The Single Undead Moms Club (Half Moon Hollow series Book 4) (9 page)

Without thinking, I sprinted the short distance at top speed. I caught Ashlynne under her arms and scooped her up, springing to the side, out of the path of the car. It would have been a graceful rescue had my foot not caught on the curb and sent me sprawling across the sidewalk. I wrapped my arms around Ashlynne’s squirming body, rolling across the pavement and taking the brunt of the impact on my back.

“Ow,” I grunted as Ashlynne and I rolled to a stop.

“My balloon!” the little girl wailed. “You made me miss my balloon! I want my balloon!”

“Everybody’s a critic,” I mumbled.

It seemed that while no one had seen me barrel across the parking lot at superhuman speeds, everybody had seen me take a dive on the pavement. Typical. Candace scrambled across the sidewalk and pulled Ashlynne from my arms. I could barely make out her “thank you”s through her alternate sobbing and fussing at her daughter. Nina drove the Yukon away, unaware of the drama left unfolding behind her.

A few other parents huddled around Ashlynne and her mother, while Principal Walsh and Casey ran to help me.

“Libby! Are you OK?” Mr. Walsh helped me to my feet. With every movement, I discovered new bits of gravel buried in my knees and palms.

“I’m fine,” I assured him, even as I hissed in pain. Once again, vampirism did not stop the pain response. If anything, I think my sensitive nerves felt it more acutely.

“I’ll go get Nurse Anne,” he called over his shoulder, jogging into the school building.

“Oh, careful, hon,” Casey said, turning my hands over. “You’ve got some pretty good scrapes on your hands. Let’s get you to the nurse’s office, and she can clean those . . .” We watched as the wounds on my palms closed on their own. The bits of gravel skittered across the pavement as the healing flesh pushed the rocks out of my skin. “Up.” I watched the color drain from my friend’s face as she backed away from me.

“Casey . . .” I began.

“Don’t.” Casey held up her cross necklace as if that would ward me off. (It wouldn’t.) “I
knew
you seemed too healthy. You moved too fast. You were too pret— I knew something was wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong,” I told her.

“Oh, sure, nothing’s wrong,” she scoffed. Her head snapped toward Mr. Walsh, who was following Ashlynne and Candace into the school.

“Casey,” I said, with a little more warning in my tone than was probably wise.

“I don’t know anyone who is a vampire,” she said. “And I don’t want to know you.”

And with that, I watched as the closest thing I had to a friend climbed into her car and drove away.

Your relationships with other members of your family will change, just as the rest of your life has changed. And if you thought those relatives questioned your parenting decisions before, just wait until they find out you’re a vampire.

—My Mommy Has Fangs: A Guide to Post-Vampiric Parenting

I
knew it was only a matter of time before Les or Marge showed up at my door. Casey was a serious gossip.

I’d expected to have more than forty minutes, though.

When Mr. Walsh emerged from the building with Nurse Anne, enormous first-aid kit in hand, I’d had to explain that the emergency medical care wasn’t necessary as I’d done my healing all by myself. There was no time like the present, I supposed, to update them on my new condition. Mr. Walsh spent a grand total of two seconds looking vaguely uncomfortable with the idea of a vampire parent before clearing his throat and handling the situation with his usual aplomb. He assured me that this wouldn’t change my son’s educational experience at the school and said to come to him if I had any problems. He’d even understood when I’d requested that he not release Danny to his grandparents. He’d dealt with much more complicated custody situations than mine, though in most of his cases, the parties involved had pulses. And while Nurse Anne remained silent, as I was leaving, she slipped a card into my hand detailing the meeting schedule for the Newly Emerged Vampires Support Group.

Still, I’d barely had time to get Danny showered and in bed before I heard a truck screeching through the cornfield and onto my driveway. I sighed, plucking Danny’s dirty clothes from the floor and switching on his Captain America night-light before I closed his bedroom door. I walked down the hallway, listening to the slap of Marge’s house shoes against the concrete walkway. For a short woman, she was moving at a pretty good clip.

Dear Lord
, I prayed,
please grant me the grace to explain this situation to my mother-in-law without permanently damaging our relationship. And if that’s not possible, please keep me from ripping her throat out, because that’s the sort of thing that will go on my undead permanent record.

Before Marge could pound on my door and wake my son, I pulled it open, startling her out of her furious posture for a second and making her step back. Marge was wearing one of her old cotton summer nightgowns. Her carefully dyed dark brown hair was up in pink sponge curlers, a nighttime ritual she still kept up, even with the invention of much more convenient hairstyling tools. I doubted she could get to sleep without the tight sensation against her scalp.

Les was standing near the truck, practically vibrating with rage. But he was silent, unable to do anything but stand there, glowering at me.

I opened the door just enough to stretch my arm across it, barring Marge from barging in. “Hi, Marge. I wasn’t expecting you. Everything OK?”

There was always the off chance that my in-laws were mad at me for non-vampire-related reasons.

“What have you done?” Marge shrieked, a pink roller dangling near her ear.

OK, maybe not. I sighed. “I got better.”

“Don’t you play flippant with me, Libby Stratton! You got yourself tangled up with some vampire, and he gave you his
disease
.”

And while she was sort of right on some counts, I couldn’t help but be a little hurt that she was implying that I’d picked up an STD from an ill-advised hookup. Honestly, where was my vampire Yoda when I needed her? What would Jane do?

“How could you do that?” Marge continued without waiting for an answer. “Was it an accident? Were you attacked?”

“I didn’t go looking for a good time, Marge,” I said as calmly as I could. “And I wasn’t attacked. I made this choice so I could see Danny grow up. I knew you would try to talk me out of it, so I didn’t say anything to you.”

