“Me, too,” Camille agreed. “But just know, whatever you decide, we’ll make this work. We can make anything work, and we’ll fulfill all our dreams.”
The sparkling of her eyes and the ripe pink of her lips was too much for him to resist. Jonathon leaned forward, pressing his mouth to hers. He teased her lips open, loving the taste of her, loving that he could actually do this instead of just fantasizing about it. Maggie pressed her curvy body to his, and he pulled her in closer, never wanting to let her go.
As he moved to her neck, he whispered, “Guess that dating match was right. Shoulda listened to it before.”
“Before?”
“Yeah. I signed up for it quite a while ago… Was immediately matched with you. At the time it felt like a slap in the face because I wanted you, but I didn’t think you wanted me. Guess I should have just shed the fears and pursued my dreams, anyway. Funny how much time fear stole from us.”
Maggie nodded as she pulled back slightly. “But think about how much time we have in front of us. We’re together, we’ve got those beautiful, loving kids. We’re going to really make something of our futures. From here on out, nothing can stop us.”
“No, nothing can stop us,” Jonathon agreed. “Because we’ve got each other, and we’ve got our dreams. And as long as we keep up the courage to chase those dreams, then we’re going to get them. Each and every single one.”
“Exactly.” Maggie gave him a wide grin and straddled him. “Now. How about we do a little fooling around here? We haven’t had any time to ourselves since we decided to marry, after all. And let’s face it. Having sex twice and then getting engaged? That’s rushing things. So, we should have sex at least a hundred times before the wedding.”
Jonathon grinned at her, putting his hands on her hips as she started to rock in just the right way to make his fires flare. “Oh, for sure. We mustn’t rush into a relationship with each other after knowing one another all our lives.”
“No,” Maggie agreed, kissing him. “We mustn’t.”
She tangled her fingers into his hair and their kisses grew more fevered and passionate. Jonathon let his hands rove all over her body, looking forward to getting to know her intimately again and again and again and again.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Maggie stretched her arms over her head as she stepped out of the minivan. The road trip had been long, but worth it. Summer had been the one to suggest it, remembering how much fun she’d had when they went to the Smithsonian. Maggie hadn’t realized that she’d had fun on that trip, but apparently, the kids had loved it. None of them thought much about the night they’d stayed in the parking lot of a biker bar except that the music had been loud.
Of course, this trip had been much more thought out. They didn’t run into any trouble, other than a flat. Now they were at their destination. Ronnie ran ahead of them and banged on Camille’s door, hyper with the energy that was pent up from their longest drive yet.
“I want to see my cousin,” Ronnie announced as soon as Camille opened the door.
Camille laughed. “I bet you do. But he’s sleeping right now, so you have to be very quiet.”
Ronnie pressed her hands to her mouth. “Okay,” she whispered.
“I’ll take her and Ned to the backyard,” Summer said, grabbing Ronnie’s hand. “So that they don’t get in the way.”
“More like because you know otherwise, you’ll have to help bring stuff in,” Jonathon laughed but didn’t call her back. Instead, he looked at Camille. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah. The yard’s fenced and I already put out three soccer balls. They’ll be fine.”
Jonathon nodded. He was loaded up with all the suitcases, and when Maggie tried to take one, he tutted her away. “You’ve got to rest up, lady. You’re carrying around extra weight as it is.”
He nodded to her stomach, which was just starting to develop that little bump that showed the life growing inside of her. Maggie rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t start treating me like glass now, buster or I’ll end up lazing around all day and you’ll have to wrangle the kids and clean the house and make the food all by yourself.”
“As if that’s not what I’ve been trying to do,” Jonathon grumbled. He set the suitcases down and hugged Camille. “How’s it going?”
Camille laughed. “Same as always. Wonderful. Samuel and Wayne got called into the office, but they should be back soon. I know Samuel’s especially eager to see you, Jonathon,” she added. “Those changes you implemented last year are doing wonders. Profit margins have risen twenty percent and turnover is down across the country.”
Jonathon grinned proudly. They quickly put their stuff in the bedrooms that were prepared for their visit, and then they went to the back to watch the kids run around the large yard. With the walls as high as they were and nothing that they could hurt themselves on (except each other), Maggie was grateful. It was a place where they could run and play, and Maggie didn’t feel the need to watch them every second. They needed more of that, more freedom to stretch their imaginations and independence. Of course, she wouldn’t have felt comfortable leaving them even in this protected back yard for more than a few minutes at a time without someone watching.
“So, are you sticking around for the summer or are you headed off for another epic adventure?”
“This is our epic adventure,” Maggie replied easily. “But we are going to Legoland, too.”
Camille gave her a disapproving look, directed at her belly.
“I’m fine to go walking around. I’m only five months. I haven’t had any morning sickness, and I feel great. Besides, Legoland is a nice, easy one. I’m not going to go on any of the big rides. I’ll stick with Ronnie. The kids have been excited about going and I am, too.” Maggie settled down on a swing and pushed herself back and forth. “And it’s nice to have an adventure that’s a bit more domestic, too. If you wanted to, you could bring Frankie and come with us. Samuel and Wayne, too. They’re welcome to join us.”
