Chapter Twenty-Two
SARA
Through the bustling holiday traffic on the normally quiet streets of my home town, I pulled off of 25A and headed down Wading River Manor Road towards my parent’s house. Thanksgiving was tomorrow and the supermarket and farm stands were full of scurrying shoppers, buying last minute supplies for their holiday dinners and weekend festivities.
As I turned onto Overlook Drive, I passed the Ventura’s house. Denise was out front chasing her grandkids around the front yard, but stopped to wave as I drove by. It was good to be home again in a place seemingly untouched by the presence of vampires.
When I pulled up the driveway I saw my brother’s black SUV in the driveway. Roger, Lauri and the kids must have driven pretty fast to beat me home, which probably meant the kids had driven him crazy on the car ride down from Connecticut.
I parked behind him, pulled my duffle and bags of dirty laundry out of the back and walked into the house through the open garage. As soon as I walked in the door I felt my niece Victoria grab hold of my legs, wrapping her little arms around me tightly almost knocking me to the floor.
“Aunt Sara, Aunt Sara!” she yelled in her high pitched little voice.
Dropping my bags, I reached down and picked her up.
“Ugg, you’re getting too big for this, kid” I said under the weight of her six year old body.
My nephew Toby came around the corner and sat down at the breakfast table while I heard the voices of the rest of the family coming from the living room.
“Hey, Toby,” I said as I dropped my dirty clothes on top of the washing machine and walked into the living room. Besides a slight acknowledgement of my presence, he was too busy with his video game to take much notice of me.
The rest of the day was spent catching up. My mother kept pestering me with questions about school and what kind of people my friends were. Dad didn’t say a whole lot, but only because she wouldn’t let him get much of a word in edge wise. He may have been silent, but I could feel his eyes on me as if he was trying to glean unspoken words from my body language. He was a hard one to hide secrets from and I think he knew I had one.
When my mother finally headed off into the kitchen with Lauri to start preparations for tomorrow’s dinner, Dad took the opportunity to get a little peace and quiet. Getting up, he started towards the back door, but not before giving me a glance over his shoulder and a nod of his head that not so subtly asked me to follow behind him.
“Sure is getting cold,” he said pulling his jacket on as we walked off the deck.
“How are you doing, Dad?” I asked.
“I’d be better if you called your mother more often. She drives me crazy when you don’t.” His tone was casual. He was in no mood for an argument or a lecture.
“Sorry about that. I’ll call her a lot more when I get back. I promise.”
“Well, I’d appreciate that,” he said in his usual calm demeanor. “So, classes are going well?”
“Yes, I’m getting all A’s as far as I know.”
“Good girl. – Now, what about boys?”
I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself.
“Now, don’t give me that look. I was a young man once … a long time ago. You’re too pretty for there not to be boys involved. What about that Ben guy?”
“We’re just friends, Dad. I actually don’t even see him that much anymore.”
“Humm, too bad. He sounded nice.”
“He is nice. Just not the right one.”
“I hear the words coming out of your mouth, kiddo, but your eyes are telling me a different story. Okay, be all coy about it if it makes you happy, but just know that I know there’s more going on than what you’re telling me. The only reason I’m letting this go is because if you’re mother had any idea, well, let’s just say I’d never hear the end of it.”
He smiled a reluctant smile then turned and walked back into the house.
I loved him so much for so many reasons, only one of which was that he loved and trusted me enough not to pry into the details of my life. He was like Ben in that respect.
I told everyone I was going to bed early, but really it was just a pretense so I could call Daniel. I’d left my parents, Roger and Lauri in the living room playing cards. They’d be at it for hours and I knew I couldn’t concentrate on the game anyway. All I could think about was hearing the sound of Daniel’s voice.
“Hey,” Daniel answered after the first ring. “How was your trip?”
“Not bad. Lots of traffic until I got out of the city.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
“So you never told me what you and Randall were doing for Thanksgiving.”
“Nothing special. He actually went back to Hopkinton this afternoon to see Lois, but we had our Thanksgiving dinner early. We had Turkey.”
“What?”
“Instead of pig,” he laughed.
“I get it. Funny. Does it feel any different?”
“Not really, but a little. You can usually tell the difference between fowl and bovine.”
“I just can’t imagine. – So you’re all alone for the holiday until I get back?’
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep myself occupied.” Something about the way he said that sounded mischievous, but I let it drop.
“I don’t worry about you so much as I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Red. But you must be tired from you drive. Get some sleep and call me in the morning. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
With the sound of his voice still ringing in my ears, I hung up and drifted right off to sleep.
Mom was up early working in the kitchen with Lauri. Figuring I should probably do something useful, I attempted to assist them, but was told that two was more than enough in the kitchen. In an attempt to keep busy I sorted my laundry and started a load of whites.
As the day progressed the smell of turkey began to permeate every inch of the house, and to keep my mind off food, I sat down and played a couple hands of cards with Roger and Dad. I won every hand as their attention was mostly on a football game on the television behind me. Organized sports. No, I just didn’t get that one.
