The Moon's Light

Chapter Thirty-Four

Aisling continued to grow like a weed. It almost seemed like she was growing too quickly sometimes. She had bad days of course, but overall she was an energetic little thing that loved to please. Unless she was with Juliette's new son, Malcolm. The two of them were developing a love/hate relationship.

I shoved my food around on my plate, thinking hard. Katty and Jason were talking happily about Jason's work. Things had been going well for him recently and he was reaping the benefits. I supposed this was the closest I would ever see of a normal life. Where the most stressful things to worry about were jobs and money. Where the most precious things were family and friends.

Aisling scraped her plate clean and happily showed me. A smile grew on my face as she began to chatter in a mix of English and French about how she was a good girl and deserved dessert. She regarded my plate and told me I had better finish if I was going to have dessert too. I chuckled and obediently put a bite in my mouth, making Aisling grin and giggle.

I chewed and swallowed as Aisling turned to her mother and repeated her worthiness of sweets. Katty listened with a calm pride in our daughter. Jason got up to go to the kitchen and his hand brushed across my shoulders as he passed behind me.

I stared after him for a long moment, then turned back to my dinner with a happy warmth in my chest. And then I froze, realizing what I was feeling. I was happy. Truly and utterly happy. Not just content or surviving. I had achieved the one thing I had assumed I would never get.

A sense of loss began to dig away at my happiness as I looked around the table and realized the fragility of it all. Not of them. They would be here for a long time. More of myself. I was the one who would grow old and die. I was the one who had a life span that was moving along. I knew I wasn't in the peak of health anymore, and while Jason and Katty might be so much older they might as well have been young for all the energy they still had.

I had never been ashamed to be human. I still wasn't ashamed. But I didn't want to let them go just yet. And I knew they would hold onto me until the day I died but how hard would it be for them? How much love could they muster up when I was a wrinkled old man that needed constant attention? Would they still want to kiss me, as passionately as they did now? Or would it just be too awkward?

"What are you thinking about Max?"

My head jerked up at Katty's curious tone. She smiled at me, her chin propped on her hand as she regarded me with fondness. I set my fork down and sat back in my chair. "I was just thinking I'm happy."

Katty brightened. "Isn't that a good thing? You look worried."

I dropped my gaze into my plate. "I was also thinking that maybe, I wouldn't stay that way for much longer. I mean, what are we going to do when I'm old and people think I'm your grandfather or something? It's just going to get more and more awkward."

Jason set an ice cream sundae in front of Aisling before retaking his seat. "I'm afraid that's just part of loving a human. There was a woman I was in love with once. Seems like forever ago now. She was gorgeous. Thick dark hair down to her waist. Soft curves. Flawless tanned skin. And these brown eyes you could get lost in. I was in love the moment I laid eyes on her. She took a little more convincing."

I glanced at Katty, wondering if there would be any jealousy. She was just quietly watching him remember a past love, her gaze almost going through him as she listened to his story.

"We had been together for almost two years when I decided to tell her what I really was. She legitimately tried to kill me. Rang my bell with a frying pan and broke a wooden spoon into a make-shift stake. She had the point above my heart when she stopped. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment, staring up at this woman of my dreams, full of dark fire. Then she tossed the spoon and kissed me so passionately. I guess she figured if she could almost kill me and I still wouldn't hurt her, I could be trusted."