Bloodstone Heart (35 page)

"And did you pursue that quest?"

"No. At the time, I didn't see the point."

"If you would like to do so now, I could probably help; I'd just need to see what paperwork you were given with your mother's name, your birth date, and place."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'm not sure I'm ready to meet her, though."

"You wouldn't have to until you were ready."

"Well, just off the top of my head, her last name is Jansson with two s's. I can't remember her first name, but it was like Kathy, Kate, something like that. I was born in Minneapolis July 30th, 1983."

"Jansson, hmm. I knew a Jansson once. She was a student at the University of Minnesota.
 
A friend of mine, who was a professor at the university, had been injured and asked me to fill in and teach his classes for the fall quarter.
 
You said, Kate Jansson?"

"It was something like that, but it wasn't Kate. It was…unusual."

"Could it have been Katarina...Katarina Jansson?"

"Uh, yeah, I think, yeah, that was it. Katarina. A bit unusual. Why? Did you know her?"

"Uh, yes. She was a student of mine that fall. Very bright. Very beautiful."

"Huh! Small world."

"Isn't it?"

"Well, I guess if you know her that makes looking her up pretty easy."

"I suppose it does." Dominic smiled at Josh, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Can I get you another glass of champagne?"

"No, I'm good, but thanks."

"Well, I think I will indulge myself.
 
If you will excuse me?"

The rest of the party was full of dancing and good conversation.
 
But as all good parties do, the festivities started to die down and slowly the guests said their goodbyes and left or went to bed. Dominic was making one last round of the house, locking up and turning off lights when he passed Devon in the hallway.

"Devon, might I have a private word with you, before you retire for the evening?"

"Sure. Let me walk Darby down to the cottage and get her settled and I'll come back up."

"Good. Thank you. I'll meet you in the study."

Devon smiled as he went to find his bride-to-be. He carried her down to the cottage so as not to soil her train and hem of the dress and kissed her sweetly.

 
"Dominic wants to talk to me for a few minutes."

"Oh! Okay.
 
Nothing bad I hope."

"I don't think so."

"Well, hurry back."

"I will," he said.

He headed back up to the house. As he entered the study, Dominic said, "Could you close the door?"

Devon did so and then asked, "Is everything all right, Dominic?"

"Yes. I think so; I just would like your take on something, that's all. It's a personal matter, but I would very much like your opinion."

"My opinion? Really?"

"Don't act so surprised, Devon. I value your opinion greatly. You are very perceptive of people and their feelings. It is a great gift - one that not many can say they have."

"Okay, you definitely have my curiosity."

"Right. Well, a while back I filled in for a friend of mine who was a professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He had been injured and I took over his classes for the fall quarter."

"Okay."

"During that time, I had a brief, yet intense love affair with a student."

Devon grimaced and said, "And you're telling me this, why?"

"I think a child might have been conceived from that relationship."

"A child...your child...has the mother come to you?"

"No, nothing like that.
 
I, well, I spoke with Josh tonight and well..."

"Josh? Josh who?"

"Josh Brenner, he's a guest here. He came with Blake from California. We were going to talk to you about him tomorrow. He needs our help."

"Our help? With what?"

"Well, that's not really the point in this conversation, I think we should have that conversation tomorrow when we can all be together and Josh and Blake can present all their information."

"Okay, but you brought up this Josh..."

"Yes, we were talking this evening. He has an extraordinary telepathic talent and can project over hundreds of miles."

"Interesting, but..."

"Well, as you know, often these abilities are hereditary so I asked him if any of his family has these abilities."

"Right. Okay."

"He said he was adopted."

"So..."

"I told him that maybe we could help him find his biological parents. That's when he told me his biological mother's name."

"I'm not following."

"The mother's name is Katarina Jansson!"

"I'm still not following. Should I know that name?"

"No.
 
Katarina Jansson is the name of the student I had an affair with in 1981."

"What is Josh's birth date?"

"July 30, 1983."

"Well, he couldn't be yours. Human pregnancies are nine months putting the child's birth in the summer of ‘82.”

"Not with a vampire involved. It depends on what genes become dominant during the pregnancy. The pregnancy can be anywhere from nine months to three years. A three-year pregnancy would progress so slowly that the mother may not even know she was pregnant for over a year or more.

"Think about it, if the mother had conceived and didn't know it and didn't have sex during that first year of pregnancy, a human would not understand why they were pregnant. It would seem like an immaculate birth. Which may have been why she gave him up for adoption. It would be very hard to explain that you hadn't been with anyone, yet you were pregnant, not to mention having the hormones of a half-vampire growing within her."

"Maybe...but on the same note, Dominic, she may not have conceived Josh with you and had a normal nine month pregnancy with someone else and gave the baby up for adoption."

"It is possible, I suppose, but given his abilities, I think it unlikely."

"Why, because he has telepathic abilities? That's not a good reason to assume he's your son.”

"You know as well as I do that many humans who have strong telepathic abilities are often the offspring of vampires or werewolves. You also know that when no other vampire or werewolf traits are present, the one trait they do have can be greatly intensified."

