“Of course, honey.” She patted my shoulder. “I made sure we had lavender blueberry for the occasion.” She winked at me. “No other flavor would be acceptable today.”
I had to swallow to keep my throat from tightening or my eyes from filling with tears. It was easy to forget that the people around me actually knew me and cared for me. The reminder was enough to catch me off guard.
Ginger nudged my shoulder. “You better not be getting soft on me.” She smiled. “I just wanted my girl to have the perfect day.” She grabbed Redd’s shoulder too. “And her favorite guy too, of course.”
He thanked her warmly.
After countless conversations, laughs, and smiles, the crowd began to thin.
A smooth voice filtered into my ears. A voice almost as familiar as my own, and one I hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Fiella, my darling, you look beautiful!”
I turned to see my Ma standing in front of me. She looked exactly as she had the last time I saw her. Her silver-streaked golden hair was woven into an intricate braid, and her wristsjangled with a multitude of bracelets as she lifted her arms to wrap me in an embrace.
“Ma! What are you doing here?” My chin rested on her shoulder as she squeezed me tight. Her familiar strawberry smell made me smile. I caught sight of my father standing behind her. He was smiling broadly, his blunt human teeth gleaming. “And Pa! I didn’t think you guys would come!” I had written them a few letters in the past weeks, informing them of the ceremony, but I hadn’t heard back. I assumed they were traveling to the far reaches of the realm and hadn’t received my messages.
I hugged my Pa next. “And miss our baby girl’s mating ceremony? Never!” He ruffled my hair like he used to when I was a little.
I extracted myself from Pa’s strong hug and pulled Redd forward. He smiled broadly. “Ma, Pa, this is Redd. My mate,” I introduced him.
Redd stepped forward and took my Ma’s hand, kissing her knuckles fondly. She allowed the gesture and then pulled him into a hug. “Nice to meet you in person, Redd.”
My Pa shook Redd’s hand firmly, clasping his shoulder in a way that was surprisingly friendly.
“In person?” I looked between them confusedly. “What does that mean?”
“Your mate here has sent us a few letters.” My Ma said, smiling at Redd. “He wanted to get to know us a bit, and to invite us to the ceremony. And the grand re-opening of your shop! Sorry we didn’t respond to you, dear, we wanted it to be a surprise.”
I looked at Redd with my jaw hanging. “You did?” My heart warmed at the thoughtful gesture. “You really think of everything, don’t you.”
“I had to introduce myself to the people who raised my sweet Fiella,” he joked, tucking me into his side.
Another voice chimed in. “And we’ve been so excited to meet you, Fiella! We’ve heardsomuch about you!”
Redd released me and whirled around. “No way! Ma, you told me in your last letter that you couldn’t make it with how busy the shop has become this season!”
“And miss my son’s mating ceremony? Ha! We’ve been planning this with miss Fiella.”
I smiled smugly. Redd wasn’t the only one who could send secret letters. Redd’s parents and brothers joined our circle, the family standing out with their suns-toasted complexions and dark, wavy hair.
“Woah, Redd, you didn’t mention that she was taller than me!” Ollie exclaimed, sidling up next to me.
I scoffed and tilted my head down (more than was necessary) to meet his eyes. “Are you intimidated, young vampire?”
He smiled good-naturedly. “Of course. You know Redd here hadlotsof nice things to say about you when he–” Redd cut him off by slipping an arm around his throat, pulling him into a headlock and rubbing his knuckles over the younger vampire’s hair.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough, bud. Don’t go telling all my embarrassing secrets to my new mate after I’ve just locked her down.” Redd said.
My parents and Redd’s got along very well. Surprisingly so. We all lingered for what felt like hours, telling stories, getting to know each other, and just enjoying the company,
Redd couldn’t keep his brothers’ mouths shut for long, and my stomach ached from how hard I laughed at their stories. My favorite was about Redd trying to chase down their pet dog and ending up falling face-first into a pond.
After many,manymore hugs and laughs, Redd and I extracted ourselves from the melee, sneaking back to my cottage hand-in-hand.
In the entryway, we ditched our cloaks and our boots. “So, mate,” Redd said lowly. “We finally have some time to ourselves.” He prowled towards me.
“It seems we do, mate.” I backed away from him, a challenge.