“Welcome to come where?”
Maggie turned to see Samuel and Wayne. Samuel held little Frankie, who yawned like he hadn’t quite been ready to get up from his nap. Wayne gave Camille a kiss and sat on one side of her while Samuel settled in on the other side. Camille stroked Frankie’s head.
“Just wanted to be held?” she asked as Frankie’s eyes closed.
“That’s my guess,” Samuel agreed with a laugh. “Our Frankie, he doesn’t like to be left alone. I think it’s because he was spoiled so much by everybody holding him all the time when he was newborn.”
“He’s not that much older than newborn now,” Camille argued. Samuel kissed her, and she leaned against Wayne’s side. “Maggie and Jonathon are going to take their kids to Legoland. They’ve asked us if we wanted to join them. I’m not sure how well Frankie would do. We haven’t taken him out into public that much yet.”
Wayne hummed, looking concerned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, with—"
Camille elbowed him.
“Hey.” Wayne frowned at her. “I’m just saying. When you were pregnant you were worried about doing anything. I’m just not sure about going on rollercoasters and whatnot.”
Jonathon was the one who answered, to Maggie’s relief. She was tired of having to constantly reassure everybody that she was fine and knew what she was doing. It came from a place of concern, she knew that, but it got quite annoying. Maybe if people just knew more about pregnancies. Although in her case, it was extra unusual. She hadn’t been able to find anybody who was openly in a vampire-shifter relationship and would talk about their experiences with pregnancy. The few people she’d found online that were vampires and shifters living together all said that they were afraid to get pregnant because they thought the baby would end up a mutated mutt.
Something that, apparently, the Elders had been spreading for some time despite knowing it was untrue. Maggie didn’t know how to take that bunch. They were hypocritical and more or les
s jerks that had gotten bored with life and so caused trouble just to have fun, in her opinion. They had been treating her and Jonathon well, though.
At that moment, Summer let out a scream. Maggie jumped, her heart leaping to her throat. Jonathon sprang to his feet and was on the edge of the porch before Ronnie and Ned started screaming as well. It took Maggie half a second to realize that it wasn’t fear or pain that they were screaming for. The three of them raced toward the porch, smiles wide on their faces.
“Uncle Wayne! Uncle Samuel!” they shouted at the top of their lungs and mobbed them. “Frankie!”
Frankie jerked awake at the noise. Seeing the three unfamiliar faces mobbing him, his face crumpled into tears. His wails certainly didn’t help with the noise. Jonathon and Maggie immediately went about trying to hush their kids while Samuel stood, to keep Frankie from their grasping hands since that would overwhelm him even more and bounced him. Camille looked on with worry, but Wayne wrapped his arms around her waist and kept her down.
“You need to let us have more responsibility with the baby,” he murmured in her ear, just loud enough for Maggie to hear.
“I want to hold Frankie.” Ronnie reached up. “I make him stop crying.”
“Just wait, sweetheart.” Jonathon pulled her into his arms. “You three need to stop yelling, you’re scaring him.”
Summer put both her hands over her mouth, looking distressed. Maggie successfully got Ned distracted enough that he wasn’t a little hurricane. Wayne put him and Summer on the bench with himself and Camille, while Maggie held Ronnie on her lap until Frankie was calmed enough to be held for a few minutes by the kids.
“So, when do I get my birthday present?” Summer demanded as soon as she was holding Frankie. “You promised me I’d get a birthday present when I was here.”
“Did we?” Camille teased.
“Yes, you did.”
Wayne stroked his chin, musing. “I don’t know. I seem to recall saying that we’d get you a birthday present when you were here. Not that we already had one for you.”
Summer folded her arms and kicked her feet. “I want my present!”
“Summer,” Jonathon chided while Maggie sighed. She’d been getting to be quite the little prima donna lately. “Don’t be rude.”
“If you don’t have a present for me,” Summer said after a moment, “I have an idea. You can just give me a million dollars.”
Maggie snorted. “What are you going to do with a million dollars?”
“Buy a Hatchimal!”
“Now, now, you don’t need a million dollars for that,” Samuel said, his eyes twinkling. “But tell you what. If I give you a million dollars, you have to buy a bunch of other children Hatchimals, too, okay?”
Summer sighed. “Fine. I can work with that.”
Maggie bit back laughter. She wasn’t sure where Summer’s new entitled attitude had come from, but they were going to have to work on that. It would stop being cute very quickly. Right now, though… she gently took Frankie from Ronnie and handed him to Ned. Right now, she was just going to be happy with her family and enjoy the moment.
***
Ronnie was so wound up from the day that when bedtime came around, she refused to stay put. Jonathon, knowing that Maggie needed a little extra rest even if she didn’t want to admit it, volunteered to take her for a walk outside so she could calm down a bit. Summer and Ned were already sleeping, so that gave Maggie some time to unwind and have a conversation with Camille without the kids underfoot, too.
