by Alice Brown
“Hey, kiddo, did you hear about the new Mail Box, Etc. that is being set up above ground for us?”
Stephanie shook her head, and he quickly continued, “One of the half-vamps got the idea of opening a Mail Box, Etc. This one is going to be set up to service the underground vampire community. I think it is pretty funny that we can open a business in broad daylight for the world to see, and still not have the public know a thing about us,” he stated with a wide grin.
“Okay, I think you lost me. What are you talking about?” Stephanie asked in total confusion, realizing she had only half tuned in to what he was telling her.
“Richard Moore is opening a Mail Box, Etc. uptown. But he is keeping all of the mail boxes for us vampires who live down below. We pay him a small fee for the mailing address, in which case he will deliver our mail to us on his way home in the evening. All the other services like UPS and pick-ups and deliveries can be used by humans or vampires.”
“Oh, I see. It gives everyone down here a legitimate address, and he personally delivers the mail to you in the evening,” Stephanie replied as the knowledge seeped into her brain. “Cool.” The only thing she didn’t like about it was who was opening it. Richard Moore had become somewhat of a pain to her recently. He didn’t seem to take no for an answer, and Stephanie had politely turned him down at least five times when he asked her to go out.
Mr. Atkins smiled. “Yes, it is. By the way, are you going to the charity ball?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say “yes, but only if she didn’t have to go with Richard Moore.” The charity ball he was referring to was a yearly event coming up in a few weeks to raise money for their hospital and elderly village. It was specifically designed for the vampires and half-vamps in their society, and would be held underground in the community center. Richard Moore had already tried to get her to go with him, and although Marshall had yet to ask her, she would rather go with her parents or stay at home alone than to go out with Richard.
“Yes, I think Marshall is taking me, although he hasn’t come right out and asked me yet. But either way, I’ll be there. Mom and Dad wouldn’t miss it. Mom has always said that it’s her favorite event of the year,” Stephanie replied with a smile.
“Just make sure you save a dance for me. I’ve already asked Mrs. Jenkins to attend with me, but I don’t think she will mind if you and I take a twirl around the dance floor,” Pop Atkins replied with a twinkle in his eye. Mrs. Jenkins was still seated next to Stephanie and she smiled when Stephanie glanced over to her.
“Of course I don’t mind,” she replied. “The only reason I agreed to go with you, you old goat, is so when you talk Miss Stephanie into a dance, I plan on snatching up that good looking Marshall and taking him for a whirl. I am looking forward to it, and won’t it be fun to get all dressed up and have somewhere to go.”
Aunt Kate walked in at that moment. “I thought I heard my favorite niece out here. These two aren’t being a bad influence on you, are they?” she asked teasingly as she walked over and hugged Stephanie.
“Mrs. Jenkins, you have just given me an idea. I think we need to set up a dance here at the retirement village, every month or maybe every other month. It will be fun,” Kate said as soon as she had released Stephanie. She really was a great director for the retirement village. All of the residents adored her. “Everyone could get dressed up, and I’ll see what I can do about getting a band to play.”
“Just make sure they don’t play that stuff these younger ones are listening to today. Don’t want any of that hip-hop mess!” Pop Atkins stated with a frown as he shook his head. “I’d break every bone in my body if I tried to dance to that stuff.”
Aunt Kate smiled over to him. “Don’t worry, Mr. Atkins, I’ll make sure the band knows they have to play plenty of the classics for you to glide across the dance floor to.”
“I think a dance at the center is a great idea, Aunt Kate. Do you think you’ll be able to get a band?” Stephanie inquired.
“Fear not, kiddo. Your Aunt Kate can perform a miracle or two when I need to,” she laughed as she snapped her fingers. Stephanie didn’t doubt her for a minute. When it came to the retirement village, she always seemed to have something up her sleeve.
*****
Marshall had less than a week before Stephanie’s birthday party, and he felt like he was crawling out of his skin. He had so much to do in order to make sure his plans all went off without a hitch. First stop, the jeweler.
As he quickly made his way down to the underground business, he was happy that he had lived so frugally over the years. His apartment, while obviously way too small for both of them, had been fine for just him. Besides, he tended to stay at Kevin and Erica’s as much as they would allow. He mostly used the apartment as a place to collect his mail and hang his clothes.
He planned to take Kevin up on the offer for the land adjacent to their house. He knew Stephanie would be overjoyed to be able to remain close to her family. He was also fortunate that he had taken advice from Charles years ago about diversifying his funds. Because of this, he had an extremely lucrative portfolio, and knew his Stephanie would never want for anything in her life.
He reached into his pocket and jingled the jewelry he had placed there before leaving home. The diamond he had given Stephanie last year for her birthday had actually been his great-grandmother’s, and her wedding set was in his pocket, along with several other gemstones that he was going to have set into some jewelry for his girl. First things first, he had to come up with the perfect ring for her.
