Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“What a small world.” Mattie shook her head.
“I remember Irene having a daughter,” Erik added. “But I don’t think we ever met her, did we, love?”
“No, we didn’t.” Mattie shook her head. “When Irene and Joe were in that crash, I didn’t even think to look her up. We were all just so shocked by the entire thing.”
“It doesn’t happen often,” Erik explained. “Losing mates at the same time.”
“Or losing them one at a time, for that matter.” Mattie sniffed. “It’s not supposed to happen at all.”
“What happens if you lose your mate?” I asked curiously, looking over at Beau.
“If the bond hasn’t been completed,” Erik replied, “The Vampire waits, sometimes for centuries, for another chance.”
“Whoa,” I breathed.
“If the bond has been completed, then they live without their other half, or choose not to,” Mattie murmured, reaching out to grab Erik’s hand. “Though it happens so rarely, that it’s not something we deal with much. A mated human retains the immortality, of course, but—”
“But living forever alone would be horrendous,” I finished for her.
“Yes,” she agreed.
“This is probably not the subject we should be discussing right before dinner with your family,” Erik said with a good-natured huff.
I leaned into Beau as his parents went off to the kitchen to check on dinner, and we waited for my family to arrive. I couldn’t imagine living forever and leaving everyone else behind without the safety net of a partner. I’d already had more than one bad dream about watching Rena get old and gray while I stayed the same age. Thankfully, with everything else going on I hadn’t had much time to dwell on it—though I knew those days were coming.
“I’m just so happy,” Mattie said, her voice drifting in from the kitchen.
“You’ve outdone yourself with this one. You should’ve been a chef,” Erik replied. “You could still do that if you wanted.”
“I don’t want to be a chef,” she said playfully.
I smiled, listening to them go back and forth.
“I’m going to have daughters,” she continued. “And grandbabies, finally!”
“Don’t pressure them, Matt.”
“Oh, you know I won’t,” Mattie replied. “They’ll come when they come. I was just so worried after the last time.”
“I told you that he’d find her again.”
“We didn’t even have the chance to meet Millicent,” Mattie said as if he hadn’t even spoken. “All we got was a black-and-white photo that Beau didn’t even realize Zeke had shown us.”
“All things happen as they should, love,” Erik said gently.
“I never imagined we’d be having Beau’s mate’s family to dinner.”
I’d never considered myself slow on the uptake. I could read a room in less than a second and knew whether or not a person was worth talking to in a minute or less. I’d been street smart and book smart, both, growing up. But it took me a moment to notice that Beau had stiffened at my side and another moment after that to understand the context of what Mattie was saying in the kitchen.
The door rang as the floor dropped out from under me.
Chapter 12
Beau
She knew.
As we welcomed the Miranda-Whittakers into the house, I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She smiled and hugged the men, maintaining an almost steady stream of teasing as she helped them put their coats on the rack just inside the door, but her eyes were…off. Neither of them seemed to notice that there didn’t seem to be anything behind the smile she kept on her face, but I couldn’t look away.
“Mr. Miranda, this is Beau,” she introduced, gesturing between us.
She didn’t even look at me.
“Nice to meet you,” the slender man said, shaking my hand as he sized me up. “Call me Pete.”
“Likewise,” I murmured. I turned to his husband. “Noah, good to see you.”
“Hello, Beau,” Noah replied, reaching for my hand.
“I’m here,” Rena announced breathlessly. “I didn’t knock since someone didn’t close the door.”
“Rena,” Pete greeted, reaching out to rub her back as she scooted around him.
“Hey, Mr. Miranda,” she said, grinning at him.
She was still smiling as she looked around the group, but the moment her eyes landed on Reese, her expression froze.
“You can put your coat up here,” Reese said cheerfully, helping Rena take her coat off.
“Reese?”
My mate just shook her head.
“Come on,” she said. “Beau’s parents are in the kitchen.”
“Just letting you say hello before we add to the mayhem,” my mom trilled happily from the kitchen.
I found myself walking with Pete as we headed in that direction. Rena had commandeered Reese, but she wasn’t speaking. She must’ve remembered that anything she said could be heard from across the house.
“Thank you for making this happen,” Pete said quietly. “When Noah told me—” He shook his head. “It was a surprise.”
“I know the feeling,” I replied, staring at the back of Reese’s head.
“We know very little about you,” Pete murmured. “And I can’t pretend to understand all this.”