by Kallysten
“So what did the doctor say?” Anando asked when he broke off the kiss.
One arm still wrapped around her, he led her to the living room, where instrumental jazz tunes were playing on the stereo, the volume low and unobtrusive. They sat together on the sofa, their bodies tightly fitted against one another. Virginia curled her legs up beside her and let out a little contented sigh. She rested her head against Anando’s shoulder and closed her eyes.
“All my numbers are good, except for my blood pressure. It was a bit low, so she wants to keep a close eye on me and make sure it gets back to normal.”
He laid a kiss on her temple. His thumb was rubbing small circles on her hip.
“Will you quit your job?”
She’d thought about it a lot since he had first suggested she could, and this certainly was one more excuse to do so, but Virginia couldn’t imagine not going to work every day, talking to her friends, chatting over a coffee break. It would feel odd.
“Maybe in a few months,” she murmured. “We’ll see.”
At the very least she’d take maternity leave. Maybe then she’d see if she was up to staying home full time.
“Are you going to tell your parents?” Anando asked next.
Virginia grimaced. She would have to tell them, of course, but she still hadn’t told them about Anando, and this was sure to complicate that conversation to the extreme and bring forth tricky questions.
How would she explain that she was having a baby with a vampire? Her parents didn’t need to know anything about her sex life. Maybe she could say they had used a donor—which, in the broadest interpretation of the term, was true. That would also make it sound planned—better that than explaining how it could have happened accidentally.
“In a few months, too,” she answered with a small sigh. Raising her head, she looked at Anando when she asked, “What about you? Are you going to tell Mary?”
It was his turn to grimace. “I guess I’ll have to. If I don’t and she finds out, she’ll be a pain.”
With a quiet snort, Virginia rested her head down on his shoulder again. She’d met Mary a grand total of two times, but that had been quite enough for Virginia to realize Anando’s Sire was strongheaded and expected her wishes to be obeyed by everyone around her. She could even be a little scary at times. A shiver ran down Virginia’s body, and Anando pulled her a little tighter against him.
“How do you think she’ll react?”
Anando shifted against her, shrugging. “Either she’ll call me a fool or she’ll spoil the kid rotten. Maybe both.”
As hard as Virginia tried to imagine Mary buying children’s toys, the idea seemed too odd. Maybe she’d have one of her employees shop for her. That seemed to mesh better with the image of her Virginia had formed.
After a little while, maybe long enough for two or three songs to play through, Virginia took hold of her courage and gave voice to a thought that had been bothering her for a few days. She knew Anando would go along with this if that was what she wanted, but she wanted him to agree to it, to recognize like she did that it was the right thing to do. Swallowing hard, she said, “There’s someone else I think we should tell.”
Anando’s voice sounded curiously flat when he asked, “Who?”
“Brett.”
“Why?” Anando asked, and if the word was a little tense, his body remained relaxed against hers.
“Well, he had a part in this, too,” she said. Sitting up straighter, she turned on the seat to look at him. “Don’t you think he should know?”
Anando’s expression seemed too neutral not to be guarded.
“I told you: as far as I’m concerned, this child is mine.”
She nodded and absently rested a hand on her belly. “It is. But at the same time… Brett is our friend. I think he has a right to know.”
“Just to know?” Anando asked. “Or more than that? What if he wants to visit the child?”
Taken aback, Virginia blinked. Anando apparently had given this more thought than she had.
“Well… We’re friends, aren’t we? I think it’d be okay for him to—”
“All right, what if he wants custody?”
“I… I don’t know,” she said. “But I can’t imagine him trying to fight us for that. From what I know of him, it’s not the way he’d act.”
Anando tilted his head back, resting it on the back of the sofa. “No, that’s not the image I have of him, either.” When he turned his face toward hers, his eyes seemed a little dull. He wasn’t happy about this. But still, he said, “Make sure he understands it’s my child when you go tell him.”
Leaning forward, she pressed her mouth to his, and it was both a thank you for agreeing to this and a gesture of reassurance.
* * * *
Unlike the cameras inside the club, the one above the service entrance filmed 24/7, not so much for surveillance but rather for Brett to keep an eye on deliveries. When the bell rang that afternoon, however, the sight on the monitor gave him pause, and he needed a second or two before he pushed on the intercom button for a quick, “Just a minute, Virginia.”
Passing a hand through his hair, he stood from his desk, switching the lights on in the club before he exited his office and went to the service door. He tried not to wonder why she had come. He’d know soon enough, he supposed.
He was smiling when he opened the door and greeted her, but her hesitant, “Can I talk to you?” troubled him. He tried to keep his discomfort hidden when he invited her inside and guided her toward the bar.
“Can I offer you something to drink?” he said as he passed behind the counter.
She perched herself onto one of the high stools and flashed him a small smile.
“I didn’t know you knew your way behind the bar,” she said with a bit of teasing in her voice. “Just water, please.”
