THREE
The women were a little more hesitant to mix together than the men. Back at Hartwell’s house, the first of the female sanction to object was also the last person anyone who would have thought would object.
“Are you saying that we are all going to live together?” Maggie asked Hartwell as they talked in their bedroom.
“I’m just as amazed as you are that I came to that conclusion, but I was thinking of you and the rest of the family when I came up with it.”
Maggie couldn’t believe the war was actually over. She had to make sure before diving into the deep end of the rivalry pool with both feet.
“What brought this about? I mean, besides the Winters’ family and the peaceful thoughts that followed all of that fighting.”
Hartwell glided in close and hugged his wife, whispering in her ear, “Kayla’s going to have a baby.”
Maggie pulled back and had absolutely no idea what to say next. She could sense, however, that he had a little more information left to spill by the extreme glow in his face.
“A boy?” she said catching on to the paternal pride of the male generational link.
Hartwell nodded and the room was filled with ice-cubes of joy within seconds.
Other vampires can always sense when their brethren are crying, especially when the core temperature of a structure drops precipitously.
Belinda was on the move the moment the first ice cube hit the floor. She glided through Hartwell and Maggie’s bedroom and said, “What’s going on? Why are you guys cubing?”
She saw their smiling faces, “Ah! Tears of joy! What’s the happy occasion?”
“We’re all going to live together!” Maggie exclaimed.
“No, really, what’s the good news?”
“Kayla is pregnant with Max’s son!”
“Oh then, that is good news!” Maggie exclaimed as she glided over and joined the unflavored Icee party.
One-by-one the remaining members of the vampire/protector clan filtered in until seven of the eight members were in the room waiting for Maxwell to come home. He entered without being seen but once discovered, he was tossed up in the air in a hero’s welcome.
Max made the most important stop of all between the sporting goods store and home. If he and Kayla were going to be outed on the grand stage in front of all of the families, then he was going to make sure that the most important person would be clued in to the discovery.
Kayla walked out of the hair salon in all of her splendor and Max was instantly enthralled.
He gasped, “You look beautiful, my love!”
Kayla blushed a bit at her boyfriend’s obviously honest statement.
“Thanks, Max!” she said as he sped over and kissed her.
The connection of their lips sent the imagery Max intended of a journey from lips to her stomach, revealing her warm heartbeat and then the heartbeat of another.
Kayla was in shock.
"I'm pregnant?"
She then blurted out the next thing that passed through her mind.
"I was born just two years ago and now I am having a baby? How did you find out?"
She didn't trust that Maxwell could have figured it out himself, and his feelings were slightly hurt. Although, deep down, he knew she was right.
"You touched my father and grandfather's shoulders and they detected two heartbeats," Max explained and then transmitted the flashback to Kayla.
Their initial inclination was to race back to their respective families and break the news. It had been such a short period of time since they were a couple and the cohesive force between them was still being fused.
"Do we have to tell everybody?" Kayla asked.
Max replied, "People are going to find out anyway, so we might as well tell them."
He saw the confused look in Kayla's eyes, so he sought to ease her pain.
"Together."
Kayla resisted the thought of a united front a first, largely because the families had been going at each other for so long. It had been her dream, almost since birth, to have peace within the families so all of those dynamic personalities could fuse together into one productive unit.
She looked at Max and replied, "Together," as they hugged.
Hartwell and Cal were back at Hartwell's house, making the necessary preparations to expanding the house in order to accommodate all of the families.
Garrison walked by and asked, "Do you think we should add a second floor, or simply extend the current floor plan?"
Thaddeus then entered the discussion.
"Don't need to hear footsteps overhead."
Daniel listened to the conversation and then quickly processed the variables.
"Check out this schematic," he stated as he brought up a 4-D illustration of an open-design, multi-level architectural design, where privacy and flow were paramount.
"Wow!" Thaddeus exclaimed. "How long have you been able to do that?"
Hartwell interjected, "He picks up new things ever day."
