Page 28 of Blood Ties
Shawn started to notice my change in demeanor. I wasn’t overly argumentative. In fact, it was the opposite. I was compliant. I was giving up. I didn’t try to persuade him to let me research. I didn’t fight with him when he showed up in the mornings to take me places. He had changed it up after Christmas when shopping no longer held its appeal. He took me to museums and shows. He even drug me to Ellis Island to stand in line for hours to see the Statue of Liberty, which neither of us had ever visited even though we were lifelong New Yorkers. There was no complaining about how unfair the situation was. My mother’s words played on repeat in my head.“Your father is a master mind at hiding. If he doesn’t want to be found, then he won’t be.”I began to feel that she was right and I would never find him and if I couldn’t, what would happen to Grayson? I wouldn’t be able to survive it if he was hurt or worse as a result from me turning him.
“You’re going into zombie mode again,” Shawn mumbled as we walked along the streets heading back to my apartment. People began moving around us, grumbling about how we were being too slow.
“I know.”
“Baby girl, I get you’re upset…”
“Upset?” I interjected. “I’m devastated.”
“Jeez, Gabs. It’s not the end of the world.”
“No, you’re right. It’s just the end of Grayson’s world,” I spat with sarcasm, “and possibly the end of mine.”
Shawn halted and turned to stare at me. His jaw clenched as his eyes pierced me in a way that had me trying to look anywhere but at him. “Is that what you think? Have you not opened your ears once and heard a damn thing that man has said to you? Life in the sun is not his world. You are. Damn it, Gaby! He asked you to marry him knowing full well that his life could be spent in the night while you could live in either world.”
“You don’t know that that is the only problem, Shawn! What if it’s not just the sun? What if he can’t survive? What if there is something more wrong with his transition?”
“Yeah, but...”
“But nothing, Shawn! This has never happened before. Grayson is an enigma. First he was stronger than even Anton and now he’s growing weaker by the day. He feeds from me so frequently that I had to ask for a second blood delivery mid week, because I can’t seem to keep up. I almost fed from a human last week Shawn!” I cried out. “Ineedto find my father, but he’s been eluding vampires for centuries and I can’t seem to pin him down.” I felt a weight lift from finally saying everything I had been keeping tucked inside.
Shawn was quiet for a moment. He just stood there watching me; almost like he was afraid I was going to crumble any second. Then he took a deep breath. “Alright Gaby, you win. What can I do to help?”
When I got home, Grayson was already there.
“Hey baby,” he called from the kitchen. I could smell the scent of cheese, white wine and blood.
“Hey.” I walked up to Grayson cupping his face between my palms and pulled him to my lips. His skin was paler and I could see circles forming around his eyes that had never been there before. They were faint enough that only a supernatural could see them. To a human, he was still perfection
“Are you trying to distract me from dinner?” He whispered against my mouth. “Because it’s working.” I shook my head, but held him there. Releasing whatever he held in his hands, he wrapped his arms around me.
“I just missed you today,” I whispered, pulling back.
He gave me a grin that tugged at my heart. “I miss you every day.”
I returned his smile before walking out the room to change.
After I changed into something comfortable, I returned to the kitchen, jumping up to sit on the counter. Grayson had made chicken Florentine with a white wine sauce. He also had a saucepan filled with blood that I could smell simmering. Even though he would drink from me later, he still made sure there was warm blood for me.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Famished.”
Once we were seated in the dining room and dinner was served Grayson told me about his work day.
“I was thinking about our wedding,” he spoke throwing me off guard causing me to choke on my food.
“Really?” I questioned before taking a sip of wine to clear my airway. “What about it?”
He spoke casually while he swirled his pasta onto his fork; always the confident business man. “I was thinking June sixteenth.”
I smiled. A June wedding. “You wanna get married in June?”
“Is June no good?” He challenged, putting on his negotiation gloves.
“No, no, no. June is fine.” I grinned. “Next year? The year after?”
He looked up at me. His confidence was replaced with confusion. “This year.”
