One Hundred and Thirty-one

“Eudom?” Bram asked, pulling the robe from around his shoulders, he draped it over Izabella’s.

Eudom clapped happily. “I’m sorry. Eudom came too soon. We didn’t watch, we swear. But we couldn’t wait! We made it! This is it!”

“This is what, Eudom?” Izabella asked, pressing against Bram as she pulled the robe around her. He was still inside her, but by the way his hands clamped on her waist, he wasn’t ready for her to move.

Those red eyes narrowed at them, “Eudom is interrupting, yes?”

“You definitely are, Eudom.” Bram deadpanned. “But I assume something happened that got you really excited.”

“Yes. Rosie. You just made Rosie.” Izabella’s head whipped around, looking at Bram with shock and joy. “Eudom is sorry. We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We’ll leave.”

“It’s okay, Eudom.” Bram said as he slid out of her. Kissing her cheek, she got the que. Sliding off him, she pulled away, wrapping the robe around her more tightly. “So, we can have Rosie back now?” He asked, clearly not having the energy to pull himself out of the chair. Izabella noticed that a drip of blood was coming from the bandage. She needed to change that before they laid down. Her chest tightening with the thought that she was too careless.

“Soon. Soon. Yes.”

“Wait.” Izabella looked up at Eudom. “Do you have to take her?”

Eudom froze. His eyes slowly turning to look at her with mountains of confusion in them. “Carrying a vampire could harm my Izzy. It always does.” Eudom’s head cocked to the side, not like a human’s would, more like turning upside down with a twist.

Bram immediately whipped his head around to look at her.

“I want to try to carry Rosie.” Eudom was already shaking his head. “If it becomes dangerous, you can always do what you need to. But I want to *try*. Eudom, please. I want to have my baby.” She couldn’t just ignore Bram’s nakedness though. When she dropped a blanket on him, he pulled it over his lap, nodding at her in appreciation.

Shaking his head, Eudom turned away. This was not normal behavior. They didn’t show their back to anyone. “Izzy cannot get mad at Eudom if I have to.”

“I promise. I promise, Eudom.” Izabella clutched at her robe. “I trust you. Please, if I can have this, I really, really want it.” When her arms wrapped around Eudom’s shoulders, Bram looked shocked.

“I will give you the time I can.”

That would have to be enough. “Thank you!” She squeezed him tighter.

Eudom’s smile made her anxious. “I love you, my Izzy. Eudom just doesn’t want our Izzy to get hurt. But we will try to make you happy if we can.” As Izabella’s arms dropped from around Eudom’s shoulders, he disappeared.

“We need to go to bed.” She looked over at Bram. “And we need to change that bandage.”

His side was oozing. Bram glanced at it for a moment, then looked back into her eyes. “We probably do.” When his eyes landed on her, she could only smile. He was tired. The bed was ready a moment later. Quilt pulled down. It was hard to get him out of the chair. Once he was up, he stumbled toward the bed. “I guess from now on we should have sex with all the lights on. Eudom about gave me a damn heart attack.”

After changing the bandage and tucking Bram in, Izabella crawled in beside him, laying her head on his shoulder. “They wouldn’t have come in here if they weren’t so excited. I don’t think they fully understands how awkward it was. I’m pretty sure they don’t have sex.”

“Have you talked to them about it before?” Bram asked, rubbing circles over her shoulder as she relaxed into him.

“Not so much, but they’ve asked questions. I think they’re more interested in the idea of love itself. They’re not particularly touchy feely and get awkward when I do touch them. At least sometimes. Didn’t you see how they left as soon as I hugged them?” Izabella sighed, but their conversation dissipated from there as they both fell asleep.

Izabella was the first awake in the morning. She invited Jerome, Bram’s driver, in for an early breakfast and was thankful when he offered to get the van. He drove over packed with their luggage. He was always willing to go above and beyond for them and she appreciated him to no end. Once everything else was underway, she brought Bram food in bed, but he insisted on Eudom joining him in the room and asked Izabella to give them a few minutes alone. Of course, she complied. Just before leaving the kids said their goodbyes to Eudom too. Devon was especially attached to them. She was glad though. Eudom needed more people who cared about them. Eudom blushed as Izabella kissed them on the cheek. “We’ll see you soon. We love you.”

“We love you too, Izzy. Take care of our Bram and Devon.” His intense gaze landed on Bram, panned to Devon, and then back again. “Bram, Devon, you both take care of my Izzy too.”