Daniel smiled, "I just thought about the design, and then it was there," he said, motioning to the model.
Andrew Brewster was always the show-off of the group. From his days as the center hitter as part of The Three Slamigos in high school, to this moment, when he stepped up and flexed his new-found mental muscles. Daniel always seemed to bring out the best, as well as the worst, in Drew.
He stepped up to the design and said, "We could put a bunch of floors on this thing."
Drew took his right hand and manipulated the design around to add a few floors.
"We could also add a solar-powered elevator."
Agent Blake Wallace jetted into the room, "Or even add a cool fireman's pole in the center of the house," as a joyous image of Blake slid down the pole in the design.
"Yeah, that would be cool!" Aaron concurred as he stood next to Blake.
The women were in town and zoomed back into the house one-by-one as Aaron finished speaking. Emily Brewster was first through the door, being that 'first' was still important to her.
"What is cool, honey?"
"The fireman's pole running through the middle of the house," Blake interjected.
Belinda said, "Who puts a pole in the middle of the house?"
Carla and Nicole, fresh off their endless battle of fight-therapy, were now as connected as Kayla had hoped.
"Did you tell these guys that they could design or house?" Nicole asked.
"It wasn't me," Carla replied. I'm surprised they didn't install stripper poles and fantasy sports draft boards in each room."
Drew looked at Daniel and exclaimed, "Dude!" to see if Daniel could incorporate those enhancements to the design.
Maggie brought everyone back down to earth.
"There will be no stripper poles in my house!"
She then clarified her position.
"In our house."
Sharon backed her up, "Amen!"
The architectural design displayed in the center of the room was constantly changing as suggestions continued to fly cross the room. Daniel was trying to make everyone happy, but it was looking more and more like 14 separate houses were going to be built.
Just as the noise in the room reached a crescendo, Max and Kayla appeared but remained unnoticed, until Daniel and Hartwell realized that their discovery was about to become public. Hartwell lightly smacked Cal on the arm with the back of his hand,which would have formerly sparked a brawl.
Cal looked at Hartwell, who nodded in Max and Kayla's direction. The three men were in a silent accord about what was about to go down, and this was confirmed by the glow on the couple's faces. The hunter put his hands up and said, "Whoa! Can we all calm down for a moment?"
The conversations were still boisterous, so Cal looked at his dad, as usual, for help. Thaddeus changed into a hawk and called out in a shrieking tone, causing everybody in the room to cover their ears while the front window glass shattered.
He then changed back into his human
form and dropped back down to the floor. Garrison, his oldest rival and peer, looked at him like he had gone mad.
"You could have just whistled," Gary commented as he positioned his tongue and then emitted a high-pitched whistle, which blew out the kitchen windows before Max and Kayla walked into the center of the room.
The carefully walked over the glass as Max stated, "What's going on in here?"
Before anyone could respond, three stray dogs walked through the door and then over to Garrison.
Belinda was every bit of the den mother, and her penchant for fastidiousness was even more pronounced than her vampire brethren. The canines were dirty and flea-ridden, at least they were before Belinda got a hold of them.
Her son from another mother, Brandon Justice, said "Wow!" as the dogs went through a full wash, a flea bath, had their nails clipped and ears flushed, received all of the necessary shots, and were wearing flea collars.
The other vampires also cleaned up all of the glass in about the time it took for the protectors and hunters to inhale and exhale.
"I always wanted a cleaning crew," Emily Brewster said to her twin brother.
"Yeah, I could get used to this," Cal replied.
FOUR
Kayla and Max had come back to Hartwell’s to make a big announcement. They experienced 18 years of aging in only two years, culminating with the ultimate consummation of their burgeoning relationship.
While most two year-olds would be celebrating the graduation from diapers to pull-ups, from bottles to sippy cups, Kayla and Max were entering an unchartered, grown-up space.
Before the announcement hit the waterfront airwaves, various connected family members already sensed what would soon be apparent. With Max’s great grandpa’ Hartwell, and father Daniel the first to know, and then