“Yes,” I said. “As long as you don’t think it’s tacky to have a shotgun wedding.”
“I had the ring before I even knew you were pregnant.”
“Right, but nobody else knows that.”
Robert frowned. “Since when do you care about what other people think? You and I don’t have to justify our choices to anyone. It’sourlife, and we’re free to live it as we see fit.”
I loved it when Robert got protective of our love. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Damn right, I’m right,” he said. “Your friends—yourtruefriends—won’t care when you got pregnant. Besides, it’s none of their concern.”
Nestling against Robert’s chest, I said, “You really are the best. Okay, so when?”
“That depends onhow you want to do it. I imagine you’ll want a grand ceremony?”
I mulled it over. Robert had money to burn, so if I wanted tohave a huge blowout—designer dress, gourmet catering, top-notch band, rare, expensive flowers—the sky was the limit. Whenever I envisioned my dream wedding in the past, that was the sort of thing I’d had in mind. I’d also imagined having a ton of guests in attendance, which was weird since I could count my closest friends on one hand.
I said, “You know what? When it comes down to it, the where and the how don’t really matter to me as long as I have what’s most important.”
“What’s that?”
“You, Robert. As long as I have you.”
A couple months later,Robert and I stood in front of a small crowd of our closest friends to declare our eternal love.
Under a canopy of stars, Liz, Sebastian, Joseph, and Marlena watched as Jerry walked me down the aisle in a beautiful Japanese orchid garden in the heart of the city. Nature surrounded us at every angle. Jerry’s husband, Tim, officiated our wedding. Robert and I promised to love one another and stick together, through sickness and health, until death do us part.
My vintage silvery-white gown was simple but sophisticated, echoing 1940s elegance with a long train and delicate lace accents that draped softly over my shoulders. It hugged my growing baby bump gorgeously. Robert was debonaire in a trim tux and dark top hat that would have looked ridiculous on a mere mortal. On him, it was fetching.
Since our attendees were both human and vampire, plus whatever Sebastian was, we served gourmet cupcakes, champagne, and, of course, blood. There was no press coverage andnot a single member of the paparazzi present. Everything about the event was low-key and intimate.
It was perfect.
And, for a while, life seemed perfect—or as close to perfect as it could get. I had a loving husband that I adored. Nobody was out to kill me. The baby growing inside me was healthy and very much human, so no vampire fangs sucking at my uterus, thankfully.
For the first time in a very long time, I faced the future with optimism instead of grim uncertainty. I felt so happy that I could burst.
Unfortunately, as things tended to go in the life of Olivia Taylor-Bramson, such feelings couldn’t last forever.
29
It wasn’t too long after our honeymoon that I received an update about my estranged family.
Robert and I had just gotten back from Reykjavik, where we’d spent a few amazing nights taking in the gorgeous postcard surroundings that Iceland has to offer. Northern Lights, dogsledding, ice caves, geysers, a bustling downtown—there’d been so many things to see and do that I felt as if I’d need another vacation to recover from the one I’d just been on.
By the time we arrived home, I’d nearly managed to forget about my abduction. What a bummer it was that two-thirds of the adult biological family I had left were such vile human beings. Unlike the Nolans, I vowed that I’d always treat my own child with kindness and respect they deserved. Whenever I thought of my great-grandparents, I was overcome with rage and disappointment, so I tried to block them from my thoughts to the best of my ability. I could see no good that would come from stressing myself while pregnant.
Then, however, I got a call from Joseph. Suddenly, the Nolans moved right back to the front of my mind.
“Your abductors have been located,” he told me, his voice sounding as grim as I’d ever heard it.
“Are they dead?”
It wasn’t my first rodeo; I knew how the VGO operated. No way were they going to let the Nolans live after learning of their plans to commit vampire genocide. As I knew personally, they’d killed for far less.
“I’d rather we discuss this in person,” Joseph said after a pause. Whatever it was must be bad if he didn’t want to discuss it over the phone.
I frowned. Despite my love of Scotland, I wasn’t keen to hop on a plane and travel back across the pond after having just returned from overseas. It made me feel bratty, knowing that countless individuals would probably give their right arm for an all-expenses paid trip to the United Kingdom, but I was pregnant, swollen, and feeling lethargic.
