Ashley laughed as I wiped droplets of blood off my chin. "Well, I'm pretty sure you know the how part. As to when, a couple of nights ago."
I smiled at her, shaking my head. "I didn't even know you were seeing somebody. Who's the guy?"
Smiling as she looked down into her glass, the embarrassment in her cheeks shifted to the rosy flush of love; my eyes could easily tell the difference. "This guy at work, Christian. I've been seeing him for awhile now. We've been taking things really slow, but the other night it just felt so right, so..."
She shrugged and looked up at me, slight tears in her eyes. They were in mine too as I set my blood down and hopped out of my seat to give her a hug. It wasn't that my sister had finally had sex, really, if that was all she cared about then she could have easily found someone, somewhere. It was that my sister a finally found love. That was infinitely more important.
Squeezing her as tight as I could without breaking her, I whispered, "I'm so happy for you. Why didn't you tell me about him?"
As I pulled away from her, finally letting her breathe, she sighed. "Well, I wasn't sure where it was going and then..." She bit her scared lip as her eyes darted over my face. Shaking her head, she shrugged. "I wanted to make sure he was in love with me before I introduced him to you."
Sitting back down, my eyes went to my glass of deep red blood on the table. My finger absently reached up to stroke a retracted fang. Suddenly I wondered just how freakish my sister saw me. But even if I wasn't a monster in her eyes, she would have to be careful with anyone she brought into our family. Just like with Tracey, that person would probably never be allowed to know the truth.
"Oh..."
Seeing my contemplative expression, she chuckled. "No, not because of the fangs, Emma." I looked up at her and she shrugged again. Shaking the head that would only half grow hair, she whispered, "Because you're...beautiful."
Guilt flooded through me. "Oh, Ash..."
She smiled again, tears in her eyes but joy in her expression. "Don't, it's fine, Em." Beaming, she sighed happily. "Besides, I'm great, and he adores me...for me. He doesn't even see the scars." Smirking, she tilted her head. "Well, that's not true. It's sort of why he first noticed me."
I blinked, scrunching my brow again. "Huh?"
She laughed then took a sip of her wine. "Christian's a doctor in the burn unit. He's one of the doctor's working on the artificially grown skin I told you about." She smiled softly, thinking about her man. "He's pretty confident that he can someday even out my scar lines, make my face less...noticeable." Shaking her head, her tears got even more evident. "But he says it doesn't matter to him. He says it doesn't bother him. He says I'm beautiful," she whispered.
Holding her hand across the table, I felt my own eyes water. "Ash...you scored yourself a doctor?"
Laughing, she wiped away a stray tear. "I did." We both chuckled for a moment, turning to watch my kids toss clumps of grass on each other. With their laughter bouncing around the yard, Ashley quietly said, "I know you worry about me, Em, but I'm happy...really happy." She paused for a long moment, then added, "Even being just a human."
The way she said it brought my attention back to her. With the way her lip was twisted into a wry grin and the remnant of her eyebrow was arched, I knew that she knew what I'd asked Teren to do to her, so very long ago, when I'd been very naive. "Oh...you know about..."
Both her eyebrows rose as she nodded. "Yeah, I know that you asked Teren to change me. He told me awhile ago."
My eyes flicked up to where my usually secretive husband was hiding away. Vowing to speak to him later about the unspoken agreement that things between a husband and wife were sacred, and not repeatable, even if they happened before marriage, I grimaced. "Ash..."
Her hot hand in my cold one squeezed it tight. "No, I get it. You wanted me to be beautiful, like you." She shook her head, the hair swirling around her one shoulder identical in color to mine. "I'm touched by the offer, Emma, but I don't need it." Smiling, she looked towards where the ranch was, where I could feel the rest of Teren's family. "As much as I like Halina, I don't want her life." Her matching brown eyes came back to me. "I like mine. I like the work I'm doing. I like the man I'm seeing. I love my mutant sister-"
I straightened, my mouth dropping open. "Hey."
Ashley laughed and squeezed my hand. "I love her undead family." Her eyes shifted to the yard, where my tired children were laughing and panting, covered in tiny blades of grass. "And I absolutely adore my niece and nephew." Looking as satisfied as her words made her seem, she shrugged. "My life is wonderful, Emma."
Smiling at her, I again wished for her wisdom, patience, and acceptance. "Yeah, yeah it is."
Feeling my husband reemerge from his cave, Ashley and I raised our glasses in a toast. "To wonderful lives," I said softly. She nodded, touching her glass to mine.
Teren stepped on the patio right as we finished with our sip. His face tired, his expression worn, he looked between the two of us. Smiling softly, he shook his head. "What are we celebrating?"
I was about to tell him that my sister had a boyfriend, but Ashley beat me to it. Maybe seeing that Teren needed a pick-me-up, her answer was more...descriptive than usual. Smiling brightly, she exclaimed, "I lost my virginity."
Teren smiled genuinely and looked away. I grinned at seeing a natural smile on him again and mentally thanked my sister for forgoing her own embarrassment and saying it that bluntly. Chuckling softly, he swung his eyes back to her. "Well...congratulations."
