Chapter 2: Chapter 2 I DO

Scarlet was excited about getting back to the beach, she waited with their bags as Stephan rented a car for them to use that weekend. She was excited, tomorrow was going to be the third anniversary of her marriage to Stephan.

She had a feeling of novelty when she thought about her anniversary. It was starting afresh, a chance for her to get to know her husband all over again, a chance to fall in love once more.

She missed her son, but she knew in two days she would be seeing him. He had managed to corner her when Kayla wasn’t around and by the time she got back she had said yes to hundreds of things, one of them was his trip to San Francisco to join them on Monday.

She thought it would be a good chance for her to take him to her parents’ grave. He had never had to deal with death before and wouldn’t, considering everyone he knew was immortal. He was going to fly with the twins; she didn’t think it would be wise to leave him unsupervised, although Vincent wasn’t much of an authoritarian.

“Ready to go?” Stephan picked up both their bags.

“Sure. Where to?” she held on to his arm as they walked out of the airport.

“To pick up the car at their garage, then to the beach.” The thought of being alone with her, under the swirling lights of the moon and the stars and the ocean air, made him giddy.

“I reserved the tickets for the boys; I booked them in first class. Fewer people around, I don’t want SJ to be uncomfortable.” Scarlet was still thinking about her son’s second trip without her.

The first was when he flew to Argentina with Solara, to stop his father from destroying a whole race of beasts.

“He’ll be fine.” He could sense her nervousness, “Solara and Kayla are happy about having the house to themselves.”

“I know what that means.” Scarlet giggled. “I was thinking that maybe after visiting Iris we could take SJ to my parents’ graves.”

“That’s a great idea. I wish I had something to show him of his heritage.” Stephan had nothing from his past except his memories.

“He doesn’t need anything old, he’s already got you.” Scarlet joked.

“I thought his jaw would drop when we told him I was over three hundred years old.” Stephan laughed at the memory.

That day SJ stared at him as he had just landed from another planet. He kept on asking him if he was sure of his birth year.

Scarlet laughed, “It was incredible how he kept on looking at you. It took a while before he stopped calling you an old man.”

“I am an old man.”

They got into the jeep and drove towards the bay area. The scenery as they sped towards the bridge brought back memories. Stephan suggested that they dropped by Joany’s and she refused, just as she had the previous year.

She was determined to put the past behind her to allow her new life a chance to survive. She never went back to DC as it reminded her of Archie’s death and the diner reminded her of Marcie’s death.

Archie’s body parts had been found floating in the river two months after Solara had disposed of them. The murder cases had gone unsolved, they were cold cases and all the information about them was stacked in boxes on a shelf in a storage room.

Scarlet got out of the car and the ocean scent and the sounds of the crashing waves welcomed her to her second home. She took off her shoes and tossed them at the back of the jeep, she wasn’t going to need them that weekend.

She let Stephan set up the tent on his own while she soaked her toes in the ocean water. The sun was setting and the orange flame-like color was beautiful as it ducked under the ocean’s horizon.

“It’s beautiful.” She said as she heard Stephan’s footsteps approaching her.

“She is.” He brushed her hair to the side revealing the bearskin at the back of her neck. He kissed it before pulling her back into his arms.

“I meant the sunset.” Scarlet chortled, knowing he was referring to her and not the view.

“That’s exactly what I was referring to.” He teased.

She slapped his arm, “It is beautiful, Mother Nature’s gold.”

“Want to take a swim with me before it completely disappears?” he was asking her while he slowly took off her clothes.

“Why not?” at that time he had already rid her and himself of their clothes.

They swam deep into the ocean taking advantage of how long they could hold their breaths underwater. They swam in each other’s arms, taking breaks to kiss. It was night-time when they went back to shore. The light of the sun was replaced by the swirling twinkle of the stars and the moon at the centre of it all.

“I thought we could do something different tonight. Something more, human.” Stephan said as he towe She could hear him calling herlled her hair dry.

“Human? I don’t know if you know this already but you stopped being that, three centuries ago.”

“But you were human three years ago and I know you miss that part of your life.” He wrapped the towel around her body.

