Margaret looked at the mountain view for a few more seconds.
"How long?" she asked.
"About one month."
"Are you…" Margaret paused, then she continued. "Are you okay? Is it~... does it hurt?"
Lilian's expression cracked, tears began to well up in her eyes. "No," she said. "It doesn't hurt. Not anymore. I'm okay, Mom. I promise I'm okay."
Margaret nodded slowly. She was still holding her daughter's hand, still checking them like she used to.
"The men," she muttered quietly.
Lilian's expression shifted. "What about them?"
"Are they vampires too?"
"Yes."
"And they are really your husbands?"
"They're mine," Lilian said simply.
And then, because her mother was looking at her with the expression that had never once in thirty years failed to extract the full truth, she added, "All three of them."
Margaret stared at her. "All three," she repeated, then went quiet for a very long time.
"Are they~ are any of them difficult? Do any of them give you trouble?"
