The Reluctant Vampire(70)

“Oh now, don’t blame me,” she said on a laugh. “You probably had just as perverted ideas in your shared dreams with Jenny.”

Harper blinked, and Drina bit her lip as she realized what she’d said. Bringing up the ghost probably wasn’t the best thing to do, she thought on a sigh, but rather than coming over all guilt-ridden, Harper frowned, and admitted, “I never had shared dreams with Jenny.”

Drina relaxed, relieved that he wasn’t turning morose on her, and shrugged. “Perhaps she wasn’t sleeping close enough for you to have them.”

“I don’t know,” Harper said slowly. “Alessandro made some comment once about the wild dreams he’d shared with Leonora while he was courting her, and she lives across the street. Well, they both do now,” he added, and released her to point out the window. “The corner house there.”

Drina turned to follow his pointing finger. Noting the pretty gingerbread house, she asked, “And where did Jenny live?”

Harper turned her and urged her the length of the porch to look out over the backyard, then pointed to the right a bit to the row of buildings backing this one. There was a midsize house directly behind Casey Cottage and right next to it a smaller white one, both facing onto the next road. It was the smaller one he was pointing to. Drina stared at it. The backyard of Casey Cottage was perhaps the length of two cars or a bit more, but the distance was definitely shorter than that between this house and the one across the street. With the front yards, sidewalks, and then streets, Leonora’s house was a good ten or fifteen feet farther away than the little white house where Jenny had apparently lived.

“Maybe not all life mates have shared dreams,” she said finally, not sure what other explanation there could be.

“Okay, I got enough pillows and comforters for all of us,” Stephanie announced gleefully.

Drina turned toward the door and burst out laughing when she saw Stephanie stepping into the porch, dragging a large, bulging comforter apparently stuffed with pillows and other comforters behind. She’d gathered the ends and pulled them over one shoulder, but the sacklike carrier she’d made dragged on the floor behind her. She looked, for all the world, like a skinny blond Santa in jeans and a T-shirt.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Drina and Harper said as one, and moved toward her.

“No, no, I got it,” Stephanie assured them. “You two shove the coffee table out of the way, so we can start nest building.”

Smiling at the girl’s much more cheerful mood, Drina turned to help Harper shift furniture around to make room.

“So did you check out the movies?” Stephanie asked, as they finished situating the comforters and pillows.

Drina smiled faintly, knowing the girl probably already knew the answer. She seemed to know everything they thought and did.

“Drina voted for horror,” Harper announced. “Lights-out-huddling-on-the-floor-in-the-dark horror. But we can always do that second if you have another preference. First choice should go to you since you had to fetch everything for this excursion.”

“No that’s good. My first choice is horror too,” Stephanie said happily, grabbing the movie in question and opening the DVD case as she crawled over to the television and DVD on her knees.

“I’ll get the lights,” Drina said, hopping up and moving to the door, but then pausing to wait for Stephanie to get everything going.

“All set,” Stephanie announced, finishing up, and then dropping back amid the nest they’d built.

Drina flipped the light switch off and moved to join Harper and Stephanie on the floor. Stephanie had taken the near edge of the nest, leaving a spot between herself and Harper who had claimed the far end, and Drina settled into the spot, smiling when he slid his arm around her shoulders.

“It warmed up in here pretty quickly like you said, Harper,” Stephanie commented, as the FBI warning rolled offscreen and the movie trailers began. She pushed away the comforter she’d automatically pulled over herself as she spoke, and Drina glanced around, noting that it was much warmer than when they’d first entered the room. She almost pushed the comforter aside herself, but Harper caught her hand to stop her.

When she turned to him in question, he merely smiled and gestured that she should look toward the screen.

“Harpernus Stoyan, if you can’t behave yourself and go and turn all Roman hands and Russian fingers under that comforter, you’re going to have to sit on the couch,” Stephanie snapped, sounding for all the world like a stern schoolteacher.

Drina burst out laughing at Harper’s exaggerated groan, suddenly understanding what he’d been up to. She then pushed the comforter aside and shifted herself up onto the couch behind them to remove temptation, and said, “That’s okay, I’ll sit up here. I had nowhere to put my soda anyway sitting between the two of you.”