On the Far Side of Darkness (31 page)

“But we fixed that, didn’t we, love?”

Our mouths meet and we share the kiss that lets the other know how much we care.

When I finally pull my lips from hers I note, “We’d better get on the road. We don’t want to arrive at your parents too late.” Diane nods and we go about preparing for the last leg of our trip.

We’re on the road within ten minutes. A tad less than half an hour after that, Diane turns our RV up the driveway to her parent’s home.

It’s a two story wood building, blue with white trim. It has the porch so common to farmhouses in North America. There’s a lot of ground free of trees surrounding it, quite a few acres it seems. The area around the house is a well-kept lawn, the rest is hay just starting to turn. There is a shed to the left side of the house and a barn somewhat farther behind it. I can smell the excrement of horses.

We drive up to the house, stopping so that the passenger side is facing it.

A man comes out onto the porch. A stocky man about my height. Although at least seventy he moves with the ease of someone much younger. I can tell where my love got her green eyes from. His hair is white but I would bet it had been auburn once.

I open the door and climb to the ground. I hear Diane do the same.

“Can I help you, mister?” asks my lady’s father. I don’t bother to reply. Diane walks into sight. A delighted expression fills his face in an instant.

At that moment a dog emerges from the front door with a clicking of nails on wood. A collie, getting on in years. It looks at us…and its head lowers, its tail goes between its legs. With a whine it backs away into the house. A moment later I can hear it barreling up the stairs and to the farthest point of the upper floor.

I turn to look at my love. There is hurt and surprise showing in her expression. We vampires don’t often encounter animals in our world. They always know just what we are. In a city, our most frequent hunting grounds, it’s much less obvious to humans what causes the reaction we just observed. So we rarely have to worry about animals giving us away.

“I guess you’ve been away too long,
cher
,” I say aloud.

She turns her face to mine, gives me a weak smile. “Yeah, I guess I have.” Looking at her father she greets, “Hi, Dad. I guess this is a surprise.” Her features warm, with more than a little apprehension showing.

Mr Patterson looks back with the same expression.

A voice emerges from inside, a woman’s voice with a slight quaver of age to it. “Jim? Are you all right? The dog just ran by and he didn’t look happy.”

“Lilly, you’d better come see this,” he replies.

The woman exits the house. I can see the relation between her and my love immediately. They share identical builds although her mother is stooped a little with age. Blue eyed, her face is a sweet as Diane’s despite the lines on it.

Lilly stops, blinks in surprise. Then she smiles widely and rushes forward, arms spread. Diane hustles to meet her. A moment later they are wrapped in a warm embrace. A moment after that her father joins them.

“Honey,” says Lilly after a quick kiss on the cheek, “it’s so good to see you. I wish you’d given us some warning though.”

“We didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, Mom,” is my love’s reply.

“You’re looking a little pale,” her mother says next. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I’ve never felt better in my life.”

I manage to keep a quirk of amusement from showing at that observation.

Lilly’s eyes focus on me. Her husband’s do as well. I stay where I am. I’m not part of the family yet.

Diane pulls herself from her parents’ arms, steps back and takes my hand. “Mom, Dad. I’d like you to meet the man I fell in love with. Georges Belleveau.”

“
Bonsoir, Monsieur et Madame
Patterson,” I say to them. “
Comment-allez vous?
”

Her parents show the astonishment Diane’s announcement keeps causing. Their eyes go wide and their mouths drop a little. They hold that for a moment.

“Is this the person that was making you so unhappy, sweetie?” Diane’s mother asks.

“We were both responsible for that,” my love returns.

“Yes, I am,” I overlap. Then we grin at each other.

“I didn’t want to fall in love,” I explain then, facing her parents once more. “I’d not been a success at it in the past, and I didn’t want to hurt your daughter the way I had other people I’d been involved with. So I talked her into letting me go.”

“And then I did something foolish.” Diane picks up the thread. “I did something to drive him away. When I came to my senses, he was gone.”

“It took me a while before I realized my mistake,” I continue. “So I asked Diane to come to me. She did, we repaired our rift and we’ve been together ever since. I’ve never been happier.”

“And I’m just as happy.”

I lift her hand to my lips. Her grip tightens ever so gently.

Her parent’s expressions lighten, lift into smiles, with a little confusion shaping their eyes. “We could tell from your e-mails and phone calls that something was going on, and there were so few of them,” Jim says. “It hurt a lot that you didn’t share. We’ve never poked into your business, always waited for you to open up. You didn’t this time. That hurt as well.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t understand myself what I felt and why. It was such a strange place I was in, I didn’t think anyone could help. Please forgive me.”

“Of course, honey,” comes from Lilly. “You’ll always be our daughter.” She turns to me, steps forward and takes me in her arms. “Welcome to the family, Georges. Anyone my daughter loves, I’ll love.”

I return the gesture with a smile. I can tell her declaration is an honest one.

Lilly releases me and Jim steps forward, extending his hand. “Welcome, Georges. My wife speaks for me on this.” His smile is forthright. However, there is a small amount of concern in his eyes.

I take his hand and shake it, careful to show none of my strength. “
Merci
,” I tell him, “I’m happy to be here.”

“Come inside,” announces Mrs. Patterson then. “Would you like some ice tea? Or lemonade?”

Diane steps towards me and we take each other’s hands once more. “Thanks, Mom,” she replies, “but we’re fine.”

Jim and Lilly mirror our action. It gives me a warm feeling to see people who’ve been together that long still showing their affection. As far as I know, Diane and I are unique amongst our kind. I’ve sometimes been concerned the weight of time might be too much for us. To see her parents gives me hope.

Diane’s mother and father turn and head for the house. “Let us show you around, Georges,” says Jim.