“Well, I have a new life, a new world.” Scarlet had missed the human things out of life. The one thing she missed the most was a Big Mac. She was now on a liquid diet and hadn’t used her jaws in a while.

“Fine I understand that and there is no one as happy as I am to know that you have made peace with that. But if there is one thing you would have what would it be?”

“Anything?” she already knew what she wanted. “But you also have to have it too.”

“Sure, whatever you want.” Stephan wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to but this was Scarlet it wasn’t going to be anything radical or insane.

“Let’s go then.”

Scarlet drove, she didn’t want Stephan to know where they were going just in case he chickened out. He hadn’t had a solid diet in ages. She took them to the nearest drive-thru McDonald’s she could find.

“Are you serious?” Stephan’s eyes were wide with shock. “The one thing you miss and could have is a Big Mac?” he asked as she handed him the two big meals.

“That and we are going to a drive-in movie.” Scarlet was giddy with excitement. She had never gone to see a movie at a drive-in before but had always wanted to.

She followed the directions the teller had given her and soon they were at the park. She parked further back from where the other cars were, just in case they got bored and wanted to leave.

It was an old black and white movie, not what she expected but it was the romantic type so it had to do.

“I remember this,” Stephan said as he cautiously stuffed a chip in his mouth. “Judy Garland was the most beautiful woman at that time.”

“Huh?” she turned to look at him, shock crisscrossed all over her face.

“What? I was there during that time remember?”

“That is not why I’m surprised. I can’t believe you had the time to watch movies with your previous lifestyle.” Stephan was a hunter; he spent most of his time torching vampires if not slaughtering humans. She never thought he had a romantic bone in his body before her, let alone the patience of sitting through two hours of mushy loving.

“Uh, Marquis loved movies.” Stephan stammered through his answer.

“Oh.” Scarlet pushed her face out of her mind, “Now you can watch them with me. I love romantic movies, but Kayla is the action, horror movie type. She would never go to the movies with me.”

“Now you have me, and I will persevere through it if you want to watch it,” he kissed her temple.

“Persevere? Thanks that makes me glad.” She could see he was having a much more difficult time watching the movie than he was eating the burger. “Do you want to go?”

“No, we can stay and watch. If you want to that is?” Stephan wanted to leave, he was ready to run out of there, but this was Scarlet’s night of human activities, and romance movies were one of them.

“Ok, let’s go. But you have to drive because I’m not done with my burger.”

“How do you eat this stuff?” he handed her his meal when he was done slaving through it.

“I guess the human part of me, dominates the vampire part.”

The night wasn’t as successful as he would have wanted it to be, but she still loved him for trying.

“Thank you for trying.” She said as they pulled up at the beach.

“The night wasn’t a total loss.” He picked up the empty pack of chips, “I can’t believe you ate all of this.”

“And I can eat more; it’s a good thing I don’t grow.”

“I don’t know about that. It seems you have gotten a bit rounder.” Stephan chewed on his lower lip in an attempt to stifle a laugh.

“I can’t believe you said that. You have not dated any humans, you don’t comment on a girl’s weight. And besides, you’re talking utter rubbish.” She opened the door to step out, but before her foot touched the ground Stephan was there.

“Let’s see.” He dragged her legs out of the car and caught the rest of her body in his right arm. He lifted her then jostled her side to side. “Yup! I’m right you have put on some weight.”

“Stephan!” Scarlet slapped his broad chest, she was sure if she was still a human it would have hurt her more than it did him.

“I can’t be sure until I do a complete analysis on your body.” his tone lowered. His deep baritone voice made him sound like he was humming more than talking.

“How are you going to do that exactly?” Scarlet already knew the answer. His naughty grin always sold him out whenever he wanted to make love to her.

“As I said a full body search, every inch of your body must be inspected.” He carried her to the tent and lowered her on the blanket.

“Don’t I need to sign a consent form or something?”

He lifted her left hand and showed her, her wedding ring, “This is all the consent I need. Happy anniversary, Mrs. Jeraldi.”

Scarlet was enjoying the time she was spending with her husband; she didn’t realize that it was already the twentieth.

“Happy anniversary, Mr. Jeraldi.”

***