When he arrived at the jeweler’s, the fellow vampire was impressed with the clarity of the stone in his great-grandmother’s engagement ring. He asked Marshall if he were in the market to sell, and quoted a price that made Marshall take a step back. He had no idea the ring was worth that much. The jeweler buffed and polished the ring, while Marshall looked around the store. The engagement ring was in great shape, but the wedding band was kind of on the plain side, and Marshall decided to see if he could find something else to go with the engagement ring.
The main diamond was a five-carat stone with two other smaller diamonds, one on each side. It took a few minutes, but he finally spotted what he was looking for: a thin silver band with a small “V” of tiny diamonds that would nestle just below the large diamond on the other ring. When put together, the two rings looked like they were made to complement each other.
Marshall also showed the jeweler the other gems he had, and agreed to have an emerald necklace and matching earrings made. This was just the beginning of his spoiling his girl—he planned to take very good care of her indeed.
He hurried back above ground to the VCTF office, mentally checking off one thing on his list of things to do before the party.
*****
By mid-week, Marshall felt like he was crawling out of his skin. He was asking the love of his life to be his wife and life-long partner in just a matter of days, and he was nervous as hell. Her party was scheduled for Friday night at the underground facility that was used for all of the major functions. Most, if not all, of the elderly vamps would be there; they had surrounded Stephanie for her entire life. She would also have a few friends like Mary and her family; her adopted Aunt Jordan and Uncle Davidrick; Julietta and her husband Scott; most if not all of the VCTF team; as well as her family.
Now, if he could just calm his nerves down and concentrate on work for the next several days, he’d be fine. He knew over the past few days he had snapped at numerous coworkers for no good reason.
*****
Two days prior to the party, Kevin and Marshall were in the office by themselves for the morning. Marshall looked over to Kevin, who seemed intent on reading the newspaper.
“Kevin, did you ever go through a period of time where your emotions tried to take you over completely? I didn’t think that was really possible with our kind,” Marshall inquired, hoping his friend would shed some light as to what was going on internally with him.
&
nbsp; Kevin looked up from his reading with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Sitting back in his chair, he propped both feet up on his desk. “I am going to tell you the same thing Charles told me when I asked him almost the identical question. He told me, ‘Kevin, I have seen love do some strange things. One of those things is to bring overpowering emotions or feelings to the forefront. So, things that we normally are able to keep suppressed fairly easily, suddenly feel like they are consuming us.’”
“Oh, so it’s okay?” Marshall inquired, just a bit confused.
“Again, I am going to quote Charles on this one. ‘I would never call a man who is head over heels in love like you are ‘okay’. But you’ll live.’”
“Do these feelings and emotions dwindle over time? Or is this something I need to be concerned with learning how to deal with?”
Kevin tilted his head a little as he considered this one. “It gets easier over time, but I don’t think they dwindle. I think there just comes a time where we can finally screw our heads back on straight, and life seems to get back to somewhat normal.” Kevin paused for a second before continuing, “Maybe we just learn to adjust around the new emotions, and by adjusting, I mean controlling them.”
“Yeah, I know, I’ve been a bit snappy over the past few days,” Marshall replied sourly.
“Snappy? Now there is an understatement if I ever heard one. If you were female, I would have assumed you were having your monthly cycle, and brought in a box of chocolates for you by now.” Kevin was enjoying himself just a little too much at his buddy’s expense. He picked up his newspaper and went back to reading as if nothing were amiss.
Marshall picked up his desk stapler and threw it across the room at his coworker and friend, knowing full well he would catch it with no difficulty. He did, without even looking up from his newspaper.
“Yep, definitely that time of the month,” Kevin mumbled. The only other sound that could be heard was a growl from across the room.
*****
The day of her seventh birthday Stephanie woke with a smile on her face. This was the day she would be declared a full-fledged adult. Her party would start at six that evening, and she and her mother had plans for an all-day shopping trip, followed by a trip to her favorite hairdresser.
Erica poked her head in the door. “Hey, birthday girl, hurry up and get dressed, we don’t want to be late for our appointments.” Stephanie knew her mother well. Stopping at the hair salon didn’t just mean getting their hair done. Her mother would have booked appointments for pedicures, manicures, facials, and makeup. Mom believed in doing things right.
Thirty minutes later the two women were on their way. Erica had made arrangements for Charles to cover the office today, so the women were taking advantage of the day off, which didn’t happen very often.
It was while trying on clothes that Stephanie brought up a subject that had been bothering her over the past week. “Mom, Marshall has been so quiet this week. Do you know if he is upset about anything?” She glanced over to her mother and quickly gave her the thumbs up signal. “Oh, that dress is a definite!”
“I don’t know of anything, Steph. Your father hasn’t mentioned anything going on at work,” Erica responded to her daughter as she lightly twirled around, looking into the mirror. “Have you tried just asking him if something is bothering him? You know, if the two of you are going to be together, you will need to learn how to communicate openly with him.” She studied herself in the mirror for another few seconds and then added, “You really like this dress?”
“Yes, Mom, it looks great on you. You have to get it,” Stephanie replied automatically as she pondered her mother’s advice. “Maybe I will ask him tonight what is going on.” She paused and looked over to her mother, lowering her voice to a whisper, “I could find out easily enough, but I hate doing that to someone I am close to, it’s just too much invasion of privacy.”
