I smiled and subconsciously rubbed my belly. "Ashley and I were working on the nursery. You should see it...it's beautiful." My eyes watered at that. I wasn't sure why. Maybe the thrill of preparing to see my babies, or maybe the fear that I may never meet them.
His hand came up to cup my cheek and his thumb grazed over the surface. I could hear his skin sliding across mine, even over the music, and I could smell some sort of grease, lingering on his fingers. "You smell like...the underside of a car."
Starla snorted at that and popped another bubble. Teren ignored her, smiling down at me. "It's chain grease. I went home and got my bike this morning." He dropped his hand from my face and looked down. "I just needed to work off some energy."
I grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers. "Did it help?" I asked quietly, knowing his workout was more to relieve stress than exercise, much like my art project today.
He looked up at me, smiling crookedly. "Not really." I sighed and leaned in to kiss him. Ignoring an annoyed sigh from Starla, who turned the music up even louder, we kissed for a few moments in the backseat. During a break, Teren pulled back and whispered, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Carrie."
I pulled back, surprised at the road he'd decided to take our conversation down. I noticed Starla stop smacking her mouth and turn the music down slightly, but mainly I focused on Teren. His eyes were wide and remorseful. I shook my head. "That? Of all the things to be sorry for lately...you pick that?" My lips lifted at the corners as I looked over his face.
He smiled slightly at seeing the humor in my mouth and shook his head too. "I just felt like that one was still lingering between us." He shrugged. "I don't want to walk into this with anything...between us." His face turned serious when he said that.
I cocked my head and then nodded. He continued when he saw that I understood his reason for bringing this up again. He sighed and ran a finger through my hair, pulling a fleck of paint out of it. "I should have told you, but everything with us just happened so fast. We never really had the 'exes' speech, and it was such a long time ago."
I smiled, having had that same thought myself. "I know." I mentally added that we still needed to have that talk - I had a few questions, especially about him and "visiting" female vampires - but I didn't want to have that conversation with Starla listening. And I was more confident than Teren apparently was, about us getting out of this unharmed.
I stroked his arm as he gazed at my stomach, perhaps thinking of the woman who had briefly carried his child before me. Trying to push back my jealousy, I asked, "Why did you let her remember? Why didn't you tell your family what happened?" My hand went up to stroke his cool cheek and his eyes lifted to mine. "I'm sure they would have understood."
He sighed as his eyes flicked between mine. "I...I just..." His voice trailed off as he shifted his vision over my shoulder, to the window. We were out of the city, speeding down the interstate on our way to the largest city in the State, where the elusive group of mixed were apparently hiding out. Blocking his view with my head, I raised my eyebrows, waiting for a response.
His eyes came back to mine and he shrugged. "I knew Great-Gran would take everything...and she was the first girl who loved me, the first girl I loved." He swallowed, like he hated telling me this. I smiled reassuringly and he continued. "If it were up to me...they'd all have their memories. That was Gran and Great-Gran - protect the family. Of course, now, I can see the logic in that, but back then, I'd have preferred if they all remembered me...like, I actually did exist." He swallowed again, his eyes watering. "With Carrie...I just wanted someone out there to remember that they loved me once. I just wanted one person to remember me."
I swallowed at the look on his face, my own eyes watering. "I remember you. I'll always remember you," I whispered.
"I love you so much, Emma," he said, his lips immediately lowering to mine.
After a brief kiss, I pulled back. "I know why your family wanted Carrie wiped, and why some of the girls had to be...altered, but why does Halina take it all? Can't she leave some of the good parts? The beginning at least?"
He looked down, a small smile on his lips. "You know how they feel about loose ends." He looked up and shrugged. "They don't want us running into people who will notice that we don't change." He looked down again. "Plus..." His voice trailed off and I lowered my head to meet his gaze again.
With a sheepish smile, he shrugged. "It was easier. If they didn't know me, then they wouldn't try and rekindle the romance." He shook his head as he relaxed back into the seat. Starla in the front seat snorted again, resuming her gum smacking. He glanced at her and frowned. "And they had all proven that they couldn't handle the truth, in one way or another..." He looked back at me and shrugged. "There was no future with any of them."
I cocked my head and leaned back. "All of them?" Overlooking his condition had been pretty simple for me, in the beginning, before I'd learned how serious it was. That had taken a bit longer to accept, but I'd done it. It was a little surprising that other women hadn't been able to see past the species, to the amazing man underneath.
He smiled and leaned into my shoulder. "Until you." He tilted his head as he regarded me. "You truly don't understand how rare you are."
I bit my lip before kissing him again. Their loss...my gain. Sighing, I pulled away. "I suppose I could see why that would make you reluctant to share things about your life. I suppose you've just been conditioned to be secretive."
I reached up to stoke his cheek and he smiled. "Do you forgive me then, for not telling you about her?"