“You’re damn right I would have tried to talk you out of it!” she yelled. My eyes went wide. In the eight years I’d known my mother-in-law, she’d never cussed once. “I cannot believe you could do something so stupid and selfish. There’s no going back from this, do you understand? You can’t take it back. How are you going to take care of him? How are you going to be a mother when you can’t even wake up during the day? What if he gets hurt and starts bleeding? Will you be able to control yourself?”

It hurt to hear my mother-in-law voice all the fears I’d had tumbling in my own head since I rose. I couldn’t blame her for feeling this way. If I were in the same position, I might react the same way. And if I’d felt any sort of hungry twinge for Danny’s blood, I would have packed his bags and sent him on to her house. But I hadn’t. Danny was safe with me. And her fears were something she was going to have to work through if she wanted to spend time with her grandson. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Just then, Jane rolled up the driveway in her SUV and screeched to a halt next to Les’s truck. I saw Les’s hand start toward his cab, but as Jane hopped out, she warned him, “Whatever you’re thinking about grabbing, don’t.”

In a flash, Jane was at my side, blocking the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Stratton, I’m Jane Jameson-Nightengale with the local Council office. I understand that you’re upset right now,” she said in a tone so smooth and even her little spiel had to have been thoroughly rehearsed. “Finding out that your loved one has made the transition to vampire can be a very confusing and upsetting time, but the important thing to remember is that Libby is still the same person you’ve always known. She just has a few new interesting skills. We have several chapters of the FFOTU meeting locally that could help you cope with the changes within your family. I have a brochure here that lists all of the meeting dates and locations.” Jane whipped out a slick brochure featuring the triangular logo of the Friends and Family of the Undead.

Marge stepped back as if Jane had offered her a dead rodent. “I have no interest in spending more time with
your kind
. I know what happens at those meetings. A bunch of people sitting around lying to themselves about not being upset at what their family has turned into.” She snorted. “And as for her being the same person? The girl who married my son wouldn’t have done this to herself. She’s obviously lost her mind.”

“Well, I can see that the gentle, political approach isn’t going to work,” Jane muttered. “OK, look, I understand that you’re worried about your grandson, but I’ve stayed with Libby for the last few days, and she hasn’t made one move toward Danny with blood on her mind. The thought of hurting him makes her physically ill. You will not find a more devoted parent than your daughter-in-law. Look at what she went through to stay with her son.”

“Well, you’ll pardon me if I don’t take your word for it that Danny’s safe. I’m not going to leave my grandchild alone with someone who drinks blood for
food
. We tried to be patient with you while you were sick, Libby, but all you’ve done is prove that you’re not a good influence on our grandson. He’s going to go home where he’s safe. I simply can’t trust you with him.”

I chose not to address the fact that she called her house Danny’s “home,” because there simply weren’t enough hours in the evening to unravel that particular rat’s nest of dysfunction. So I kept it simple. “You will not take my son from me,” I told her. “Cancer didn’t take him from me. I sure as hell won’t let
you
do it.”

“Well, if you think we’re going to stand for this, you’re even crazier than you let on!’ ” Marge barked, starting toward the door as if she could push past both of us. Jane very gently caught her arm and pushed her back. Marge’s dangling curler bounced loose and skittered across the porch into my azaleas.

“You don’t have a choice. I’m his mother.
I
have custody,” I told her. “I’m more than willing to let you visit Danny anytime you want. I don’t want him to lose his relationship with you. But if you try to take him from me, all bets are off.”

“I’m not going to let you
decide
when I see my own grandson,” Marge spat. “We’re taking you to court. We’re going to sue you for full custody.”

“And she will have the full backing of the Council’s legal department,” Jane said, sighing. “You should know that unless you can prove that Libby represents a danger to Danny, you will have difficulty taking custody from her.”

“Do you honestly think that a judge in Half-Moon Hollow will give Danny to her instead of us?” Marge demanded. “You must not be from around here, young lady.”

“Yes. In fact, there have been several cases in this district of responsible undead biological parents retaining custody over living relatives who filed without reasons beyond ‘I don’t want my kinfolk living with vampires.’ ” Jane drawled that last bit in an accent so insulting it couldn’t possibly be seen as an endorsement of Marge’s position. “And for the record, I grew up in this town. I’m Sherry Jameson’s daughter.” She turned to me. “How is it possible that your in-laws are the only people in town who
don’t
know me?”

I shrugged.

“Well, then, shame on you for helping her get involved in this mess!” Marge shouted.

“Calm down,” I whispered fiercely. “You’re going to wake up Danny!”

Les moved toward his wife before I could, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived. His voice was so tense and quiet I was afraid his vocal cords would snap. He tugged her arm gently, pulling her toward the truck. “Come on, Marge.”

“This isn’t over!” Marge cried as Les loaded her into the passenger seat.

Les didn’t even look at me as he climbed behind the steering wheel and spun out of the driveway.

“Well.” Jane sighed, watching their taillights disappearing into the distance. “It looks like you’re going to need that rental a little sooner than you thought.”

I nodded, wondering how Danny was going to handle the separation from his grandparents and moving right before the beginning of the school year. His first day of school was Tuesday. (Starting midweek was a lovely quirk of the Kentucky school system.) It seemed very unfair of me to be forcing so many changes on him in such a short period of time. I hoped all those comforting platitudes I’d heard about the resiliency of children were true.

“Lucky for you, the Council happens to know of a recently vacated unit that already has all of the required vampire conveniences. It’s located closer to Danny’s school and has a registered nurse living in the unit next door, should Danny have any medical emergencies.”

“That . . . sounds pretty perfect,” I said, lifting a brow. “What’s the catch?”