meantime, she'd take a cold shower, change into her nightgown, and probably relive
every moment in the kitchen in great detail. Damn, the man could kiss.
Chapter Thirteen
Elvi woke Monday evening with a smile on her face as she stretched luxuriously in her
lovely new bed. Sunday had been a great day. She'd woken late and gone below to find
that her bed had been delivered. Not willing to disturb her, they'd made the delivery
men put it in the foyer to await her rising.
The moment she made an appearance, they'd moved her coffin out and carried her
bed up. When asked what she wanted done with the casket, Elvi had grimaced and
muttered, "Burn it." The men had taken her at her word. While Victor and Edward had
set up the plain metal frame that came with the bed, Alessandro and Harper had taken
axes to her coffin, turning it into tinder.
They'd then built a fire, roasting hotdogs over the flaming remains of her casket. When
it began to rain later in the evening, Elvi and the men had moved indoors and turned
to a deck of cards for their entertainment. On learning that Elvi had never played
poker, they'd decided to teach her and they'd spent an enjoyable evening laughing,
talking, and taking all her chips.
Elvi stretched again on her lovely new bed and opened her eyes with a little sigh. While
Sunday had been nice for the most part, she'd found it a bit stressful as well—as she
worked to avoid being alone with Victor. It had been an act of pure cowardice on her
part. She didn't know how she should act around him after the episode in the kitchen
and so avoided any situation where she couldn't treat him as anything but one of the
" guys."
Now she had another day of doing that ahead of her.
Making a face at the ceiling, Elvi reluctantly pushed the sheets off and climbed out of
her lovely new bed. She'd slept like a dream. Too well actually. Elvi had hoped to get
up early enough today to spend some time out in daylight for the first time in five
years. She'd hoped to look over her garden and enjoy the sun on her face, but could
tell from one glance at the window that the sun had already set.
It was her own fault, Elvi supposed; she'd retired to her room early, but stayed up
waiting for Mabel and DJ to get home from the restaurant so she could finally talk to
the woman. She'd never got the chance on Saturday night. DJ simply hadn't left
Mabel's room, from what she could tell. At least he hadn't by the time she'd given up
and fallen asleep. Then Sunday the couple had already been up and gone when she got
up. Hopefully, she'd get the chance to talk to her today. Elvi could use some advice on
how to deal with Victor. She couldn't avoid him indefinitely.
Elvi didn't bother drying her hair when she got out of the shower, instead she simply
brushed it back and left it to dry on its own, then quickly dressed in a peasant blouse
and festive cotton Mexican skirt and headed below. Normally, she'd be heading to the
restaurant tonight, but she wasn't sure at this point what would be expected of her.
They had houseguests after all. Once she knew what she was doing, she could change
accordingly.
When Elvi first made her way downstairs and glanced around, she thought she was the
only one there, then the door to the deck opened and Victor stepped inside.
He paused on first spotting her, then murmured a greeting and moved to the
refrigerator. Retrieving a bag of blood, he held it out and asked, "How was the new
bed?"
Despite her uncertainty, Elvi felt a smile stretch her mouth. "Marvelous."
"Glad to hear it." His smile pulled into a grin as she took the blood.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
"The men all went to a play at the school with your neighbors… Mark and Sharon is it?"
"Mike and Karen," Elvi corrected, not at all surprised the couple had extended an
invitation. The Knights were a lovely couple. They were always offering help with
things around the house, or inviting her and Mabel places. Elvi wasn't surprised they
were generous enough to extend those invitations to include the men. Their
generosity and thoughtfulness were part of why they were so popular in town and why
their son Owen's birthday celebration had been so well attended.
"And Mabel and DJ are at the restaurant," Victor continued. "She said to tell you you're
not expected there tonight. She wanted you to pick one of the men and spend the
evening getting to know him."
Elvi blinked. "But you said the guys went to a play."
"Yes. As you weren't up, I made an arbitrary decision for you and told the others
tonight you were getting to know me," he announced unapologetically. "I thought that
way I could finally tell you our laws and rules."