Forever Young The Beginning (75 page)

She related the incident and they all
praised her quick thinking and quick action then.

“
So you’re not angry with
me?”

“
No sweetheart. Tonight you
showed us that you’ve learned one of the most important things
about being a member of our family.”

“
What’s that?”

“
You put the safety of that
girl above your own. We’re very pleased with you.”

Alandra and Marie echoed that so Aimee
smiled sweetly then and held her bandaged arms out so as to be
hugged and kissed by everyone there.

Marie went down to the guests then and
explained it all and everyone agreed that Aimee had been a heroine
that evening. She said that what Ian had done had saved Aimee from
a bad injury, and that she was sure there would be no scars. She
signed to the musicians to resume their music and she and Henri
began to dance. Soon the other guests joined her too and the party
resumed its pace.

Ian came down a short time later and
explained to some of the guests including his mother and aunt that
Aimee was asleep now with Alandra. He rejoined the party before he
could be asked any questions, winking once at Angus and Armando
when no one was looking. The newlyweds were nowhere to be seen. “Is
there anyone here who has seen the Cossack dance called the Hopak?
If not, we’ll demonstrate it for you. If so, you’re going to see it
again.”

The celebration went on then until
near midnight with dancing and music. The guests finally retired
from sheer exhaustion then. Marie excused the staff then and told
them to do the cleanup of the ball room the next
morning.

Ian was thinking of how best to
present the situation of Aimee’s healing and the onerous chore of
keeping her bandaged so long when he had an idea. He slipped out
and went to the garden. There he pulled up six beets by the light
of the moon. At vampire speed he washed and minced them and then in
the barn he put them between two boards and pressed/hammered until
he had drained all of the red juice out and caught it in his copper
bowl.

He got Aimee to rub the juice on her
arms and wash her hands and then covered them with honey and fresh
bandages again. Later the next afternoon they made a production of
taking off the bandages and washing and re-wrapping her arms.
Everyone seemed to be deceived by her arms being only pink-red and
not scarred or blistered.

The following evenings’ activities
were normal and the guests retired before midnight. Ian thought
that Aimee needed some away time to let off some steam what with
her working so hard to deceive everyone.

He went to her room before dawn and
awoke her, asking if she would like to sneak away for some wild
time. Soon they were on their way, each on a mount heading for the
waterfall. They didn’t notice that a horse and saddle were
missing.

At the waterfall Aimee bounded away
from one rock to the next and leaped up to stand atop the falls.
She launched herself into space and did a somersault before knifing
into the water cleanly. Swimming like a little porpoise she flew
out of the water to land on the big sycamore tree that grew out of
the bank horizontally. Ian dove off doing a triple somersault and
shot like lighting across the pool to fly out of the water and land
next to Aimee. Laughing, he scooped her up and leaped straight up
some fifty feet to plunge back down into the water with her
screaming. They cavorted and played then, he chasing her all around
the waterfall and pool area, each of them bounding from rocks to
trees to the top of the falls for yet more spectacular
dives.

Aimee had just done another perfect
somersault off of the falls and Ian was poised to follow when he
spied a person on a horse staring at him in disbelief. It was his
mother, Elsie. She sat on the horse, mouth agape and held up
Angus’s spyglass and said “I didn’t believe what I saw through this
thing and I don’t believe it now. Ian, what…what is the meaning
of…of this?”

“
Mother, I’m sorry that you
had to see this.” He dove and shot across the pool like a porpoise
but slowed and just walked out of the water so as not to spook her
horse. He walked to her then and assisted her down. She just stared
at him wordlessly as Aimee skipped from rock to rock and came
across to stand there too.

“
It’s my fault, Mrs.
McCloud. Ian thought he needed to take me out for some wild time
because of the accident. We didn’t mean to scare you,
ma’am.”

“
Wild time?”

“
Nonsense, Aimee. It’s all
my doing. I saw the suspicion in your eyes from the day you
arrived, Mother.”

