Page 102 of Love Lives

Across the table from me, Jared filled his bowl and dipped some bread into the soup. "The days you come over are the best," he said.

I gave him a smile. Jared hadn't given birth yet, but judging by his size, it would be any day now. He hadn't been able to leave the house in a while. "Anything you want me to get you?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said, predictably.

"Maybe some relish," Silas supplied. "He's been wanting that."

"I'll put it on my list," I promised. "You excited for the baby to get here?"

"Nervous," Silas said.

Crimson patted him on the back. "Don't worry. You've got all of us."

"Unless your kid gets explosive diarrhea and needs a diaper change," Collin spoke up. "Then suddenly everyone has places to be."

"I didn'tknowNix was going to be like that when I made that appointment," Talon defended his honor.

"You keep saying that, but you haven't told me how you'll make up for it."

Talon thought for a moment. "Stickers?" he suggested.

Collin laughed, and I got the feeling that I was missing some kind of inside joke, but that was all right. I just enjoyed hearing my little brother laugh. After everything, I didn't think I was ever going to get enough of that.

Listening to my family talk about childcare and suggesting names for the new baby, I dipped my spoon into the soup on my plate and ate.

Finally, my minestrone tasted exactly the way it was supposed to.

* * *

That night, I found myself waking up to an empty spot on the bed beside me where my vampire should have been. That wasn't a rare thing. Aldrich wasn't as nocturnal as he used to be anymore, and he usually went to sleep with me, but every now and then, he got up in the middle of the night.

He didn't usually stray far, though.

I found him sitting in the kitchen, looking out the window with an unreadable expression on his face. It was interesting how our roles had changed. It used to be me who couldn't sleep. Now it was him--though he never said as much. If I asked him, he'd simply claim that he didn'tneedto sleep, because he wasn't mortal. That might even be true, but I knew there was more to this.

If he simply didn't feel tired, he'd be out and exploring the town's nightlife, not sitting here lost in thought.

I could have asked him what he was thinking about, but I doubted I would have gotten a straight answer. Most nights, I simply let him be and went back to bed. Then in the morning, we both pretended nothing was wrong. Tonight, I decided to try something different.

"Would you like to visit their graves?"

Aldrich's attention snapped to me. For a second, I thought he was going to act like he didn't know what I was talking about, but then he said, "It's been so long there'd be nothing left. The worms will have eaten everything by now."

He responded quickly enough that I knew he'd at least considered the idea before. "It might help you get some closure."

"I don't need closure. I just need to forget about it all."

"The way you forgot when you were turned?"

"What is this?" Aldrich asked. "The Spanish Inquisition?"

"Just a nagging boyfriend. Get used to it."

Aldrich looked at me strangely, and then I realized that we'd never used those terms before. "Is that what we are now?" he asked. "Boyfriends?"

"What would you call it? We're living together, we're sleeping together, we..." I paused, then made myself say it, because really, this was ridiculous. "We love each other."

"Huh. I guess you're right."