The Cavalry
By the time the others showed up, Aegis, the kids, and I had cranked out our entire combined list of baked goods. That left only the macarons, the pumpkin pie, the vanilla cake, the carrot cake, and the cherry pie. It wasn’t a great list, but it was massive progress, even if we were starting to seriously get burnt out on all of the careful baking. Doing it when you know what you’re doing is one thing, but continuous terror baking? Exhausting.?
“I am here, and I am ready to bake!” Ivy declared, bursting through our front door, still dressed in her Sheriff’s uniform.
“Aren’t you supposed to take that off after work?” Dylan asked.
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t want to waste time,” Ivy said, waving a hand. “It’s a small town. The big guy with the pecs over there is basically the mayor. Who’re you going to tell on me to, the President?”
That got the kids laughing.
“Look at all of that,” Paul said, marveling as he pushed in behind her. His eyes had gone straight to the kitchen in total appreciation. “Could smell all of that from outside!”
“Walking trash can,” Aegis snorted, crossing his arms and winking at Lucy, who burst into giggles.
“The hope is that we’d have enough time to knock out the macarons,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Those are our biggest threat. Everything else, we can probably get done tomorrow before the festival.”
“Probably,” Dylan and Collin echoed doubtfully.
Jade stepped in over the threshold, her black hair tied up in a tight bun. She was wearing a bright apron and looking triumphant. “We’re going to be just fine,” she announced. “I have brought the cavalry!”
Before any of us could react, in behind her stepped a woman I could not have forgotten in a thousand years.
The ex-Luna of the Black Lake pack, Leanne Black, was by no means an old woman. She was perhaps fifty at the most, but there was a streak of gray in her hair and deep lines in her face that spoke a testament to her grief and loss.
She wasn’t terribly tall, but her stature- shoulders pulled back, chin high, bright lantern-green eyes glittering with intelligence and wit- made her feel like a giant.
“You brought Mom?” Aegis said, stunned. “How did you convince her?”
“I’m not so much a hermit as to ignore the plea of my daughter,” Leanne said, her eyes sparkling. Both her children had inherited Alpha Graham’s amber eyes, but in return, they had inherited everything else from their mother, from their strong jaws to the shapes of their eyes to the color of their hair.
“If anyone can cook macarons,” Jade said, triumphant, “it’s Mom!”
Leanne scanned the room, and I held my breath. Her green eyes landed on the kids first, and she softened; Dylan and Collin both immediately straightened under her scrutiny, and Lucy’s eyes grew wide as tennis balls, unconsciously stepping forward to see her more closely.
“These must be Marie’s boys,” Leanne said softly, touching their chins. “And now, of course, Sylvia’s.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Collin mumbled, which almost broke the spell for me, because hearing either of them say “ma’am” was about the funniest thing I’d ever heard.
Leanne’s eyes drifted over the group and found me, and she smiled. For some reason, a feeling like an ache bloomed in my gut, because that expression on her face- pain, sympathy, empathy, affection- was so much like the broken memories I had left of my mother that it wasn’t even funny.
“My dear,” she said, coming forward and cupping my face. “If I had known you’d come back, I’d have left home sooner.”
“I tried knocking on your door,” Aegis grunted, crossing his arms.
Leanne glanced at him. “I was probably out in the forest.” She looked at me again. “Loss is not something easily dealt with, is it, my dear?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and nodded. Though I was taller than her, she pulled me in for a hug, and my chest hurt with that ache. “Don’t think I ever forgot you, sweetheart,” she said softly. “I never forgot what you did for me.”
I glanced at both Jade and Aegis, my cheeks turning pink, and they shrugged, smiling slightly.
“Everything came out when we all thought you were dead,” Aegis said. “It was a... very emotional funeral.”
Guilt flooded me. “I’m sorry. I never meant for things to go that far.”
“If I know anything about grief, it’s that rational thought isn’t an easy thing,” Leanne said, pulling back to look at me. She suddenly frowned and clucked her tongue. “You’re far too thin. I need to fix that.”
I burst into laughter. “One problem at a time.”
“Excuse me,” Lucy said, and we looked down to see her peering up at her. “What did Mama do for you?”
“Ah, of course, you must be sweet Lucy,” Leanne said, crouching to look at her. She smiled. “You’ve got all your mother’s prettiest features.”
Lucy beamed.
“Your mother was a treasure to us all,” leanne said, giving me a smile with twinkling eyes. I coughed and looked away. “A long time ago, I was struggling with a few problems of my own. Your mother quietly stepped in to help me, and wouldn’t even tell me her name for the longest time.”