“
Ian, I noticed that you
never aged at all. A mother sees things that others overlook, and
my goodness, you look about the same age as Stuart! What is the
meaning of all of this, son? Are all of these…people here
like…this? And Aimee here…her arms.” Here she left off speaking and
pulled the two beet-stained boards from her saddlebags, presenting
them to Ian with her eyebrows raised. “I talked to the people who
were in the kitchen. They thought that Aimee was way over in the
doorway and yet when that kettle spilled she was suddenly beside
that little girl pushing her away. And look at her arms now, only
two days since then!”

“
Let’s ride back to the
Chateau Mother. I’ll tell you what has happened.” He stepped to her
and took her in his arms and then kissed her forehead. “What I tell
you will change your life forever. Uncle Angus and Armando have had
to bear the burden of my secret themselves all of these years. It’s
deadly and dangerous to know that we even exist,
Mother.”

“
We?”

“
We. Aimee and I are no
longer human, Mother. I haven’t been human since shortly after I
first came to Marseille. I’ll tell you along the way. You have to
decide whether to tell Aunt Mary or not.” He bandaged Aimee’s arms
and they mounted up and departed, talking along the way.

As they arrived at the barn behind the
chateau, Ian had concluded a fairly accurate account of his life
since becoming a vampire, minus details of the Council, some
battles, and his love life. Included in that was an account of
Aimee’s history and of how she came to be living with them. Elsie
looked at Ian and said “Grandmother and grandfather, do they
know?”

“
No. I saw no need to tell
them. I would have told you before telling them.” He vaulted off of
his horse to assist his mother down, and then Aimee. She looked
questioningly at him after he had helped Aimee. “Mother; remember
that we must keep up appearances for the humans who don’t know
about us. We never know if one of the staff or a guest is looking
out of a window.”

“
Yes. Yes, of course. This
all explains why you never returned to live in Scotland after
Cosette died. I had often wondered about that.” Looking at Aimee
she appreciated the perfect training of the child saying “You are a
remarkable child, to have learned about this…this play-acting. You
do it so very well too! It must have been so hard for you to
learn.

“
Mrs. McCloud, I had a lot
of teachers, and they all love me.”

“
So do I dear. So do I. But
this is all…so…new. Now that I’ve seen and heard it, I need time to
accept it.” She turned to him, smiling broadly and held her arms
wide. He gratefully stepped to her and hugged her wordlessly. She
then turned to Aimee and opening her arms said “You too, Aimee.
Come give your grandmother a hug now.” Little Aimee smiled
radiantly, her eyes were a little teary as they hugged wordlessly.
Then she said “My family is the best family in the whole world,
grandmother.” She turned to Ian and stretched out her arms to be
picked up. As he gathered her to his bosom and they turned to walk
to the chateau she said “My father is the best father in the whole
world.” as she clung to Ian’s neck and kissed his cheek, and then
pillowed her head on his shoulder as they made their way to the
kitchen door. Ian felt a lump in his throat then. Never had Aimee
called him a father before. “You’re the very best daughter any man
could ever have, Aimee. I’m blessed and honored to have you.” He
put one arm around his mother as they approached the back
porch.

Later that morning Elsie
took Mary McCloud aside and told her everything. The two of them
accompanied by Angus and Armando came to see Ian and Alandra
privately for a little while later on that afternoon. They strolled
about beyond the barn where they couldn’t be overheard. Ian had
answered questions that Mary had posed, leaving out any mention of
the
Supreme Council
and of any details of any raids on vampire covens. Elsie had a
couple of questions too and they were answered. Ian said “I’m going
to tell you something this once, and I’ll never bring it up again.
If any or all of you desire to become as I am, I will see to it
that it happens. It will be done at some time when you’re here, if
you choose to go through with it. This place is ideal for that
process. I do want to offer that to Stu as well when he’s a few
years older.” He looked at Alandra and pulling her close he said
“This has been an open offer to Alandra too, as she knows. For now,
I suppose it’s best that Stuart doesn’t know, unless you want to
tell him now while you’re here?”

