“So why didn’t you just go off and find your own life?”
“Without a vampire’s blood, I would grow old and die. I wanted neither of those things.”
“Well, at least you won’t grow old now.”
Roberto’s grimace deepened.
“I was trying to look at the bright side.” Samantha hesitated, then asked, “Why didn’t you just ask him to make you into a vampire?”
“I was angry, impatient, and wanted to hurt him for destroying the life we had built. I also knew he was opposed to making fledglings. Maybe Cian wouldn’t have completely abandoned me. I don’t know. But I also didn’t want to depend on him to make the choice for me.”
“So you betrayed him even though you had a super-long friendship.”
“There is only so long you can cling to the past.”
“And now you’re dead.”
“And I won’t grow old,” Roberto said with a sardonic smile.
The door opened. The light spilled in from the hallway to illuminate Jeff’s startled look.
“It’s not what you think,” Roberto said swiftly.
“My girlfriend is laying down the law on your ghostly ass?”
Roberto frowned. “An automatic response from my...living days.”
“You were such a whore, weren’t you?” Samantha rolled her eyes. It felt strange to be locking horns with Roberto again, but in a weird way she had missed him. He had been a part of her life for nearly a year, then had suddenly been gone.
“Yes, yes, I was,” Roberto said, his voice filled with longing.
“Eww.”
“Do you mind taking your ghostly ass out of my bedroom?” Jeff pointed at the doorway.
Roberto’s hollow eyes menacingly darkened.
“Go patrol, Roberto,” Samantha said, waving her hand at the apparition. “You’re not welcome in the bedroom anymore.”
One second the ghost was beside her, the next he was in the hallway. With a grunt, Roberto blurred into a smear of darkness and was gone.
“Can everyone else see him, too?” Jeff asked, entering and shutting the door behind him. “Or is Cian’s blood still affecting me?”
“Oops. Pulling the plug,” Samantha answered, internally disconnecting her thread of magic from Roberto so he would fade. “He’s invisible again.”
Sitting next to her, Jeff fastened one of his sweet looks on her, his hand sliding over her fingers. “I wanted to talk to you about something. It’s serious.”
Samantha set her iPad aside with her other hand. “Those words make me a little scared.”
“Well, I’m a little scared, too, but I really need to talk to you about this. Especially after tonight, seeing you like that. It was amazing, but scary.”
“Are you sure this isn’t a bad talk?” Samantha’s stomach coiled into a tight knot. If Jeff was going to dump her, she didn’t know how she’d deal with it. She really loved him, but she was evolving into something that even scared her a little. Maybe he couldn’t hack the change.
“I don’t think it’s a bad talk. Of course, you might think it is.” Jeff sighed.
“Jeff, just tell me what is going on.”
With a sigh, Jeff nodded his head. “Okay. Here we go.”
When her boyfriend drew out a small platinum ring with a single diamond, Samantha literally stopped breathing.
“This is my mom’s. It’s been in my family a long time. Before my dad died he said to give it to the woman I loved. That’s you.” Jeff held out the ring.
“You’re just going to give me a diamond ring? As a gift?” Samantha was dizzy not only with the whirl of emotions inside of her, but because she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
Jeff’s eyebrows drew together. “No, no. It’s not a gift. I’m asking you to marry me.”
“But you didn’t really ask,” Samantha pointed out.
“Oh, yeah.” Jeff hesitated, then lifted the ring. “Sam, will you marry me?”
“No! Wait! Is this because we’re going to die?” Samantha had already made a mistake once when answering ‘yes’ to a marriage proposal and she wasn’t about to get married for the wrong reason.
“Not the answer I hoped for.”
“Is it?” Samantha pressed one hand to her wildly beating heart. “Because we’re going to die?”
Jeff adamantly shook his head, his floppy hair getting messier. “No! No. Well, sort of. Not really.”
“Well?”
“Look, Sam. This is the thing. I love you. I love you being in my house with me. It feels right. I want this to be our home together. And, yes, the thought that we might die in a few months scares me enough to compel me to say things that I might have talked myself into waiting on. You know, waiting for the perfect moment. Yet, there might not be one. A perfect moment.” Jeff was flummoxed. “I’m doing this all wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sure Cian did this much better.”
Samantha stared at the ring in his hand and watched it gradually go out of focus as tears welled. Cian had done it perfectly with a carriage ride, tons of red roses, champagne, a proposal on one knee, and a whopper of a ring. It had all been a charade. Jeff’s floundering proposal had her breathless, speechless, and stunned.
“I forgot to get down on one knee,” Jeff muttered. “Okay, this was probably a bad idea. I’m doing this all wrong. Maybe I should try again later?”
Wagging her head, Samantha managed to say, “No.”
“No?” Jeff visibly deflated.
“I mean, no, don’t ask me later.” Samantha grabbed his wrist before he could draw away. “Not don’t ask me. I mean. Yes.”
Jeff squinted at her. “Okay. Lost.”
“Yes. Let’s get married.” The second the words left her lips, Samantha burst into tears.
“I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Jeff reached out to draw her close.
Behind them, Beatrice meowed with irritation, trying to sleep.
“I’m crying because I’m happy.”
Despite all the insanity in her life, Samantha was sure that she wanted to be with Jeff. No matter what supernatural weirdness was occurring within her or around them, Jeff was her stalwart supporter. He believed so entirely in her, loved her so completely, that she couldn’t imagine not having him at her side. She loved him in a way that brought her an incredible amount of peace. She wasn’t afraid of sharing her future with him, even if it did end disastrously for both of them. As long as she was with him, whatever was left of her life would be worth living.
“Oh, thank God. I know I’m doing this all wrong, but I’m a little frazzled.” Jeff pressed his lips to her hands, then slipped the ring on the wrong finger.
With a little smile, Samantha switched the ring to the proper one. “Engagement finger,” she explained, wiggling her digits. “Marriage finger is the opposite hand.”
“Oh.” Jeff grinned. “I’ve never been engaged before.”
Samantha clutched his trembling hands tightly. “I was, but it was totally not with the right guy.”
To her surprise, Jeff’s eyes were wet with unshed tears. “Samantha, I’m so glad you found me that day at the Spiderhouse. Life has been so incredible since that day. Just being around you makes me so happy. I love you so much, honey.”
Wiping away his tears, then her own, Samantha pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “I love you. You make me happy.”
“I’m doing this because I love you. Yeah, the whole end of the world thing speeded it up a little, but I would have done it anyway.”
Samantha snuggled into him as they fell back on the mattress together. Beatrice hissed and haughtily hopped down off the bed.
“I would have said yes anyway.” Samantha held up her hand so the lamplight could catch the sparkle of the diamond.