I knew what she was talking about, of course. Back in High School, there was a time when Aegis’s father had fallen sick, perhaps the first signs of what would later come, though we of course couldn’t have known it then. Desperate to buy her mate time to rest, Leanne took over his duties alongside his Beta and his Omega.
But Leanne became stretched thin. One day, I found her sitting on the floor of the local market, several boxes of cereal scattered around her. She was sobbing, and seeing a woman like Leanne Black sob in the middle of a store wasn’t just alarming, it was apocalyptic to a teenager.
“I need to get some food together for the new mothers in town,” she’d sobbed. “I can’t decide on cereal- I don’t have time for this. We’ve got three upcoming festivals, a bonfire, several fund-raising events for the elementary school to get white-boards… I don’t have time to be struggling with cereal!”
I couldn’t begin to imagine the strain on her shoulders. Not then, not now. So I stepped in.
At the time, I didn’t want her thinking I was there to win points with Aegis. Hell, I didn’t want Aegis to think I was stupid enough to try. It was the summer right after Brittani had read my diary out to the entire school. I didn’t want to be on anyone’s radar, let alone his.
So I refused to tell Leanne who I was for the longest time. I kept out of sight of anyone who knew me, and I delivered food to the exhausted mothers and their newborns. I helped decorate the elementary school while Leanne organized the food for the bonfire. I took over planning for the soup drive, and the car wash, and the cookie dough thing that every school ever has had to do. Leanne Black was a powerful woman, but even powerful people sometimes need help.
Besides all of that, it kept my mind off of the mortification I had suffered, and what I was sure was my impending suffering once school started up. I didn’t know, of course, that Jade had already handled that, so I was still dreading the coming of September.
“Your mama was a godsend to me,” Leanne said, smoothing one of Lucy’s loose curls. “She was a sweet girl. Didn’t want anyone to know it was her doing it, either.”
“Why?” Dylan asked, frowning. “I’d want people to know I did good things.”
“Especially if it was for the mom of the guy I liked,” Collin said, and I shot him a dirty look.
“Well, as I came to understand it, this was just after a certain journal exposure back in the day,” Leanne said, standing gracefully. “I wouldn’t want anyone looking at me, then, either.” She looked between Aegis and I, and a sudden sense of dread flooded my gut. “So? Are the two of you together, yet? Can I expect to finally have grandchildren? I like these ones,” she added, reaching over to playfully tickle Lucy.
My face burned, and Aegis snorted. “Real smooth, Mom,” he said dryly.
“What? If I wait for you, I’ll be dead and gone before I get to distract myself from heartbreak with babies. Or teens. I’m not picky,” she added, looking Collin over. “This one’s even a werewolf. Good strong one, too, by the look of it.” A thoughtful look came over her face, the same one her son had worn on his face.
“Let’s get through one trial at a time,” Aegis said pointedly, holding up his hands. Ivy, Jade, and Paul were all looking between us with embarrassing levels of excitement, holding their breath in anticipation; I didn’t trust my mouth to say anything intelligent. “Right now, we’ve got to get done with these macarons.”
“I’ve brought extra ingredients, and I can cook a mean cherry pie,” Leanne announced. “Come. Whatever’s left over, I’ll do it myself tomorrow.”
With an Ex-Luna like Leanne in charge, things went unbelievably more smoothly. This time, as well, the macarons went off without a hitch, even with Dylan and Jade helping.
“Sweetheart, I love your creativity, but that is baking soda that you are adding, not sugar,” she said, gently correcting Dylan’s over-eager attempts to mix in ingredients.
“We’re making a ganache, Jade-love, not glue,” she added, correcting Jade’s equally disastrous mixing.
“I wish we had had you yesterday,” Ivy joked, smacking Paul’s hand as he went to scoop out some of the batter she was mixing. “Excuse you! How is that pumpkin pie filling going?”
“Aw, come on Ivy, just a smidge,” Paul complained. “No one’ll know.”
“I’ll know. Do good, and I’ll make you an extra one tomorrow.”
“Score!” Paul shouted, leaping back to his mixing bowl.
“Maybe I should be pushing for two unions,” Leanne muttered, raising her eyebrows at me playfully.
“Not much use for us right now, is there?” Lucy said mournfully from beside me. We were standing to the side of the kitchen, trying to keep out of everyone’s way.
“When that’s the case,” I said, leaning down toward her, “we start doing things for the others. Let’s get together some hot chocolate, and then we can order a pizza.”