By the time Ronnie was asleep, Jonathon was feeling quite tired himself. He headed back toward the house when Samuel came out and joined him. For as much as Jonathon had disliked vampires before, he had gotten close to Samuel and Wayne. It made him realize just how unfair he’d been in the past. Now, he nodded at Samuel in greeting.
“Camille said you were wanting to talk with me,” he said.
Samuel nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Elders have recently made an announcement that they’re working on a way for vampires who wish to be human again to change back.”
Jonathon snorted disdainfully. “Working on a way. So, they’re going to play it like they haven’t known that it was possible for the last few thousand years? Typical shit.” He flinched, but Ronnie was dead asleep and hadn’t heard. He blew out a breath of relief and glanced guiltily at Samuel, but there was no judgment on his face. Instead, he grinned.
“Camille’s always getting after me for swearing around the baby. I keep telling her that he’s too young to understand it yet, but she insists that I need to get it under control before he starts mimicking.” Samuel clapped him on the back. “But I’m impressed that you managed to get them to do even this much. Giving people the choice to become human again. That’s a huge, huge leap. I know a lot of people are nervous about humans using it against us, but with the way things are going, I don’t think it’ll happen. I think you’ve made a lot of people’s lives better because of this.”
Jonathon flushed, ducking his head. “I can’t take the credit for that one. It was all Maggie. I’ve told you what happened that day. I thought we were going to be killed as soon as she told them they sucked.”
“I have a feeling it was that boldness that saved your lives. The Elders have a tendency to get bored. They knew you and Maggie weren’t real threats but for her to be that demanding… well, it gave them something to be amused about. I think they are trying to change things for the better, though. We can hope, at least.”
Jonathon nodded. If the Elders could get a little less stuck in their ways and grow with the changing world, then maybe things were going to be better after all. Samuel often said being changeable was the only way a vampire survived in the world. Knowing how much had stayed the same among the vampires for so long, though, he had to wonder if the Elders had gotten the message or not.
“Would you want to be human again?” he asked Samuel, genuinely curious about the answer. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about.”
Samuel shrugged. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“What Wayne and Camille want. We haven’t really talked about it. Camille wanted to become a vampire so she could spend the rest of eternity with us. I think I’d rather keep it that way, instead of risking that there might not be anything after death.”
Jonathon shook his head. “There is something after death. I know. When my dad died, he came back to see me. I was struggling with it at the time, but he told me that everything was going to be okay and that we could be with the ones we loved after we died. Told me I didn’t need to be afraid. Haven’t been ever since.”
Samuel rose a brow as they headed back inside. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.” Samuel considered as he slowed his steps. “You know, I’ve met a lot of people who claimed to be psychic or had moments with the other side over the years. You’re the first person I might actually believe, though. All the same. I don’t think I’d like being human again, not after the centuries of being a vampire. The adjustment… Plus, I like being a vampire. And I like being rich.”
Jonathon burst into laughter, which nearly startled Ronnie awake. He bit back his laughter and crept into Ronnie’s room, putting her into bed before she could wake up further. She rolled over, clutched her bear, and drifted back to sleep.
Samuel was still waiting for him when he came back out. They shared a grin and Samuel nodded at the door. “And that there is another reason I wouldn’t want to be human any time soon. I want to see my children grow and learn and become who they’re supposed to be.”
“Yeah, I feel you there,” Jonathon agreed. His heart swelled with joy and excitement when he thought of the new little one that Maggie was growing inside of her. Four was going to be a handful, but both of them were excited about having a new little member of their family. “Being a father is one of the best things in the world.”
“One of the best? Don’t you mean the best?” Samuel gave him a sly, teasing grin.
“One of the best,” Jonathon reaffirmed.
“I’m shocked. Shocked!” Samuel shook his head in mock disappointment. “I thought you’d care about your kids more than anything else in the world. So, what’s more important to you than them? Is it getting a new truck? Your job? Do I have to fire you so you can understand what’s really important in life?”
“Ah, we weren’t talking about whether or not my children were the most important thing to me. We were saying that being a father is one of the best things. And it is. The very best thing, though, would be being a good, loving father and a good, loving mate. Or are you saying that you can just be a dad and call it a day?” Jonathon rose his brows in challenge and Samuel rolled his eyes. “Aha! See? I win.”
“I didn’t know it was a competition.”
“Everything’s a competition.”
“So you and Maggie compete, do you?”
“On everything. From how much water we can drink in one sitting to how many orgasms we can give each other—"
He cut himself off when Maggie came around the corner. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and the glare she sent him made him duck his head. Samuel stifled a chuckle with his fist as she joined them. She glared at him, too, and Jonathon tried to give her a smile. They were just joshing around, after all. Maggie knew that he and Samuel had that sort of relationship.
“I hope that you’re not bragging again,” she told him severely. “Because I’ve told you. Samuel doesn’t need to know the details of our sex life. Especially after I gave Camille such a hard time about being TMI about theirs.”
“Yeah, but Sam and Wayne could learn a few things from me,” Jonathon was quick to reply.
“Hey,” Samuel started.
Maggie held up a hand, stopping both of them. “I am not in the mood for this tonight. I’m more tired than I thought I was. Jon, come tuck me into bed?”
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