After a moment, the two men went off to get to work on their appointed tasks.
“Well then, Alexa let us get started. Given the circumstances, I am afraid we must have the wedding here. I am sure you understand that it would just be too dangerous anywhere else, but you have yet to see the back gardens, they are quite lovely this time of year. Come, I will give you a tour, then we can discuss the dress,” Josephine said rather excitedly.
They walked out of the kitchen through a side door and onto a stone path that wound around to the back of the house to a large patio and salt water pool with a waterfall and high back wall made of stone. As they rounded the back of the pool to the gardens, Alexa gasped as she took in the beauty of her surroundings. “I can’t imagine a more perfect place to get married. It is absolutely breathtaking.”
“I thought the gazebo would be a good space for you and Ethan to stand for the ceremony,” she said pointing down the path through the fragrant wildflowers that stretched some distance across the yard to the structure that was in a small open area of grass. “We can place a few chairs in the grass there in front for the guests. You understand it will just be family?” she asked concerned.
“Yes, don’t worry, there’s not really anyone I would invite anyway, except maybe my old neighbors. There’s no way I could explain my getting married so suddenly when they have never even seen me date, not to mention the change in Chloe since they last saw her. I understand that I cannot go back to my old life.” While she had already accepted it, Alexa couldn’t help but feel a little sad about never seeing Jill and Jesse again. She had felt terrible when she used Ethan’s phone that morning to email them with a fake story about taking an impulsive vacation. She told them she would be gone three weeks, buying her some time to come up with a more permanent story.
“Now that it’s settled, let us go talk about your dress. I may have something suitable, but if not, we could order something from the city and have it sent overnight.”
✧
After a little more than an hour poring through Josephine’s expansive closet, it became apparent that nothing she owned would work for Alexa to wear on the big day. While several gowns were absolutely stunning and Alexa loved them, Josephine was more than one size smaller and neither woman was very skilled at sewing.
Just as they agreed it was time to start exploring other options, Ethan poked his head in to check on them with Chloe in his arms. He kept his eyes squeezed shut as he said, ”I am not peeking, but I wanted to check if you needed anything, and Chloe has been asking for you, Amor.”
He set Chloe down on her feet and she took off for Alexa. Ethan couldn’t resist and opened one eye to take a quick look at Alexa, but that peek forced him to open both eyes to blatantly stare at her.
The beige dress fit Alexa’s figure tightly, its v-neck and lace inlay showing off her cleavage and causing Ethan’s pulse to quicken. All he could think about was peeling it off of her.
His mother’s voice snapped him out of the trance, “None of my dresses are going to work. I am afraid your bride is far more blessed in certain areas than I,” she said smiling.
“I rather like that dress,” Ethan said swallowing hard.
With Chloe now in her arms, Alexa laughed and turned to show Ethan her back. “Yes, it is great from the front, too bad I can only get it zipped up half-way.”
Seeing her from that angle, with her soft curves wrapped tightly and on display, Ethan felt his blood rush.
Trying to snap out of it before he grabbed Alexa and rushed her off to his bed, he shook his head and turned to his mother. “What can I do?”
Josephine laughed, “First you can attempt to stop drooling, you will have plenty of time to admire your bride after the wedding. Go and fetch your father’s laptop from his study, we will just have to order something. Alexa, I assume you can use a computer? I never really learned, it has been exhausting trying to keep up with the technology all these years. Each time I master one thing, something new comes along. I only learned to drive an automobile ten years ago.”
Ethan looked at her surprised. “I did not know you had finally learned.”
“Yes, well you have stayed away far too long, mi hijo.”
Ethan shifted uneasily, feeling the guilt pressing down on him before his mother continued. “No te preocupes, mi amor. Everything has happened as it must.”
Ethan nodded and headed off to his father’s study, trying to choke down the emotion that had gathered into a tight knot in his throat. He had wasted so many years hiding himself away from his life. Then the meaning of his mother’s words began to sink in. Alexa was very young, if he had lived differently, he could have married someone else before she was ever born.
Yes, everything has happened as it must. He thought as he entered the room lined on all sides with full bookshelves and took the laptop from the large desk in the back. He paused for a moment, looking at the photos that lined the desk. The one that drew his gaze was black and white. It was of him and his sister, taken when he had first returned home in the nineteen-fifties. It was the only photo of them together as adults. He couldn’t recall the exact year, but he remembered the reunion had been brief, his sister still hell bent on his joining the Elite. Since then he had only seen her a handful of times and each meeting had been tense.
