Baby Moon
Starring Jesse and Sophie from Pale Girl
“It worked the first time. Without anything extra. It was... It was a miracle. And people would say that people like us don’t deserve miracles.
” Jesse’s hands tightened on the wheel, and his eyes dragged from the rearview mirror to Sophie’s face.
“Sorry, babe. I’m just on edge. I can’t even...
I can’t even go to a doctor in Pine Ridge for this.
I mean, there are a couple of doctors who know what I am, but they’re not going to be able to do anything but say it’s not physical. Vamps don’t make babies.”
Sophie’s eyes joined Jesse’s blurry outline in the mirror as they peered at their sleeping passenger in the back seat.
Her reflection was sharp and clear, and his was just a silvery blur.
“There’s proof in the front seat and the back seat that they do.
There are proofs in books in Minegold’s library, in Madge’s shelves at the magic shop.
It can happen. It happened to us once.” Sophie’s voice was tense as they looked at the sleeping baby in the backseat, a toddler now, with pale skin and dark hair—like his parents.
“Your parents were a vampire and an ifrita.”
“And I came out a not-quite-human. If vampire plus vampire equals no baby, but vampire plus demoness equals baby, and good vampire with human soul plus not-quite-human with a human soul equals a human baby, then... Then it can happen twice.” Sophie’s hands kneaded her slim legs, powder-white hands on dark blue denim.
“I wish this were all down to math, sweetie,” Jesse sighed. “Look. Look, honey. You know, it’s not so bad growing up as an only child, not as long as someone loves you. You were an only child. I was an only child. Our parents love J.J. with all of their hearts.”
Sophie nodded. This discussion had happened a hundred times in the last four months, ever since J.J. (short for Jesse Jakob) had started noticing his other little friends had siblings. He kept asking for one, or pointing at Sophie’s tummy, asking, “Baby? My baby?”
“But growing up alone, being the only one wh-who looks like he does, or who has parents like us,” she gulped hard, blinking away memories of bullying, taunts, and jeers that had followed her all the way to college, all the way to Jesse—the first person she’d ever met who looked just like her.
Her soulmate. Her best friend. Life mate, after life mate...
“I don’t want him to grow up feeling like I did, until he has to find his own Night Queen.
” Sophie sniffed in hard. “And I know! I know he won’t, not in this town.
But in his own head, in his own house, or his room...
I want him to have someone he can talk to about being different who lives a life as close to his as possible...
That chance might only come from us, Jesse. ”
“I know, but you’re overlooking things that I’ve told you I’m okay with. Sperm donors. Adoption. A surrogate who can carry your eggs... There are tons of ways to build a family.”
Sophie was stubbornly silent as the car pulled up to Jakob Minegold’s large house. She was silent while she gently unbuckled the dozing J.J. from his car seat. Jesse rang the bell, and the carillon inside played Sheep May Safely Graze to announce their arrival.
Jakob Minegold, the vampire who had saved Jesse’s life long ago, was already rushing to pick up his “grandson”, giving him a dozen kisses and speaking to him in a blend of Polish and English, bouncing him with enraptured delight.
J.J. is going to have a family. He already does. I’m adopted. My parents are the best parents ever. Jesse is the best dad, the most unselfish dad...
“How can I thank you for letting me keep my grandson for two whole days?” Jakob crowed, balancing J.J. on his hip.
“No need to thank us, Dad.” Jesse had slipped into calling him that over the past few years as a different sort of bond developed, more than that of a close friend and mentor who’d taught him how to survive as a vampire with an innocent soul, a vampire who would never hurt an innocent.
Now, they were bonded by fatherhood, marriage, and a shared knowledge of what it was like to live for someone else, even when you’d technically stopped living at all.
Sophie smiled when she watched the “three generations” together, her heart warm, despite her skin being permanently pale and cold. “We should thank you. We really needed to get away for a little bit. Just the routine can be a lot.”
“You’re still teaching a few dozen students a week, even from home, Sophie.
I don’t know how you can do it all, plus join me when we play for weddings or with the choir.
I hope the stress isn’t too much. I know how hard it is to raise children,” Jakob said gently, one hand coming to rest on her shoulder.
Sophie knew he did, indeed. His own life had been sacrificed to save his wife and three children, not to mention hundreds of others who otherwise never would have made it out of Poland during the darkest point in its history.
