A Baby With No Dad

Chapter Sixteen

“Bree?” Elizabeth whispered the next day.

“Meet your niece… Rosalie Hampton.” I smiled.

“Wasn’t that Eli’s sister’s name?” She whispered and I nodded.

“I think he’ll like the name. Of course I’ll call her Rose.” I added. “His sister always made people call her Rosalie.”

“I think it’s perfect.” Austin promised me.

“Would you like to hold her Elizabeth?” I asked.

“No.” Elizabeth shook her head and I flinched.

“Her arm is bothering her today.” Austin told me and Elizabeth shot him a nasty look.

“You promised me that you wouldn’t tell her.” She warned him.

“Bug.” I sighed reaching for her after I switched Rose to one arm. “Come down here.” I told her and she sat on the edge of the bed. “You can’t hide from me when you are hurting.”

“You always did.” She told me and I flinched.

“I didn’t know that you knew about that.” I whispered.

“I woke up one night when you were hurting… it was the only time I’ve seen you cry. Except for during these games.” She added slowly.

“I had to take care of you Lizy. You don’t have to take care of me.” I promised her pulling her over more into the bed so that she was sitting beside me. “I need to know when you are hurting.” I told her and she nodded.

“Yes Sissy.” She promised and I smiled.

“Now how is your arm right now?” I asked.

“It’s fine for now.” She promised and moved away when I handed her Rose.

“Bug?” I started, “You don’t have to worry about hurting her. As long as you are sitting down beside me when your arm starts to hurt you can hand her straight to me but I don’t want you to let this pain mess up your life.” I warned her and she sat down carefully taking Rose in her arms.

“What will happen to her?” Elizabeth whispered to me.

“When she’s seventeen Eli said she will change.” I explained and she nodded.

“So she will be safe?” I nodded but looked down at the baby that looked months old.

“She is aging faster than the babies did in the old days.” Nurse whispered but looked at Elizabeth. “It’s like she’s been given the growth hormones we give Elizabeth.”

“Could it be that we conceived her before my change?” I whispered, “Eli didn’t know what it would change about her that I went through my change with her in me.”

“I would like to run some tests.” Nurse nodded and I nodded slowly, “I’d also like to run tests on you because no other vampire has to have human nutrition to survive also. It’s almost like Rosalie took some of your vampire change leaving you some human.”

“So I’m like what… half human half vampire?”

“I will know more after Ethan runs the tests on your blood.” Nurse promised and I nodded so she quickly took vials of our blood.

“She has your eyes.” Elizabeth whispered to me and I smiled looking down at her gray eyes.

“I was hoping she would.” I smiled, “Did I ever tell you that Daddy’s eyes were that color?” I asked her and she shook her head.

“You’ve never told me about Mom and Dad.” She whispered and I nodded before putting an arm around her and pulling her into my side.

“I regret that.” I admitted, “I shouldn’t have let my guilt and pain stop me from giving you parts of your parents.” I told her and then took her locket and opened it.

“I didn’t know that it opened.” She whispered and I nodded but she looked down and saw why I’d never shown her before how to open it.

“Those are your parents.” I told her quietly, “Mom was pregnant with you in the picture. They liked to say that it was our first family portrait. Mom always wore it around her neck and the Mayor gave it to me after they’d cleaned up the mess from the fire. It was hardly messed up. I tried to burn it once because I knew I didn’t deserve it but it’s fireproof. I gave it to you the next day and you’ve always worn it.” I smiled a little, “You look more like Mom. I think.” She just kept staring at the picture and then she looked at me.

“I’m inside Mom here?” She whispered.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“What was she like?”

