Page 70 of Graced
“So what are we going to do about it?”she whispered.“What happens now?”
Rhyne turned away from her again, and she tried to prepare herself for the worst.
“There’s no way to say this other than to be blunt,” he began.“There’s no future for the both of us…together.”
“How do you know that?How can you be so sure of that?”Grace demanded.
Snorting, he bowed his head.“Other than the obvious?”
Feeling she was about to lose this argument, she said the unspoken part out loud.“I’m willing to take the chance, Rhyne.I want to stay with you for as long as I can.I don’t give a damn if people start staring at us when I’m in my eighties or nineties, and you’re still looking the way you do now.I love you.You said you love me.If that’s not reason enough to try and make a go of it, what is?”
He finally faced her.“You’ll never have a stable life again.We’ll never be able to set down roots.We’ll have to move from one location to another after a few years have passed.”
“Can vampires make babies?”she shot at him.From the stunned expression he gave her, she knew she’d hit some sort of target.
“I-I don’t know,” he confessed.“I’ve never… I don’t know.”
“Would you be averse to having any if you could?Or adopting if you can’t?I’d really like to have a family.”
“I’ve never had to think about it.”
“Guess there’s no time like the present to start.What else were you going to say that you thought would bolster your argument?”
That got some real laughter from him.“I guess that’s your final answer, eh?You want this as much as I do?”
Smiling through the tears that had been hovering for a while, Grace replied.“Yes.I want this as much as you do, and I’m not afraid of what the future holds for us.Not as long as you promise to love me for the rest of my life.”
“I’ll do one better, Grace.I’ll love you for the rest of mine.”
Striding over to her, he took her face in his hands and bent to kiss her.It was a soft kiss.A promising kiss.A kiss that spoke so much to her heart.
Someone cleared their throat.Startled, Grace and Rhyne looked over to see Nash standing in the doorway.
“Sorry to interrupt, but this is important.Besides, you two can continue on with what you’re doing once we get home.”
“We?Home?”Grace repeated.She gave Rhyne a raised eyebrow.
He didn’t flinch.“That’s another thing.We live in nests, usually consisting of three or more.It’s for protection and survival.”
“Let me guess.With Welsh gone…” She inhaled sharply.“I’m now the third member?You allow humans to become part of a nest?”
“There’s always a first time for everything,” Rhyne wisecracked.
Nash walked into the room and set what she identified as a change of clothes at the foot of the bed.“Say, Grace, I brought you something to wear when you leave here.I had to toss some of that food you had stashed in the trunk.It was starting to stink.I hope that’s okay.”
“What about the back seat where the deer carcass was?”Rhyne inquired.
“Carcass?What carcass?”Grace interjected.
“I’ve cleaned it as best I could,” Nash informed him.“Oh!And I’ve moved all my things from the back bedroom to your old room, and put your stuff in there.”
“What about Welsh’s stuff?”
“I put it out on the sidewalk.”Nash smiled at Grace.“You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.”
“I heard you helped rescue me,” she said.“Thank you.”
“Anytime.Well, I’ll be downstairs waiting for you when the doc gives his okay.”
