Lost Without You

~36~

As he had promised, Stoker returned my notebook the following day. He said that he had copied all of my notes, and was working on a new theory concerning my dreams, but refused to tell me anything more specific about it until he would be done with his research.

He only advised me to keep doing whatever I had been doing before my dreams stopped. It was important to keep in touch with Vlad, Stoker lectured, because, according to him, I needed to let my husband know that I would try to find my way back. I should make him believe that I would be with him again as soon as the portal reopened, so he would wait for me-- in any meaning implied by those words.

Stoker emphasized his last sentence by a meaningful look, making me understand that he was hinting at the dream concerning Vlad and Jusztyna he had read about in my notebook, sending my stomach into knots. But whatever Stoker was thinking, I was sure that Vlad would wait for me... Wouldn't he?

And it wasn't just that. According to Stoker, anyone who was brave or reckless enough, and knew where the passage was and when it opened, could walk through, but only guided by, or directly following one of the vampires from the other side. So, to get back in, if I really could walk through one more time, of which Stoker still wasn't certain, I needed to meet Vlad in our, current version of the castle.

Faithful to his other promise, Stoker met Lia that afternoon, and, to my dismay, the two of them kept meeting several times a week. In my opinion, he was simply too annoying to become my best friend's boyfriend. The knowledge that he thought more-less the same about me, with respect to my and Vlad's marriage, wasn't helping it.

Seeing my mixed feelings about their forming relationship, Lucas tried to keep me away from the flat whenever the two were in. He also made sure that most of my free moments and days off were busy, by teaching me first unarmed self-defence, then, as the weeks passed, the basics of fighting with a knife.

Mum filled in all the remaining gaps, insisting on meeting me at least twice a week, either in Lia's flat, our house in Barnes or at Luigi's, where I always arrived accompanied by Lucas or Lia. And, once I managed to convince Lucas and Stoker that none of their vampire kin would dare to approach me and Mum in broad daylight surrounded by people, we would meet in Paris, during my lunch breaks.

To my surprise, Dad called me a few weeks after my birthday and we managed to chat on the phone for about ten minutes about unimportant things, as if nothing had passed, carefully skirting around all the crucial subjects. Mum kept him informed, I was sure, and thanks to her intervention our weekly phone calls soon became easy, friendly even.

As Christmas approached, Dad started to hint at his inability to spend the Holidays with us this year. He understood that Mum wanted to spend Christmas with her boyfriend, he said, and he, too, would be spending a couple of weeks with his new 'friend' in Mauritius.

Mum had already filled me in about this 'friend', one of the reasons why they were divorcing, a young woman only some five years older than me. Apparently, she managed to keep Dad happy enough, and seeing that Mum was thriving in her infatuation, hopefully love, for Julian, I didn't mind.

William stopped calling me, and whenever we met by chance in the square or in Paris, much to my surprise, he behaved nicely. I introduced Lucas to him, as he was mostly with me, as mine and Lia's new friend and flatmate. But, like most people, William seemed to have jumped to his own conclusion and it made all the difference for him. He finally accepted my decision and moved on too, and seeing the positive change in him made me feel content.

As the weeks passed, my pregnancy became too difficult to hide. So, at last, a week before my planned Christmas break, I informed Mr. Turner about it, promising to work until the beginning of May at least. I wouldn't know what to do with myself at home anyway, the 'expecting' has already been too long, and I wasn't even half-way through yet.