I grinned crookedly, the last lingering remnants of jealousy fading from me completely. His past didn't matter. My past didn't matter. Even our futures were vague, grayish blobs of uncertainties. What mattered was today. What mattered was riding in this car with him, and a strange eavesdropping woman, and feeling the love that flowed so easily between us. I still had questions, as he probably did about me, but all of the questions in my head were just to learn more about this unbelievable man who'd married me. There would be no anger, jealousy, or resentments in my questioning. Not when he was so completely mine, and I was so completely his.
That coy smile still on my face, I murmured. "Maybe in a few years."
Starla in the front seat groaned dramatically and turned the radio back up an earsplitting level. Over the music she loudly said, "You guys are worse than a Hallmark movie. Good god." Shaking her head, she started singing along to top forty hit and strumming her fingers on the steering wheel, tuning out our love fest. I laughed at her and rested my head on Teren's shoulder again.
Into my shoulder Teren muttered, "I don't know where Carrie is, but once we get past this...speed bump, we'll track her down and I'll have Great-Gran erase her memories."
I pulled back to look at him, surprised that he'd concede to her memory being taken. I found myself nodding as I looked him over. He smiled in return and whispered, "You're the only one I need to remember me, anyway."
Starla groaned again as Teren and I kissed again.
The drive to L.A. was not a short one, especially when you've got two tiny people pressing on your bladder. After the fifth pit stop so I could pee, Starla finally got snippy about my condition, her earlier compassion all but gone. I very politely informed her that I could just relieve myself on her hand stitched leather seats instead? She stopped complaining after that.
Teren made the nearly eight hour drive as comfortable for me as possible, rubbing my shoulders, encouraging me to take a nap on his lap, making me drink a couple packets of blood that Starla had in her car. Quite ingeniously, her group of mixed had designed portable blood packets. They were in silver pouches that you poked a straw through, reminding me of kids' Capri Suns. They were cold though, and didn't have the same bite as the warm stuff. But I drank it anyway, not even daring to ask what sort of animal it was from. My stomach just couldn't handle it, if the answer was one I wouldn't want to hear.
Just when I was about to forcibly rip the gum out of Starla's mouth, my very last sore-from-traveling nerve used up, we started entering the outskirts of Los Angeles.
I'd taken family trips down here as a kid, back when my dad was alive. We'd done all the touristy stuff people do in L.A. - Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, La Brea Tar Pits, counted the stars of the Walk of Fame. You name it, we'd probably done it over the multiple summers we'd vacationed here. But I hadn't been down in years, not since Dad had died, not since Ashley's disfigurement.
I found myself taking in the prepackaged beauty of the city. The sun had set on the long drive over and the lights of the miles wide metropolis lit the sky with an orange glow. We wouldn't need to worry about our eyes in this place. Feeling Halina already racing towards us, I started spacing out, letting memories of happier times with my family flood into me. Then Teren beside me popped up. "What part of Los Angeles do you live in?"
Starla brightened in clear adoration for her favorite city. "The only part of L.A. that matters - Hollywood." Her face turned a little smug as she bragged about her zip code. I resisted rolling my eyes.
Teren didn't bother. He even laughed at her a little. "Hollywood...seriously?"
She sniffed, offended by his reaction. "You know a better place to look eternally youthful?" Teren twisted his lips at that and sank back into the seat. Looking over at me, he shrugged. She did have a point.
We started weaving our way through palm tree lined streets, heading towards the nicer and nicer neighborhoods. As the houses started getting larger, security started tightening. Every house we started passing had walls and gates with intercoms and security cameras, watching our every movement. I started missing our place in San Francisco. It was cozy and warm and inviting. I couldn't wait until I could go back there.
I sighed and Teren squeezed my hand, running a finger through my hair as he searched my face. I smiled at him and rested my head on his shoulder.
After another ten or fifteen minutes, we stopped before a gate at the crest of a steep sided hill. Shrubbery lined either side of the fence around the gate and the house contained within wasn't visible. Nerves started attacking me as Starla drove up to a box, pushed the button on the intercom and said, "I'm back, brought a pair of mixed with me." The gate started rolling open, the metal scream loud to my sensitive ears. She pulled inside, the black car of her bodyguard following close behind.
She pulled up to what looked like a seven car garage and parked the BMW, immediately stepping out if it. I noted that she left the keys in the ignition and figured that she'd never had to put her car away in her life. As Teren helped me out of the back seat, a couple twenty-something vampires approached us. I couldn't tell if they were mixed or pure, not with it being night now, and them clearly not having any heartbeats. Although they had a certain scent to them, something that was familiar and...comforting.
They looked over Starla, eyeing her for injuries, before sweeping over me. Their eyes widened at seeing my stomach, but then returned to normalcy. Ignoring me, they shifted their attentions to Teren, clearly the threat.