Sam held her mom’s trembling hand. She’d just unloaded the whole truth and nothing but the truth on her parents. She’d given them the condensed version, but she’d held nothing back.
“I’m fine, Mom. Really. Actually, I’m better than fine. I’ve never been happier. Please don’t be upset.”
Her mom blinked, looking at Sam’s dad, then back at Sam as she covered her neck with her free hand. “Are you . . .?” Her blond eyebrows—so much like Sam’s—scrunched slightly as she peered at Sam’s mouth like she was looking for fangs. “You’re not a vampire now, are you?” Her throat seemed to close around the word vampire.
“No, Mom. Remember what I said about davalas? I’m what’s called a davala.”
Sam had known it would be hard for her parents to hear the truth, but she’d wanted to tell them, even if Cordray planned to erase some or even all of their memories.
Her mom sighed and blinked several times as if she were slowly coming to terms with all Sam had told her.
During the last thirty minutes, she’d told her parents everything about the past five months. How she’d almost died from a dreck bite, how Micah had saved her by giving her his venom and turning her into his davala, how there was a secret war waging between vampires and drecks and that there was a contingency of vampire warriors in Chicago and elsewhere fighting to keep humanity safe. They hadn’t believed her at first, but as she continued spilling the details, they slowly realized she wasn’t joking. That all this was real.
“Davala.” Her father tried the word out on his tongue. “Tell me what that is again?”
“A davala is sort of like the vampire equivalent of a wife, but only when the female was once human.”
Her mom sniffled as if hearing the words once human hurt her.
“Oh, Mom, don’t cry.” She scooted closer and embraced her. “I’m happy. I’m really happy. I’m safe from my ex, Micah loves me, I’m pregnant.” That was the first thing she’d told her parents. She’d figured starting out with joyful news would cushion the blow of finding out she was no longer human and was marrying a vampire. “I honestly couldn’t want anything more.”
Her mom hugged her back, crying softly. “I know, I know. I’m just . . . oh, honey, it’s like I don’t know whether to be excited that you’re getting married and that you’re finally going to make me a grandma or if I should be scared about everything you’ve just told us. This is all just so . . .”
“Strange,” her dad offered.
She and her mom looked up at him.
“It’s strange,” he said again. But he was smiling. It was a small, tight smile, but Sam would take it. “You always were different, Samantha. We always knew you would grow up to be special. Now look at you. If this isn’t special, I don’t know what is.”
It was more of an approval than Sam could have hoped for.
“Oh, Dad.” Tears welled in her eyes as she pushed off the bed and threw herself into her father’s arms. “I love you. I love you both so much.” She inhaled and filled her nose with the scent of Irish Spring, the only soap she could remember her dad ever using. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“We’ve missed you too.” His strength as he hugged her close and tucked his cheek against the top of her head buoyed her optimism. “Your mom and I love you. We just want you to be happy, especially after what you went through with—” He caught himself before saying Steve’s name. “You know.”
“Yeah, Dad, I know.” She withdrew from his grasp and blinked away her tears before they could do too much damage to her makeup, waterproof or not. “And, really, I’ve never been happier.”
Her mom stood and took her by the hands, holding out her arms so she could look at her. All of her. Tears still dampened her mom’s eyes and cheeks, but she was finally smiling.
“You look happy, honey.” Her smile brightened. “Come here.”
Sam allowed herself to be pulled into her mother’s embrace, a little girl again. A little girl who needed the love and reassurance of her parents. She’d had to be strong for so long, even with Micah, but with her mom and dad she could just be Samantha, the daughter. She could surrender her control and shed the armor she wore every day and just be.
Her mom seemed to grow taller and more confident as she rubbed and patted Sam’s back. “If you’re happy, I’m happy, honey.” She held her at arm’s length, chin up, jaw firm. “Steve was a human, and he treated you like shit.” It was the first time any of them had said Steve’s name or used profanity during this entire conversation, but it was just like her mom to be the one to open closed doors. “Micah is a vampire and treats you well . . . with respect.” She took a deep breath and blew it out like she was putting a period at the end of a sentence. “So if it’s a vampire that makes you happy, then I say it’s a vampire you should marry.”
Laughter bubbled up through Sam’s throat. A crazy kind of laughter. The kind borne of emotions that had been dragged up and down the full spectrum of happiness and excitement for the better part of the evening.
A knock came at the door.
“Yes?” Sam called.
Cordray popped her head inside. “Everything going okay in here?”
What she was really asking was whether her parents had gone into a meltdown over hearing the truth.
Sam swiped away a rogue tear, grinning from ear to ear. “Everything’s perfect.”
Cordray nodded once as if giving her approval for a job well done.
“We’re about ready to start. How about you? You ready?”
Her dad wrapped his hand around hers, his shoulders straight. “My baby is more than ready.”
The amused smirk that twisted Cordray’s blue lips voiced all kinds of respect for the parental units as she opened the door and stepped aside. “Then let’s not keep your groom waiting, Sam.”
Her groom.
Micah.
The love of her life.
Who just happened to be a vampire.
One sexy, badass, domineering vampire with a big heart, but who was keeping track?
Sam let her father lead her into the hall, and with her mother on her left and her father on her right, they followed Cordray to the stairs.
As they started down, her mom took her hand and whispered, “Will my grandchildren be vampires too?”
A momentary pang of worry zapped down Sam’s spine until she glanced to the side to see that her mom was smiling like any grandmother would when talking about her grandchildren.
“Yes,” she said tentatively.
“Well, just make sure I get to see them. Vampires or not, they’re still going to be my grandbabies.”
Sam’s heart swelled. Her parents not only approved but wanted to be a part of her new life.
Cordray might not allow them to remember the details of the evening, but maybe Sam could talk her into leaving memories of a normal, human wedding and only strip out the forbidden vampire parts. Maybe get C to blur the grey areas and implant memories of happy human wedding traditions so that her parents could remember the joy of this day, as well as the news of her pregnancy. If she were really lucky, Cordray would allow them to remember the vampire bits but only take out the top-secret King Bain bits.
Then, just maybe, she and Micah would be able to occasionally visit her parents and let them get to know their grandchildren. Or allow her parents to move into their home where they could take better care of them and they could see their grandbabies every day. Her parents wouldn’t live forever, and she wanted so badly to give them the delight of being grandparents who got to spend as much time as possible with her children before their inevitable deaths. And it was just as important for her children to know who their grandparents were. Not just their vampire grandparents—or grandparent, as the case may be—but the human ones too.
But she was getting way ahead of herself. There would be time later to discuss how involved her parents would be in her life. For now, she needed to focus on tonight. On marrying the love of her life.
She took her mom’s hand and squeezed. “I’ll see what I can do, Mom. I promise.”
Right now, she was just happy to have them with her.