“I’m nowhere near as good as my bartenders.” He pulled two glasses from a recessed shelf and filled both with ice. “But I know enough to help when we’re short on staff without embarrassing myself.”
He poured water from a bottle in one glass, orange juice in the second, and walked around the counter to sit next to her. He took a gulp or two, watched her do the same, and wondered what it was that she wanted to talk to him about so urgently that she had come when the club was closed, only to fall silent now.
He could think of one reason: she regretted what had happened on his birthday and had come to tell him that it could never happen again. Should he apologize preemptively? He did not regret anything, but he could admit that maybe they had all let themselves get carried away.
“Virginia? What did you want to talk about?”
She swallowed another long gulp before turning to face him. “There’s something I think you should know,” she said, and her voice wavered a little. “It might come as a shock. I mean, it was a shock for me. I never expected this.”
Brett couldn’t help but frown, confused by her babbling. “I’m not following you.”
She took a deep breath and let it out as a long sigh. “Remember your birthday party?”
He cleared his throat. So he’d been right after all. “I do,” he said. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes when he added, “And if anything I did that night made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry, it was never my intention.”
She covered his hand on the counter, letting go again when he glanced at it. “No, that’s not… I was fine with all of it. Really.”
He looked at her again, unsure where she was going with all this. There was a hint of pink in her cheeks, but she still seemed paler than usual, almost too pale. Was she ill? She was clutching the edge of the counter with both hands now.
“Virginia? Are you all right? You don’t look well.”
She shook her head and smiled. “I’m fine. Just fine. And pregnant.”
Brett stared at her, his jaw dropping open, his mind blank. She couldn’t mean…
She did.
“You don’t have to do anything,” she
continued when a few seconds had passed and Brett still had found neither words nor coherent thought. “I didn’t come here to make you feel guilty or ask you for anything. I thought… We thought you had a right to know.”
When Brett continued to stare at her for a few more seconds, she broke into a quiet chuckle.
“This was pretty much Anando’s reaction, too,” she said. “Would you like me to pinch you?”
Her teasing broke through his astonishment, and he managed a small smile.
“I… I never thought…” His throat felt parched. He took another gulp of juice and wished he had poured himself something stronger. “I mean, since I fell in love with Lisa, I knew I’d never have children.”
“It was the same for me and Anando,” she admitted. “That night, I never thought…” She shrugged. “But I’m not sorry it happened, and neither is he.” She paused then, her gaze meeting his, searching. “Are you?”
She had said she didn’t expect anything from him, and he was sure she meant it, but he was also certain that his answer would matter a lot to her.
And this answer was amazingly easy to give.
“I… Of course I’m not sorry.”
Virginia’s entire body seemed to relax. She beamed at him.
“Can I…” How silly he felt, hesitating now when they’d been close enough to create a life together! “Can I hug you?”
She let out a quick burst of laughter and opened her arms to him. He slipped off the stool and stepped closer to give her a brief hug.
“When is the baby due?” he asked, pulling back.
She laughed again. “Do you need to ask? You can count, can’t you?”
He could have kicked himself. Of course. Nine months from his birthday. So that meant…
“Early March. And you’re okay with this? Both of you?”
He was searching for the smallest trace of doubt or hesitation in her face. He found none.
“We are.” She smiled. “Both of us.” Her smile wavered when she added, “Anando will raise the baby with me. He’ll be… He’ll be the father.”
She wasn’t asking a question, but Brett guessed it anyway. Was he all right with that? He didn’t have to think about that, either. It wouldn’t occur to him to insert himself between the two of them—even if he’d been in that position in a very carnal fashion. It wasn’t his place. And still…
“Of course,” he said, and felt the need to say it again. “Of course. But if you’re telling me… I’ll be able to see him, right?”
“Him or her,” she teased. “And yes. We’ll have to figure things out, but if you want to…” She waited for his nod to continue. “You can visit the baby, yes.”
Brett’s eyes were stinging a little when he hugged her again.
CHAPTER 11
Leo’s queen was in danger.
Leo’s queen was always in danger.
He’d known Lisa for more than seven decades. For almost as long, playing chess had been one of the ways they’d passed time during long, sun-filled hours during which they didn’t dare step outside. There were more TV channels these days, more chances to find entertainment through the internet as well, and still they rarely went more than a week or two without playing a game.
While they’d both become better players over the years, Lisa had held on to one particular quirk: she always went after Leo’s queen, as if taking her, rather than the king, was guaranteed to win her the game. Fairly often, it did.
Scratching his cheek, he shifted on the sofa, crossing his legs and leaning forward. The board wavered a little between him and Lisa at the other end of the sofa, but the pieces remained in place. Looking ahead, Leo wasn’t sure he could see a way out of this.
If he let her take his queen, with her own already set to trap him, he was all but doomed. But if he defended and sacrificed his last knight, or maybe a bishop, he would open the way for her pawns to come straight at him. Sometimes, all the options seemed less than satisfactory.
“You could just give up,” Lisa said.
