by Helen Bright
I made a dramatic show of clearing my voice before I said, “Julia will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, my partner in life and my love forever?”
“Yes of course I will,” she laughed.
I showed her the ring, and she took it out and put it on.
“It’s a perfect fit Alex, thank you.”
“I’m glad it fits you, but it can go back in the box now.” “What, no, why?” She said quickly.
“Because it’s your wedding band Julia. I have something else for you to wear now.”
I took out the other small box that contained the eternity ring I bought her and she gasped when she opened the box.
“Oh Alex this is beautiful,” she said as she replaced the wedding ring with the sparkling eternity ring.
“I bought you some other jewellery to go with it,” I added, happy that she liked the ring.
I opened up the box that contained the diamond earrings, necklace and pendant. All of them were set in the same platinum finish as our rings.
I put the chain around her neck and she carefully took out her earrings before replacing them with the new ones.
She went to stand to take a look at the jewellery in the mirror but I stopped her, then handed her the next box.
“Julia’s mouth dropped open in shock, “More jewellery?” she questioned through our bond.
I nodded, opened the box and took out the bracelet. There were so many little diamonds sparkling away on this piece of jewellery that it seemed to bring the rest alive, and facets of light seemed to catch on the pendant and earring.
I quickly took out the watch and turned it over so she could read the inscription. The engraving said Megan, then it had her date of birth underneath her name, and a heart underneath that. It was simply done, but held a lot of meaning and Julia’s eyes instantly filled with tears.
“Thank you Alex, for this, for us, for what you did for me when I had Megan,” she sobbed. “I love you so much.”
She threw her arms around my neck, sobbing uncontrollably.
I could do nothing but hold her until she finally stopped. I knew her tears were a combination of many things, and not just what had happened today.
She pulled away and grabbed some tissues from the box on the coffee table, then proceeded to blow her nose.
Her cup of hot chocolate was no longer hot and she picked up the cup and laughed.
“I supposed we got carried away with the proposing and stuff and forgot about this poor neglected hot chocolate.”
“How about I make you a fresh one while you get in the bath,” I said as I guided her towards our bedroom. I went into the bathroom and set the bath running. I lit a few candles around the bath and came out to find Julia admiring all her new jewellery.
“Let’s not forget to take this off,” I said, removing the watch and placing it on top of the drawers.
I helped her take off her clothes, then left to make her hot chocolate.
When I came back into the bathroom I found Julia laying in the bath with a wash cloth over her face.
I removed it and kissed her soft lips before handing her the drink.
“So Freya duped us then,” she said with a smirk.
“Yes, I suppose she did. I thought it was strange when she got me trying on the rings after we had chosen yours. She must have told him to put the same engraving on the ring you had done for me.”
“Yeah she kind of made me think that it was my idea to choose those words. I hope our day will come to return the favour.”
“I hope you are right Julia.”
I wished that more than ever now, but Freya did not seem interested in finding love again.
“I wanted to cook for you, and surprise you with a candlelit dinner for my proposal,” she said sadly.
“I was with the Father Stevens today, trying to get him to marry us two weeks from now. Or earlier if he would. That’s why I blocked our bond. I didn’t want you to find out,” I admitted.
She sighed and said, “let’s hope things go just as we planned from here on out.”
“I like the balloon,” I said with a smile. “No one has ever got me a balloon before. Or roses. Freya has given me daisies and wildflowers from her garden, but you bought me I love you flowers. Thank you Julia.”
“I didn’t want to propose today, given what happened. But I think knowing that I could have been taken from you, or you taken from me made me not want to waste another day. Do you understand?”
I nodded solemnly. “I would have never let him take you. He was a strong vampire, but I am stronger than he could ever be. He was a made vampire, but I am a born immortal, and although you’ve yet to see my strength I can assure you that I would have torn him limb from limb if he would have tried to leave with you.”
“But the speed in which we immortals can move can be the deciding factor. He could have snapped your neck quicker than you could blink, but working with you through our bond, hearing you tell me what you were going to do and reacting accordingly, that was what saved you today.”
“I thought it was Mel shooting him and me staking him with a Santa stop here sign that saved me.”
I laughed hard at that statement, but it was true. Even with the scary vampires that were in the room today, two human women saved the day.
“Didn’t I once tell you that the inner strength and power that is within most females is something that will always prevail above all else?”
“Yes you did. But I don’t think I would have been strong enough to deal with what happened today if I didn’t have something to fight for Alex.”
“Then you will always be a fighter my love because you will always have me, and our growing family,” I said as I placed my hand on her lower belly.”
She yawned so I told her through our bond that is was time for her to go to bed. As she dried herself off I went to bring the cute counting sheep pyjamas that she seemed to favour.
“Don’t let Victor see these,” I joked. Well half joked. He would freak if he saw them.
When we laid in bed she said, “I feel so weak and drained all of a sudden. Maybe I should have eaten more today.”
I knew what she needed. I should have thought about it sooner.
“Julia, take some of my blood. It will make you feel better and make sure your body has everything it needs for the baby.”
She nodded, so I bit into my wrist and tried but failed to hold back my erection as Julia drank from me.
Not that we could have done anything about it anyway as Julia was asleep mere seconds after letting go of my wrist.
I put my arm around her and held her close, placing a hand over where my child was growing in her belly. And for the first time in a long time I began to breathe easy.
Epilogue
Alex
The happiest day of my life so far had gone according to plan, despite the wintry weather we were having, which had prevented my cousins Finn and Patrick from leaving Ireland to be with us.
