Page 57 of Until Forever Comes
“Lucky you,” she said, sounding unaccountably sad.
I held up the sweater I’d picked up for her on my way out of the cottage and draped it over her shoulders. “What’s going on, Criss?” I asked, feeling more than a little concerned.
“We’re fixin’ to lose Joan,” she said.
I jerked in shock. Of all my nieces and nephews, Joan was the most special, probably because she was the spitting image of my sister. And I didn’t only mean that she looked like Crissy on the surface, though she did. But it was more than that. She had Crissy’s spirit and strength. And the last couple of times I’d seen her, I noticed her eyes clouding over like Crissy’s used to when she saw more than what was in front of her. I’d asked my sister about it once. She was real proud and told me her girl had inherited her gift.
“What do you mean you’re going to lose Joan?”
“She’s seeing someone,” Crissy said. “I done told you that, right?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “You did.”
“Well, she hasn’t brought him ’round none, but the other night we scented him on her clothes.” She swallowed thickly. “He’s human.”
It was a shocking revelation, sure enough. Humans and shifters didn’t mix. But neither did shifters and vampires, so our family was particularly well suited to overlook such things.
“She’s young, Crissy,” I reminded my sister. “Barely twenty. Maybe she just needs time to explore.”
“Maybe.” My sister nodded. “But Richie done told her she’d have to move out if he ever smelled the human on her again.”
My jaw dropped. “Richie said that?”
Crissy gave me a sad smile. “Don’t look so surprised, little brother. She’s his baby girl, and he don’t want to give her to no man. Finding out this one’s a human is probably just an excuse, but he won’t listen to reason. He thinks he can tell her what to do, that she’ll choose her daddy over her man. He can’t seem to see that she’s grown and he’s pushing her away.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I’m going to do the only thing I can. I’m going to let her go.” Crissy looked back at the lake and rubbed her hands over her arms. “It ain’t easy being a female. We have to be strong, just like the males, but our strength needs to be quieter, steadier, more constant. We bring children into the world, through our bodies, through our love. And it’s our responsibility to feed them, nurture them, and protect them so they’re able to make their way long after we’re gone. I raised my girl the best way I knew how, and now I have to trust her to do what’s right. Even iffen it ain’t under my watch.”
I draped my arm over my sister’s shoulders and absorbed what she’d told me. Talking to Richie wouldn’t do no good. First off, it sounded like he’d already dug his heels in nice and deep. And besides, maybe it was time for Joan to move out of her parents’ den and gain a little independence. I’d run off with Miguel when I was the same age as my niece and it was the best thing I’d ever done.
“Do you want me to have Miguel talk to her?” I asked my sister. “You know she’s crazy about him. He’s probably the only person around who can pry into her life without getting his neck chopped off.”
Crissy snickered. “He is, at that. Can’t say I rightly blame her.” She smirked at me. “We’ve all seen your man, and I didn’t raise no fools.”
Well, I couldn’t argue with that.
IWAVEDgood-bye to my family as they drove away, and then turned back to our cottage and started laughing.
“What are you doing?” I asked Miguel.
“Enjoying the sunlight,” he said.
As time passed, we’d noticed his tolerance for the sun was building up. He still couldn’t walk outside in broad daylight. But during times like this, when the sun was halfway down and the sky was awash in pinks and oranges, we could sit together on our covered porch and enjoy the evening air. And it looked like that was just what my mate was fixing to do, seeing as how he was stripping off his clothes until he was naked as the day he was born.
I walked over to him and took my spot by his side on our new porch swing. “Aren’t you cold?” I asked.
He reached down and came up with a thick blanket. “I’ve got it covered, baby.” He wrapped the soft cotton around both of our shoulders and then curled his arm around me and pulled me tight against him. I smiled up at my mate before resting my head on his shoulder.
“Did you have a good time visiting with everyone?” he asked while he squeezed my knee and then caressed my thigh.
“I did, at that,” I answered. “You were right, as usual. Everyone had fun.” I moved my hand over to his belly and traced each of his tight muscles. “Did you have a chance to talk to Joan before they left?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I did. Just for a few minutes.”
I tilted my chin up and looked at him. “And? What’d she say about this man she’s seeing and about moving out of her daddy’s den?”
“Not much,” he answered. “She pretty much told me the same things you heard from Crissy.”