There was always a twitch in Bram’s eye every time Eudom called her *my Izzy*, and it made her giggle. She knew he was jealous, but he let it slide for Eudom’s sake. From there, things just got worse. Bram was stubborn and angry. Likely because being anywhere in public had always made him anxious, but she wondered if their last outing and made it worse. Anytime anyone got close to him, he snapped at them. Jerome had tried to convince him that for his own sake, he should let Izabella push him in a wheelchair, but his pride wasn’t about to let that happen. They did take a cart most of the way, but there was no helping standing in line for security, became Bram sure wasn’t about to use the handicap area to make things easier. A man like him probably had ways of getting through this stuff on a normal day without issue, but he wasn’t willing to, and Izabella couldn’t understand why. She hated seeing him like this.

They did all have first class seats. However, the guy that ended up sitting in front of the three monkeys on the flight was an entitled punk who turned around and yelled at them every chance he got. He clearly had money, and wasn’t afraid to show it off. Even threating to have the kids thrown off the plane. That had gone over swell. Izabella had been terrified that Bram was going to fight the guy. And, grant it, he was hurt, but she didn’t have a doubt in her mind that he could kill the kid if he really tried. He made it a point that he really wanted to. What made it worse was that when she switched the kids, he even gave Sarah and Devon a hard time. That nearly broke the camels back. Bram looked scarier than the day she’d met him, and that was saying something. Especially when that crazed look had lit his eyes after she’d given herself a bloody nose. Izabella sighed, remembering it. She’d had no idea what she was in for at that time. But she was glad. She liked being where she was at now.

The layovers were rough. Landing in Transylvania was a godsend finally. It was a long ride to the castle, but this is finally where Bram seemed capable of resting. He leaned back in his chair, resting his eyes. As they walked into the castle, Bram seemed uneasy. Scarlet was there, ready to pull Tom away from the crew to help her husband as soon as possible. Bram was having none of it, insisting on letting the priest rest and get settled before working. As he kissed Izabella on the cheek, he excused himself for a bit to speak with his mother privately. She wasn’t surprised. He was likely giving her the run down of how he would kill them if anyone in his family, including his friends, were hurt. He wasn’t going to let Tom go off on his own with them, and for that she was grateful. She didn’t trust Scarlet or Vlad much either.

She was surprised when Devon was called into the room a few minutes later. When that happened, Bram was actually smiling. When his eyes met hers, he only held up a finger, letting her know it would be another moment. She didn’t mind. The kids were looking around. This time, they were all much more comfortable with being here. Last time it was a bit of a reality shock for everyone. Especially after everything else that had happened to them around the same time. When they finally came out, Scarlet was allowed to go around to everyone and give them hugs and kisses. Izabella was her first choice, throwing her arms wide with a loud welcome.

“Can I take Devon with me to see his Grandpa? Dad’s been dying to see him again.”

This was enough to make Bram’s smile fail all over again. Izabella couldn’t help but wonder if he really wanted to fix things with Vlad like he was doing with Scarlet and just didn’t know how? But Izabella knew better than to ask. He would deny it until the day he drew his last breath, so there was no point.

“No, Scarlet. We’re all going to get settled together. Either later today or tomorrow morning I’ll go with Tom and Devon and we’ll see him then. Oh, and Iz, the kids will be staying in their own apartments this time. We’ll have my old room, still. But now we get the bed.” He smiled as he rejoined her, touching the side of her face.

“I don’t know, that couch carries some good memories.” She giggled back.

“Oh…” He laughed, “oh, it really does.” He leaned in kissing her deeply. Scarlet was nearly jumping in excitement as she watched them. All the kids turned away, rolling their eyes. “Maybe would just stay on the couch and relive that.”

Izabella couldn’t help but giggle. “We’ll talk about that later. I felt really bad about your side the night before we left.”

Bram looked at her, completely unimpressed. “I loved last night. Though, I admit, I would have preferred Eudom not to come when they did. But I was excited about the news. Have you told the kids yet?” Izabella shook her head, “Good, please,” he took her hands in his, kissing her knuckles, “don’t yet. We have time, and I’d like to do it at a specific point. In the very near future, so don’t worry.”

“Okay. I can wait.” She leaned in, placing a quick kiss on his lips. “Alright, everyone, lets go get settled in a rest up a bit. I’m exhausted.”