Chapter 7 - Kira
Kira smoothed down the front of her shirt, grimacing as she did so.
Now that Joshua had pulled up to his parents’ house, she was second-guessing everything.
She had put her hair up in a jeweled claw and put on a pale pink shirt and a floor-length jean skirt.
Now, as she pulled down the sunshade to check her makeup in the mirror, she looked washed out.
Maybe she should have put on more makeup.
For dinner, she always wore full glam. Maybe she should have done that for this dinner, too, instead of keeping a more modest palette.
“Are you ready?” Joshua asked, not looking at her. Of course he wasn’t looking at her. Her hair was frizzy, with too many broken ends for it to lie smoothly. Goddess, she needed to redo her entire hygiene routine—
Stop, she told herself. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, allowing herself to face the real issue.
Out of everyone in the pack, the people who still treated her poorly fell into two categories.
One, they were the people who peaked in high school and were trying to relive their glory days via bullying.
Two, they were the older people in the pack, the ones more entrenched in the old, strict hierarchy that they lived their lives in.
She wished Joshua would offer her some words of comfort, but he got out of the car in silence.
Kira pushed the sunshade back into place, then yelped as Joshua opened her door.
He offered her his hand. She ignored the gesture, heat flooding her face as she climbed from the car.
Joshua’s hand dropped back to his side, and he let out a little snort.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to embarrass you,” she told him under her breath.
They headed up the walk. Joshua didn’t ring the doorbell; he just walked right in.
It felt weird and awkward, but she stepped in after him.
Soon after, two people came down the hallway.
Susan Woods was short and round, with a bright, smiling face.
Mark Woods was two inches taller than his son, also round, with eyes that crinkled at the corners and sparkled merrily.
These were his parents?
“Oh, my dear. I’m so glad to finally meet you properly.” Susan embraced Kira with a hug so motherly that it instantly brought tears to her eyes.
Joshua embraced his father, a rare smile on his face.
“Dinner’s ready. Why don’t you kids get comfortable, and we’ll put everything on the table?” Susan suggested as she stepped back.
Kids? Kira had to stifle a snort. Joshua insisted on helping his parents bring the food to the dining table, and Kira tagged along, not wanting to be the only idle one.
When they sat down at the table, they began passing the food around, scooping up large portions of meatloaf, mashed garlic potatoes, sautéed green beans, sliced cucumber, carrot sticks, and sweet pickles.
Mark poured them all generous glasses of grape juice.
All the while, Susan and Mark kept up a steady stream of conversation. Hearing how much they talked, Kira wondered how Joshua was so quiet all the time.
“Of course, that’s when we finally got Joshua,” Susan said matter-of-factly, after talking in awkward detail about their fertility struggles. “We just fell in love at once.”
She beamed at her son and squeezed his hand, but Joshua glared at his plate, as though his mother had said something wrong.
“I don’t think we need to dwell on that,” Joshua said. “It’s not interesting.”
“Nonsense.” Susan waved a hand. “I’m sure your wife wants to know all about you.”
Joshua shook his head and pulled his hand away. “I’m sure she doesn’t.”
Kira took a bite of meatloaf to hide her unease. She wasn’t sure why Joshua was reacting in that way. Maybe it was bringing up memories of… what? Having a childhood where he was loved? His reaction to his mother telling him about such an innocent thing was concerning.
“So, Kira, tell us a bit about yourself,” Mark prompted.
Uh-oh. She’d been so focused on the idea that they’d be spending the whole night obliquely stating she had no right to be married to their son that she hadn’t even considered this.
She held up a finger and pointed at her chewing mouth, then chewed longer than she usually did to buy herself time to think.
“Well, I’m… not really that interesting,” she said after swallowing.
Another thought occurred to her. She had been so wrapped up in her own turmoil at the wedding that she hadn’t noticed anyone in the crowd.
But they would have been there. “I’m sure you’re wondering about that drama at the wedding. It was a misunderstanding on my part—”
“No, it wasn’t,” Joshua interrupted.
