THIRTY-THREE

“Jose Luis, how are you feeling?” I asked as we approached. He blinked against the increasing sunlight and then held his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes.

“I think I feel good. I’m not sure yet. I should get—”

His eyes widened and a smile grew in an instant when he spotted Christian behind Kalia. He got to his feet and dove at him so fast Christian didn’t have a chance to react and was knocked to the sand on his back. With their arms around each other, they lay and laughed. The rest of us looked and each other and joined in the laughter. Kalia put her arm around my shoulder and smiled at me, her eyes full of love. I had my family back, everyone together again, but how long would it last this time?

Forget about all of it for now. We are all back together again, well, except… Her look became distant for a moment and I knew she was thinking of Maia. She shook her head and looked back at me. We must enjoy this reunion. This new beginning, of sorts.

I nodded and, wrapping my arm around her back, squeezed her to my side. I had known how much I missed and needed her, but I guess I hadn’t realized exactly how much I loved her until now. She beamed when she heard my thought. Aaron walked over to where Jose Luis and Christian were still on the ground and helped Jose Luis up before offering a hand to help Christian. Both of them wiped the sand off their clothes before joining the rest of the anxiously awaiting group.

“I guess I am a little stronger now, huh?” Jose Luis asked with a shrug of his shoulders. We all laughed.

“Let’s go home,” Aloysius said. He had already folded the blanket and carried it under his arm. At some point, though I had no idea when, he had also taken his shoes off and rolled his pants up. Fiore ran over to take his shoes from him, laughing at his bare feet.

“What? Do not tell me you have never seen a man walking barefoot on the sand?” he teased.

“A man, yes. A prim and proper, ancient vampire, no,” she teased back. “This gives me an idea.”

“Oh, no,” I cut in. “I’m not sure any of us are ready for your ideas.”

She smacked me in the back of the shoulder. Jose Luis came to my rescue.

“Hey, lady,” he said in as tough a voice as he could manage. “Hands off my mother.”

“Well, excuse me,” she held her arms in the air in surrender, shoes and all. “No, seriously, just listen to me. We have all been through a lot lately. We need a breather and, since we are all vampires here and no one is affected by the cool weather, even Mateo, I propose we take a short vacation. Kind of like a celebration, a big, happy reunion.”

My eyes automatically went to Christian; remembering the last trip we took together. He met my eyes and I knew he saw what I was picturing—our moment in the hot springs. I looked away.

“But what about my sister?” Jose Luis asked. “We still have to get Leilani back.”

“And we will, trust me,” Aloysius interceded. “I think, under the circumstances, Fiore has a point. Lily and Christian just reunited, as did Kalia and Aaron with Lily. And you, my boy, will need a little time to adjust to your new state. A few days away might be just what we all need to rejuvenate us and prepare us for whatever it is we’ll have to do to get Leilani back.”

“But what about Lucia and the children?” I asked. “Tomas is still in the hospital.”

“Margarita and I will take care of them,” Giovanni offered. It was obvious by his firmness that he agreed with Fiore’s idea.

“And I can help,” Mateo added. In all the happiness of seeing Christian again, I had forgotten to even check on how Mateo was feeling after losing the woman he loved.

“Nonsense, Mateo,” Aloysius said. He stopped at the bottom of the steps that would take us back to the street and turned to face us. “You are now part of this family and you need this as much, or more so, than the rest of us.” Aloysius turned and began climbing the stairs with the rest of us trailing behind.

“I guess the boss has spoken,” Mateo whispered under his breath.

“I heard that,” Aloysius said without a glance back. We all laughed.

Two police cars and one fire truck still remained outside the building. Upon inspection of the outside, we saw nothing wrong, and since the police were busy writing in their pads and didn’t stop us when we approached the front door, we entered without hesitation. We were told to run to our rooms and pack and hurry back downstairs as soon as we were ready. Since Margarita was still out with the children, Giovanni said he would meet up with them and let them know what was happening. He promised to take the children to the zoo as was planned for today and to keep them entertained while we were gone.

“Lily, can you pause for just a minute, please?” Christian asked as I tossed things into my suitcase. I looked up at him and the butterflies started their usual fluttering. How did he manage to cause that after all this time?

“But Aloysius said to—”

He came to me and wrapped his arms around me, interrupting whatever was on my mind. “I know what he said but I need a moment,” he stepped back enough to lift my chin with the tip of his fingers. “Do you think you can ever forgive me?”

Looking into his warm blue eyes made my whole world spin out of control. It was like a ride, but no matter how scary it was, I didn’t want it to stop and I certainly didn’t want to get off.

“I don’t know, Christian,” I kept my voice low so no one else could hear. There were way too many mind-reading vampires in one place for my liking. “You really hurt me. I thought I’d never see you again. I thought you changed your mind and finally ran away, like I expected you to when you found out what I am.”

