Chapter 58) Milestones

My path has not been determined. I shall have more experiences and pass many more milestones.

Agnetha Faltskog

Windenburg 
Cameron Lake House

I am writing this while very tired. While Blaine and I had raised our own two kids, plus Riordan, and babysat grandkids of all ages throughout the years, having not one, but two newborns living in the same SMALL home at our age is a whole different ballgame and very taxing.

Ana did her best, and Riordan came over whenever he could, but a lot of it fell on Blaine and me. Even Brendan pitched in, unasked, I would like to add. He really is a wonderful and amazing young man.

Ana had gone into labor suddenly on a dreary Autumn afternoon, we barely had time to call Ri over and he bravely went to the hospital with her. Let me put it this way: Riordan may be a powerful vampire, but as a first time father-to-be I really had to wonder if he wouldn’t keel over with a heart attack and a stroke, even though that was impossible.

At first he was too scared to pick up his own kids, too delicate, he seriously freaked out until Blaine just placed him near a crib, arranged his arms just so and placed the newborn son in them. Riordan stood stiffly with eyes big as headlights, until I went over and played his mommy again, gently nudging him and talking him through it.

He adored the babies but was also still a little bit scared, while Ana was very worn out. Having twins at 37 was a different story than having them ay 27, like her last set. My guess will be that there will be no more babies for them.

Oh, right, the names. They are Finn and Fiona Cameron-Vatore. Eventually their name would be changed to Camore to avoid issues and misunderstandings.

The names were chosen carefully and specifically. Their last names were obviously a merger of their parents’ last names, as Ana was very outspoken about not ever changing hers again, and neither would Ri. Since they couldn’t get married by our laws anyway, it didn’t matter.

The Vatores heritage was mostly Italian, both Caleb and Lilith were born and raised there some hundreds of years ago, their mother had been Irish, Riordan brought some Asian influence to the table via his father. The Cameron heritage was all Scottish and German. So they went with Gaelic names.

Finn is a boy’s name of Irish, Gaelic origin meaning “fair or white, warrior”.
Fiona is a girl’s name of Gaelic, Scottish origin meaning “white, fair”.

Both kids would undoubtedly have dark hair and very light skin, just like their parents and grandparents, except me, but my dark blonde wouldn’t stand a chance here. The eye colors remained to be seen, as with babies, it is always just a guessing game. My guess would be that one of both would have their father’s dark eyes, since that feature was dominant.

Now to the biggest relief: both infants were mortals. *deep exhale*
I think Riordan may have been a bit sad, but also relieved at the same time.
In case you were wondering why Anastasia and Riordan weren’t living together, it’s just one more complication in their relationship. Riordan couldn’t move away from Forgotten Hollow, at least not now, as the new vice-leader of the entire vampire population of the region, whatever that really meant. And Ana made it very clear that she had no desire to live there permanently, let alone raise children there. Maybe they’d figure it out in future.

While we were adjusting to having babies in the home again, we attended another wedding, a real one this time by mortal standards. We didn’t even have to travel far, this one was held at the beautiful Chalet Gardens right here in Windenburg.

Natalie’s nephew Christian was tying the knot with Evangeline Chamberlain, Riordan’s ex. A new Mrs. Bergman, which gave Randall, Natalie’s father, a big sense of relief that his family legacy as Bergmans would live on, as it was VERY obvious both wanted kids and would likely have one soon, by my guess, that was already in the works.

Needless to mention that Blaine complained throughout the entire wedding. Yeah, he still hated weddings, especially those of people he wasn’t even really related to, per him.

Cunningham Estates
Almost 3 years later

Finn and Fiona were three now and man, they could give the Energizer bunny a run for its money.

Every night once they were both finally tucked in, Blaine and I would have done backflips, had we not been so exhausted.

And here we were now, the whole Cameron clan had collectively wandered over to the Cunningham residence, for a birthday party, a special one. Collin and Claire were turning 13. Yeah, teens. We were bracing ourselves for that.

I would like to claim that the relationship between them and the Cameron side had fully recovered, but that would be a lie. Brendan, Natty, Declan and Everett hadn’t fallen out of favor, luckily, but even with them the contact had noticeably decreased. It was unfortunate, but you just can’t force things like that.

We were all civil with each other, but we couldn’t wait to get out of there. Our gifts were acknowledged with polite thanks yous and forced smiles, obviously none of us had the money to buy anything as fancy as they were used to and it showed in their reactions.

Ana and Chase’s parents were getting along as well as could be expected.