He frowned at her. She was smiling too widely. That often meant she had seen a way for him to get out of a tight situation without too much damage. He returned his eyes to the board, intending to find the answer. Before he’d found it, the door opened and Brett stepped in.
Leo only glanced up before focusing his attention back on the board. It was unusual for Brett to come back upstairs so soon, but Leo had lost the last two games, and he wouldn’t let Lisa have a third without giving it his all.
Without a word, Brett walked over to them and sat on the second sofa across from them.
“You’re back early,” Lisa said. “Tired of working? We’ll be done in a minute. Leo’s about to lose.”
“I’m not,” Leo protested, looking at her, then at Brett. “Did you know she cheats at chess? I’ve never known anyone else who could…”
He trailed off when he realized that Brett wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t saying anything, either. He stared at the two of them, his eyes a little wider than they should have been.
“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked, and there was no teasing left in her voice.
“Nothing, I just.” He passed a hand through his hair, causing it to stick out at odd angles. “Virginia was here.”
Leo sat up, turning toward Brett, the chess game forgotten for now in favor of a very different kind of game that didn’t need a winner. “When are we playing again?”
Brett blinked, then frowned, as though the idea were strange. “I don’t know. That’s not… She came to tell me she’s pregnant.”
For a moment, Leo thought he’d misheard. It didn’t make sense, and not only because Anando was a vampire. The five of them had become intimately close, but they weren’t the kind of friends who shared every little bit of news, or at least not yet. Were they?
“Why would she tell you…” As he was asking, it dawned on him. He blinked in surprise, then grinned. “Oh! Congratulations seem to be in order?”
“I guess?” Brett sounded a bit bewildered still, but the next second his face split into a goofy smile. “I never expected this.”
“But you’re not displeased, are you?” Lisa said.
They both looked at her. Her expression was impenetrable, but her scent was already bursting with the bitter smell of anger and the sourness of contained violence. It was all Leo could do not to follow his instincts and pull away.
Rising from the sofa, Brett stepped over the coffee table and sat on the edge of it, close enough to them that he could take Lisa’s hand.
“I didn’t want this,” he said, strength infusing his words. “I never thought about it. It’s never been an option, and I was fine with that. But it’s happening, and no, I’m not displeased.”
“I see.” Lisa’s tone was flat, toneless. Leo winced.
“So what are you going to do?” she continued.
Leo wished he could have caught Brett’s eye and warned him somehow that he was treading dangerous waters, but Brett’s gaze remained fixed on Lisa.
“What do you mean?” Brett asked.
“Are you going to propose?” A muscle twitched in her cheek. Her hand still lay in Brett’s, as inert as her eyes. “Make an honest woman out of her? Isn’t that the phrase?”
Brett started to laugh, and Leo grimaced. Couldn’t Brett read her at all? Couldn’t he see she wasn’t joking, wasn’t amused in the slightest, far from it?
“Why would I want to marry her?” Brett asked, shaking his head. “I don’t love her. She’s just a friend. You know I love you. Both of you.”
He touched her ring, then reached for Leo’s hand to do the same. Leo squeezed his fingers, wishing he could stop this conversation before things became worse—but it was already too late, even if Brett couldn’t see it.
“This child won’t change anything,” Brett added.
Lisa stood, pulling her hand free of Brett’s, towering over him as she said coolly, “You’re wrong. It changes everything. You just don’t see it yet
.”
Brett tried to catch her hand again, but she walked away, and before he could say more than her name, she was closing the bedroom door behind her. Brett blinked several times, looking like he’d been hit from behind.
Leo sighed. He loved Brett—he loved both of them—but sometimes Brett could have the biggest blind spot where Lisa was concerned. And vice versa.
Brett started to get up, no doubt to follow Lisa. Leo caught his arm and held him back.
“Let me,” he said, and after a second or two Brett nodded.
When Leo stood, Lisa’s king tumbled and rolled across the chessboard, taking a few pawns along with it.
* * * *
The ceiling above the bed was cracked.
Lisa didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but it did.
The window in the bedroom faced north, preventing direct sunlight from pouring in, but with the drapes open, fluttering in the small breeze that drifted in, quite enough light filtered in for Lisa to see every imperfection in the plaster, every small bump and hollow, as well as the fine hairline crack in a rough L shape.
Better to think about that crack and how she might fix it than think about what had just happened. What was still happening. What would continue to happen for the next nine months, and years beyond that.
She knew she had been unfair out there. She even felt somewhat bad about it. She couldn’t have reacted any other way, though, not when she was scared out of her mind.
A few nights earlier, she had opened herself to Brett, bitten him, taken one more step closer to him. And now, everything was crashing down around her.
It didn’t take long for the door to open. While she had expected Brett to come in, his heartbeat remained distant. Instead, Leo walked in and came to sit on the edge of the bed.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked, his tone neutral.
Lisa fought her first instinct, which was to roll away from him and present him with her back. “No.”
“Too bad, because we are talking about it anyway. What was all that about?”