The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) (3 page)

He leaned down and kissed my temple. “It’s easy for you to think that now, honey, because he’s not here.  You won’t know the answer to that for sure until after he comes back.”

“But
I want that to be the answer,” I sobbed.

“I know you do sweetheart, and so do I, believe me, so do I.”

We stayed there the rest of the night, my head in his lap, his hand caressing my hair, his head leaning back against the door.  Finally, after the sun was streaming through the windows on the other side of the room, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. “We really should go to work, honey,” he said.

I nodded my head
. “I know,” I said, “but will you do something for me first?”

“What’s that?” he said.

I turned and looked at him. “Will you make love to me first?  Please?”

He smiled at me
. “That is a question where the answer will always be yes,” he said.  He leaned down, placed his lips on mine, scooped me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom.

Chapter Three

We were showered and ready by nine a.m.  We walked together to the kitchen to grab breakfast and then Matt dropped me at my office.  “Good morning Missy,” he said to my assistant, as he kept his eyes locked on me.

“Good morning Mat
thew,” she said from her desk.

Matt leaned in and tenderly kissed me.  “I love you so much,” I
said when he finally stopped.

“And I love you,” he said
. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

I nodded and forced myself to not cling to him as he turned to leave.
As I walked into my office I said to Missy, “I need to see Billy and Bahiti as soon as possible.”  Billy was my vice president, Bahiti was my finance minister.  I had, surprising to me, been voted in as President after we had forcibly removed the Elders from power after figuring out how corrupt they were. I sat down and then noticed that Missy was hovering near the door.  “Yes Missy?” I said.

“Um, I, u
m, well,” she mumbled as she fidgeted.

I motioned to the chair across from me
. “Missy, please sit and tell me.  It’s okay.”

She hesitated
then moved quickly to the chair. “It’s just that, um, well, I’m sooo sorry about Ramon and I swear I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t.  But I would totally understand if you want to find another assistant.”  She looked down at her hands, waiting for my response.  For a moment I didn’t know what she was talking about and then it dawned on me – she and Ramon had been dating when all of this Malina crap had gone down.

“Missy,” I said, “I know you didn’t know and there isn’t anybody who could measure up to you, so why would I bother?”

“Really?” she said. I watched the relief flood into her.  “Thank you, Sarah.  Thank you so much.”

We stared at each of for a few seconds
.  “Well?”

“Well, what?” she said.

“Bahiti and Billy?” I said.

She jumped out of her chair
. “Oh, yes, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll get them right away.”

They were in my office fifteen minutes later.  “I have an idea that I wanted to run by you two,” I said.

“Sure, Sarah, go ahead,” Billy said.

“I’d like to open up our medical facilities to the villagers.”

“Excuse me?” Billy said.  Bahiti just watched and listened.

“Well, think about it.  We have a state of the art medical facility for a bunch of vampires who rarely need it.  We have top notch doctors, who rotate between here and human hospitals and who were all excellent doctors for humans before they were turned.  Right now, if one of the villagers has an emergency, it’s a two hour flight to the nearest mediocre hospital, and that’s if they can stay alive until the plane gets here.  The kids need immunizations, the adults need routine care.  We have the staff, we have the equipment, we have the money, we have the time, why can’t we?” I said.

They both stared at me. “I think it’s an excellent idea,” Bahiti said.

“Well, of course it’s an excellent idea, but how do we keep it from getting ou
t of control?” Billy asked. “How do we keep the word from getting out, from spreading to the next village and the next, and so on?”

“So, let it,” I said
. “It can only go so far before it doesn’t make sense for them to come here because they’re too far away.”

“I suppose you’re right, Sarah.  But just to be safe, can we do it on a trial basis, reserving the right to shut it down if it becomes too much?” Billy said.

“I can live with that,” I said as a huge grin broke out on my face.

“Okay, Sarah,” Billy said, “this is your baby, run with it.  Just keep us informed regularly, okay?”

“Of course I will,” I said, trying desperately to contain my excitement.  I saw them out then turned to Missy, “I’m going to be in the medical wing the rest of the day, if Matt comes by, will you please let him know?” 

As I rushed out the door, Missy said, “Okay, but is everything alright Sarah?”

“Everything’s great,” I called over my shoulder.  “Better than great.”

I forced myself to slow down before entering the clinic.  As I walked in, Dr.
David Graham looked up.  “David,” I said, “just the person I wanted to see.”

“Hello, Sarah, what can I do for you?” he said.

“I have a proposition for you,” I said.  “Do you have a little time?”

“Of course,” he smiled, “it’s not like I have a lot to do around here.  Please, have a seat.”

As I sat I said, “Actually, what I want to talk to you about has to do with bringing you more work.”

“Why?” he said
. “Do you know of a bunch of injured vampires?”

“Not vampires,” I said, “humans.  I want to have our facilities available to the villagers.”

We spent the next few hours discussing it, and going over the changes we’d have to make – available blood, plasma, drugs and anesthetics, X-ray machines, plaster for casts, surgical instruments.  We made calls to the other two doctors who rotated in the clinic with David: Cameron and Andy.  They were both as enthusiastic as we were.  “I don’t have a medical background, but I’d like to help as much as I can,” I said.

“Oh, absolutely,” David said.

“How soon do you think we can be ready?” I said.

“Well, if I order the equipment within the next two days, and we work really hard, I’m thinking four weeks, six tops.”