Frustrated by their inattention, I eventually gave up and set the table for dinner. It took a while as I had to dig out the extension for the table which was in the back of a closet down in the basement. Tori attempted to help me, and I pretended that she had which made her very happy.
As I followed her bouncing blonde curls up the stairs, I wondered about her blood. How pure was she? I prayed she’d never have to know the dangers that lurked in the shadows searching for people like us. I hoped she’d be able to maintain the innocence I’d so recently lost for the rest of my life.
It was about three in the afternoon and the ladies were putting the finishing touches on dinner when I heard the front door bell ring. With a peculiar, almost alarmed look on his face, Dad quickly got up from his chair in front of the game and stalked around the corner to see who it was.
“Sara, it’s for you” I heard him yell in an odd almost hostile voice.
Puzzled as to who it could be, I got up and carefully stepped over Toby who was sprawled out on the floor in front of the television. I walked around the corner only to see Daniel standing in the doorway offering his hand to my father. I froze in the hallway as I watched Dad stare at it for a long awkward moment. Then he finally raised his eyes to give Daniel a look I’d never seen before. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it wasn’t friendly. Under my father’s relentless glare, Daniel began to look almost ashen even for a vampire. Figuring it was time to rescue Daniel, I walked over to them. Daniel’s gaze turned towards me. He looked almost helpless standing in front of the imposing figure of my father, and all I could do was offer him a reassuring, if not a puzzled smile.
What was he doing here?
Hearing my approach, Dad glanced my way. When our eyes met he suddenly seemed to rouse from his trance and finally,
reluctantly shook Daniel’s hand while shooting a look at me out of the corner of his eye. There was a question there. I think the deep blush that overspread my cheeks must have answered it for him.
Dad started toward the kitchen but not before giving me a sly look over his shoulder and yelling “Set another place at the table, Vivy. Looks like we’ve got one more. I’ll be back, I gotta make a call.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to decide if this was a good thing.
“I thought I would surprise you,” he answered with a relieved smile. Just as he reached over to kiss me, my niece came running around the corner and smacked into his legs.
“Who’s this?” Daniel asked, going down on one knee to her height.
“This is my niece, Victoria.”
“Hi, there,” she said thrusting her hand forward.
“This is Daniel, Tori. He’s a …friend of mine from school.”
Daniel reached out and shook her hand while looking up at me as if to inquire about my use of the word friend.
“He’s nice, I like him,” Tori stated staring up at me. Turning back to Daniel she said “Your hand feels funny.” Then she ran off chasing after the cat.
I shook my head and asked again. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying in New Paltz.”
“One more?” My mother’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “Who on earth is …”
She stopped mid-sentence as she came around the corner and caught sight of Daniel standing in the hallway. I watched in horror as her hands shot up to check her hair and then smooth out her skirt only to realize she still had her apron on. She quickly pulled it off and threw it in a corner before walking over to us.
“Well, hello. Who’s your friend, Sara?” she asked sweetly. I was mortified. Sometimes I still forgot the effect Daniel could have on an otherwise reasonably intelligent woman.
“This is Daniel Simmons. He’s a friend of mine from school. Daniel, this is my mother Vivian Donnelly.”
Daniel held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Donnelly. Sara talks about you all the time. Now I can see where she gets her good looks from.”
Was he schmoozing my mother? Like he needed to.
My mother blushed “Oh you, flattery will get you anywhere, I warn you. It’s nice to meet you, Daniel. We’ve never met any of Sara’s friends from New Paltz before.”
“Daniel was driving through town and stopped in to say hello,” I interjected before she could ask why a friend of mine would drop in unannounced, on a holiday no less.
“Well, you arrived just in time to eat. I hope you’re hungry! You’re a strapping young man so I’m sure you are.”
“Daniel doesn’t really eat much, Mom. He’s – on a pretty restrictive diet.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll find something delicious in that kitchen.” He sniffed in its direction. “Something sure smells good. I should probably be okay if I just stay away from meat.”
I shot him a look of surprise, but before I could say anything my mother grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen. Instantly Lauri hurried out the other side muttering something about not having put any make up on yet today. As happy as I was to see Daniel, I could tell it was going to be a long and arduous afternoon of dodging questions and avoiding truths.
Why was he here?
As I started after them, Roger came bursting in the front door. “Dad! Check out the Ferrari in the driveway!”
I rolled my eyes and disappeared into the kitchen to protect Daniel from the ladies. Standing in the kitchen between Daniel and my mother, I spotted my father out the back windows. He was walking around in the back yard yelling at someone on his phone, having a heated discussion anyway. In a pause in conversation, my mother followed my gaze.
“He’s been having problems with a case at the office. I’m sure that’s what it is.” She must have seen the concerned look on my face.
At 3:30 we sat down to dinner. Daniel, being the perfect gentleman that he always was, had my mother eating out of the palm of his hand without even trying. She was too enthralled with his blue eyes and biceps to even think enough to ask what he was doing here on Thanksgiving, and not with his own family.