"I will admit, Dominic, that there is a possibility, but you need to be sure before you do or say anything."

"And now we've come to the part I wanted to talk to you about. How in the world would I go about doing that? What will Anton think of me? How will he react to having a brother after all this time? And Josh, how do I even approach him about this?"

"Well, first off, I think you are jumping the gun here.
 
Until you know for sure, you should not approach either of them.
 
No reason to bring up all of this if you find none of it's true. But...on the off chance that Josh IS your son, I don't think Anton will have a problem with it.
 
It's not like you cheated on Sophia. It's been over a hundred years since she died. I'm sure Anton knows you have...relations...on occasion."

"Why make that horrible face when you say that?"

"Well, it's like thinking of your parents having sex, it never really conjures up a pretty picture in one's mind and you are the closest thing I have to a parent so..."

"Ahh...point taken."

"I think Josh is another story, though.
 
I don't know him. I don't know what he's been through or how he reacts to stress. My only advice is if all of this is indeed a fact, then you need to tell him as soon as possible.
 
Keeping it from him will only make it harder on both of you."

"Yes. I suppose it would. Thank you, Devon. I was right in coming to you about this. You've been very helpful.
 

“Okay, then, if we are through, I'm beat."

"Me too."

"I'll see you in the morning, Dominic, and thank you for the party. You outdid yourself. It was definitely a nice surprise and I know Darby loved it.”

“Thank you, Devon.”

“Sleep well."

“You too."

Chapter 27

Bernard got up very early the next day along with Dominic. Dominic didn't often cook, but with the crowd they had eating this morning, he felt it only right to help Bernard.
 
Besides, frying bacon and scrambling eggs was certainly no rocket science. Bernard made a ton of pancakes. After the last time Mark, Dean, and Blake were together at breakfast, he had learned that there could never be too many pancakes for these boys.
 

Dominic had to laugh when he and Bernard had set the table. "Bernard, my friend, I never thought I'd say this with owning such a huge dining table, but we might have to get a bigger one if this keeps up."

Bernard chuckled as he continued laying out the silverware. "I'm afraid you may be right, Master Dominic. However, I can't think of a happier reason to purchase such a thing."

"I couldn't agree with you more.
 
It's tiring, but wonderful to have so many happy folks around. Especially the boys - all three of them getting along now. There was a time when I didn't think that would ever happen, but here we are." He happily sighed as he too continued to bring things out to the sideboard for the guests who would be down soon.

Slowly the masses started to emerge from the bedrooms upstairs and made their way down to the dining room.
 
Blake and Dean along with their sleepy companions were the first down.
 
Dominic wasn't surprised they were the first to show. Within minutes, Mark and Alyssa joined them. Josh was next and then the happy couple came through the front door. Once all were seated, Dominic made Bernard join them. He and Bernard often ate together, except when there were guests, but he felt Bernard had been up for hours making massive amounts of pancakes. He deserved a little break with which to watch the boys enjoy his labor.
 
At the rate that the boys were eating the pancakes, Bernard started to panic and was about to head for the kitchen again, when Blake said, "No, no, Bernard, we're good. Relax, enjoy."
 

Bernard took a deep sigh of relief and scooted his chair back in and took a sip of coffee.
 
When all but the three pancake-consuming boys were done eating, Dominic said, "Well, I suppose this is as good a time as any since we are all in one room, to talk about some issues that have arisen.”
 
Dominic looked at Josh, who looked mortified to have the topic of his problems being the foremost conversation, but maybe with so many heads together, someone would come up with a plan to get Lanie back.

"Blake, do you want to start this ball rolling or shall I?" Dominic asked.

Blake took a big gulp of milk, wiped his mouth with his napkin and said, "No, Uncle, I think it should be me, since it started with us."

"Fine," Dominic agreed.

Devon looked puzzled as Bernard cleared away the plates. Blake looked at Devon and Darby and said, "I guess an introduction would be the best place to start. Josh Brenner, this is my brother Devon and his fiancée Darby. That's going to take some getting used to saying." He chuckled then said, "Josh and his friend Melanie drove down from Washington on a motorcycle, no less, being chased by a vampire named Dimitri Strotsky. Have you heard of him?" Blake directed the question to Devon and Devon shook his head.

"Why, should I have?" he said.

"No. Probably not, but Dominic recognized the name right off, so I thought you might have. Anyway, Dimitri is resurrecting the Order of the Black Orchid and from what we have gathered, he is pretty bad news."

"Let me stop you right there," Devon said. “I don't think I want to jump into something dangerous after what Darby and I have been through over the last couple of months - no offense, Josh. I'm sure you are a wonderful guy, but..."

"And I wouldn't even bring it up if it hadn't related to you and Darby, but it does," Blake said.

"How so?" Devon said.

"It was Melanie, Josh's friend that brought them to us. She was looking for Darby's help and had come to the bookstore where Sally and Rowan told them that Darby was in Massachusetts looking for you."