Chapter 79 -- A Difference of Opinion
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Mama had some sad news for me the next time she came for a visit -- Grannibella had been taken by the Grim Reaper. "It was very quick," she assured me, "and very peaceful. Grim assured me that he would take good care of her."
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Papa didn't want to talk about it at all. I found him teaching Mortimer his shapes, which was very uncharacteristic, given Papa's dislike of children.
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After they left, I sat down at the piano and played Grannibella's favorite song, "The Lot of the Rising Sun." As far as I'm concerned, she was the World's Best Grandma, and I'll always miss her. But I couldn't grieve long; I had to go to work where I was expecting a promotion.
Just as I was leaving, the phone rang. "It's your grandfather," Diego called. But then he said, "Never mind. It's me he wants to talk to."
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It was a long day at work, and I couldn't wait to get home to my boys. The twins are so cute together.
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I love it when Mort parks himself on Mick's bed. I think they're closer than Gavin and Chiara used to be.
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The little ones weren't the only boys I wanted to see. Diego is such a good father. When I came home, he was reading to Mort from my latest work, Pat the Marmoset. "You really ought to get these published," he said. "I bet you could do it as a set -- The Lesser Known Mammals, or something."
"I got my promotion," I told him.
"Great!" said Diego. "That means I can go to the Casbah Gallery and trash -- I mean, review -- their latest show."
"What was it Grandfather wanted?" I asked as he was leaving.
"Just something he wants me to do for him," he said. "Oh, and I'll be stopping by your parents' house after the gallery. I need to pick up some garlic and wolfbane for that cure."
"You still didn't answer my question," I murmured, as he got on the elevator.
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"Vibrant colors are best in smaller doses," Diego wrote. "I'd just as soon not enter the artist's hallucination."
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"So happy that the artist has figured out how to make a shadow. Not so happy he felt it necessary to share that with the rest of us."
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"The painting to my left might be a nice pattern for a dress or even a suit. The one to my right looks like the gloomy vision of a financier's widow who is hated by her stepchildren."
After dropping off his review, Diego went to Ophelia Villa where he gathered up some garlic and wolfbane.
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And then he performed the little service that Vladislaus Straud had told him to do.
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"You'll enjoy being a vampire," he promised Lotharia. "And you'll certainly be a beautiful one."
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As soon as Diego got home, I mixed the cure for him. "Through the lips and over the tongue, look out, stomach, here it comes!" he recited.
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Once he'd recovered, I asked Diego what Grandfather had wanted him to do. "Turn your cousin," he said.
"Lotty? But she's only a child!" I exclaimed.
"She's a teen now," said Diego. "And quite the looker -- a strong resemblance to Bella but with her father's green eyes."
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A couple of days later, when I took Mort and Mick to meet Grandfather, I told him I wasn't happy about what he'd made Diego do. "I remember Mama telling me how she and Papa had this special bond because she'd turned him into a vampire. Even if it didn't last long, she said, it gave an extra depth to their relationship." I told Grandfather. "And now you've arranged it so that my husband has a 'special bond' with my teen-aged -- and beautiful -- cousin."
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"You're beautiful, too," Grandfather protested weakly. But then he started crying, "I'm sorry, my dear. I was thinking of the future of our family and how nice it would be to have Don Lothario's genes in the mix. It didn't occur to me that you might be jealous."
"I'm not jealous," I protested, "I just don't think it's a healthy situation." I couldn't say much more than that because the boys were there.
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I took Mick into the kitchen to feed him but left Mort to chat with his great-grandfather. He would have to become good friends with him someday, if he wanted to break the family curse. For once, I was tired of the curse.
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It was morning by the time our visit ended (vampires' visiting hours are different from humans'), and Diego was mopping up the twins' latest mess. "I wiped down the high chair, too, and emptied their potties," he said. "Am I forgiven?"
"Yes," I said. "After all, Grandfather's the one who turned you, so you'd have to do something he told you to. And I should have realized that he'd want Lotty to become a vampire. She's got the Goth and Lothario genes and she lives in his favorite house -- of course he'd want to keep it in the family. I just wish he hadn't picked you to do the turning."
"Well, I won't be doing her training, so that's something."
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"Turn around," he added. "I have a surprise for you. I started it while you were gone."
"It's going to be a fish?" I asked.
"Yes," said Diego. "I have a sketch right here -- you can work on it, too, if you want."