When Julia had walked down the aisle towards me I had to work hard at keeping tears out of my eyes. Then Gregor, who was my best man, had whispered, “She looks so beautiful Alex, you are a lucky man.” And suddenly I felt a lone tear slide down my cheek.
In fact that wasn’t the only tear that had been shed in the church today. Freya cried, Gina cried, Julia and her mum cried, and if I wasn’t mistaken, so did Josh.
As Josh was my brother, he should have been my best man. But he and I had both agreed that he would escort Freya today. She had been very emotional in all the wedding planning, so we had decided that it would be better for her to have a family member standing beside her in church and not Gregor, who could not bear tears of any kind coming from my sister.
Nik who would have been another choice for my best man had opted to escort Gina in to the church instead, which was kind of like staking a very public claim to those in the village who still seemed to have an opinion about those two being a couple when she wasn’t yet divorced.
> Gregor, Sergei and Victor had flown in from Russia two days ago and were flying back tomorrow which was Christmas Eve.
I had wanted the wedding to happen two weeks ago, but Freya and Gina wouldn’t be rushed in their ‘perfect wedding’ preparations.
Freya was still heavily involved in textiles and design, her business frequently dealing with some of the best fashion houses in the world. So it came as no surprise that she would supply the fabric for Julia’s dress, and also to get one of her dressmaker friends to make the prettiest wedding dress I have ever seen. And believe you and me, with all the wedding magazines that have appeared in my cottage over the last few weeks I have seen many.
The dress was made up of a deep cream floral lace which covered Julia’s arms right down to where it finished in a V, the material looping around her middle finger to keep it in place. The bodice was the same lace which overlayed the same coloured satin, and it had a full skirt in just plain satin. The colour really suited Julia and seemed to highlight her skin tone making her look much healthier today than her constant morning sickness usually did.
She really had been struggling with it over the last two weeks. Even giving her my blood only seemed to fix it for a few hours. In fact whoever named it morning sickness got it totally wrong in Julia’s case, because she could throw up at any time of the day.
I had asked Maggie to stay on at work full time for a little longer so that we could find someone who could job share with Julia, so that she could rest more on really bad sickness days.
Some of the balloons from the church had been brought back to the reception, and Daisy, our little bridesmaid was currently trying to gather up as many as she could although I don’t think that Keeley and her brother Daniel were too impressed about having to take them all home.
It had surprised me no end when I arrived at the church today to see the gold and cream heart shaped helium balloons at the end of every church pew. Chloe, the new florist here in Barrowfield, had done a great job on all the flowers and balloons in the church.
She was the one who had done my red balloon and Roses the day that Julia was taken. I think Julia organised for her to do the balloons for our wedding because she knew how much I loved the red heart balloon she had bought me. It lasted for nearly two weeks and I would comment on it daily.
Chloe was also the one who had sold Julia the Santa stop here sign with which she staked Brandr, so I was very grateful to her, and her store in a roundabout way, and vowed to have a floral bouquet made up for Julia every two weeks from Chloe.
Father Stevens had proven to be a greedy bastard as far as members of the clergy were concerned, and the little church in Barrowfield will be fully central heated come February down to my expense.
Sergei said we weren’t allowed to use mind control on him but I really had considered it at one point. The good father had given his objections because Julia was just recently divorced, and also the fact that December was an extremely busy time in the church calendar with it being the month of our saviour’s birthday. The central heating finally swung it and today Father Stevens performed the wedding ceremony of a vampire and human. I wonder how he would feel about that if he knew.
I could afford to have held the most lavish reception money could buy, but I wanted something very simple today. Something that all the people I held dear could enjoy.
So here I was fifteen years later, stood in the very same room in our compound where we celebrate the annual works Christmas party, looking at Julia as she held onto her father’s arm, laughing at something he had said.
Joshua came over to me, slapped me on the back and laughed as he asked, “Well Alex have you finally figured out what you want from Julia after all these years?”
I laughed, thinking of a similar conversation I had with him when I had first fallen for this women, “Everything Josh, I want everything.”
I walked over to where Julia and her parents stood, and took her hand in mine. The DJ announced over the mike that it was time for the bride and groom to take their first dance as man and wife, so I took her hand and led her on to the dance floor.
When the first few bars of the song came through the speakers Julia looked up into my eyes and said through our bond, “You remembered.”
“Every single moment,” I nodded, smiling, as Elvis Presley began to sing ‘Can’t help falling in love with you.’
The End
Useful Information
This book although a work of paranormal fiction deals with some very sensitive issues such as stillbirth and miscarriage.
If you have been affected in any way by either of these, there are some great organisations who can help you try and come to terms with your loss.
As I am based in the UK I have included some UK web addresses, of societies who may be able to offer comfort and guidance to you and your family in your time of need, and as the year’s progress.
I have only listed three and these are UK based.
Your healthcare provider may have information about local groups and charities also.
Www.tommys.org
uk-sands.org Stillbirth and neonatal death society.
Www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk
If you are based in any other part of the world your healthcare provider should be able to put you in touch with a national or in some instances a local organisation. Alternatively there are many international forums with people who offer support, comfort and advice from their own experiences.
About the Author
Helen Bright is forty something, married, and mum of two grown up daughters. She has one grandson who she absolutely adores, and through him is rediscovering her love of singing and dancing along to Disney movies.
She lives in a South Yorkshire village and enjoys walking her two dogs, writing, reading and spending time with her family and friends.
You can keep up to date with any new releases by this author by visiting and liking her Facebook page: Helen Bright Author
Or visiting her brand new twitter account which she is still technically shy about at: @Helen_Brightxo
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