“She was so much better than I ever will be. She used to hold me and run her hands through my hair when I was upset and every morning she would fix our hair. After she died I didn’t take down my hair for three months. It was even longer before I even brushed it. She was the most loving person you will ever meet. Every Saturday she would take some of our food and give it to those who needed it more than us. She never put you down. I remember that when Daddy was home he would have to fight in order to even get to take you to town with us. You were her little mini me and I was Daddy’s. You were in daycare the day of the fire but I had been up all night begging them to let me stay home from school. Daddy was supposed to leave again that afternoon… he worked for the government… and Mom had sided with me because she knew just how much I missed him when he was gone. I would cry a lot when he was gone and so Mom thought that if I got to spend a little more time with him before he left it would help.” I took a deep breath realizing that I had to tell her everything else about that day. “Dad agreed but told me that I had to help on the farm that it wouldn’t be a vacation day for me and so I stayed right next to him pulling weeds. The fire started about an hour before he had to leave and it quickly took everything. He picked me up when the fire caught on my clothes. I screamed for Mom the entire time he ran through the fields to get me to safety. When he put me down in the safe range he told me that I had to go find you and take you by the fountain. He said that he’d go find Mom and then meet us there. On my way to find you I dropped and a girl…” I trailed off and looked at Rose. “I think it was Selina.” I whispered and she looked up confused, “I think it was Selina that helped get me to the fountain and then went to get you because I couldn’t walk anymore. That doesn’t make sense though because Eli said that his whole family died in that fire…” Selina was another one of Eli’s sisters.

“What are you talking about Bree?” She whispered.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll talk to Simon later about it. Anyway the girl carried you to me and then the next day we went to the town hall and the government gave us the money. I tried to spread it out but it only lasted us a couple years and so during those years I focused on using the skills that Dad taught me and farm and then Austin came and helped me learn to hunt and gather and helped me take care of you.”

“What was Dad like?” She whispered.

“He was always smiling and laughing. His laugh was one of those booming laughs that you can hear from a mile away. He was smart and when he was home he constantly had us by his side. He called me his little girl and you were his bug.”

“You call me bug.” She commented and I nodded.

“Mom hated that we called you bug. She said that you were a person not a pest but Daddy would always back it up with the fact that you were so small. See you were born early and the first time I saw you I asked Daddy if you were a giant bug. He explained to me that you were just born early and that you would grow bigger and bigger until you were as big as me and then as big as Mom. I started to study more at that. I would study anything I could get hold of deciding that I would be the big sister that could answer any question you might ever have and Daddy would always laugh when I explained it to him. Mom loved the fact that for the first time in my life I was showing an interest in learning though and so she would get me any book she found on a study and we would go through it together while Daddy was working.” I took a break and then continued realizing just how much she wanted to know our parents. “Daddy was huge. He was the strongest and tallest man I had ever seen and nothing ever worried him he would just fix anything that was wrong. I wanted to be like him when I grew up and he would teach me everything about the woods and animals. He was the best farmer you could ever know. He was loving. He loved you, Bug. They both loved you so much. I wish you could have known them. I wish I had gone to school that day.”

“The reason you went into the Choosing again this year…” She started handing me Rose. “It’s because you still feel guilty about staying home that day?”

“Yes.” I whispered and looked at her, “I’m sorry Lizy. I didn’t know that staying home would mean you losing your parents. If I had gone to school that day then you would have at least Daddy.”

“You didn’t know Bree.” She whispered, “You didn’t know that the fire would happen. You just wanted to be with Dad.” She promised but then I heard the door open and turned gasping when I saw the person in the door.

“Bree?” Elizabeth whispered. “Bree?” She asked again and I saw that she had her locket open.

“Daddy?” I whispered and he ran over wrapping his arms around the three of us.

“I wasn’t allowed to go back to the state.” He was explaining a few hours later. “Your mom was already gone when I got back to the fire but there was a portal in it and I thought the government had put it in so that we could escape. It brought me here though and they told me that I wasn’t allowed to go get you either. There are a lot of us from the fire here.” He stopped for a second and just took us in his arms again but then Rose started crying and I smiled pulling away and rocking her gently.

“Daddy?” I whispered, “This is Rosalie. Your grandchild.” He smiled some at that and I handed her to him. “I have to go get her bottle.” I explained, “And Lizy’s arm is hurting.” He didn’t say anything he just held Rose and then looked up at Elizabeth.

