Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series) (13 page)

“
This place is amazing! W
hy did you ever leave Canada?
”
Eliza i
nquires with pure astonishment.

I beam with the excitement that someone feels the same ab
out this place as I do.
“
I know
,
right
—
I loved it here. We stayed here to
o long though. It was time to move on,
”
I say as we walk back towards the front desk.

Elijah walks o
ver with a handful of room keys.
“
O
kay gang
,
here are your keys. Ben
,
you will stay in the Presidential
Suite
with Florence, Danika and
me
. This will be one of the safer places for you. Ebony, Sophia, Nate and the kids will stay in the other Presidential
Suite
,
and I got the rest of you
in
either
executive or junior suites. W
e are all within a floor or two of each other. Why doesn
’
t everyone go and get settled
,
and we will meet in Sophia
’
s suite, so the babies can get comfortable. Girls
,
they will be bringing up two cribs for Elyn and Nik shortly.
”

“
Thank you Elijah,
”
Ebony smiles as we walk toward the elevator following the bellhop.


  

  


In our suite, Ebony allows Nathanial and I to take the master room
,
and she takes the second bedroom. When the staff brings the cribs up, they place on
e
in each room for our use and set them up with proper bedding, ready for the babies. We take our time unpacking and getting both the kids
to
lay down for a nap
,
as it
’
s been a long and exciting day of travel. Ebony and I review the room service menu
for items suitable for the kids
and place an order
,
asking
tha
t
it be delivered in about two hours, when the kids should wake up. Before long
,
the rest of the clan files into our suite
,
and we go over some plans for sightseeing.

Alexander connects his thoughts wi
th Matilda, Nathanial and me
.
“
S
hould we tell them yet?
”

“
No better time
than
the present,
”
I agree.

Alexander stands, and everyone
’
s eyes divert to him.
“
I thought now may be a good time to inform you all that we have finally set a date and location for the weddings.
”

Florence beams with elation.
“
T
hat
’
s wonderful kids. What are you planning?
”

The four of us smile.
“
Next weekend,
”
Matilda blurts out.

“
What?
But we have no time to prepare
! And
what about all the guests?
”
Constance begins to panic.

“
We have all the guests we want here with us now, and there is no place on ear
th more perfect than right here,
”
I share.

“
Well
,
I guess we have some arrangements to make. I
’
m sure the hotel will assist us, but because of the timing and short notice, we may need another location
,
”
Florence points out.

“
Well
,
we are thinking it might b
e nice to do it over at the Bow R
iver
F
alls. That
’
s not far from here
,
and
it
’
s so pretty with all the snow
and ice just starting to thaw. The waterfall is big enough
tha
t
it will still be flowing
,
and I think it is just the perfect location. For a reception
,
we can have it in
the dining room of our suite and order room
service for those who need it, and then we
can enjoy our own meal as well,
”
Mat
ilda says with total excitement
that surprises us all. We figured she would have wanted a
wedding to match Kim Kardashian
’
s;
I guess you just never know until it happens.

“
Well
,
I don
’
t know about the rest of you, but I am going to take Eliza a
nd Luke out to explore the area. D
oes anyone else want to come?
”
Caspian offers.

“
That is a great
i
dea, but we need to disguise Danika. This is where she
’
s from
,
and we can
’
t have people
recognizing
her
,
”
Constance insists.

“
That
’
s right
hun
ey
, I forgot. How do you feel
about
being back here? Do you want to see you
r
family at all?
”
Ebony questions.

“
Are you kidding
? M
y family was nothing but a bunch of uncaring, selfish alcoholics. The only reason they would care that I
’
m gone
i
s they lost their punching bag and maid.
”

“
What? You n
ever told us any of that before,
”
I say with utter shock.

“
What was the point? I was given a new life and a new family, so why dwell on the past?
”

“
Danika, I
’
ve felt bad about attacking you that night before you ran away, but now I feel even worse. I
’
m so sorry.
”

“
Sophia, please don
’
t worry about it. I understand where you were coming from
,
and I should have talked to you about it before things got out of hand.
”

Sitting next to Danika
,
I wrap my arms around her in a caring embrace
.
“
Will you tell us more about your
family and life as a human?
”

“
Yeah I guess
,
i
f you really want to know.
”
She takes a deep breath and begins
.
“
I was born here in Banff, Alberta eighteen years ago on January tenth. Wow
,
I didn
’
t realize until
right now I would be eighteen
;
finally an adult. Time really does go by fast when you
’
re a va
mpire. Ok
ay
,
never mind that now
…
s
o back to my life. My dad died in a car accident shortly after my birth, and my mom began to spiral out of control, drinking and abusing heroine. She was involved with this awful
man, Tony. Tony used to beat me
,
and from a very young age
,
I was in charge of the cooking and cleaning. If Tony w
asn
’
t
pleased with what I made for dinner
,
I was beaten. If
Mom
wouldn
’
t perform sexually to his standards
,
he would take it out on me and beat me even harder. I had several broken bones, but the hospital believed
their
stories
—
that I was a clumsy child
—
and never did anything about it. When I was about ten, I was forced to get odd jobs around town
,
shoveling
sidewalks in the winter
and
mowing the grass in the summer
,
as well as a paper route that I would do at four in the morning. At fourteen
,
I was old enough for a real job and began working at the local movie theatre on top of the odd jobs I
did
. The money I was making was not too bad
, but of course
Mom
and Tony used all the money for their booze and drugs.
”
She wipes a few stray tears from her cheeks as the horrible memories flood her.
“
I used to harm myself too, cutting my wrists and ankles with razor blades. I figured
that
if I could make myself numb to pain, they couldn
’
t hurt me anymore. I really hated my life
;
I struggled with myself and my family. Never have I felt good enough
,
n
ot until you came along and accepted me.
That
’
s when
I realized what family really was. Once I became a vampire, all my scars healed so I never told any of you. I did try and cut a little more but it healed instantly. I know harming myself was stupid, but it was the only way I knew how to escape. I would never do it again, and hope that one day I can help others like me that believe hurting themselves is the only way. It
’
s hard when you feel all alone, but somewhere, somehow I know now there is someone that is there for you…it
’
s finding them that
’
s hard. I guess no matter what we all just have to believe.
”

Florence also begins to tear up.
“
Danika
,
sweetheart, I
’
m so sorry you had to go
through
all that. Is there anything we can do to make it better?
”

“
Really
,
y
ou already have. Bringing me into your family
and treating me like
your own
i
s all a girl like me could ask for.
”

L
uke slams his fist on the table.
“
W
ell
,
I can think of a few other things. For Christ
’
s
sake
,
your new family is
a group of vampires and witches.
I think we can
manage to take care of that ass
T
ony
in a way he
won
’
t forget.
”

I
’
ve
never seen Luke so mad before. H
e obviously doesn
’
t take kindly to child abusers.

“
Luke, thank you for caring so much, but
I
’
m better than they ever were
,
or ever will be. I am much happier just forgetting that Tony and my mom ever existed.
”

Eliza
places her hand on Luke
’
s knee.
“
Danika is right. As much as I would love to curse the
m
for everything they did to her, we can
’
t use our powers for personal gain, or self
-
serving purpose. Even though it would be for someone else, they are just
bad people
,
n
ot evil. Cursing
o
r killing them
will not help the greater good of man. They will get what is coming to them, believe me.
”

“
I know
. I
t just drives me nuts how some people treat their children. How did Nate and I get so lucky to have such a wonderful family and upbringing?
”