Unraveling Mordecai - Marisa Maichel (top ten books of all time .TXT) 📗

Uncle Soren kept an eye on Cholena-Mother kept an eye on Satira, and we all kept an eye on David.
I didn’t completely trust him, even if what he said was true and he was my brother. He didn’t reveal any more about his family or mother, other than to remind us that she’d died recently. He helped me pick out a necklace for Sarah- a silver chain with a heart pendant set in diamonds. It took him a while to absorb the fact that he was going to be an uncle, just like it had taken me a while to absorb the fact that I was going to be a father.
We began to seriously plan the wedding. We wanted to be married before we tried college. Sarah and Mother and Selena spent countless hours discussing dresses and flowers and cakes-I was thinking hard about what sort of ring I wanted her to wear. One that was similar to her engagement ring, certainly, but the diamond had to be bigger, the gold purer.
Sarah said she wanted baby’s breath in her floral arrangement for sure, but said roses were everyone’s choice. I loaned her a book on flowers- their meanings, and whether they were edible or not. She wanted lavender at the center of every table to represent France, where half her family was from. She wanted to incorporate the breaking of the glass to represent her Jewish half, and Mother laughed and told her that at Greek weddings, they break plates.
So there was going to be a lot of broken glass at our wedding. I had an idea and told Mother: my idea was to break a glass heart to signify our love for each other.
Sarah also had to get used to the idea that she would have to swap blood with me, as is customary at vampire weddings. A ritual knife would be sterilized and cleaned, but she still turned green at the thought. Fortunately, I told her that vampires don’t carry diseases or infections such as herpes, but we do have a form of Vampire HIV, which attacks the blood-absorbing vessels that gives us energy and keeps our immune systems healthy. I told her I’d get tested if it made her feel better, and she told me that she’d get tested as well.
We’d been dating long enough to know that we were both clean, but one never knew, especially, since we had both slept with different people in the past. We timed her transformation for the sex part of the wedding ceremony.
Another thing to consider was the baby-how long would she take to grow? Would she grow fast, normally, or slowly? Very little was known about vampire/human babies. Would she kill Sarah? That was at the top of my list of fears, that she’d kill her own mother. But Sarah was strong. But she had a very weak body due to her bout with bulimia and her heart problems, and her past rape. Who knew what Nales had done to those organs? Would she need another C-section? Could she even have one? Did she want an epidural, or a natural birth?
I knew I would be there no matter what. It was customary for vampire fathers to be there at the birth of the baby, unless the mother was human. He could easily kill her and/or his baby.
Would she give birth before or after her transformation?
All these questions and more raced through my mind as I rushed around to get things ready. First, we had to set a date. We set the date for the Winter Solstice and quickly sent the invitations, created by Louis on a computer and used our family crest on parchment envelopes.
Our family crest is the Viking sigil for death, with a raven beside it, a fox below the sigil, and the sigil for courage beside the fox. Sigil, animal, animal, sigil.
I once asked my father why a fox instead of a wolf, and he told me not to ask questions I didn’t want to know the answer to.
On the first of September, Sarah sent in her poem to Jamie Williams. And we waited. While we waited, I’d often catch her talking to our baby, as if she could already hear her mother’s voice. Actually, most babies can hear their mother if their hearing is formed. I also talked to my baby sometimes. I would also rub or stroke the belly, sometimes kissing it and purring.
Cirino knew something was going on. He was starting to talk more and understand things better.
“Baby,” Sarah would tell him, pointing to her stomach.
“Ba,” he would reply in turn.
“Baby,” Sarah corrected.
“She has a baby inside of her,” Selena told Cirino. He smiled at her and held out his arms to her instead. She would pick him up and dance with him, singing old songs like “Mr. Sandman”. She was growing fond of him. I still felt a little resentment towards him, even though I knew none of it was his fault. Michael had chosen to attack Sarah, and she chose to keep the resulting embryo due to her religious beliefs. It all worked out in the end, as Alexander was seeking a baby boy to have as a companion, and he and Mother had quickly adopted Cirino, but they let Sarah name him and see him when she still lived with Alicia.
Satira had basically said that sons were superior to daughters, yet she’d had all girls. That struck me as odd. Girls were clearly as good as boys were, superior in some ways, but it used to be a deeply held belief that boys were the stronger sex. And they still were, physically, at least. But statistically, women were better drivers.
I asked Selena about it, and she waved me off and said she couldn’t talk about it. I remembered that she’d lost a baby son herself, not long ago. I wondered how many she’d really lost. She was certainly more cheerful now than when she first arrived, maybe that was because of Mother.
Cirino turned and smiled at me, and my heart melted. He would be my son one day. My stepson, but still, my son. Sarah began singing in French, a beautiful lyrical masterpiece about love and roses and cats and baby hair. Her voice pierced my heart like a pin; her soprano was incredibly beautiful.
She stopped singing and turned on the TV, and we watched The Twilight Zone for a while.
“No vampires, but plenty of aliens,” Sarah muttered.
“The Twilight Zone is mostly speculative fiction,” I said. “With the occasional dystopian story.”
She smiled and me and put her head on my chest. Soon, she was snoozing away. Then she was singing in her sleep.
“What song is she singing?” I asked. I’d heard it, she played it sometimes on her phone.
“That song is called ‘Best I Ever Had’ by Vertical Horizon,” Selena said. “Came out in the early 2000s. She loves that band.”
“And it’s…well, still technically in the early years of the century,” I said.
Sarah woke up with a snort. “I can’t see,” she complained.
“Open your eyes, dear,” I chuckled.
She did open them, blinked, and then giggled, blushing.
“Was I talking in my sleep?” she asked.
“You frequently talk in your sleep. This time, though, you sang a song.”
“Which one?”
I told her, and she giggled again.
She leaned forward and kissed me, then winced.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“My breasts are tender,” she explained.
“Handle with care, then.”
Both my girlfriend and my sister laughed at that one. Cirino laughed, too, though he had no idea what it meant. Then Sarah turned serious.
“How is Eilief?”
My face fell. My grandfather was no better. He was getting sicker, actually-he hadn’t even been able to attend Louis’ birthday party.
“He’s not good. He’s been really ill, Sarah.”
“That sucks. Well, tell him that I said hi.”
“Will do.”