She would not accept his choices, seeing the prophecy as a gift, a duty to their kind that he had selfishly abandoned.
He turned from the picture to return to his love. He would not dwell on sad things from the past, someday perhaps Cami would understand, but for now he was going to focus on the present, on the happiness in his heart at being with Alexa again. In a few days he would make her his, and he would be hers in every way. He was convinced the bond would save them from the only thing he still feared. The one detail that he had kept hidden from Alexa, but would reveal to her before they wed. He just needed to find the right way to explain, to let her know he would never let it happen.
✧
Ethan returned to his parents’ bedroom and delivered the laptop to Alexa with a quick peck on the cheek and a whispered declaration of love before he left to find his father. There were some things he needed to discuss with him.
Alexa opened the computer and got online, immediately browsing some of her favorite shopping sites for the right gown for her wedding while Chloe played happily with her grandmother. It wasn’t long before she had narrowed it down to what she felt was the perfect dress, a slim-line summer gown with gossamer chiffon which was pleated toward a beaded, deep V-neckline with silver encrusted halter straps and a silver ribbon at the waist. It was elegant, yet sexy and she was certain Ethan would love it.
“Oh my!” Josephine exclaimed drawing Alexa’s attention. Chloe sat on the bed and giggled heartily at the pillow that was floating mid-air several inches above the comforter.
Alexa looked to Josephine who was smiling as she watched the display. “What’s happening?”
“Well, my dear, it looks like our girl has more talents than we realized. I have never seen it first hand, it is a very rare ability, but it appears Chloe is telekinetic.”
“Mama, pillow,” Chloe said pointing at her trick, struggling slightly to pronounce the L sound that came out sounding like a W.
Alexa just stood there in awe of her daughter. “That makes three,” she stated as she watched the pillow float gently back to the bed while Chloe clapped, clearly amused with herself.
“Three?” Josephine said in a questioning tone, not understanding what Alexa was referring to.
“Three, talents, abilities, or whatever. She is telepathic, which I assumed she inherited from me. She started communicating with me when I was five months pregnant, but I stopped being able to hear her mind a couple of weeks ago. And she can heal with her touch, at least I think that is what it was. Last night she was able to heal Tilly when I was certain she would die after she saved me from one of Lucias’ men. Now, telekinesis.
“Remarkable,” Josephine whis
pered. “In all my life, I have never seen one with so much talent. Even in my visions, I did not see this. So much about her remains a mystery.”
“I wanna see dress,” Chloe stated interrupting the two older women.
Alexa laughed, “I almost forgot, here,” she said spinning the laptop to show the dress she had settled on. It seemed strange to talk about such normal, everyday things, like a wedding dress, amidst a life full of vampires and supernatural powers.
“It is perfect, Alexa. You will look bellísima,” Jo said warmly.
CHAPTER 21 - The Night Before
Alexa laid awake in bed, too anxious and excited to sleep. She was getting married in the morning. With her eyes moving between her ring and the elegant gown that hung on the closet door, she kept getting the urge to pinch herself, just to be sure.
Chloe, who had become quite attached to Barb, was sleeping in another part of the house with her as she had done the previous two nights. The arrangement was convenient for Chloe’s feeding since Elijah had recommended she stop nursing and increase her blood intake. Though as she continued to grow so rapidly, it was clear that she needed more blood than Barb could safely donate each day.
Elijah had suggested supplementing her with some stored blood from the basement. As was expected, she was not overly happy with the cold substitute, but with some encouragement and an explanation about how taking too much blood would hurt Barb, she learned to tolerate it.
At supper the night before, Alexa had suggested Chloe feed from her, she was her daughter after all.
“It is best she only feed from human sources, for now,” Elijah said gently. “While our kind does take blood from one another, it is a practice that is typically limited to mature adults, mostly mated pairs. Without getting too scientific, after the transformation our blood lacks certain proteins that carry hormones which are essential to growth. That is why, other than in emergency situations, young vampires are taught to only take blood from humans.”
“Why does she need so much blood?” Alexa asked. “Ethan told me your, um, our kind only need to feed like once a month.”
“Again, that is when we are mature. New vampires require blood more frequently, once or twice a week, but with Chloe’s accelerated growth, she should feed at least daily.” Elijah responded.
Alexa nodded and returned to pushing the food around on her plate. While the few bites that she had taken of grilled chicken and creamed asparagus were delicious, she just didn’t have much of an appetite.
“Elijah, why don’t I need blood, why haven’t I changed yet?” The question had been burning in Alexa’s mind since the night she first learned of her true origins.