Kira tensed. She looked up at him, her hand tightening on her fork. What was he doing? They agreed that this was the story they were going for!”
Joshua glared at his plate as he reached over to place his hand lightly over hers. “They’re my parents.”
But I didn’t tell Gwen the truth; she wanted to protest, but swallowed it down. Did Joshua think she had told Gwen everything?
“The Council decided we were getting married because of the demon threat,” Joshua said gruffly to his plate.
“And they didn’t give us much warning, either.
We’d only been told the day before the wedding.
They arranged everything. My guess is that we couldn’t figure out a way to argue our way out of it. So that’s what happened.”
His shoulders rounded as he spoke, his voice growing lower. Surprise rippled through Kira as she watched him. This wasn’t the behavior of the arrogant asshole she knew. He seemed anxious, almost. Afraid of how they’d react.
“I see,” Mark said. “And you agree with their reasoning?”
Joshua hesitated, then nodded once. But he didn’t. The council’s reasons were that they wanted more super-babies. Or were there other reasons the Elders didn’t tell Kira? It would be just like them.”
Susan refilled everyone’s glasses. “That does put things in perspective. I’m sorry that the council behaved that way. I suppose, though, it’s your choice how your relationship develops from here.”
“Thank you,” Kira murmured. Some of the heaviness that had weighed on her since the wedding lessened. It was a relief to have someone else know the truth and not tell her how she should feel or react.
That’s why I can’t tell Gwen, she realized.
Gwen would be on her side, but that didn’t mean she’d actually listen to what Kira had to say about her situation.
Kira pushed her beans around on the plate, wondering just how far she could go if she did try to express how trapped and angry this made her feel.
Susan and Mark might be oddly welcoming, but they were still Joshua’s parents.
They’d take his side over hers any day of the week.
“I suppose that does make things awkward when planning for the future,” Susan said.
“It does,” Kira agreed. She shot a look at Joshua, finding him still staring at his food.
His hand lingered on hers, and she turned it, pressing their palms together.
It felt safer to talk about this here, with Susan and Mark, than when they were alone.
“I’ve always wanted to have a happy family life.
I want kids. I always thought two or three. But it’s… complicated now.”
Joshua’s hand tightened over hers, then he withdrew. The coolness of the room rushed to take the place of his warmth, and Kira wished he’d reach out to her again. She was seeing a different side to him here, with his parents.
It wasn’t what Joshua wanted. He didn’t want kids of his own.
Yeah, he’d given her other options, but did it mean that she’d end up as a married single mother?
If he didn’t want children, would her children see him as their father, only for him to be a grumpy asshole toward them?
It hurt her heart to think about the pain and confusion that would put children through.
He was great with Lianne, but it also wasn’t constant.
She would rather not have children than give children an unhappy home life.
“You don’t have to decide anything any time soon,” Mark said, waving a hand as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re both young and you deserve to take some time to settle into this situation before you make life-changing decisions.”
Kira nodded. “Oh, I agree.”
Susan laughed lightly. “That’s good. Our Joshua has always been the sort to make snap decisions and stick to them. I remember one time when he was about five—”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to talk about my childhood,” Joshua cut in sharply. He pushed his chair back and piled his cutlery onto his plate, even though he hadn’t even eaten half of it. “Thanks for dinner. We have to go now.”
And just like that, he was back to the same man she’d known for years.
Kira remained seated, watching him warily.
She had thought he was different before, and ended up with her heart shattered.
This was just like then. She thought that things were going well, that he wasn’t such a harsh person.
Then, without warning, he just… did that.
“Kira,” Joshua said without looking at her.
She deliberately scooped up some mashed potatoes. “I’m not finished eating.”
Joshua’s nostrils flared. He seemed on the verge of saying something—maybe yelling at her—but then he merely carried his plate into the kitchen.
Silence fell over them. Susan and Mark gave each other significant looks as though they were having a silent conversation.
It was rather rude of them to exclude Kira when she was sitting right there.
Her spine was rigid as she ate, no longer tasting the food.