I accepted Ryan’s offer to go with him. I packed my few things and hurried off with Ryan to his island. We stepped out of the boat after hours of staring at each other and silence, and a good dose of seasickness. After I threw up a couple of times I thought he would stop the boat and throw me off side but he never did. We continued on with him looking at me each time I hurled. He even asked if I was okay, which I thought was a good sign.
Even after we set foot on the island he was still into his own thoughts and me forever thinking about Sebastian.
The house was located on the southern part of the island and we had to walk a half mile north before we reached there. Ryan took all the bags. I looked as he slung one across his shoulder and one on his back, and he carried the rest in his hands. I stood back as he turned to see where I was.
“What?” he questioned. “I hunted and camped every year with my father.” I shot him a quick smile, and we began trudging through high grass. The entire trek Ryan pointed and said, “We have a few more steps to go before we get to the other side.” And I would look at him and roll my eyes and he would smile knowing it was a much longer walk.
When we reached the top of the hill, I looked down and there set a large cabin in a clearing facing a beach. “That’s it,” he said. It was as he mentioned. A large white house facing the beach and only one way to the house. “Climb one more small hill and down and walk up the path and we’re there,” he said.
It wasn’t easy for me, but for a man like him who looked like he spent his days cutting down trees when he wasn’t out chasing down bad guys and vampires, it was a walk in the park.
Breathing loud I looked around and saw Ryan ahead of me and I said, “I need to rest.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I would carry you but as you can see I’m busy?”
He wasn’t ready to sit and rest but ready to get on with the climb. “I’m a city girl, remember.” I bent over holding on to my thighs. Ryan must have taken pity on me and he rushed back and picked me up in his arms after dropping the bags in his hands, and then he sat me down.
Ryan walked around dropping the bags from his shoulders. “I’ll get these later. You really are fragile.”
“Not really. I’m a little pregnant.” He looked at me as if he was hearing this for the first time.
“I’m sorry. I tend to forget that you’re a woman.”
“And what does that mean?”
“It means that I am a man and I don’t know what it is to be a woman. And a pregnant one at that. I hope you can forgive me if I’m not sensitive enough. I try. My mother said that I should try to be a little less rigid in my thinking.” I never thought of Ryan as having a mother. I never thought of Ryan at all before now.
When I looked into his eyes he had a warmth and then it was his smile that made me wonder about him. Whenever I saw him he smiled and that made me open up. Unlike Sebastian who walked around as if he had the weight of the world on his back. I couldn’t understand how someone who could live so long have so many problems and be so unhappy.
And Ryan who is a mortal seem to enjoy each day. Maybe that was what it was that made me warm up to Ryan. His love of life. Sebastian wasn’t alive in the sense that Ryan was. Was Sebastian looking back and wanting to be mortal again which made him so sad? Did he envy those who could die so easy?
Did Ryan relish his life because he knew how limited it was? I wondered about all of that.
Taking his backpack and dropping it near us, he said, “It’s time for a rest and food.” He pulled out a container with cold sandwiches and warm beer.
“You like this don’t you?” I asked.
“If you spend your days in a police station and looking at dead bodies all the time you would need something to make you relax. On my free days, I take off which isn’t often and I come out here to relax. I used to take a helicopter, but I know how important it is to remain under the radar with you, so I thought we should take a boat and hike the rest of the way.”
“Thanks for doing this,” I said as I reached for the pastrami sandwich and then Ryan handed me a beer. I took the sandwich but I refused the beer.
“I don’t know what it will do to the baby.” He smiled. “Why didn’t you marry?” I asked him.
He looked at me, “I still have time.” It was that look that made me worry. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what he meant, I was sure his intentions were he would marry me one day and it was that which made me wonder about my fate. I had always thought that someday I would marry Sebastian. However, now I felt as if that was the worst dream I could have dreamt in my life. Whoever heard of a human marrying a vampire and as far as that is concerned it is unheard of and totally unspeakable.
Besides it’s like saying when someone ask you who you want to marry when you grow up and you say something outrageous like the King of England.
Saying I want to marry a vampire was the same thing as saying I want to be Queen of England. None of that made any sense because there are no such things as vampires. Humans would say it’s more realistic to want to marry a king and become his queen than a vampire because their logic is there are no vampires. The probabilities are more in my favor of me marrying a king than marrying the king of vampires.
But then what are the probabilities of getting pregnant by a vampire? I would like to know the probability of that.
Taking a bite out of my sandwich, I watched Ryan sitting with his red and black flannel shirt and jeans and hiking boots, drinking and eating. I had never even seen Sebastian eat anything unless you count that girl and even then he didn’t eat her in the purest sense of the word.
It was strange and familiar to eat out in the open with the sun in the sky overhead. This is something I always wanted to do. Go on a picnic with Sebastian. There were so many things I dreamed of doing and would never get a chance. My dreams outlasted his love for me.
I could never understand why he didn’t get in touch with me after I arrived home. I would have forgiven him, but now after being away from him and knowing what he was before I met him has made me wary of him.
Yet I love him and I can’t imagine being without him even as I accept Ryan’s kindness and generous nature.
Ryan has proven to be a great person to be with and looking at him he will make some woman a wonderful husband. He is handsome and fearless. Anyone who is willing to be with a woman after she has been the lover of a vampire is fearless in my book, and not to mention the idea of taking care of a vampire’s baby.
“I’m ready to go,” I said standing pretending I didn’t need Ryan’s help. I couldn’t wait to get to a bed. The longer it took to get to the house the longer it would be before I could get some rest and eat again so I started walking leaving Ryan behind.
Ryan picked up my backpack and slung his over his back and he soon overtook me and we started down the path together and the house suddenly appeared much closer. As we neared it I could see it was well kept with a large porch that wrapped around the white house that needed some paint come spring.
“I came early and placed a months’ worth of food here. There is canned food in the cellar. We have a housekeeper and gardener who takes care of the place when I don’t get up here. They won’t be back for six months to clean up the place.”
We trudged down the road and then up to the front door. I walked up the few steps with Ryan’s help and he opened the door with a key he had under a flower pot.
“Aren’t you afraid someone will come in and trash the place?”
“Not really. There aren’t anyone around for miles. If some unfortunate person happen to find the place then good luck to them.” Ryan smiled. There goes that easy smile again and for some reason I liked it and I liked the comfort and security he gave me.