Authors: Lynsay Sands
The moment the first bag emptied, Mary tore it off and slapped on another, eager to get the chore over with. It seemed to take forever, although she knew that was probably because she was waiting through it with
nothing to distract her. Still, she was surprised when she finished the next two bags and Dante hadn't yet returned.
Tearing the last bag from her mouth, she scooped up all four of the empty bags, crawled off the bed and took them into the bathroom to throw them in the small garbage can there. Mary then went right back to the bed.
Her getting up had apparently disturbed Bailey and the dog had raised her head to watch for her return. Mary smiled at the shepherd as she climbed back into bed, and then settled back onto her side and ran a hand down her side.
“We're a pair, huh?” she asked softly, petting her. When Bailey just closed her eyes on a little huff of sound, Mary stopped petting her and instead curled her arm around her, careful not to get anywhere near her broken back leg. She then closed her eyes, surprisingly sleepy again. She never heard the door open when Dante returned.
“I
hear Mary woke up.”
Dante turned from watching Bailey sniffing her way around the yard and smiled when he saw Russell approaching.
“
Si
,” he said, before turning back to continue watching Bailey. Mary had been asleep by the time he'd finished talking to Lucian and returned to the bedroom. He'd lain down with her for a while, but hadn't been able to sleep. Instead, he'd simply lain there, his mind racing.
He'd worried about Tomasso, wondered where he was, and hoped that the men Lucian sent to look for the warehouse Mary had mentioned found it and got some information that might help them find Tomasso. When those worries had proven useless and raised his stress level and concern for his brother, Dante had then turned his thoughts to Mary and the future he planned to have with her. He wasn't sure how long he'd been doing that when Bailey had got off the bed and pawed the door, letting him know she needed to go outside.
Leaving Mary sleeping, he'd immediately got up to bring the dog out. She was a fine animal: good-natured and well behaved. Mary had done a fine job with her.
“How is her head?” Russell asked, pausing beside him and turning to watch Bailey as well.
“It is back to its proper shape,” Dante said with a frown. Nothing in his life had terrified him as much as seeing Mary with the top of her head caved in. It was not a moment he would ever want to relive.
“Any pain?” Russell asked.
Dante's mouth tightened. “The first time she woke up, yes, but not the second. However, she was not long awake.”
“I am sorry to say it, but she might yet have headaches then,” Russell murmured.
“
Si.
” Dante sighed the word unhappily. “And you are no sorrier to say it than I to think it. After the explosion and turning and now this accident, she has suffered enough.” He shook his head. “I should have accompanied her to the ladies' room.”
Russell shrugged. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, my friend. None of this is your fault.”
Dante didn't agree, but merely changed the subject. “Where is Francis?”
“At the gate,” Russell glanced back the way he'd come. “He asked me to come check on Mary for him.” He turned back and smiled at Dante. “He likes her. So do I.”
“I always knew you were both intelligent men,” Dante said solemnly and Russell laughed. Smiling faintly, himself, he asked, “So you are back on the gate. Does this mean Francis is done with wanting to become a hunter?”
“Oh, hell no,” Russell said dryly. “He was all ready to rush right down to Venezuela to hunt down the bastard behind those men who fried in the van. It took a lot of talking to convince him to wait until he has had some more training.”
“Has he not already had training?” Dante asked with surprise.
Russell grimaced and nodded reluctantly. “Yes, butâ”
“But you have convinced him he needs more because you do not wish him anywhere near danger. You do not wish to lose him,” Dante suggested sympathetically.
Russell ran a weary hand through his short fair hair and nodded. “I waited a millennia for him, and while I did not recognize that he was my life mate immediately on encountering him, once I did . . .” He shrugged. “I could not bear to lose him now, Dante. I
could not go back to the lonely existence I was living before him, especially now that I know what I would be missing.” He paused and shook his head. “I do not know how Lucian bore it all those millennia after losing his first life mate in the fall. I could not do it were I to lose Francis.”