“I think about me holding you like this every day, Bug.” He whispered and she suddenly had tears running down her face. I watched Dad pull her into his arms and hold her in the arm that he wasn’t holding the crying Rose in and I wished that Eli was here to help me understand. I took the bottle of formula preparing to fight with Rosalie to drink it. She hated the stuff but Ethan told me she had to get something human in her. I suddenly put down the bottle and reached into the fridge taking a juice out and putting it in the bottle.

“Okay Rose…” I smiled taking her and walking around the room, “It’s a new human food.” I promised and she looked up at me. She put her hand on my neck though and I smiled as she asked what it was. “It’s juice.” I told her, “Try.” I requested and she opened her mouth.

“She’s smart.” Dad said coming over and I looked over to the bed to find Elizabeth asleep. “They gave her some pain medicine.” He explained and I nodded.

“They have no clue about her. I changed during the pregnancy and they think she got some of my change leaving me partly human. We both need both blood and human food to survive.” I explained.

“Where’s Eli?” He asked me and I looked at him, “They open a portal once a month so that we can see our families and check on them. I managed to get them to keep the portals open during both Choosings.” He pulled me into his arms, “I was so scared, Bree.” He whispered and I smiled.

“Eli was too.” I promised him and he tightened his hold. “Eli was captured during the trip.” I whispered, “They don’t know where he is.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Something that you should have done for us.” I whispered, “I’m going to save him.”

“I tried Bree.” He whispered but looked at me when I pulled away again, “Why do you keep pulling away from my hold?”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” I admitted. I didn’t understand but I hated him. I had hidden it from Elizabeth but she was asleep now so the ice came out. “I don’t want you to touch me again and I don’t want you to talk to me. I will be civil for Elizabeth but… my parents are dead.” I told him and then I carried Rose out of the hospital and found Austin. “Elizabeth will need you.” I told him and he looked at my face, “Dad is here. He’s been here.” I told him and he held me.

“You’ll forgive him one day.” He promised.

“I don’t get it Austin. I should be happy but all I feel is hate.” I whispered and he nodded.

“That’s understandable. I would explain it to you but I know you won’t listen to anybody but Eli so instead I’m going to help you get him.”

“What will I do with Rose?” I whispered.

“Leave her here with Elizabeth.” He told me but then suddenly something clicked.

“They are aging her in order to change her. That means…” I trailed off.

“The older she gets physically and mentally… the hormones are aging her both ways… well my feelings are changing Bree. At first when they told me within the next year we would be married it kind of sickened me because I still felt like her older brother protector but now…”

“You are excited.” I whispered.

“I want your permission for this, Bree. They don’t require permission from the guardian here but… it’s important to me that I know that you are okay with this.”

“I’m not okay with it but… I know from experience that she will need this.”

“Experience?”

“Another secret.” I whispered, “Sometimes it wasn’t nightmares that woke me up screaming it was pain. I got it where I could deal with it when I was awake because I had warning then and could prepare myself mentally but at night…”

“There’s no warning.” Austin nodded. “You were hurt more than you told anybody in the fire.”

“The government just got rid of everybody hurt more than a few scars. I couldn’t leave Elizabeth alone. Apparently our father could.” I snapped and he sighed but just touched Rose’s face and she lifted her hand to my neck again. Nobody else could seem to see her thoughts when she did this to them but it was a special connection we had and I was glad we had it.

She was worried about my mood and I smiled lovingly down to her.

“I’m just upset.” I promised her.

Why?

“I miss your daddy.”

Daddy?

“I’ll get him back for you.” I promised her and looked at Austin. “Where are Simon and Ethan?”

“You’ll need Daniel, Callie, and Chelsea also. Phillip probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

“I’ll take everybody but…” I trailed off remembering Eli’s warning. “Fine.” I sighed and he nodded leading me into the meeting room.