Page 24 of The Dancer and the Dark
Chloe looked confused. “What more should I want? You’re committed to me, right?”
“Of course I am.”
“And I’m committed to you.” She frowned. “I don’t understand—”
“Where do you see us in five years?”
Chloe said nothing.
Gavin walked toward her. “In ten years? Twenty?”
Her expression finally cracked. “In twenty years, I’m going to be fifty.” Her voice was small. Not timid but… small.
“And?” Gavin finally understood. “Do you think I’ll be incapable of loving you when you’re fifty?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I’ll be… not old, but older than you.” She flexed her knee. “If I stay the way I am—”
“Your body won’t stay the same.” He kept his voice low. “Your knee will hurt you. Probably daily. The injury you had in your lower back two years ago might come back to haunt you. Your feet might need surgery one day; I’ve read on the subject.”
“And if you marry me—”
“I will be committing myself to you for all of that.” He put his hands on his hips. “Yes.”
She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. “And beyond that, Gavin? When I’m my mother’s age? Older?”
A knot of anger was growing in his chest.
“What about when I’mreallyold?” Chloe’s voice rose. “What about when I start forgetting things? When I can barely move and—”
“Do you think my love has anexpiration date?” He exploded, unable to stay silent any longer.
Her eyes went wide. “I’m not saying—”
“That is exactly what you are saying. Do you think so little of my regard for you? Do you think I am that shallow, Chloe? That I love only your beauty? Is that all you think I care about?” He could hear her heart pounding.
“No. But if I decide not to change, we are going to have to face reality, and if we marry—”
“That’s what it is.” Realization dawned. “You’re leaving me an out. You’re leavingbothof us an out, is that it? We’ll continue this relationship as long as it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable for either of us, and then in twenty or thirty years if it doesn’t suit you or me, we’ll go our separate ways and be done with it, eh? No fuss and bother. No vows to break. No mess.”
Her face was a careful mask. “I know you want me to change. You don’t say it—you never bring it up—but I know you want—”
“Of course I fucking want you to change, Chloe!” He stepped back and ran a frustrated hand through his hair to keep himself from shaking. “I spent nearly two hundred years alone, and then I found you.” He shook his head. “You charming, funny, magnetic, brilliant woman, of course I want you forever. But if I can’t have you forever, don’t fucking force me to cut short a minute of my time with you.” He glared at her. “Don’t push me away.”
She was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she swiped the back of her hand over her face. “I don’t know if I want kids. I kind of think right now that I don’t, but what if I change my mind and—?”
“How many fucking vampire families do we know who have children, Chloe? Fucking hell, your group of friends is getting so bloody domestic it’s like a morality play. How many children do Baojia and Natalie have now? Six? Ten? I half expect Ben and Tenzin to adopt something at the rate we’re going.”
Chloe sniffed and muttered, “Probably some terrible reptile I’ll have to learn to feed.”
She wasn’t wrong. God help any human child that Ben and Tenzin tried to adopt.
He focused on Chloe. “Dove, you’ve been avoiding all these questions for five years now, and… I’m just as guilty of it.”
She looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“What business was I in New Orleans to discuss? Why was I in Paris before that?”
She sat back on the chaise and used the edge of her shirt to wipe her eyes. “Gavin, it’s none of my business what you’re—”
