“No. In fact, there was a time not too long ago when you complained of my laughter.”
He grew somber, his expression more serious. “I wanted you so much, I couldn’t do anything but stay close to you and be irritable. Now here you are and all is changed.”
“Everything has changed. I spoke with Megan. She encouraged me to come back. I think she knew I was in love with you all that time.”
“She is a good woman.”
“The best.”
He leaned up and kissed her, then in that fast, fluid-like movement of his, but completely without warning, he flipped her over on the bed so that now he was on top. Before she could complain about the suddenness of the move, however, he was thrusting inside her once more.
*** *** ***
Abigail stared up at Vojalie’s ceiling. “I find it enchanting. Is it fae magic that makes it move?” She glanced back at Vojalie. Davido had once again taken Gerrod back into his pride-and-joy vegetable garden so that the women could talk.
The lovely fae woman sat on the sofa, looking up as well. “No. It always reflects the inhabitants of the room. You’re seeing your own sense of wonder.”
Abigail smiled. “I have felt this way from the moment I first entered Merhaine over a year ago, full of wonder, enchantment maybe.”
“Merhaine agrees with you as does being vampire. You took his blood?”
She turned toward Vojalie and crossed the room to sit opposite her on the left facing sofa just as she had done a couple of weeks ago. “I did.”
“And?”
Abigail marveled that she wasn’t embarrassed. “It was as though I had come home, as though I had been looking for Gerrod my entire life, always carrying a profound longing in my heart. Taking his blood was like planting my feet in his room, staking my claim. I told him I would never leave. I belong here.”
“Yes, you do.” She pressed her stomach then drew in a breath. “Sometimes the baby likes to stretch out. At this stage, never a good thing.” But she smiled and there was a tenderness in her eyes. “Do you want to have children?”
The question surprised Abigail, since she had never really stopped her life long enough to think about being a mother, but what was the answer?
She pondered the idea of being in a forever kind of relationship with Gerrod, like Megan and Joe. She loved her niece and nephew. But now she understood why she had never considered having a family of her own. She had been waiting for this day, when the right man would come to her.
She smiled. “I didn’t think so. But with Gerrod, everything feels possible.”
“That is such a beautiful answer. Did you hear that, Gerrod?”
Abigail should have known he was behind her and now that Vojalie had spoken his name, she could feel him. The bond they shared tightened and spread pleasure through her chest and deep into her heart.
As she turned and saw him, she put a hand to her breast and her eyes filled with tears. Gerrod was so beautiful and he was smiling, just off to the side of his mouth. His eyes were glowing as well. So much affection, so much love.
She moved without thinking and rose to cross to him. He opened his arms and she landed within, her head pressed to his chest. There was no more hesitation from him as had happened several times before she had returned to Merhaine. His arms engulfed her and held her tight.
She closed her eyes and two fat tears trickled down her cheeks. She squeezed as hard as she could.
I love you, Abigail.
No response seemed adequate. To say she simply ‘loved’ him seemed so much less than she felt. Finally, she spoke aloud. “You fill my heart with such joy. You have no idea.”
She felt Vojalie nearby. “When you are ready, we will have the evening meal on the patio. For now, stay in this room as long as you like, but don’t forget to look up.”
Vojalie and her husband headed toward the hall.
“We could offer them the guest room for an hour or two,” Davido said.
“Oh, don’t be so crass,” Vojalie whispered.
“How about instead I take you to our room for an hour or two?”
“Have you noticed how pregnant I am?”
“When did that ever stop us?”
“Will you please stop pinching me.” Giggles followed then faded as the couple disappeared down the hall.
Abigail shifted slightly in Gerrod’s arms so that she could look up at him. His lips found hers in a slow tender kiss.
When he pulled back, he said, “You would have children with me?”
“I think so. A dozen if you like. But not all at once.”
He shook his head. “I never thought to have this. My life was so complicated and now it seems so simple.”
“Me, too. I thought I knew what my life was, then you kissed me in the forest.”
“And you told me to lighten up.”
“I just wanted to see your smile.”
He thumbed her cheek and kissed her once more. “I love you.”
“And I love you so much it hurts.”
His smile again.
Movement above caught her eye. She remembered Vojalie’s words so she glanced up at the ceiling. She drew in a sharp breath. “Gerrod, look.”
The ceiling was alive and glowing, moving in iridescent shades of blue and light green with occasional lightning streaks of red flashing through. “So beautiful. Vojalie said the ceiling reflects the inhabitants of the room. This must be you and me, what we are together, right this moment.”
He turned her in his arms so that she was supported with her back against his chest. “At the very least, that’s what this feels like. Only I think what I feel is a thousand times brighter than this reflection.”
“At least a thousand times.” She squeezed his arms.
She remained with him for some time, looking up, feeling the affection of his embrace. He rocked her slowly, side-to-side, a dance of love. She had entered his world to open a bakery, of all things, and instead had fallen in love with a vampire who ruled an entire realm.
There would be difficulties ahead, but she wouldn’t think about that now, only that Gerrod held her engulfed in his massive arms and she belonged to him. Now and forever.