Lissianna dropped her gaze but didn't know what to say. She wasn't all that sure. She was mostly happy, but...
"Is it fear?" Debbie asked. "Cold feet? Now that there's no resistance from Mom, is it giving you a chance to have some doubts of your own?"
Lissianna started to deny it, then realized she would be lying. She was afraid.
Debbie didn't make her say it. Instead she simply said, "I wouldn't be surprised if it is. I felt much the same way before Jim and I married. It was fear, pure and simple. I was afraid he couldn't possibly be as wonderful as he seemed, that something would happen to wreck things, that I'd get my heart broken..." She sighed heavily. "And I was right."
Lissianna's head snapped up in surprise.
Debbie smiled wryly at her shocked expression, and added, "The day he died my heart broke irretrievably." She let that sink in, then said, "Life isn't always easy, Lissianna. It's full of tough decisions and heartache, and things don't always work out the way we hoped. Life just doesn't come with guarantees. And while it's true that sometimes, by avoiding taking a chance on people, we can avoid some heartache, we might also miss out on the best times of our life. Don't be afraid to love."
Lissianna sat back in her seat as Debbie left her office, the other woman's words playing through her head. "Don't be afraid to love." It reminded her of her conversation with her uncle Lucian.
"You think I am afraid to love?" he'd asked, and when she'd nodded, had said, "Well, perhaps... And perhaps it's true that it takes one to know one."
Lissianna blew a slow breath out and acknowledged that she was indeed afraid. Fear had kept her from discussing "forever" with Greg when he'd wanted to talk about it after waking up from the turning, as well as the two other times he'd later brought it up. She was scared of being hurt. Not by rejection, she already knew that he was willing to be her life mate, and Lissianna knew it wasn't because she'd turned him. Greg loved her. She felt that every time their minds merged. What she was afraid of was the future and what it would do to their love.
"Life just doesn't come with guarantees',' Deb had said, but neither did love. No one knew what the future might bring, but Lissianna did know that the time since she'd met Greg had been the most wonderful of her two-hundred-plus years. She also knew that if she allowed fear to keep her from taking a chance on a future with Greg, the price would be giving up the opportunity for any more of those best times. Basically, it didn't pay to be afraid to love, she thought, and decided tonight they'd have that talk about forever. She was ready to take a chance.
"Lissianna?"
She glanced up with a start at the sound of her name and found Father Joseph in her doorway. "Yes, Father?"
"There's a gentleman here to see you," the priest announced, then turned to wave someone forward.
No one ever came to see her at the shelter, and Lissianna was just starting to frown with confusion, when Greg stepped into view.
"Greg!" She pushed her desk chair back and got to her feet, but then paused and refrained from running around the desk to throw herself at him as her first instinct had urged. Trying to maintain a professional attitude for Father Joseph's sake, Lissianna managed a calm tone as she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to drive you home," he announced. "Are you ready to go?"
"Oh." Lissianna glanced down at her watch and frowned as she realized it was past quitting time. As usual she'd lost track of time. Her gaze slid over her desk, and she grimaced. "I need to put away the files and leave a note for the girl who has my job during the day, so she knows what calls to make and--"
"Go ahead," Greg interrupted. "I don't mind waiting."
Lissianna smiled, then glanced toward Father Joseph.
"Thank you, Father," she murmured, moving around her desk to the door. "Thank you for showing him back."
"It's all right then?"
"Oh, yes. He's a friend," she assured him.
"Oh." Father Joseph nodded. "Good." He hesitated, then backed away from the door as Greg slid into the office. "I'll just..." The priest waved his hand vaguely, then turned and moved off down the hall.
Lissianna watched him go with concern. Father Joseph still wasn't sleeping, and it was beginning to worry her. He had bags under his eyes big enough to store groceries in, and his complexion was taking on an unhealthy gray tinge. Sighing as he moved out of sight, she closed the door and turned to Greg, gasping in surprise when she found herself suddenly pulled into his arms and his mouth descending on hers.
"Mmm," he murmured as he ended the kiss. "Hello."
"Hello," she whispered huskily. "Have you been waiting long?"
"Thirty-five years, but you're worth waiting for," Greg assured her.
Lissianna laughed softly and kissed the tip of his nose, then said, "I meant tonight."
"You mean this morning," he corrected. "Though it seems like night still since the sun hasn't risen."
"It is a bit confusing having the opposite hours to everyone else," she acknowledged.