the big bad vampire literally melting into putty for his daughter. He grinned, ruffling her hair. "I think we can do that."
She squealed and flung her arms around him. From down the hall I heard Julian hoot his agreement, exclaiming, "Thank you, Daddy." Nika repeated the sentiment and dashed off to join her brother, gathering the rest of their treasures.
As Teren stood, I put my hands on my hips, a playful smirk on my face. He looked over my expression and shrugged. "She did the hand thing. How am I supposed to say no to that?"
I shook my head at him, slinging my arms around his waist. "You are the biggest softy."
He leaned down and kissed me, grinning against my lips. "Quiet, you'll ruin my reputation."
I pulled back and cocked an eyebrow at him. He actually did have a reputation in the vampire community, one that, if it weren't for Gabriel and his influence, may have been an issue for us. He'd provoked and even...interrogated several nests of local vamps.
That sort of thing had repercussions. We'd even been approached by a pissed off vampire once. Luckily Halina had been with us at the time. She'd flung the vamp into a wall, warning him to get over himself. Not really wanting a fight, the man had run off and we hadn't heard from him again. I had the distinct feeling that Halina had gone to her boyfriend afterwards and the two of them had "taken care of it." I'm not sure how. I don't ask about stuff like that.
After that moment, no other vamps bothered us. Gabriel had only said that at Halina's request, he'd put the word out that we were untouchable. The word gave me pause. Untouchable? It made him seem like some vampiric crime lord. But, regardless, he was a good person, so I tried to ignore the power he held. And his power stuck; we hadn't been bothered again.
Shaking my head, I changed the channel of my thoughts. "Are you sure about bringing Spike? What about Halina?" I whispered that, even though the kids could hear me anyway.
He looked down the hall towards their room, but they were busy laughing and picking out way more toys than we had room for in their bags. Looking back to me, he whispered, "She won't do anything that would make those two cry. She won't touch Spike."
I smirked, not able to help the thought that Spike was also...untouchable.
Sighing, I shrugged and tossed my arms around him. "You're right."
He kissed my nose. "Aren't I always?"
I laughed genuinely at his comment and he frowned; I laughed harder. He pulled away from me when the tears started stinging my eyes. "It wasn't that funny."