They looked at each other then, and
decided not to tell Stuart at the present time.

“
I hate that it happened the
way it did, but I’m relieved not to have to keep up the pretense.
It has been a burden on me and it has been a burden on Uncle Angus
and Armando too. Now at least you four can talk about it from time
to time among yourselves only of course. I won’t speak of it
anymore except to tell you one last time how vital it is for the
sake of all of us to keep my secret to yourselves.”

They all nodded agreement then and
lapsed into silence for a bit. Mary spoke then, taking Elsie’s hand
and saying “I for one am glad it’s out in the open within our
family. We’re strong, and we are stronger together. It’s a good
thing that we know of this and can share it among ourselves. I’m
content Ian, and I can see how happy you two are. If Alandra can
live with it who are we to question her? What can anyone say
against that?”

All too soon the long visit
ended. Tearful goodbyes were said at the port of Marseille. Ian
told everyone that he and the others would be coming to London
soon, and at least he and Alandra would be traveling overland to
Edinburg for a visit. Ian and the others watched the longboats
carry their loved ones and friends to
Elsie’s Cloud
. They watched her weigh
anchor, unfurl sails and make her way gracefully toward the
horizon.

No sooner had they gotten back to the
chateau that Marie came into the parlor with her latest dispatches
from a courier. “Alyssa is getting married and we’re all invited to
their wedding.” Plans were made to depart for Paris immediately.
They went as a caravan up the Rhone valley through Lyon and on to
Paris. It took eleven days, but they arrived at Paris with three
days to spare and all went to the Lafayette’s spacious suite on the
Champs Elysees. There was scarcely room for them, so Henri gave Ian
the key to his new suite of rooms in the name of the Laforges only
three blocks away. Ian, Alandra, Aimee, Li, and Sophia went there
and there was room aplenty for everyone at both places
then.

The three days passed quickly with
sightseeing and a scenic boat ride on the Seine one day. Some
necessary bank business was taken care of while they were there,
with Mustafa and Louis doing it.

***

The day of Alyssa’s wedding came and
every one of the Lafayette family was resplendent in their very
best clothing. They all sported their sun glasses and the ladies
had large matching ornate parasols which they had opened due to the
sunshine that day. All wore long gloves and simple but elegantly
styled broad-brimmed hats as well, which were not thought to be
fashionable wear in that era.

Caryn performed the formal
introductions between the two groups outside of the cathedral.
Alyssa was cloistered and had sent for Marie to calm her nerves and
stay with her. With the exception of Henri and Marie, they all took
their seats in the very front row of the side where Alyssa’s people
sat, opposite the Groom’s family. Shortly the pipe organ began to
thunder as the doors opened. Alyssa appeared holding Henri’s arm
and came down the aisle. She was radiant in a dress of her own
design and her smile lit the cathedral even through the wedding
veil.

The ceremony was perfect, with both
bride and groom smiling, exuding happiness. At last it was over and
the guests stood and applauded the newlyweds. There was a long line
of well-wishers and when Ian came to them, he politely kissed the
hand of the bride and shook the hand of the groom. He introduced
Alyssa and Alandra to each other and then he said “Congratulations
to you both. I wish you all of the happiness you deserve and may
you have that for all of your days.” Alyssa demurely thanked him
and embraced Alandra who also wished them well, and told Alyssa how
beautiful she looked.

At the celebration, there was a table
set that was fit for any king. A small musical ensemble consisting
of a violin, cello, oboe, bassoon, and piano provided music. There
were near to eighty guests to serve. The hosts were just able to
fit everyone comfortably into their large dining hall, and had
rented tables and chairs to do this. The meal was magnificent. Many
toasts were proposed and drank during and after dinner. The workers
from Caryn and Alyssa’s shops were a bit out of place, but very
well behaved. All but two were young women who tended to stay in a
group by themselves. Ian noticed and asked one to dance with him.
Not too long thereafter many men began to ask the workers from
Caryn’s place to dance so that they were not standing on the
sidelines.