“Of course not, Lily. I love you, vampire and all,” he whispered, his voice soft and sexy, sending chills through my body. “I never stopped thinking about you or loving you, not even for a minute. Please forgive me.”

I shook my head, “I don’t know.”

“Please tell me what I have to do to make things right between us. I don’t ever want to lose you again, no matter what.” Fear showed in his eyes and I knew I had to stop what I was doing to him.

“You really want to make this right again?” He nodded. “Well, let’s see… I want lots of romance, you know, flowers, carriage rides, moonlit walks on the beach,” his frown changed to a smile and lit up his eyes. “Then I want lots of hand holding, touching, caressing, and of course, lots of kisses and whatever else that might lead up to.”

My feet left the floor as he wrapped me in his arms and spun around, kissing me before setting me back on the floor. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, Christian. I never stopped and I never will.” I leaned in again and, as his lips met mine, a knock at the door interrupted us.

“What is it?” we both yelled at the same time.

“Let’s go, you two. Everyone else is waiting downstairs. You can make out later,” Fiore yelled from the other side of the door before disappearing down the stairs.

“She has not changed a bit,” Christian said. He zipped our suitcases closed and hefted them off the bed. “Shall we?”

“I believe that has been decided for us.” I closed our bedroom door and followed him down the stairs.

The limousine waited in front of the building for us and that took us to a nearby marina where we loaded our luggage onto a motor boat and settled in for the ride. Aloysius navigated the boat himself. The ride to the island where we would spend almost a week lasted only an hour and a half. Jose Luis was enjoying all the newness he was experiencing from him becoming a vampire. He stood in the back of the boat and held his arms out to his sides. When the boat bounced, he kept his balance and that made him laugh hysterically. Once he became bored with that activity, he checked out his enhanced senses of smell and sight. He marveled at the discovery that he could see further into the ocean than he could when he was human.

“I bet I can swim a lot faster,” he stated as he leaned over the side. “I bet I can even swim faster than the boat.”

“Is that a challenge?” Aloysius yelled from his place at the wheel.

Jose Luis turned to Christian and me with excitement on his face. “Can I, please, please, please?” He held his hands together and bounced up and down like a five year old begging for candy.

“I don’t know…” I shook my head and looked up at Christian. His smile widened.

“I don’t see any harm in it. Does anyone else?” he asked the rest who were gathered around us. Everyone shook their heads. I nodded and threw my arms up in defeat. I knew I had to let him explore what he can do as a vampire, but it didn’t stop me from worrying about him and wanting to protect him.

“You felt the same way about me at first, remember?” Christian whispered into my ear. “He was a pretty strong human. He will be an even stronger vampire, I’m sure. Let him explore his new state.”

“Ok,” I held my hand out to help Jose Luis onto the side rail. “Make sure you jump as far from the boat as you can. Propellers, remember? I will let you go on the count of three.”

His eyes lit up and his lips widened in an ear to ear grin. Everyone who was gathered behind us only a moment ago ran to stand at the rail. I looked toward Aloysius and he smiled mischievously, his hand on the throttle and ready. He seemed to be enjoying this as much as Jose Luis and, if he felt sure about it, I had no reason not to. I nodded to the rest and they nodded back, excitement in their eyes as if they were watching their favorite sporting team take on a rival.

“One…two…three,” I yelled and everyone chimed in. I let go of his shirt and backed away, watching as he pushed off with his feet and dove into the air higher than I would have expected. I stopped breathing.

As we all gripped the railing in anticipation, Jose Luis made a small splash as he made contact with the water. He took a breath, his dark hair visible just above the water and then disappeared from view again. The boat sped up, rocking the spectators. Christian wrapped an arm around me and smiled. “Isn’t it great to have some fun and not worry about anything else for once?”

“Yeah, for once,” I replied as I kept my eyes on the ripples in the water where I thought Jose Luis should be. “Something else is in the water.” I pointed.

“What? Where?” Aaron held his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun.

I searched the water again and saw a dark trail just behind where I expected Jose Luis. “Right there. Don’t you see it?”

“Yes, I do. What is it?” Aaron asked as his eyes caught the spot I pointed to.

“I don’t know,” I said as I kicked off my shoes, hitting Fiore in the leg with one. “I’m going in after him.”

“No, Lily, wait,” Christian grabbed me around the waist as I tried to climb the railing. “I think he’s ok.” He stared at the dark spot with squinted eyes.

I held my breath as I squinted and focused on the dark spot that had grown longer behind him. I wasn’t even sure which trail was his anymore. Again I tried to climb the rail but this time both Aaron and Christian held me back. Laughter suddenly erupted from the group and they started clapping their hands.

“Wow! Will you look at that?” Aloysius yelled as he slowed the boat again.