"Here, you can use my camera phone." Hernando rose and retrieved his mobile device from his cloak pocket. "I'm pretty famous here on Earth, so you two better get in the picture so your friend believes you actually ate Thanksgiving dinner with me. How's that, guys?"
"Great!"
"Olivia, would you be so kind?" Hernando adopted his diplomatic posture as she called it, handing her the device with a slight nod of the head.
"Sure, why not." Olivia accepted the camera phone and positioned the twins to stand on either side of Hernando. He knelt on one knee and put an arm around their shoulders, smiling broadly at the camera. "Say cheese."
"Can we say blood instead?" Paul asked. Peter giggled.
Why didn't I see this coming, showing off in front of my BloodDark friends? Olivia frowned. "No, you may not. It's cheese or nothing."
They obliged and she snapped the photo. "There. You give me your friend's email, and I'll send it. You guys happy now?"
"How about a video?" Peter tilted his head and grinned. "That way Aaron will know it's for real and not a fake picture."
"Out. Now." Olivia pointed to the hallway. She had lost all patience. Her father steered the boys out of the living room and toward his study. She breathed a long sigh of relief and returned to her guests. "I apologize for the interruption. Hernando is used to the publicity hounds, but I don't think I'll ever be—even when they're my own pushy little twin cousins."
"Your cousins are well-loved and wanted, I can tell," Valori said with a far off look. "Their mother was overjoyed when she discovered she was pregnant with two babies."
"You can tell just from looking at them?" Annara's frown demonstrated her doubt. "Their mother isn't even in the house."
Valori nodded. "She's coming up the porch stairs, and I can sense her happiness at being with her extended family, her joy today at seeing her favorite niece."
"I'm her only niece on mom's side of the family." Olivia did her best to hide the frisson of fear which sometimes followed one of Valori's pronouncements. "How did you know about—"
The front door opened with a rush of wind and slammed shut with a long bang. "Whew! Sorry about that, but the wind is starting to kick it up a notch."
Olivia's Uncle Biff and Aunt Martha came into the living room after they'd divested their outer wear. "Oh, hello. I'm Biff Johnston, Olivia's uncle, and this is my wife." He doffed his baseball cap and shook out his auburn curls before shaking their hands. "Friends of Olivia's from...the other place?"
"It's called BloodDark, sir," Hernando said.
Please don't launch into one of your history or cultural talks. Olivia smiled and tapped her boyfriend three times on the arm, her signal for him to stop flashing his fangs whenever it was too much for the humans in the room.
"I'm Martha, her mom's sister." The fair-haired woman offered her hand to the three guests, nodding as she took in their names. "Hernando. It's nice to meet you in person, Mr. Ambassador. I saw your interview on the news the other day. Annara—what a pretty name, and Valori, not spelled the usual way Olivia tells me. I take it you're not from these parts?"
"No, we're not." Valori smiled. "You are looking quite well for being with child again, Martha."
Olivia bit her lip and drove her nails into her palms, but said nothing. Not now, Valori. Don't weird out my aunt and uncle. I want them to think I hang with normal people, not circus freaks.
Martha laughed and blushed. "Don't be silly. Not going to happen at my age. I had enough trouble conceiving the twins. It was quite a rough pregnancy as Olivia can tell you, and I'm more than content to have two little whirlwinds."
Biff looked askance at his wife and then at Valori. "You think she's pregnant? I thought so, too, the other day when she told me she was feeling nauseous in the morning."
Annara shook her head and laughed. "I would take her to your closest medic and confirm it." Annara's predilection was for drawing conclusions once concrete details were at hand. Annara had come to know Valori after their defeat of the Pure Bloods, and she had informed Olivia then she didn't believe in the BloodDark myths of the coming future predictors.
"Well, no wine for you, Mrs. Johnston," Biff said. "Just in case." The hopeful look in his eyes spoke for itself. Martha furrowed her brow and frowned.
Olivia sighed. Great. Mom and her sister will argue all through dinner about who makes the best stuffing if they're not both drinking.
There was no time to brood as the doorbell rang, and Martha excused herself to answer it. "Happy Thanksgiving. It's wonderful to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Brown."
Olivia sprang to her feet. Her paternal grandparents had arrived. They hadn't met Hernando before, and she wasn't sure what her parents had told them about her boyfriend from another world.
"Grammy and Granddad!" She ran into the entry hall to embrace them both while her aunt took their coats. "I'm glad you decided to come. I hope you had a smooth trip."
"The highways are full of idiots," Bertram Brown grumbled. "I'm too old to deal with them, but too poor to afford an airline ticket." He kissed Olivia's forehead. "How's my space traveler?"
"Good, Granddaddy." Olivia loved his warm arms around her, squeezing her. He had never given up hope of her return and had been a pillar of strength for her parents during their ordeal.
"I do believe you've grown since we saw you a few months back," Nina Brown said as she accepted a less strenuous hug from her granddaughter. Olivia worried about her grandmother since she had knee surgery a month ago.
"Oh, you're such a tease, Grammy. I stopped growing years ago. I'm already three inches taller than Mom, too." She took her grandparents by the hand and led them into the living room. "Come. I want you to