Dante nodded, understanding completely. He already felt the same way about Mary.
They were both silent for a minute, and then Russell cleared his throat and said, “The reason Francis wanted me to check on Mary was because, as he reminded me, we never did get to that shopping trip, and he would still very much like to help her shop.”
Dante glanced at him with surprise. “He wanted you to ask that for him?”
“Francis has issues with rejection,” Russell said quietly. “His family turned their back on him when they realized he preferred men to women.” He smiled wryly and added, “In a way, he was more alone than I when we met. I, at least, had my family.”
Dante nodded. “I am sure Mary would enjoy his company when we shop. But . . .” He hesitated, not wanting to offend either man.
In the end, he didn't have to figure out a way to word his request. Russell grinned and suggested, “But you want to ensure he dresses her like Barbie and not Stripper Barbie?”
Dante nodded with relief, and then grinned and said, “Not that I would mind one or two Stripper Barbie outfits for at home.”
“But the majority of the clothes should probably be more Next-Door-Neighbor Barbie,” Russell said with amusement. “I understand completely and shall pass that along.”
“Thank you,” Dante said with a smile.
“Give us a shout when she wakes up and wants to go. I shall talk to Mortimer about arranging someone to take over the gate.”
“There will probably be no need,” Dante said, glancing toward the house and the window of the bedroom Mary inhabited. “I suspect she will sleep through the night. We probably will not shop until tomorrow afternoon.”
“Just call then and we'll come,” Russell said and slapped his shoulder before turning to head back around to the front of the house.
Dante watched him go, and then turned to see Bailey walking back toward him, her duty done. He squinted his eyes and watched her legs carefully as she walked. She was not yet used to the somewhat clunky cast, and it slowed her down a little, but as he had said to Mary, she wasn't limping at all.
Thoughts of Mary made him pat his leg.
“Come on. Let us go check on our Mary,” he suggested and turned toward the house.
Bailey immediately turned toward the house and began to move more quickly. In the end, she reached the door before he did and waited patiently for him to open it so that she could rush inside and up the stairs, eager to see her mistress.
M
ary was woken up by more than eighty pounds of dog leaping on top of her. It was accompanied by angry whispers in Italian that could only be Dante, she thought with amusement, as she reached out to pet her dog and try to calm her.
“Oh,
Dio mio
, do not pet her, Mary. Go back to sleep. She is being bad waking you, and you are rewarding her,” Dante said with exasperation.
Chuckling, Mary rolled onto her back to see him approaching the bed.
“I know. I guess I'm just a bad mother,” she said with amusement, absently stroking Bailey's head as the dog laid it on her stomach.
“Your fangs are out,” Dante said rather than respond to her comment.
Pausing at the side of the bed, he opened the hidden refrigerator and grabbed a bag of blood and then climbed onto the bed on the other side of Bailey. He passed the bag of blood over to her and then curved around Bailey so he could lay his head on the pillow next to Mary's.
Gripping the bag of blood, Mary sat up and ran her tongue cautiously around her teeth. Yep, there they were, long and sharp and apparently hungry again, she thought with resignation and slapped the bag to her hungry fangs. They did seem to constantly be popping out on her. Every time she woke up she seemed to have to consume the red liquid, and usually several bags of it.
“How is your head?” Dante asked as they waited for the bag to empty.
Mary raised her eyebrows at the question, wondering how he expected her to answer. But then he asked, “Does it hurt?” and she was able to shake her head in answer.
“Good,” he murmured, toying with the top of the blanket covering her. “And you are a wonderful mother, Mary. Bailey is lucky,” he added, finally responding to her comment of a moment ago. “And our children will be too. I have no doubt you will spoil them at times. But you will discipline them too, and they will always know they are loved.”
Mary stared at him silently. She had been smiling around the nearly empty bag at her mouth, but now that smile faded and tears glazed her eyes. Mary immediately turned her head away from him so he couldn't see the tears. She was relieved when she could tear the bag away from her mouth a moment later.