And work we did, tirelessly, over the next five weeks.  We added exam rooms, installed new equipment, bought a computer system for patient records, and built a waiting room.  We were exhausted, yet I felt energized, rejuvenated.  I was doing something
good
, something that would help people. We had nothing to fight, but everything to fight for.  This meant something, it was important.  I noticed the change in me almost immediately.  I felt happier, more alive, than I had in months.  I had a purpose, something other than trying to stay alive.  I noticed it, and so did Matt. It rekindled what had been bogged down in all the muck of the last year and a half.  Buried under the stress, the anger, the fear, the pain, the confusion.  Our love for each other threatened to overwhelm my heart again, and that thrilled me to no end. 

We took long midnight strolls in the woods, we laughed, we talked, we found out things about each other than we hadn’t had time to find out before.
And we made love endlessly.  Whenever we had time, and sometimes even when we didn’t. It excited him every time that I linked to him and thought to him,
‘I’ve got ten minutes, meet me in our room?’
He usually never bothered to answer with anything but a growl, which excited the hell out of me.  I barely ever thought of Carlos, and I never reached out to talk to him.  He needed time and I did too.  I missed him terribly, but I wanted to be sure I was missing him for the right reasons.  I wanted to miss my best friend, the one who could always make me smile, always make me laugh, and that would take a little more time, for both of us.

The day before the clinic opened, I asked Matt to join me on a walk through the village.  We put up fliers and talked to a lot of people.  They were all really e
xcited about having the clinic, but not nearly as excited as I was about running it.  And as excited as I was, I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on my life.

I was in the clinic at seven the next morning, and so was everyone else, even though the doors weren’t supposed to open until eig
ht.  We had two doctors on duty, David and Cameron, along with four nurses and Missy’s best friend Tanya at the front desk. A few people arrived early, including a young mother, Carmela, with her two small children.  Her three-year-old boy was due for immunizations and a check-up, but she didn’t have a babysitter, so she had to bring her four-month-old baby girl with her.  I was talking to her when her son tugged on my dress.  I bent down to him, and he pointed to the toys.  “Do you want to play with the toys?” I asked.  He nodded and then put his hand in mine, dragging me over to the play area with him.  My heart sputtered for a second – the last small hand I had held was my son’s– but then he looked up at me with his big, beautiful, brown eyes and smiled.  And I couldn’t help but smile back.  He pulled on my arm and I knew he wanted me down on the carpet next to him.  I sat down crossed-legged as he pointed to the blocks.  I handed some to him and he and I started building, laughing and playing.  His mom came and sat in the chairs next to us, smiling, as she rocked her little one, who had started to fuss. Monica came in then and told her that the doctor was ready to see Juan.  Her little girl was really fussing now. 

She looked at me
. “Would you mind holding Sophia while I take Juan inside?  I don’t want her crying to upset him.” 

I looked at her for half a second then stood up
. “I’d be happy to,” I said and I held my arms out.  I put Sophia’s head on my shoulder and began rocking back and forth and bouncing on my knees, just like I used to do for Scotty, but hadn’t done since.  I quietly hummed to her, and it wasn’t long before her fussing stopped. I sat down in the chair and placed her on my legs.  She stared at me and began cooing, and then she smiled.  It started to dawn on me that room around me was completely silent.  I looked up and saw that every face in the room was staring at me.  Tanya, Cameron, Lisa, Sandy… and Matt.  I smiled at him, “Come meet my friend, Sophia,” I said.  As he walked over I asked, “Why is everyone staring at me?” 

Matt looked at the others and said, “I think we’re all in awe right now, this little one was fussing like there’s no tomorrow, and in the space of about thirty seconds you had her smiling.  We could all feel how natural this was for you, how perfect you are at it.”  They all nodded and I blushed.  Matt was standing in front of me, so I cradled the baby in my arms and stood so I could lean into him.  He stuck his pinky out so she could grab onto it.  When she did, he beamed.  “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” he whispered.  I nodded but couldn’t speak. 

I suddenly had an image in my head that couldn’t possibly happen – an image of us as a family, of Matt and me as parents, raising a child together.  That might have been an option before I was changed, but not anymore, was it? Of course it wasn’t.  Vampires can’t have children – and they sure don’t live in an environment where they can raise them if they adopt.  But it sure felt nice right now.  If only for a few minutes, it felt so right to feel like a family.  I leaned up and kissed Matt on the cheek.  He smiled at me and pressed his head against mine, all the while keeping his eyes on Sophia, who was now smiling at him and cooing.  Suddenly Juan appeared from around the corner, followed closely by Carmela.  Juan was carrying a sucker and looking at the Band-Aid on his arm.  I could see tears in his eyes.

I bent down to him
. “Wow, you are such a brave boy,” I said and he turned and beamed at me, his tears and pain instantly vanishing. I stood and handed Sophia to Carmela, smiling.  “She’s a beautiful baby.” I stepped back and felt Matt’s hand as he placed it in mine.

The rest of the day flew by, and I loved every second of it.  Everyone in the village was taking full advantage of not having to travel hours to see a doctor.  When I finally left at eight that night and made my way to our room, I was exhausted and beaming.  Matt was waiting for me, arms wide, a smile on his face, but
with sadness in his eyes that I saw immediately.  I took my favorite place in his arms then asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, you caught that, did you?” he said
. “I should’ve known you would.”  I looked up at him as he went on. “I’m just sorry that I took that away from you,” he said.

“Took what away from me?” I said, completely confused.

“Sarah, if you had stayed human, you could have had more children someday.  I feel awful that I took that away from you.”

I smiled at him
. “Matt, the only person I would ever want to have a child with is you, and since that was never a possibility, you didn’t take anything away from me.  I have no regrets for becoming what I am today, no regrets at all.”