Page 68 of Love Heals
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jared woke before Silas. The vampire had fit himself snugly against Jared, a warm weight by his side, still deeply asleep—as he should be.
When Jared glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table, he realized he’d only been out for maybe an hour. A big part of him wanted to close his eyes again and go back to dreamland.
Except the noise that had woken him hadn't abated. A crying baby. Nix did that sometimes. Cried so loudly he woke everyone in the house. Everyone but Silas, it seemed.
Accepting the fact that he wasn't going to get back to sleep for now, Jared rolled out of bed and threw on a shirt and boxers. He glanced at Silas one more time to see that Drizzit had taken up the warm spot he'd vacated. Silas closed his arms around the dog as if he was a long-lost friend. In a way, Jared guessed, he was. The image of the two of them reunited made him smile. Things were going to get better from here on out, he just knew it.
Carrying his new-found hope with him, he made his way down the stairs to see who else was up, and if anyone had any ideas to tackle the problem they'd been presented with the night before. Sure, it was only 5am, but the resident vampires might have spent the night coming up with a plan—if they hadn't spent the night much the same way Jared had.
He found Talon pacing the living room with his crying son in his arms.
"He's got trouble sleeping?" Jared asked.
"We're still not sure if he's nocturnal or not," Talon said, acknowledging Jared's presence with a small nod. He rocked the baby in his arms, trying to get him to quiet down. "My daughter used to be like this too, though, and she wasn't a vampire. Or even part vampire." Talon didn't often speak of the family he had before starting his new life with Collin, so Jared knew hardly anything about that part of his past.
"Babies cry often," he said. "It's how they communicate."
"I suppose. I only wish I knew what he was trying to communicate."
"Stress?" Jared suggested. "Babies can tell when their parents are stressed."
Talon sighed. "Not much I can do to change that right now." He sat on the couch and held Nix up as if to inspect him. The baby's wailing quieted a little as he stared back at his father, curiosity shining in his big blue eyes. "You like to be held high, don't you?" Talon lowered and raised his arms again, slowly, until Nix ceased crying and started laughing instead. "I can't do this all night, though." The weariness in his voice let Jared know that this wasn't the first time the vampire had played 'airplane' with his son tonight. For being a paranormal monster of the night, he made a good dad. Jared had to give him that.
He probably had to revisit his stance on vampires in the family.
Gesturing at Nix he said, “I can take him for a bit.”
"He does like you a lot."
With a small nod, Jared took his nephew from Talon. Nix gazed at him with interest, then impatience when Jared didn't immediatelydoanything interesting. His brother and Talon were going to have their hands full with this one. Jared lifted the infant up to make him smile again.
"Thank you," Talon said, watching the two of them.
"Of course." Jared said. Nix was family after all. The infant’s small vampire fangs became visible as he laughed. Jared eyed them critically, then glanced at Talon. "Do you think he'll be able to retract his fangs as he grows older?"
"We hope so. It'll be easier for him to lead a normal life if his paranormal heritage isn't immediately visible."
A normal life... Was that even in the cards for any of them anymore? Some days, Jared wasn't sure. He tried to imagine Nix growing older, going to Kindergarten... Would he have siblings? Cousins? Maybe.
With everything going on right now, that future seemed too far away to be anything more than a hazy mist.
After a few minutes of playing with Nix, Jared lowered him down, cradling the infant in his arms. Nix gave a big yawn, then went to sleep.
"I don't know how you do it," Talon admitted, watching the scene. "But thank you."
"It's no big deal." Jared liked children. They were honest and spoke their minds.
One day, he might even want to have children of his own. A big family, like the one he had now. One day, when all of this was over.
Would he be able to do the same thing Collin had, though? Carry his own children? Something about that idea was oddly appealing. If he and Silas didn’t need any outside help to start a family… Absent-mindedly, Jared rested a hand on his lower belly.
Silas hadn’t worn a condom, had he?
"Collin and I have been thinking," Talon said, dragging Jared back to reality. "One of us should be the one to activate the gem Vlad left with us."
The vampire's words took Jared by surprise. He'd been so wrapped up in his nephew, that for a moment, he'd forgotten the ongoing threat that wrapped itself around all their lives. "Why one of you?"