“
D’accord
,” I tell him and we follow them.

The Patterson’s have a lovely home. It’s well maintained and very comfortable. They show us the living room, dining room and kitchen. There’s laundry machines in a room behind the kitchen. Across a hall is a television room and Jim’s den. His room is full of books and magazines. A computer
sits on a desk sits here. There is a locked gun cabinet containing a small collection of firearms, all of them meant for hunting.

They lead us up the stairs. First is Lilly’s sewing room. The next room is my love’s bedroom.

They’ve left it as it was when she lived here. I can see her in it. The single bed is covered by a thin comforter with lace trimming. A pillow in a case of the same design and color sits atop it. This shows her femininity. The rest of the furniture is bookcases and a desk with writing materials on it. Her so deep intellect is displayed by these items.

I smile. I can see my lady here, what made her the person I love so dearly.

“That’s our room at the end of the hall,” Jim tells me. “We won’t go there. That’s where the dog is hiding. I don’t think he’s used to you yet.” A small frown fills his face and he looks at us with worried curiosity. His wife shares that expression.

“Let’s go to the living room,” is Lilly’s request then. Diane and I step into the hall and leave space for her parent’s to precede us. They head for the stairs with the two of us a couple of steps behind.

A mournful howl cuts through the air. It spills from the master bedroom. The wavering sound contains the agony of a canine losing a loved one.

We all start and turn our heads in the direction of the Patterson’s bedroom. Lilly’s hand jerks, hitting a glass figurine sitting on a small table. The statue topples and heads for the floor.

Diane lunges forward and catches it before it’s a quarter of the distance to the ground. Straightening, she places it back where it had been.

Her parents stare wide eyed at her. Their astonishment at the wondrous speed and precision their daughter showed is writ large on their faces.

“I know how much that meant to you, Mom. I couldn’t let it break.” She smiles, with tension showing underneath.

Jim and Lilly’s amazement fades, pulls back to a smile like Diane’s. “Thanks, honey,” returns her mom. “Let’s head to the living room. We’re going to put Georges through the third degree.” She winks at me, although her unease weakens the humor it was meant to convey

I smile back, put a faux look of fear on my face and return the gesture. Diane chuckles, squeezes my hand. “You’re in trouble now, buddy,” she snickers.

We go to the house’s main room, Jim and Lilly taking the large sofa, Diane and I the smaller one.

“So what’s your story, Georges?” asks Jim.

I tell him the almost truth. How I was born to a minor noble family in Alsace and how I grew up in my family’s villa. That’s followed by relating my parent’s insistence that I work in the local vineyards so that I wouldn’t suffer the arrogance so many of my class possess.
Then my speech wanders to the tutors hired to make sure I gained the education required of me.
My tale describes my moving to Paris as a young man. Finally, I talk of my travels, mostly to North America.

I don’t tell them how long ago I was young, or the length of time these events took place over.

“Damn,” remarks Jim when I’m done. “I’ve done my own traveling, when I was in the Army. Alsace was one of the places I visited when I was posted in Germany. A lovely region. Interesting history as well.” He sighs. “That was before Diane was born, or I met Lilly.” He turns to smile at her and squeezes her hand. They look so much like Diane and I, I can’t help but smile myself.

He turns back to me. “I have a book,
A Flame Rekindled
by a Georges Bellleveau.”

I bow my head a little in acknowledgment. “
Oui
,” I tell him, “that’s mine.”

“Considering it’s twenty years old, you must have been very young when you wrote it.”

“Yes,” I reply. “Just past twenty. But I’d long had an interest in The Enlightenment. That book was the result.”

“I liked it a lot, learned a fair bit. You had a viewpoint I wouldn’t expect from a man as young as you at the time.”

With a shrug of my shoulders I say, “I think it’s my love of history. Often had my nose buried in a book about the past. I guess it affected my perspective.”

Jim smiles. “I can see know why my daughter likes you so much.” A moment later his lips tighten and his eyes dart back and forth between us.

Lilly stands. “Would you like something eat?” she asks. “It’s a little late and I could use a snack.”

Diane and I look at the clock. It’s almost midnight. We return our attention to her parents as their daughter replies, “Thanks, Mom, but we’re okay.”

Her mother nods. The older woman’s face holds a brittle smile. She looks at her husband to ask, “Could you help out, dear?” He agrees, rises, and they both head to the kitchen.

Concern sharpens the corners of our eyes as We glance at each other. I squeeze her hand to reassure her and smile to let her know I’ll always be with her. We wait to see what their parents are deciding.

I pray that this won’t be a situation where we can’t leave witnesses.
That’s a thought I keep to myself.

A radio comes on in the kitchen. It’s loud enough to obscure anything Jim and Lilly say, even to ears as sharp as ours. They talk for several minutes.

Diane grows nervous, her free hand fidgets a little. That makes me lean over to kiss her cheek in reassurance. Her face warms, as it always does when I show my support of her.

The radio goes off. Jim goes to the hall and down to his den. Indistinct metallic sounds follow. “Georges,” sounds his voice, “could you come here for a minute?”

I rise, wink at Diane and head to his room. I guess I’m getting a man-to-man talk. As I reach the door I turn into it and enter the den…

…to find myself looking down the barrel of one of Jim’s shotguns.

“What have you done to my daughter?” he asks in a tight, quiet voice.

I have to slam the monster down. It does not care for surprises of this type. “I did nothing that she didn’t agree to.”

“She’s so different now,” he goes on, not seeming to hear me. His eyes are a little distant. “She moves differently, and so pale. Diane was always a self-contained girl but now she seems so…restrained. The dog is scared of her and I couldn’t believe how fast she moved when she caught Lilly’s figurine. I’ll ask again, what have you done with my daughter?”