Chapter 37
BAILEY
As soon as I’m on the other side of the door, I’m practically hyperventilating. And I hear that darn yipping again.
I fan my face with both hands while attempting to compose myself.
Shit. Dad stares with concern from the couch.
“Hey Dad. Uh… goodnight.”
I’m about to race up the stairs when he asks, “Everything all right?”
“Yup,” I manage.
Shit! Mom is rushing toward me.
“How was it?”
I’m holding my breath, clutching the railing for a few seconds before I breathe out, “He… he… tattooed my name on his neck!”
Mom’s eyes bulge just before her mouth drops open.
I keep going, whispering like Jase might still be able to hear me. “And he took me on a thousand-dollar bookstore shopping spree. He’s building a reading nook in his house for me and ordered the chair I talked about a few weeks ago.”
“The big, soft one?” Mom asks, aghast.
She knows the one I mean.
“In pink,” I add, my voice coming out really high.
Mom smiles big, pressing her palm against her chest.
“I was such a bitch,” I whisper. “I was a bitch about all of it. Because I don’t know how to process any of it.”
“You want to come out back and have a cup of tea with me?” Mom asks.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Thank fuck you’re moving out soon,” Dad mutters. “Gonna miss you, little girl, but will not miss having six hundred thousand books puttin’ all that pressure on the floor joists. Now it’ll be his problem. Good thing he knows how to repair cracked foundations.”
“I do not have six hundred thousand books,” I defend.
“Close to it,” Dad mutters, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
“Oh! You got a new TV,” I remark. “The same as your other one?”
“Jase bought it for me,” Dad says. “Got delivered today.”
“Why’d he do that?”
Well, Jase certainly had a busy day. Buying the gift card. Pink reading chair. Getting Dad a new TV delivered. I guess he had some free time in the tattoo artist’s chair. The tattoo didn’t even look brand-new and swollen. Because he probably shifted a few times to get it to heal.
“Guessin’ he heard me break mine,” Dad says with a shrug.
It’s the first time in days I’ve seen him look remotely casual.
“He sent me an email with a spa gift certificate, too,” Mom adds. “He sure put out a whack of money today.”
“Well…” I start to say, but it’s an extra-long pause. Finally, I break it by saying, “I think we should nix the tea. Caffeine won’t cut it. What kind of wine have you got?”
***
I’m on my third glass and I’m slurring just a little, but I’ve told Mom all about the puppy yelping and what the lady said on the airplane.
She’s mortified for me. Worried about me.
She asked to see the baby booties, and I rejected that request because I can’t face them, though I’ll have to whenever I get around to unpacking my carry-on bag.
And when I verbalize my regret about causing her any stress or being bitchy, especially with all she’s dealing with, she tells me off, because there’s a whole lot of emphasis put on what alphas go through around a complicated mating but not enough on what the female deals with.
“I love that you are destined to spend your life with someone you’ve longed for.
I longed for a man like your father before I met him, too.
I didn’t know what type of man would fit my wish list. Turns out it was a very supernatural one.
He had to be strong, with strong character, and I wanted a romance novel love story.
To live in a sweet little Hallmark style close-knit community.
To have a family. I got all of it. And I’m thrilled to bits that you’ll have it, too. ”
“I don’t know, though, Mom,” I say. “So much went wrong. I can’t just pretend none of it happened. And someone Jase definitely hooked up with interrupted our meal and laughed when Jase called me his fiancée.”
“Did you punch her?”
“No,” I mutter.
“Did you rip her hair out?”
“I’m see I’m developing a reputation.”
She laughs. “Who cares about girls he dated before he realized you’re the one?
I know from personal experience that it’s not a bad thing for the man to be more experienced than the woman.
I knew next to nothing about sex when I met your father but he sure knew what he was doing. ” Her eyebrows wiggle.
I don’t know whether to laugh or be grossed out. I’m just glad Mom is joking, smiling.
Dad’s voice interrupts us. “Girls?”
He’s standing with Mimi Young, who is trailed by Vivi and Dani.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Mom breathes out and bursts into tears.
I hug her, looking at Dad whose eyes are practically on fire. He wants to come to her, to comfort her, but the scent of her makes it so he can’t. Because something inside him stops him from embracing a woman that doesn’t smell like his mate.
This scent-emotion connection is tugging at my heartstrings.
In more ways than I want to admit at the moment because it’s teaching me things about Jase, too.
Of course I knew all this stuff, how the mate bond and the connection to scent works, but I knew it in theory.
These past several days I’m actually seeing it in practice. With Jase as well as my own family.
“It’ll all be okay, Carrie,” Mimi says, then looks at me and as if reading my mind adds, “And it’ll all be okay for you, too, child.”
***
I’m in the house with Dad, pacing, waiting for news. We were asked to give them privacy in the sunroom.
“You can trust them,” I assure as we pass one another, him pacing from left to right and me pacing right to left.
“It’s not that I don’t. I told you I’m trying,” he says. “I need my mate back. I hate this shit. I’m just … this better work. Fuckin’ Soleil!”
I grab his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. “These ladies are awesome. And this is their teacher, Dad. Their teacher and Grey’s teacher, too. She’ll fix it.”
I hope I’m right. Seeing my super-alpha dad look nervous is a new thing for me. He’s so strong, capable, and sure of himself. But he looks stressed out right now.
“Graydon?” Vivi calls in through the kitchen door.
“Come on in.” Dad opens the door wide.
What a difference from how he usually behaves around the Young family.
“It worked,” Vivi says with a smile. “Carrie is gone upstairs to get out of her clothes and shower in case any traces were–”
Dad practically sprints from the kitchen, heading for the stairs.