It was Barb who replied. “You’ve got a repression spell on you, child. It took me a while to figure it out, but I been thinking on it, and reading through some spell books these past days. It would take a powerful witch to cast it, there are only a handful in this world who could manage it, but that’s what it is. That birthmark of yours is not just a birthmark. It’s been filled with magic, like the blocking spell in the tattoos I put on this family here. The magic keeps the mark dark, almost vibrant with color. If I were to lift the spell it would fade.”
“But who would do that?” Alexa said looking around.
“Your parents,” Josephine interjected. “It was an ingenious idea. Our kind cannot breed with humans, and you were made to look like a human and thus could not be the woman from the prophecy Lucias would be looking for.”
They really were just trying to protect me. Alexa thought of her parents.
“So how do we take it off? If I change, I can help to protect Chloe, I could fight.”
“There’s only two ways for a spell this powerful to be lifted, child.” Barb announced. “The witch who put it on you has to willingly reverse it, or, if she was to die, so would her magic.”
“Then we have to find her and persuade her to take it off.” Alexa said forcefully.
Ethan took her hand under the table. “Yes, Amor. We will find this witch, but it can wait a few days. We are getting married tomorrow,” he said as he nuzzled her neck.
“Of course,” she breathed leaning into his touch. “I’m sorry, I just feel so weak being surrounded by all of you who are so strong.”
Ethan gripped her chin and turned her to look into his eyes. “Alexa, you are perhaps the strongest person I have ever met. Physical ability is not a true measure of strength. Your strength lies here,” he said placing his hand over her heart, “and here,” he gently stroked her temple, “and now, here,” he finished placing her hand over his own heart.
“Someone is here,” Elijah announced, pulling Ethan and Alexa from their private little moment. Ethan had been so consumed with Alexa, his senses had not picked up on the sounds of the approach. Seeing his parents, who had remained focused and alert to what was going on outside, respond calmly and without alarm put him at ease as he trained his senses on the visitor.
It was a vampire, the steady heartbeat far too slow to be human. When he heard the beeping of the keypad and creek of the side door to the south wing, he knew who it was, and if that hadn’t been enough, his acute sense of smell immediately picked up the barely there fragrance of the perfume his sister pretended not to wear.
From a very young age, Cami had been a tomboy, showing no interest in the typical pastimes of the other girls. She had idolized her brother and begged him and her father to train with her since she was too young to enter the program at the colony. When they were not training with her, she was practicing on her own, mastering the sword and bow long before her preternatural senses had developed.
The light dusting of fragrance that she applied daily was the only evidence that she gave any consideration at all to her femininity. Of course the family all noticed with their acute senses of smell, but they also knew better than to mention it.
Alexa was gripping Ethan’s forearm tightly. “What’s happening?” she whispered as quietly as possible.
“It’s just my sister,” he said looking pointedly at Elijah, “my father must have demanded her attendance tomorrow. That should make things, interesting.”
Alexa tensed at the announcement. Wonderful, I’ll really be able to enjoy the day feeling her hatred battering against me all day. She thought sarcastically.
“Not at all son, I did not speak to her about it,” he replied glancing sideways at his wife who was avoiding eye contact with Ethan.
“Mother, you know how she feels. Tomorrow is one of the most important days of my life, of our life,” he said squeezing Alexa’s hand. “We do not need a dark cloud hanging over our heads.”
“Ethan, she is your sister. This has gone on far too long. I know that much of the divide between us has been of my own making.” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she spoke. “I have been stubborn with Camille, with you, thinking I could force you to make different choices. I have missed you both so greatly and I no longer wish to let the years speed by without the joy of my children, and grandchildren, all of them, in my life. What better time to reunite our family than on such a happy occasion, my son?”
He was at a loss for words. While he had wanted to make things right with Cami for years, he did not want anything to impede upon the happiness he felt in making Alexa his wife.
“She understands how important tomorrow is for you, Ethan. She will not impose upon your day,” his mother continued gently. “And I will speak to her again tonight, we have much to discuss, but I will be certain to impress upon her the,” she glanced almost imperceptibly at Alexa, “delicacy, of the situation.”
Ethan sighed and nodded.
✧
Ethan paced the floor of his large bedroom, regretting the decision for he and Alexa to sleep separately in the days leading up to their union. It had seemed like a romantic notion when he suggested it, a way to make their wedding night and honeymoon all the more special, but after two nights without her next to him, unable to lose himself in her warmth, he was starting to fe
el nervous and uncertain.
Choices of Fate (Fate Series) Page 19