“I didn’t mean that you’d leave them. Not like you’d abandon them,” Jesse whispered into her shoulder.
“I never will. They never abandoned me, either. But you know what?” She tilted her head back, smiling into his eyes.
“Tell me, Gorgeous?”
“I think I’d fit into your family in a different way.”
“You would!”
In silence, they snuggled down, the idea of fifteen minutes forgotten.
As Sophie drifted off to sleep, she heard Jesse’s whisper. “Mom’s just part of my family. The people who watch your back, who help you, make you whole... that’s family.”
TANGLED THOUGHTS OFfamily chased Sophie through her slumbers. Her birth family— who were they? What were they? Jesse flitted through her dream, dressed like Bela Lugosi. It wasn’t a convincing look. He was too handsome. Mr. Minegold appeared, more like a young Rex Harrison, his hand on Jesse’s shoulder.
“Father!”
“Son!”
“You two aren’t related,” Dream Sophie protested.
“We are related by bonds of blood. Isn’t that a family?” Mr. Minegold asked, his American accent vanishing, revealing something more guttural, or was it Slavic?
She shook her head on the pillow and in her dream. The veil between awake and asleep was thinning.
“The young lady isn’t afraid to join us. She’s already making herself at home,” Mr. Minegold’s smile was curiously fixed, neither warm nor cold.
“She’s more like us than she’d like to admit,” Jesse shed his cape and reappeared in his Antonia hoodie and track pants.
“I can’t be like you. I’m alive,” Sophie reminded them. “Vampires can’t make babies.”
“Well... not two vampires,” Mr. Minegold sighed and slipped out of sight.
SOPHIE’S EYELIDS SLITopen slowly. The room was bathed in dull pink light. Sunrise? Sunset? She grabbed behind her. The other side of the bed was empty. She sat up and realized she’d been lovingly tucked under the covers, but Jesse wasn’t beside her.
Bad guest! Bad guest, bad girlfriend, horrible first impression, oh no, oh crap!A torrent of panic coursed through her as she sat and scrambled into clothes.
Raking her fingers through her hair and checking her phone she saw that it was early in the morning, just before six. She’d slept almost nine hours! As she ducked her head out into the hallway, she saw Jesse’s door swing open. His phone was pressed to his ear.
“Don’t worry, Alvin. I’ll have all the paperwork to the firm by the first of the month. Yes. Wonderful. Happy holidays to you, too.” He put the phone back in the pocket of his sweats.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry,” Sophie whispered, creeping closer. “I must have been worked up about meeting your mom and wanting to make a good impression. Does she hate me? I slept through dinner!”
“She thought it was cute and it gave her a perfect chance to grill me mercilessly. Want coffee, Babe?”
“I want a bathroom and a shower,” Sophie laughed softly.
Jesse’s eyes briefly matched the reddish glow coming from behind the curtains. “Would you like to use mine? I could join you?”
“Uhh...”
“For the shower part,” Jesse clarified, making them both smile.
“What about your mother?”
His face fell briefly. “She’s going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little later these days.”
Sophie followed him into his bedroom, which was larger than she’d expected. He had his “office” set up with piles of paper, a fax and printer, and his open laptop. He shut it and gestured to the small ensuite bathroom. “I didn’t bring my shampoo or anything,” she whispered, freezing in the doorway.