“Left,” Vivi finishes on a giggle and looks at me. “She went in through the front door to spare your dad any remnants of that aroma. We gave her a spelled room spray to eliminate any traces from her bedroom.”
I let out the biggest breath of relief, throwing my arms around Vivi and hugging her. “Omigosh. Thank you guys, so much.”
“It’s our pleasure.”
“Where’s your Aunt Mimi?” I ask.
“Our Aunt Mimi,” she corrects with a smile. “She and Dani are tidying up the magic circle.”
I love how the Youngs have made me feel like a blood relation to them all, instead of just Greyson.
“I’ll make tea.”
Vivi shakes her head. “The last thing your folks are gonna want is some company in their kitchen. Judging by the look in your father’s eyes as he practically dove out of here, I’d say you should consider sleeping with headphones on. I have a feeling things might get… amorous around here.”
I laugh. “My parents’ room is pretty soundproof. I’m fairly sure that’s by design.”
“Even still…” She waves her hand. “Aunt Mimi is tired. She had a long flight and came straight here to help out so they wouldn’t have to wait until tomorrow.”
“That’s so awesome of her. I’ll go thank her. And thank you guys, too. For everything.”
“You seem like you’re in good spirits,” she points out.
“I’m a little tipsy,” I admit with a laugh. “I needed something to calm myself after tonight’s date. And I’m just so happy right now for Mom and Dad.”
“And how was the date?” she asks.
“Um… I’m gonna need time to process it.”
“So you’re… I mean, you seem okay, considering you went on that date under duress.”
“I’m not okay. I don’t know what I am,” I tell her. “He tattooed my name on his neck.”
Vivi’s eyes light up. “That’s hot.”
“It’s… something,” I mutter.
But I can’t help but agree. It is hot. It’s the hottest thing ever. It makes looking at Jase affect me more than ever and I was pretty affected already…
She links arms with me and we head outside.
“Thank you, thank you, Aunt Mimi!” I rush to hug her. “Is it okay that I call you Aunt Mimi?”
“Of course, child.” She gives me a kind smile and asks, “And how are you?”
“Well… I’m not sure. I’m tipsy, sorry, but I had to go on a date with him tonight.” I make a gag motion with my finger.
“Not a good date?” Dani asks.
“On paper it was perfect. It was like a fantasy.”
“What’s wrong then?” Aunt Mimi asks.
“Minus him running into an old flame,” I add.
“All his old flames are burnt out,” she says pointedly, then adds, “I heard this was your dream man for years.”
“He was…” I say, emotion welling up in me as I find a seat on the closest patio chair. “He was my dream guy since I was a little girl.” I sigh wistfully. “He was everything I wanted. But in the last few months he’s been pushing me away.”
“But he was your dream man, why? Because he’s alpha? Because he looks like a movie star action hero?” Aunt Mimi asks.
“Well, I mean, his looks definitely contributed, as shallow as that sounds, but it was way more than his looks that made me so sure about him.”
“Then why worry about how you get your dream as long as you get it?” she asks. “You’ve done nothing underhanded or unethical to get his attention. This is all supposed to be.”
I frown. “He did nothing but push me away until I smelled a certain way and I’ve had trouble with how drastic of a turn things have taken, not to mention… you know… having no choice.”
She shrugs. “Scent is important to wolf shifters. It’s important to all beings, but particularly wolf shifters.
Look at how much scent just affected your father.
He loves your mother unconditionally, yet couldn’t bear to touch her because she smelled like another woman.
It wasn’t only that she smelled like Soleil, it was also because everything inside him abhorred the idea of touching a female that didn’t smell like his mate.
You smell like everything your shifter wants.
The bond will only grow stronger from here.
Once you bond with him, his scent will mean everything to you as well. ”
As if it already doesn’t.
I straighten up at that unwanted thought.
“Again, barring doing something unethical to get it, what does it matter how you get it as long as you do?”
I have no words, so I just look at her.
She tuts disapprovingly. “He fell from that pedestal you put him on, child. But you put him there. He never climbed up there himself. Think about all the reasons you wanted him, why you thought life with him would be perfect.”
“I didn’t think he was perfect.”
“But you thought life with him could be your perfect, idealistic life. Now it’s time for reality.
Yes, you get the dream, but it won’t be perfect.
It didn’t start out that way and in the decades ahead there will be wonderful times and also times where it’ll feel so far from perfect you’ll struggle in ways that you can’t fathom.
But it’s been your dream all this time.” She holds one index finger up.
“And now, finally, it’s his dream too.” She holds the other index finger up and then brings them together and links them.
“And it’s not only meant to be, it’s so important that you two are together that earthly law can’t stop it from happening.
All the things you loved about him are in your grasp.
Think about that. I need to go soak in our spa tub.
I might look like I shaved decades off, but that flight left me feeling every bit my true age.
Goodnight Bailey. Vivica, drive us to the apartment, please. ”
Aunt Mimi taps my cheek affectionately and moves along.
“Th-thank you again for everything. All of you,” I manage. “And thank you for making me part of the family. I love that.”
Vivi hugs me. Then Dani does, saying, “Neck tattoo? Ooh.” She fans herself before she waves and shuts the gate behind herself.
***
It’s a long night with my thoughts and Aunt Mimi’s words, not to mention with sounds that I really, really could do without.
Even with my TV volume pretty loud, my parents’ bedroom isn’t as soundproof as I thought it was. I’m happy for them, truly, so relieved they’re as together as they’re supposed to be. But I really could do without hearing their reunion.