Chase demonstratively flaunted the fact that he had a new woman in his life. A new Mrs. Cunningham. Beatrice, I think her maiden name was Lindquist. None of us knew anything about her, how they met, nor did anyone truly care enough to ask, let alone had we been invited to their wedding. It would appear that she was from the Cunningham’s upper crust circles.

Don’t get me wrong, she was nice enough, Collin and Claire seemed to like her. She even took over the care of both, meaning Ana was no longer on the hook for monthly child support payments. Over the time he first introduced her to us and the many pictures of him and Ana on the walls disappeared. The only reminders that she ever was part of this family were the few remaining pictures of her with the children.

After the official birthday meal, when everyone was just standing around talking, Chase clinked his glass. All of us got quiet and looked at him.

“May I have your attention just for a moment, please? My sweet Beatrice and I could not think of a better moment to share this with all of you, but I am overjoyed to announce that Bea and I are expecting!”

Blaine and I exchanged a quick look.

“Are we gonna have to buy gifts for that brat then too? If we are, I ain’t acknowledging. No more room on my sweater!” he whispered, grimacing.

“No, too many corners away to be relevant as a relation. And no, no gifts needed. It’s basically same level as Penny and her kids and grandkids are to us.”

“Thank goodness. Whatever happened to Claire and Collin is probably gonna happen to the new one. Turns into some hoity toity something rather. Just to make this clear, we’re not babysitting! And how in the world did he do that anyway, thought his dick was broken?” Blaine grumbled into my ear.

“Jeeze Blaine! Not that part, he had mild internal surgery so he couldn’t father kids, and obviously had that successfully reversed. The rest of him was intact, obviously or he couldn’t have done to Ana what he did.” I told him.

“Well, here’s to his plumbing working as advertised again.” Blaine raised his glass and emptied it in one big gulp.

Del Sol Valley
Cameron Park of Performing Arts

A few months after the birthday party life found us in an unexpected spot. We were in Del Sol Valley again, an all expense paid trip, courtesy of the city of Del Sol Valley, they had flown our entire family out there so Blaine could attend the dedication of a park, named in his honor. Tonight was the rehearsal, just us, tomorrow would be the official public event.

Blaine was, and always had been, the sort of one-of-a-kind celebrity that just stood out from the rest, even after he had purposely kept mostly out of the spotlight for so long now, while still releasing music and sporadic performances mostly at a small bar in San Myshuno – the Skyline – now a real hot spot. Because of that fact, newer generations still became big fans of his. His rugged, rebellious ways and unfiltered talk probably had a lot to do with it, his music was rough, perfectly thought out and always from the heart. Whenever he went in to the office of the studios he still co-lab’ed with, they sent him home with volumes of fan mail, not counting the stuff that came in electronically. Oh yeah, and he still had game with girls of all ages. I could tell you stories … sigh.

Anyway, here we were, they named this tiny little park after him, don’t be fooled by the size, it’s still a grand gesture as it was located in prime real estate, you could see the Starlight Accolades Award Hall and the Walk of Fame from here, as well as practically all major Del Sol Valley attractions, all within a few minutes on foot away.

The park itself featured a small stage, seating, a bar and grilling spots and lavatories – all per Blaine’s request when he was first contacted about it. All this would be free to young, aspiring artists to help them get noticed. Talent acquisition folk could also come here and try to find new fodder for the rat race that was the entertainment business.

We had taken our seats, and Blaine was called up on stage to hold the practice speech. Worried I eyed the boys, now 10 year old Declan and 8 year old Everett, praying he’d keep it clean. Finn and Fiona both 3, were otherwise occupied, but now I heard Finn’s little voice exclaim

“Grampa!” as he pointed to the stage.

“Yes, sweet baby, but we have to be quiet now.” I told him, but that little bundle of energy had long moved on.

His twin sister Fiona was soundly asleep in her mother’s lap, making me smile.

“Graaaaandmaaaaa? When is Grandpa gonna sing?” Everett asked now.

“Oh baby boy, I don’t think he will. He’s just gonna talk tonight.” I told him.

“Booooooring!” Everett complained.

“Rett, sit up straight and be polite. This won’t take long and once it’s done we can go over to that waterfall you wanted to see. And afterwards we’ll get frozen yoghurt and then we can go visit the Walk of Fame and the Accolades Awards place. Whichever of you two boys finds your grandpa’s Walk of Fame star first gets 5 bucks.” Brendan told his sons.

“All right! I’ll watch it standing on my head for that!” Everett seemed very much appeased by that.

“Me too! Five bucks is five bucks!” Declan agreed.

Ah, the world through a child’s eyes is a simple one.