When Dante immediately took it, she began to fiddle with the edge of the blanket covering her and muttered, “What's this talk of
our
children? I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, mister. Heck, I've only known you for a couple of days.”
Dante caught her chin and turned her head toward him. He peered at her silently for a moment, taking in her glassy eyes, then said solemnly, “It was a week yesterday that you ran me over. True,” he added quickly, his fingers tightening to keep her in place when she started to turn her head away again, “You have slept through most of the week.”
For some reason, that brought a wry laugh from her, and he smiled, but continued.
“However, it does not matter. We are life mates, Mary, and I do not intend to lose you. We will love each other, and we will be together for however long we both shall live, and we will have many, many babies. It was meant to be,” he assured her.
Mary swallowed, trying to shift the lump suddenly lodged in her throat. She suspected that, despite the little time they'd been together, she was already half in love with the big idiot. How could she not be? He was sweet, and strong and caring. The fact that he was beautiful didn't hurt either, but it was just gravy.
After years of counseling people, Mary had become adept at judging character, and Dante was a man of substance. She had loved her husband, Joe. Once they'd worked through their issues, theirs had been a caring and contented relationship of friendship and love. It had been hard won and appreciated all the more for it. But with Dante, Mary suspected she could have that special, once-in-a-lifetime love many of her patients had talked about yearning for, and she'd always thought was just fantasy. Mary didn't think it was fantasy anymore, and she was quite sure she could have it with Dante, and that it would actually last as long as they lived, whether that was another twenty years, or two thousand. But, she could not have children. She did not mind for herself. Mary had long ago got over the fact that she couldn't give birth. The moment she had held her adopted son in her arms, he had been hers as surely as if she had carried him for nine months, and when her adopted daughter had followed, it had been the same. She had her children. But she could not give Dante children.
“Dante,” she said softly. “I told you. The accident caused a miscarriage. I was six months pregnant. I lost the baby and . . . there were complications. I can't have your children.”
Her voice cracked on the last word, and Mary was holding on to her composure by a very fine, very short thread, so was a bit taken aback when he smiled.
“And as
I
told
you
, Mary,” he said gently. “The nanos return their host to their peak condition. You
will
be able to have children, and I cannot wait to watch your belly grow with my child.”
He covered her mouth with his then, but Mary was too stunned to respond at first, and quickly pushed him back slightly.
“Wait,” she said uncertainly. “When I lost the baby, they had toâ”
“The nanos will repair whatever has been damaged, and replace whatever has been lost,” he interrupted solemnly, “covering pretty much everything up to and including a hysterectomy.”
He started to kiss her again and this time, Mary began to respond, but the moment he urged her lips apart, she broke the kiss and pulled back again. This time she was frowning as a myriad of thoughts assaulted her.
“Are you saying I could get pregnant
right now
?” she asked, actually alarmed at the prospect. It was wonderful to know she could give him children, but she wasn't at all sure she wanted to do it right now, or nine months from now, she supposed. It didn't seem like a good way to start a new relationship.
“Probably not,” Dante said, looking slightly quizzi
cal that she seemed so alarmed at the prospect. “Do you not wish to have my child?”
“Well, sure. At least I think I do,” she added, trying to be levelheaded about this. They had just met, after all, and common sense and all her training told her she shouldn't be jumping so wholeheartedly into this relationship. Sighing, she added, “But not right now. I mean, it would be nice to feel a little more settled in the relationship before we add a baby, don't you think?”
“Oh. Yes,” he agreed, relaxing, and then grinned and urged Bailey away. Once the dog had shifted herself to the foot of the bed, he scooted closer, and drew her into his arms. “You are right. It is better to wait on having a baby. Especially since once we get Tomasso back I intend to keep you in bed for a good year or so. A baby would interfere with that. So we will wait a year or so.”