“Oooo, pizza!” Lucy said, immediately brightening. “Can we get the one with pineapple and ham?”
“Sure, kiddo.”
“I knew the kid had good tasted,” Paul said, whirling around so fast he nearly splattered the wall with filling. he rushed over and held up a hand. “High five, little dudette!”
She giggled and high-fived him.
“You guys are barbarians,” Collin said, disgusted. “Pineapple does not belong on pizza.”
“Oh, Lord,” Leanne muttered, rolling her eyes. “Here we go.”
“Excuse you,” Jade said, outraged. “Pineapple is the holiest of pizza toppings!”
“Maybe on Mars,” Collin said, trying to keep from laughing. “Dylan, tell her. Pineapple is disgusting on pizza.”
Dylan looked between his greatest hero and his brother, and then sold Collin for scraps. “I dunno, man, pineapple is like... okay.”
Collin mimed being shot in the chest. “Betrayal by my own blood!”
“Pineapple team!” Lucy squealed. She looked at Aegis. “Do you like pineapple?”
He chuckled, coming over to ruffle her hair. “No, but I’ll give you all of mine.”
Lucy shrieked with joy, stamping her feet and clapping. “Yesss!” She said, beaming. “If you marry my mom, we can have pineapple pizza for all the people!”
I threw my hands up at the snicker that went around the room. “I’m calling the pizza shop,” I said, darting out and avoiding everyone’s smiling gazes.
In truth, I kind of loved it. There was this corny feeling of healing in all the ribbing, and to be totally honest... yeah. I loved it.
I’d have to get Brittani one of those cheesy gift baskets.
When the pizzas had been ordered and I walked back into the living room, I paused for a moment to really appreciate the scene playing out before me.
Laughter was filling this old house again. Laughter, love, acceptance, healing... all things I’d thought were long gone. I could’ve stopped and kicked myself for not coming sooner, but then again... maybe the lesson was that I wouldn’t have been ready. Maybe I wouldn’t have recognized all this for what it was. I almost didn’t, anyway.
The ghost shapes of distant memories- of laughing with my parents, of my sister singing and jumping around- drifted over the reality of my beloved children smearing a little batter on the delighted face of the pack’s old Luna. Her eyes danced as she chased the kids around the kitchen, and I saw the relief and hope in the faces of Aegis and Jade.
My world wasn’t the only one hurt in all this time. Pain had gone on in Werewolf Hollow even without my presence, maybe in part because of my absence. Time was moving forward, and we were all finding ways to heal, because that’s how the world worked. You got hurt, you got up, and you just kept trying again.
I lifted my phone and quietly snapped a photo of the room and sent it to Rudy.
Sylvia: You’d be loving this
It took only a few moments for him to reply.
Rudy: I see you’ve already replaced me.
I rolled my eyes, but anxiety touched my chest.
Sylvia: Better get back fast so you can re-secure your position
Rudy: Haha, I will. Save some of that pie for me
Sylvia: Which one?
Rudy: Yes
I laughed quietly, relieved. He was still coming back. I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else, now. Not when all of the wounds were still so fresh.
Sylvia: They found out
Rudy: Ah. Are you all right, kiddo?
Sylvia: Much better. Better than I expected.
Rudy: Good. Lean on them. You’ve got good people in your life.
Sylvia: You included, old man
Rudy: Don’t worry. I’m coming back. I promised the kids.
Sylvia: Good. ETA?
Rudy: Things are a little crazy out here. We’ve had a few more illegal turnings; there have been fights, and it’s inevitable that humans and werewolves are clashing. Not all of the changes were intended. Might be bringing a few people up north with me, when it’s all said and done, if Aegis will have them.
Sylvia: I can ask him
Rudy: Don’t worry about it. There’s a process; we’ll do it all above board and everything.
Sylvia: Just be careful
Rudy: Will do.
“You going to get back in here, or what?” Aegis joked beside me. I jumped half a foot in the air, heart pounding.
“Sorry,” I breathed, then gave him a dirty look. “You trying to stop my heart?”
“No, just capture it.” He grinned at my groan. “What, too cheesy?”
“I’m going to have to call up Diana’s Pizzaria and tell them to hold the cheese.”
“You know what they say: practice makes perfect.” He leaned over and planted a kiss on my head, and I felt my face turn redder than a fire.
“I hear WEDDING BELLS!” Ivy shrieked.
“Shut up!” I shouted back, laughing as I walked into the kitchen- but not before gently touching Aegis on the shoulder.
For the first time in a long time, I had hope.