“I’m not stressed about teaching. Like your violin, my cello is my best friend.
I still stay in touch with my old conductor from college, too.
He asked me if I might come back and play with the orchestra for a special event this year.
Some tribute to refugees. He knows that’s a cause near and dear to my heart. ”
“Well, but maybe you should tell him no?” Mr. Minegold looked between her and Jesse. “Something is off. Something is—oh! Oh! My darlings! My bliskimi, has another miracle happened? Mazel tov!”
“What? What happened?” Sophie jumped guiltily, but she already knew what her dear adopted father-in-law was implying.
“You and Jesse! Is there... No?” Jakob looked between them, his face falling slowly.
“Oh. Well... Well, never you mind, my dears. I am not rushing you.” Jakob’s head turned from one guest to the other.
“Let Grandpa show you the new big blocks, my Jesse Jakob. Yes, and they make sounds. There, right here, my angel,” Mr. Minegold crooned to his grandchild, whisking him over to the room in his beautifully, elegantly furnished home—that now resembled a toy shop.
“He’s so good to him,” Sophie murmured.
“And I am good to you two, too.” Their vampiric host returned, pale, courtly face now bearing a frown. “I can feel your worry. Your sadness. Why do you need me to watch J.J.?” His eyes widened, and they fixed on Sophie. “You’re not well?”
“No! I am well. I’m well, Dad,” she murmured, letting herself be pulled into a relieved hug. “I’m as healthy as someone who looks human but isn’t quite human, or vampire, or ifrita can be.”
Jesse took over when Minegold released her, arm around her shoulder. “We know it was pretty miraculous when we got pregnant once. We never questioned the how or why; we were just in shock. Blessed, grateful shock.”
“‘For this child I have prayed.’ That’s in First Samuel,” Minegold nodded gravely.
“We’ve been praying again, but it hasn’t happened.
A fertility doctor isn’t going to help us.
No doctor has ever been able to figure out what was wrong with me, and Jesse wouldn’t pass at all.
But, somehow, some way, we made it work before, just like my vampire father and ifrita mother did.
I’m guessing my ifrita blood and Jesse’s vampire essence clicked once,” she blushed slightly, “but it hasn’t happened again—and I wasn’t worried about it until J.J.
started noticing a lot of other families around us have more than one child.
I know we’re incredibly fortunate just to have one child, but...
A sibling is such a precious thing. Jesse and I don’t have them.
I wish J.J. could have the chance that we didn’t.
It’s silly, I guess.” Sophie dabbed her eyes suddenly with her coat sleeve.
“I know there are so many things we could probably do with magic, but I don’t want to try to manipulate anything with potions or powers.
We didn’t have to with our son. Other than living here. ”
“But living here is plenty busy. Sophie’s teaching lessons, helping my mom, taking care of a bustling toddler, and keeping the house running. Even when I help, I know she does the lion’s share.” Jesse kissed her temple.
“That’s not even true,” Sophie laughed and shook her head at him. “You do so much, earn the bulk of the money, pay the bills, take care of so many things around the house, do half the cooking—”
“Shh. Shh, my dears,” Mr. Minegold put his arms around them, somber face showing just a slight smile.
“You two are the picture of partnership and love. You are excellent children, excellent parents, and excellent husband and wife. You know... Praying is all well and good, but sometimes we must use unlikely resources, because they are the unexpected answers to our prayers. When my... When things were dire, back during the war,” Mr. Minegold skated quickly past the most painful parts of his life, smiling more broadly when Jesse and Sophie pressed in closer, hugging him back, “I prayed that I would find a way to help, to save as many as I could, even if it was not an answer I had ever thought of.” He lightly tapped his neck, eyes far away. “I found it, didn’t I?”
“I know, Dad, you did. You’re a hero. My hero.” Jesse squeezed his shoulder. “I’m not sure what you’re telling us, though.”
“I don’t think you need to use potions, or magic, or put anything in Sophie’s body—except... Er-hrm.” Mr. Minegold suddenly became very interested in a piece of lint on his sweater. “I think you should go to Country Pines Motel.”
“What? That little place out on the highway?” Sophie blinked in surprise.
“You’re right, Dad, we want to get away from it all. A break in the routine, minimizing interruptions, giving us time to relax,” Jesse agreed. “I was thinking we’d head to this pretty little bed and breakfast over by—”
“No.”