“Most people do.” He cleared his throat, and when I looked up, his gaze was steady on mine. “I haven’t forgotten.”
Before I could ask him to confirm what my heart already knew he meant, I picked up the thoughts from his mind. He was ready to become a pure Strigoi.
Though we had come to trust the children over the months—especially once Charles had found a letter from his mother that explained everything—we hadn’t spoken of our plans to turn him to a pure Strigoi. The kids would be able to guide us through the process, but I’d feared bringing it up would rekindle Charles’ pain. I’d never wanted this choice to be decided for him.
“When you’re ready,” I said.
A small grin tugged at his lips. “All those months you pestered me, and now you say when I’m ready?” He extended his hand, and I accepted, allowing him to pull me into his arms. “You really drive me crazy sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”
I smiled against his chest, then peeked up into his deep teal eyes. He opened the screen door behind him and backed into the cabin, tugging me after. The closeness of his body sent a warmth into my stomach, and I pressed up on my toes and kissed him, nearly knocking him the rest of the way into the house. The screen door flapped shut and a picture frame on a table near the door tipped over.
“I need a shower,” I said, feeling a little sticky from the heat. “Want to come with?”
Charles’ grin broadened. His hands slipped down to my hips as we headed down the hall to the bathroom.
I peeled off my sweat-soaked jean capris and white eyelet halter-top, and we hopped into the shower together, enjoying these moments where we could simply be ourselves. Simply be together.
After our shower, I changed into a bikini and some lightweight denim shorts and pulled a wide-tooth comb through my hair. Charles headed out to meet Adrian while I flopped down on our bed to read for a bit. When the front door creaked open, I doggy-eared the page I was on and set the book aside.
“Hello?”
No answer.
“Charles?” I asked aloud.
I could pick up on Charles’ presence, but not Adrian’s.
I threw my legs over the side of the bed and headed into the living room. Lauren was standing just inside the threshold of the cabin, suitcase at her feet and birdcage in hand. Rhett must have flown her over if she was able to bring Red. Something told me he much preferred flying humans.
I rushed the last few steps into the main room. “No one told me you were coming!”
She grinned. “That’s because it was a surprise.”
“A surprise?” I looked at Charles. It must have taken a great deal of concentration for him to plan this without me finding out. I’d totally fallen for the whole Adrian thing.
“You’ve been trapped up here too long,” Lauren said. “You do remember what a surprise is, don’t you?”
I hugged her tight, probably squeezing the life right out of her, and she held the birdcage away. Charles took it from her to set on the coffee table, and Lauren and I sat down, jumping right into conversation as though we’d never been apart.
“How about that hike?” I asked.
“Charles carried my suitcase and the birdcage,” she said with a wink. “You’re lucky you have Superman on hand if you insist on living up here. How do you guys do it?”
“Eh,” I said. “We manage.”
Lauren still didn’t know the real reason we were here, and she never would. We’d told her a partial truth several months back: that Charles’ parents had died in a car accident and that we’d adopted their kids to raise as they would have wanted them raised—here, in the Japanese mountains. She didn’t question it.
“I’m going to visit my family while I’m here,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much this trip means to me. To finally go see them for myself, to let them see me for who I am. And to get to see you. Belle Meadow isn’t the same with you gone.”
“Oh?”
Lauren frowned, and she cast her gaze toward the room where the children were sleeping. “Are you sure you’re ready for such a huge responsibility?”
“No,” I said, “but I have to go with it. I have to do what needs to be done, or nothing else matters.”
All at once, I wished she could know the full weight of that statement while at the same time I wished she’d never have to understand it.
Lauren pushed herself up from the couch. “I’d better unpack.”
“And I’d better help Charles finish getting dinner ready, or we’ll never get you fed.”
I met Charles in the kitchen and sidled up next to him to help wash and dry fruit for a cobbler. He popped a slice of peach into my mouth and gave me a kiss equally as sweet.
The last traces of the sun disappeared behind the mountains, but tonight there were no shadows across my heart.