Stone Lover (28 page)

    “You are such a romantic,” she sighed, this time in dreaminess. The look she gave him was a combination of love and hopefulness.

    Before he could respond to that look, or even think of anything to say, she was pulling into the driveway of a generous-sized house. Even as she was turning off the engine, the door banged open and a little, miniature Melanie was racing towards the car. Vaughn turned his head and caught the absolute adoration on Melanie’s face as she scrambled out of the car, catching the little girl up in her arms before he even had a chance to unbuckle his seat belt.

    Holding the girl on her hip, Melanie waited for him to get out of the SUV. Up close, he could see that the little girl’s hair was a shade or two darker and her eyes had a little more green in them. Other than that, she could have been Melanie as a little girl. Inexplicably, he was nervous; he wanted the child to like him. The little girl leaned into Melanie’s shoulder, staring at him with her beautiful, old-soul eyes.

    “Hi,” he croaked out. Clearing his throat, he offered a tentative smile, “Hi; I’m Vaughn; you must be Ferris.”

    Her rosebud mouth curled into the sweetest smile as she regarded him with her intense eyes, “Are you going to marry my Aunt Mellie?”

    Melanie choked back a laugh as her face went bright red. Hugging the little girl, she murmured, “We’ve only just met, sweetie. It’s too soon to know if we’re going to get married.”

    Hell, she didn’t even know if gargoyles did get married, or if they performed some other sort of bonding ritual. For all she knew, she “married” Vaughn last night when he gave up his nights for her. Luckily, they were saved by arriving at the door just as her mother opened it, the smile on her lips faltering as she looked past Melanie and saw the unfamiliar Vaughn standing there.

    “Mom, I’d like you to meet my, er, boyfriend,” Melanie said, reaching back for his hand. For half a heartbeat, she feared he wouldn’t take it but then she felt the warmth of his skin envelop hers and she knew that everything was going to be all right. With a brilliant smile, she looked up at Vaughn with all of the love in her heart. “Vaughn, this is my mom.”

    “Mrs. Jacobs,” he said formally, taking her hand in his free one and bringing it to his lips, kissing the back of it. “It is an honor to meet you.”

    “Please, call me Jennifer,” Melanie’s mom blushed to the roots of her professionally dyed hair, beaming like a schoolgirl. Standing to the side, she ushered the small group inside, “Come in, come in and meet the rest of the family.”

    “Smooth,” Melanie whispered in passing, pressing a small kiss to his cheek as she followed her mom into the house. “Real smooth.”

    “Ew,” Ferris complained, still in Melanie’s arms. “Why’d you kiss him?”

    This time Melanie blushed as her mother turned around with a raised eyebrow. It was just her luck that her father and brother entered the room at that moment. Both wore expressions of shock when they saw she brought home a hulking, supremely masculine, blond man. “Daddy, Jensen, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Vaughn. Vaughn, this is my dad and my brother, Jensen.”

    “So, you’re kissing my little girl,” her dad scowled, crossing his arms over his barrel chest, glaring at the Viking. Vaughn towered a good six inches over her father, and perhaps three over her brother; he also had several pounds of pure muscle on either of them.

    “Er, yes,” Vaughn stammered, stepping closer to Melanie but keeping his hands where everyone could see them. “But I hold her in the highest esteem.”

    Everyone’s eyebrows shot to their foreheads at his formal words while Vaughn squeezed his eyes shut and color flooded his cheeks. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and met Mr. Jacobs’s stare without flinching. Holding out his hand, he cleared his throat and started over, “Mr. Jacobs, it is a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

    “Jenner,” her father said gruffly, reluctantly taking the offered hand.

    “Jensen,” Vaughn murmured, shaking her brother’s hand next.

    Putting Ferris down, Melanie looked around the hall while still holding the little girls hand. “Where’s Jenna?”

    “I had her run to the store for some wine,” her mom explained, still smiling at Vaughn. “She’ll be back soon.”

    A strange expression came over Vaughn’s face as he looked at the four Jacobs present. Tilting his head to the side, he frowned, “Your names are Jenner, Jennifer, Jensen and Jenna; how did Melanie end up with a non-Jen name?”

    Melanie bit her lip to keep from laughing; he seemed so offended on her behalf. Luckily, her parents weren’t offended; they laughed as they led Vaughn into the living room to tell the story about how Melanie came to be. Once everyone was seated, with Ferris on Melanie’s lap, Jennifer took Melanie’s hand in her own, the love apparent on the older woman’s face as she spoke. “Well, Vaughn, to tell you the truth, we weren’t expecting Melanie and her birth ruined our Grand Plan.”

    She said the words with a rueful chuckle, shaking her head at her long ago foolishness.  Vaughn appeared even more confused, “She was unexpected?”

    “You could say that,” Jenner said gruffly, reaching over and ruffling Melanie’s hair with affection.

    “Mom, dad, you don’t have to tell Vaughn the story,” Melanie interjected, color blossoming on her face even as she reached over and took Vaughn’s hand in her free one, twining her fingers with his. She didn’t seem to be aware of it but Vaughn didn’t mind; he enjoyed holding her hand.

    “I want to hear the story,” Ferris piped up, squirming around on Melanie’s lap to look at her grandparents with her large, pleading eyes. Vaughn had to bite back a smile at the little girl’s attempt at manipulation; he knew that she had everyone wrapped around her little finger, especially Melanie.

    “It’s not that great of a story,” Melanie grumbled.

    “You see, we had a plan,” Jennifer continued, ignoring Melanie’s protest. “We were going to have one boy and one girl, and name them Jensen and Jenna. And then along came Melanie.”

