Allie grinned crookedly. “That’s when I first saw her. A petite little brunette with an obvious baby bump, looking exhausted and about as frustrated as me and yanking on the lawn mower cord over and over.”
Magnus smiled at her description, almost able to see it in his mind.
“Instead of bawling her out for her choice of time for doing lawn maintenance, I ended up helping. I mean, she was nearly done anyway, so I figured a few more minutes of racket and it would be done and I could get back to work. Right?”
When Allie rolled her eyes, Magnus found himself smiling, and asked, “I am guessing it did not work out that way?”
“No,” she admitted on a sigh. “I must have spent an hour checking her lawn mower. I went over the spark plug wire, the spark plug itself, the brake cable, the oil level . . .” Allie grimaced. “Of course, we were chatting while I did it, which slowed me down. It wouldn’t normally have taken me that long.”
Magnus nodded solemnly at her earnest assurance, but he was biting his tongue to keep from grinning. The fact that she knew how to do what she’d mentioned was impressive to him no matter how long it took. He wasn’t mechanically minded himself and wouldn’t have known what to check.
“Did you find the problem?” Tricia asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said dryly, and then admitted with disgust, “It was out of gas.”
That startled a laugh from everyone but Lucian. Allie didn’t appear offended, though, and laughed with them before saying, “I know. That’s the first thing I should have checked.” She shook her head at her mistake. “Anyway, it was after eleven thirty by then. Stella decided to leave it for the next day to finish, so I wished her good night and went back home to return to work.”
She paused briefly, her eyes looking off into the distant memories, and then said, “I don’t think it was more than an hour later that there was a knock at the door. I considered ignoring it, but twelve thirty is an odd time for visitors and it might be an emergency so I answered it in the end. And there stood Stella with a bright smile and a pan of freshly baked brownies in her hands to thank me,” Allie explained, and Magnus nodded encouragingly.
“I should have said, ‘Thank you but no, I have a deadline and need to work.’ Unfortunately, I’m something of a chocoholic and she looked so . . .” Allie frowned as she tried to find the words to explain, and then said, “I don’t know . . . lonely, maybe, but hopeful. I didn’t have the heart to send her away. It would have been like kicking a puppy.” She shrugged. “So I invited her in and made tea.”
Kind, Magnus thought. She was kind as well as brave.
“Stella told me later that she’d intended on feeding on me when she came over and the brownies were just a way to get in the door. But we got talking while I puttered around fetching plates and making tea, and by the time we sat down, she liked me too much to bite me.”
Magnus frowned at this news, suspecting that Stella’s feeding on her would have been a death sentence. The woman had obviously been a rogue if she was biting mortals and not feeding on blood bags as immortals were supposed to do. Rogues didn’t often concern themselves with the well-being of their chosen dinner.
“I never did end up getting back to work that night,” Allie continued. “We sat and chatted over brownies and tea until nearly dawn. She told me at that time that she was on her own, and admitted she was pregnant and scared. She said she was from Vancouver where she used to be an office manager. But she’d given up her home and job and moved to Calgary to get a fresh start after her husband died. She didn’t tell me then how he died. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it and I didn’t push her. Instead, we talked about other things.”
Solemn now, Allie admitted, “It was a good night. We had a lot in common and laughed a great deal. By the time the sun was creeping over the horizon and she hurried home, we were firm friends.”
Allie took a sip of hot chocolate. “Stella was at my place a lot after that. I’d often see her leave in her car after the sun set. When that happened, I’d keep an eye out for her return to make sure she got back okay. Women alone have to look out for each other,” she added, glancing at Magnus, and he nodded in understanding. The world was a dangerous place, especially for young mortal women.
“Anyway,” Allie continued, “she usually returned at midnight or one o’clock in the morning, and often carrying groceries. I’d watch until she got them safely inside if she only had a few, or go out to help her unload if she had a lot of them. Then I’d go back to work. But then she’d show up at my place around three or four in the morning with snacks or a full meal and we’d sit and talk for hours. Stella usually headed home before the sun rose, but on the days she left it too late she’d sleep on the couch and then wouldn’t leave until night fell again.”
Allie shook her head. “I didn’t think anything of it. The fact that she avoided the sun and spent so much time with me. I just thought she was lonely, or worried about having the baby. I didn’t even pick up at first that with all the food she brought over, she never ate.”
“She did not eat?” Magnus asked with a frown. A woman, whether mortal or immortal, should definitely eat when pregnant. Making a baby took a lot of nourishment.
“No,” Allie said on a sigh. “She’d fix herself a plate and push the food around on it, but I never saw her actually put anything in her mouth. When I commented on it, she claimed she had morning sickness that lasted all day and night and then changed the subject.”
“She probably didn’t think she could eat anymore,” Tricia said with a frown.
Magnus nodded, and when Allie raised an eyebrow, he explained, “It is doubtful her sire told her she could eat. The mythical vampires do not eat and he would want her to believe that was what she was.”
“Why?” Allie asked with bewilderment.
“That can be explained later,” Lucian said before Magnus could answer. “All the questions you no doubt have can be answered after. Just skip the Laverne and Shirley narrative of bonding with the woman and tell us what you know about Stella’s sire.”
Magnus watched the way Allie narrowed her eyes on Lucian and expected a show of temper, but instead she asked sweetly, “Who are Laverne and Shirley?”
“That is a bit before her time, Uncle,” Tricia said with amusement when he began to scowl.
“Yeah,” Tybo agreed, and then leaned forward in his chair to meet Allie’s gaze as he suggested, “Think Thelma and Louise, but funny and without ending with driving off a cliff.”
Allie nodded, but then tilted her head and asked, “Who are Thelma and Louise?”
“Oh.” Tybo frowned. “That movie came out in 1991 when you were probably— Were you born yet?”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lucian snarled. “Just tell us about her sire.”
When Allie cast an irritated scowl at the man and growled a sarcastic, “Yes, master,” Magnus had to bow his head to hide his expression. He was both amused and proud of her. Most people quailed in Lucian’s presence, but not his Allie.
He had just caught the fact that he’d thought of her as his and begun to remonstrate with himself about jumping the gun emotionally when Allie started speaking again. Still, he felt his pride increase when she ignored Lucian’s directive and continued in her own way.