Laughing softly as he seemed embarrassed himself, he gave her a warm hug. Well, warm in sentiment. To her, he was actually quite cold, cold as me. Exhaling like a weight was releasing from his shoulders, he sat down next to me. "Tell me all about him," he said encouragingly, like he also wanted to talk about something that had nothing to do with death.
Ashley nodded and started going over how she'd first met him. Feeling Teren's melancholy finally starting to lift, I stood up and shifted over to his lap. His arms wrapped around me as he laid his head on my shoulder. Threading my fingers through his hair, I closed my eyes and listened to my sister's voice. My sister's and my children's.
In a whisper that only Teren and I could hear, I heard Nika ask Julian, "What's vir..gen..ty?"
Biting my lip, I tried not to laugh. Teren couldn't stop himself. He laughed so hard he made everyone else around him laugh too. Feeling the stress release in his merriment, I loved my sister all the more.
Chapter 15 The Message
Every day that Carrie's accident passed behind us, my husband came back a little more to what he'd been before. Once the shock and guilt stopped stinging so much, his face slowly resumed its genuine cheeriness, the faked, forced smile leaving him. He dealt with it in his own way, writing an article on wildfire prevention for the magazine he worked for, making a sizeable donation to the United States Forest Service, and even sending anonymous condolence flowers to where Carrie had worked. But after all that was done, he seemed to let her go.
Watching him with our kids, you'd certainly never know that he'd recently lost an old friend. Smiling, I watched him wrestle around with them on the living room floor. Lying on his stomach, he was laughing while Nika bounced on his back. Julian sat behind her, facing the other way while he bounced on Teren's lower spine. The two kids were alternating their jumps so Teren was getting constantly bombarded; a normal human would have had trouble breathing.
Not needing the air to breathe, he was having a little trouble getting enough to laugh. Teren didn't stop them though, letting the hop-on-pop continue. Chuckling softly, I watched them from the safety of the couch. Teren twisted his head to look at me, groaning as a kid kicked him in the ribs. "A little help?" he asked pitifully.
Shaking my head, I twisted my lip at him. "You look like you've got it under control."
Nika stood up and practically body slammed him as she sat back down, making him groan again. We may be nearly indestructible, but we still felt pain. Laughing at the look on his face, I raised an eyebrow at my daughter. "Gentle, Nika. Don't break Daddy."
Both Nika and Julian thought that was funny and hit him just a little bit harder. Spike wagged his tail, barking as he looked about to jump on his master too. Teren grunted at the abuse, frowning a bit at me. "Thanks."
Grinning, I shrugged. "Just trying to help out the big, bad vampire."
Narrowing his eyes at me, he lifted himself to his hands and knees. Nika giggled as she rolled off his back. Julian held onto his jean pockets, Laughing as he rode Daddy backwards. Careful to not knock our son off, Teren slinked his way over to me. I tilted my head at the look in his eye; it was mischievously playful. While I preferred that look to his forlorn face a couple of weeks ago, I was beginning to wonder just what he was up to.
When he got close enough, he removed Julian, setting him beside our giggling daughter. His full attention on me now, I narrowed my eyes and pulled my legs farther up the couch. "Teren, what are you doing?"
Still on his hands and knees directly in front of me, his impish grin turned devilish. "Nothing."
Pulling back from him, I had a warning ready on my tongue. I never got a chance to say it though. Faster than humanly possible, he grabbed my legs and yanked me off the couch. Within seconds he had me trapped on the floor, his body pressing me down. While we were fairly similar strength-wise now, Teren had more mass than me. And more importantly, he currently had better leverage.
Holding me down tight, he glanced over at the kids. "Okay, guys, get her!"
My eyes widened as his plan instantly became clear to me. Teren pulled away right as they attacked. Julian flopped on my chest while Nika sat on my stomach. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Teren started tickling me.
With tears trickling down my face, I gasped in breaths so I could laugh. Teren chuckled at me as I tried to smack him without hitting our children. It really wasn't very fair. He was using our kids as a natural buffer so he could torment me freely.
Nika and Julian eventually grew weary and crawled up to rest their heads in my shoulders; their heat cascaded around me, like soothing hot water bottles. I exhaled in relief when Teren stopped tickling me. As my kids slung their arms around my neck, he hovered over me. Smiling down at me, he softly cupped my cheek.
"Thank you," he whispered.
I shook my head. "For what?"
He smiled wider. "For...being you." He smiled wider for a second, then his grin faded. "Thank you for helping me through," he glanced at the kids snuggled in my arms, before looking back to me, "...stuff. Thank you for giving me space. Thank you for your comfort. Thank you...for being here."
Stubborn tears pricking my eyes, I shook my head. "I'm your wife. Where else would I be?"
Sighing contently, he lowered his lips to mine. The twins giggled while he kissed between them, until their arms reached out for Daddy and pulled his hovering body down. Chuckling, Teren shifted Julian around so he could lie in the crook of my arm with Julian on top of us. Slinking his arm under me, he shifted all of us so we were laying on him.