    “But surely, with nine months, you could have come up with another Jen name?”

    Jenner and Jennifer both chuckled, “We had about five minutes.”

    Vaughn looked at Melanie for an answer; she shrugged and said, “Jenna and I are twins.”

    That shocked him; he remembered seeing the girl when the two of them had sunbathed on the roof. Jenna had seemed vastly older than Melanie; perhaps not in years but experience. Of course, having heard her history, he could understand the difference. Hearing that Jenna was Melanie’s twin also made him realize that he didn’t know Melanie very well at all, at least not yet. But that was what this month was for – to get to know her.

    Jennifer chortled as she gazed at her youngest daughter, “Melanie was a reminder that even the best laid plans don’t always work out, something we needed to learn. We had to rush around to prepare for a second baby.”

    “And she has kept us on our toes ever since,” Jenner grinned proudly, once again ruffling Melanie’s hair. His smile faded as he turned an assessing eye on Vaughn, “Including bringing home a new boyfriend when we hadn’t realized she’d broken up with her last one.”

    “Dad,” Melanie frowned at her dad’s twisted sense of humor. “I broke up with Peter months ago; you know that.”

    “Well, I’ve always thought Peter was a prick,” Jensen interjected, leaning back in the couch and crossing his arms over his chest. Turning his head towards Vaughn, he narrowed his eyes, “I have yet to decide if you are, too.”

    “Jensen,” Melanie hissed, glaring at her brother. Without taking her eyes off Jensen, she muttered, “Maybe introducing you to the family wasn’t such a great idea after all.”

    Her parents laughed and Vaughn saw the glimmer of laughter in Melanie’s eyes as well. The affection they held for each other was so powerful and he had never known. The hope that had been building inside of him was quickly fading; he couldn’t ask her to give any of this up. Armand was right; this was going to end in heart break. But she was with him now and she loved him and that was enough. Swallowing down the despair, he joined in the laughter, finding that if he ignored his pain, he really liked Melanie’s family.

    The front door opened and closed and Ferris scrambled off Melanie’s lap to greet the newcomer. Melanie stood up as well, smiling down at Vaughn. And since she still held his hand in hers, he stood up as well. Jenna was walking around the corner, her head down as she said, “I saw Melanie’s car in the drive way….”

    Her smile froze as she lifted her head and saw Vaughn standing there. Her gaze quickly assessed the situation, glancing at the joined hands and then flying to Melanie’s face. Jenna’s cheeks were rosy from the cold but grew redder as she met her sister’s eyes. “Is this him?”

    “You knew about him?” Jennifer asked in disbelief and a little bit of hurt.

    The girls had looked similar before, when he had seem them side by side while he was a gargoyle, but now he could see and appreciate the subtle differences, the color of their hair, the shape of their faces, their similar eye color. The sadness in Jenna’s eyes still shadowed her and he could understand Melanie’s wish to see her sister – her twin! – happy again. Ferris stood by her mom, the quintessential little girl, oblivious to the charged atmosphere around her. Hoping to disrupt the tension before it grew, he stepped forward and took Jenna’s hand in his, shaking it instead of bringing it to his mouth for a kiss. “I’m Vaughn.”

    “He’s gonna marry Aunt Mellie,” Ferris beamed and suddenly the room was filled with voices as everyone looked at Melanie and Vaughn and started talking at once.

    “Is this true?” Jenner asked.

    “Why didn’t you tell us?” Jennifer cried

    “Ferris, hush,” Jenna scolded, watching her sister’s face.

    “Are you pregnant?” Jensen asked, effectively silencing the entire group.

    “Oh, dear God,” Jennifer breathed, putting her hand against her forehead and sinking gracefully onto the couch.

    “I’ll kill you,” Jenner growled, taking a step towards Vaughn before Melanie put a restraining hand on his arm and shook her head, her cheeks beet red.

    “Daddy, no,” she cried. Taking a deep breath, still clinging to Vaughn’s hand, she sighed, “I’m not pregnant and we’re not getting married; we told Ferris as much when she asked us that question when we first arrived.”

    “She asked if you were pregnant?” Jenna asked doubtfully.

    Melanie’s face flamed brighter, “No! She asked if we were going to get married but we’re not; we’re just getting to know one another!”

    Vaughn’s gut twisted by the vehemence in her voice when she explained they weren’t getting married; he understood it but he didn’t like it. He wanted her to want to commit to him and if she was this opposed to marriage, she would be even more reluctant to complete the ritual.  Uncomfortable, he slid his hand from hers, not wanting her to realize how much she had discomposed him.

    “But I’ve never seen you look at Peter the way you look at Vaughn,” Ferris cajoled, appearing bewildered as she looked between Melanie and Vaughn. “You love him.”

    “Of course I do, sweetie,” Melanie sighed, exasperated, squatting down so that the two of them were face to face. Taking the little girl’s hands in her own, she smiled at Ferris, “I hope that someday we will get married but we haven’t made those plans yet. Besides,” with a wink towards Vaughn, she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, but loud enough for everyone to hear, “He hasn’t asked me.”

    Vaughn was able to breathe once again and when he looked around at her family, he saw that they were all watching Melanie with quiet awe. Her father met his eyes and he saw… acceptance there. Jenner reached out his hand and solemnly said, “Welcome to the family, son.”

    “Thank you, sir,” Vaughn managed to croak out over the lump in his throat as he shook the man’s hand. It was strange to be called son when he had several hundred years on the man but at the same time, he felt like a child. He had just been welcomed into this wonderful family and they had no idea who or what he was; their daughter loved him and that was enough.