This was a fact I was sure had not escaped my father’s notice. He’d been closely watching us both throughout the entire meal. I was dreading the conversation I knew would immediately follow Daniel’s departure. Even though he was sitting next to me, I tried not to look at Daniel. As it was, every time he passed me something and our hands brushed, I blushed. It took every ounce of self-control I had to suppress the urge to lean over and kiss him gently on the cheek or run my fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. Sitting around the dinner table with those I loved most, I was discovering it was a lot harder to pretend you weren’t in love, than it was to pretend you were only friends.
It was about half way through the meal when I realized my brother was watching Daniel as well, casting something of an overly suspicious eye Daniel’s way when he thought I wasn’t looking. It wasn’t surprising, but I squirmed in my seat whenever our eyes met. When they didn’t, I noticed Roger exchanging more than one glance with my father. It was as if they were telepathically talking like Randall and I did. I hoped it wasn’t this annoying to Daniel when Randall and I would start laughing for what seemed like no apparent reason.
Ten years older than me, Roger had always been a bit more of a second father than an older brother to me. There had been many times in our lives where he’d been forced into that role. Not that he’d ever complained. Even with our age difference, we were closer than any other siblings I knew.
Daniel actually ate. He ate some peas and a little bit of mashed potatoes, as well as a few sweet potatoes. He pretended to like them, but I could tell he didn’t. To help him out when no one was looking, I ate off his plate slowly so my mother wouldn’t try to push seconds on him.
After dinner Mom and Laurie camped out in the kitchen to do the dishes while my father, Roger and the kids watched the game in the living room. Much to my relief, the family seemed to like him, or in the case of Dad and Roger, were polite to him.
While everyone was occupied, I took Daniel on a tour of the house, which in our modest upper middle class home didn’t take very long. I ended the tour at the door of my room. As we went in, I glanced over my shoulder to see my dad eyeing me intently. I knew what he was thinking, so to keep him from following after us, I didn’t close the door all the way behind me.
As soon as we were both inside, Daniel pulled me into his arms and gave me a long, slow lingering kiss that weakened my knees, forcing me to hold on to him for support.
“I wanted to do that so bad all through dinner” he whispered in my ear. “But I was afraid if I even looked at you cross eyed, your father would pull a shotgun out from under the table and put a hole in me.”
I frowned.
“Well, I know how you Donnelly’s like your guns.” He smiled and I had to laugh. He was right; I’d seen a few of the looks Dad had given him. Nothing too overt, but just enough to let Daniel know exactly what he was thinking.
“I can’t blame him. I’d be thinking the same thing in his place, except I probably wouldn’t have let me in the front door to begin with.”
“So, about dinner – you ate! Aren’t you going to turn into some sort of monster now?”
He laughed. “No, but I’ll probably look a day older tomorrow. I hope you weren’t kidding about liking older men.”
He reached down to kiss me again just as my mother yelled “Dessert’s ready,” from the dining room. Reluctantly we headed back to join the others.
“Apple pie, Daniel?” my mother asked, handing him a plate.
“I’ll just have some of Sara’s,” he said taking the plate and handing it over to me with a fork. “I know how much she likes apples.” He smiled, I’m sure thinking of our first kiss in the orchard.
I ate quickly then took Daniel out to the laundry room to get away fro
m the family. While we talked, he helped me fold my laundry and start a new load. Before putting the detergent in, he picked up the bottle and read the label with a critical eye.
“Just making sure,” he said teasingly.
I couldn’t help but smile back as I gave him a friendly smack on the arm.
“So why are you here, Daniel? Not that I’m not glad to see you, but – ”
Just then Dad popped his head in with a forced smile on his lips.
“Got you helping with the laundry does she, son? Let her clean up her own mess. How about I show you my shop.”
Daniel handed me the bottle of detergent.
“Sure,” he said with a raised eyebrow my way as he walked out after him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
DANIEL
“It’s down here,” Mr. Donnelly said opening a door that led down into the basement.
I followed him down into a large furnished basement where the kids were running around in a play area that had been set up for them.
“It’s normally a lot quieter,” Mr. Donnelly muttered, ignoring them as we walked down a hallway and through a door into his shop. Once inside he closed the door behind me.
“That’s better. Normally this is my quiet place. Vivy and Sara know enough to leave me alone down here most of the time.” He waved towards the corner. “See I got my TV, chair and refrigerator, and lots of projects to work on.”
Where Sara’s mother was a bundle of energy, Mr. Donnelly was the calm steady type. I think Sara took after him more than her mother. He was giving me the same look she did from time to time; with eyes that looked deeply into mine, attempting to size me up with as few words as possible. I think they hoped to compel me into some confession of truth, answering some unspoken question through the power of their unbroken stare. I had to admit, it had worked before. For Sara at least.
“Nice set up,” I said looking around. “Looks like you like to work with wood.”
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 51
