Forever Freed by Laura Kaye

Author:Laura Kaye [Kaye, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 1601549326
Google: f-atZwEACAAJ
Amazon: B00DSP7AA2
Goodreads: 18170019
Publisher: Laura Kaye
Published: 2011-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

After a moment, Henrietta simply replied, “For Robert, Robby, and Lucretia.” “For Joseph and Thomas,” Jed said quietly.

“For our parents and brother,” Catherine said.

Rebecca nodded.

“Maggie.” William looked to Griffin.

“Charlotte and the children,” he said.

“I would like to remember my parents,” Anna said shyly.

It had come around to me. Samantha squeezed my hand under the table. Catherine braced for the onslaught. “For Lena, Isabetta, and Joe.”

Two waves of surprise hit me. First, from Catherine, who was surprised because my saying their names hadn’t been accompanied by the wave of pain she expected. Second, from Samantha, because I had included her father among my loved ones. A tear stole down her cheek closest to me. I wiped it away.

I picked up my wine glass, which Henrietta had already filled. “To our loved ones.” Everyone raised and clinked glasses with those nearest them, repeating my toast in a chorus before bringing their glass to their lips.

“Please, everyone, dig in,” Griffin said ceremoniously. A chuckle went around the table.

I handed the bowls to Samantha first, who fixed her and Ollie’s plates. Ollie studied Henrietta with interest as she filled her plate with food. Henrietta looked at me. I shrugged.

Everyone kept an eye on what and how much Samantha was putting on her plate. Before long, the turkey, gravy, dressing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and corn bread had circled the table. This much food went back to the old days of our food dares. I knew the men were thinking of that as well.

The good news was Samantha was hungry. She seemed to have more of an appetite tonight than I’d seen in months. The bad news was Samantha was hungry. People kept making alternately funny, annoyed, and incredulous faces at me when Samantha wasn’t looking.

The conversation was great. Samantha told animated stories about Ollie’s antics, which Ollie added to by narrating her own versions of the stories. Ollie also entertained everyone by telling jokes. She was so earnest in her telling everyone laughed at them. Catherine regaled us with stories of her travels. Samantha mentioned our trip to see Phantom of the Opera and unintentionally set off a fifteen-minute debate about which was the best Broadway musical. Since they lived relatively close to New York City, they availed themselves of the theater frequently and all had strong opinions.

Samantha laughed at how passionate they were in defending their choices.

As Samantha finished, Anna abruptly excused herself from the table. I didn’t know exactly where she went, but it was close enough for the vampires to hear her lose her dinner. Everyone laughed.

Samantha looked at me questioningly. I distracted her with a kiss.

As everyone rose from the table to help clean up, William went to check on Anna. No one was surprised she was the first one out. She was the youngest and therefore the least used to ingesting human food.

Once we’d cleared the table, several of us congregated in the kitchen to wash the dishes and put everything away. Ollie performed Christmas carols for the others in the great room and every so often we’d hear them clap or join in.

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