Erica spun around and reached for her daughter to embrace her in a hug. She was one proud mama. “I am so glad you have high morals when it comes to using that gift of yours, dear. I do think you and I would have run into many arguments if you were constantly reading my mind,” she whispered into her daughter’s ear.
The women continued shopping for the rest of the morning, and then headed over to their salon appointments. Stephanie couldn’t help the smile that came across her face when she thought about the salon owner, Jack. He always made a huge fuss anytime “his” girls came in to see him. By his, he meant any female from the O’Rourke family. Although he was the only vampire hairdresser in the community, and was the stylist of choice for most of the female vampires, he made it a point always to make time for any of the O’Rourke women. He seemed to realize early on how powerful this family would be within their community, and made sure he went out of his way to be of service to them.
By the time the women made it home, it was late in the afternoon. They both walked in the front door with their arms loaded down from their shopping trip. Kevin met them in the living room and walked over to kiss his wife, while relieving her of some of the packages. “Are we officially broke? Did you two buy out the entire mall?” he joked as he set the packages on the couch.
Stephanie watched her mom playfully swat her husband’s arm, saying, “Is this the greeting I get when I’ve been out all day? You must have really missed me a lot.” Stephanie loved watching her parents interact with one another. She had never seen them fight, or even disagree, for that matter. If they did, they kept it behind closed doors. The love the two shared was something she hoped she and Marshall would achieve one day.
“Oh, no, I know I’m in trouble now, when my wife comes home from shopping all day and avoids my questions on finances,” Kevin replied jokingly as he pulled his wife up against him and kissed her soundly. As if just remembering his daughter was also in the room, he broke off the kiss and glanced over to her. “Well, did you two women have fun today?”
“I had a blast!” Stephanie replied, and then quickly headed for the stairs. She didn’t have a lot of time to get ready for the party, and she wanted to look her absolute best tonight.
She heard her father’s reply as she quickly climbed the stairs. “Then that’s all that counts.” And she knew he was giving her mother another kiss.
By the time Stephanie and her parents arrived at the party, most of the guests were already there. Stephanie’s Aunt Kate and several of the elderly women from the retirement center had come over earlier that afternoon to set up and decorate the community center for tonight’s event. Stephanie just hoped that it didn’t include old home movies from when she was younger. That would be downright embarrassing, but something she could see her Grandpa Charles trying to do.
Stephanie slowly made her way around the room, trying to be the polite hostess and stopping to talk with everyone. And everyone wanted to speak with her. All the vampires in attendance tonight had watched Stephanie grow up since she was a baby. Now, they had come together to celebrate her officially turning into an adult. All of the elderly vampires from the retirement center were there, and as Stephanie looked up, she spotted Pop Atkins heading her way, arms already open, ready for a hug. “There’s my birthday girl!” he boomed as the two embraced. He stood back and shook his head for a moment. “It seems like just yesterday I was waiting my turn to get a look at you in the nursery. Now look at you. You are all grown up on me!” He stopped for a second and offered her a smile while holding out one arm. “You’re not too old to dance with your ol’ Grandpa, are you?”
Stephanie gently placed her hand on his extended arm. “Are you kidding? It wouldn’t be my birthday without my birthday dance with you.” His entire face lit up with a smile at her words.
“Ah, don’t look now, but here comes my competition,” he stated a little theatrically, and Stephanie chuckled, as they paused and waited for Marshall.
“Marshall, I was just telling Stephanie how well you clean up, my boy!” Pop Atkins said as Marshall walked up and put his a
rm around his girl’s waist.
Marshall laughed as he replied, “Okay, I think I need to go back home and clean out my ears, I seem to be having problems hearing correctly tonight.”
The two men enjoyed a joint laugh, and then quickly started their own conversation. Stephanie excused herself to go mingle. She would make sure she caught Pop Atkins in a few minutes to get him to dance with her.
Stephanie was speaking with her Aunt Jordan and Uncle Davidrick when she felt an arm curl around her waist. Marshall’s warm breath fell on her ear. “Are you trying to get away from me?”
“No, I was just giving you some time with Pop Atkins.” She gave him an innocent smile and batted her eyelashes at him before continuing, “You seem to be in a better mood this evening.”
With a raised eyebrow, he replied, “Oh, have I not been in a good mood lately?” Both Stephanie and Marshall saw Jordan’s eyebrows shoot up. It was no secret Jordan and Marshall had never really gotten along; they merely tolerated the other for Stephanie’s benefit. Now as Stephanie watched her aunt, she looked ready to jump down Marshall’s windpipe without hearing his side of the story. Stephanie shook her head, she should have remembered the animosity between the two and picked a different time to find out what had been on Marshall’s mind over the past several days.
Marshall merely stared at Jordan for a long minute, as if the two of them were carrying on some type of telepathic war. Then, he seemed to choose his words carefully. He broke eye contact with Jordan, giving Stephanie his undivided attention. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ve had a lot on my mind this week, but I should not have let it affect us.”