 

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It was the day of the announcement of Jamie Williams’ Romantic Poem contest winner. I was seated beside Sarah, she was seated beside Selena, and Mom and Alexander were on Selena’s other side. Sarah had her hands on her belly, looking anxious.
Jamie himself was standing on a podium in front of the news crew, both local and national, and he looked dashing in a dark purple suit.
“The winner of this contest will be treated to a romantic date with me,” he said. “He or she will accompany me on a romantic walk on the beach, dinner at a restaurant, and my personal attention. And maybe her poem will even be featured in my next book, coming out next February, titled Moonlight Kiss. And the winner of the contest is: Sarah Cresley, of North Hampton, New Jersey!”
There was enthusiastic applause, then Jamie continued. “I will read her poem now.”

The salt of my tears
Replaced by your kiss
My first love
The one and only
Reese Emerson

More applause, and I sat there, stunned. She’d written the poem about me. And I’d acted like a major jerk. Damn, she really did love me.
“I shouldn’t have won,” she sighed. “I’m sure there were others better than mine.”
“Nonsense, dear, you did well,” Mother praised. She seemed stunned as well, yet proud, and Alexander just grunted in agreement.
“You’re not going to throw me out now, are you?” Sarah asked nervously.
“Why would they throw you out?” I asked.
Mother and Alexander avoided looking at me.
“Last time you had a jealous fit at that restaurant, and I told you that I wouldn’t be your girlfriend much longer if you kept it up. Marina told me to start packing, and then we got into a big fight. There were a lot of tears and yelling.”
I glared at Mother, then Alexander.
“Leave me out of this,” he growled.
“Mother, how could you? She’s my mate!”
“But you are my son! She threatened to leave you!”
“Mother, it was my fault. When you look at Sarah, you used to see yourself in her. Now you’re yelling at her and causing her to cry! She can’t trust Alicia, and Beckett’s apartment isn’t suitable for humans. Sarah, if you need to move in with me, just say the word.”
“Thank you, Reese. You’re a good boyfriend.”
“She’s lying,” Alexander quipped. “She’s been ready to dump you for weeks, Reese.”
“Alexander!” Sarah shouted. “I love Reese! I had my doubts, yes, but I’m not ready to let him go now.”
“But you were.”
“Shut up, Alexander,” I warned. He snarled at me, and Sarah went upstairs to cool down.
“Are you trying to break us up?” I asked, leaving my mother and stepfather to go comfort my sweet mate.
“Did you really consider breaking up with me?” I asked as I walked into her room. She was sitting on the bed, knees up to her chin, tears leaking out of her eyes.
“I won’t lie, I did consider it,” she said. “But I don’t want to lose you now.”
“It’s okay, baby,” I said, embracing her. “I haven’t exactly treated you well, either. In fact, sometimes I was downright terrible. I mean, I even broke up with you because I thought it would be better for both of us! And you can see how wrong I was. We belong together, Sarah. I won’t let you go again. No matter what anyone says.” I paused, and then said aloud: “No wonder Beckett hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Reese, I swear on Great Grandmother Cresley’s grave. He doesn’t know how to treat you, because you were there for me when he couldn’t be.”
“He hates me. Sarah, I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I love you, baby.”
She said nothing and laid down on the bed. I laid down around her front and cuddled with her, but she pulled away from me. I gave her a hurt look.

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Meeting