Chapter 58 Mother
fifty-eight
Mother
*GWENDOLYN*
Ilook at the photograph in my hands. “So that’s her,” I ask.
Flora nods. “Your mentor, Daniel, dug deep to find any trace of her. Elden and I went to your old pack yesterday, and he handed this to us.”
I look back at the photograph, my heart thumping against my chest. It’s been almost two weeks since my own visit to the pack. I’ve only been back once, and let my new family handle everything else.
But here she is. My mother. She looks like the person I hope I’ll see one day when I look in the mirror. It’s undeniable that I am related to her. I might have my dad’s curly hair, but I have her face, her build, the same green eyes, and the same smile.
It gives me a twinge in my chest to see her, but it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. When Felix told me we could look for her, I wasn’t sure at first.
But the urge for answers was greater than my anxiety. “She looks like me,” I say quietly.
“Do you want to hear what I found out?” Flora asks.
“Did you do your own research?”
She nods. “Daniel told me he couldn’t find more and didn’t want to approach her so as not to scare her away, but I spent the whole day yesterday digging into her past.”
“I want to know,” I say.
Flora pours me another cup of tea and hands me a piece of lemon pie. “She was nineteen when she got pregnant, and too scared to tell her parents. So she had you secretly.”
“Dad was pretty young, too,” I muse. “Why did she have me in secret?”
“It seems like her parents were very strict. She was scared of being locked away or hurt.”
“Is this why she handed me to Dad?” I ask.
“I can only make my own assumptions now,” Flora says. “But I think it was just part of the reason. The other might be that she felt too young to raise you.”
I nod. “And she found out Dad was a shifter.”
“Yes,” Flora says. “She handed you to him because she didn’t think she could do it.”
“I wonder if the pack would have ever accepted her as Dad’s chosen mate,” I say. “I think he wouldn’t have cared and made her his mate anyway. But her life would have been miserable, just like mine.”
“Your mother has demon blood in her, which narrowed it down and made the search easier. But she is by no means aware of that, nor is her family. If anything, I think your great-grandmother might have quite the tale to tell.”
“She is the one who dated a demon?” I ask.
“I believe so,” Flora says. “There is nothing to show him being anything but human, but why would there be? Your family consists of humans, and they don’t know of our existence or any other shifters’.
But they claim your great-grandmother had a mysterious man who courted her.
A wealthy man who supported her and left her with a lot of money when he disappeared. I think that might be him.”
“Funny,” I mutter. “My whole family seems to have a history of being left by their baby daddies or mommies. Though there is the possibility he didn’t even know.”
“Yes, it might have been a fling, and he disappeared before she even noticed she was pregnant. I don’t think we’ll ever find the real truth.”
“What’s she doing now?” I ask. “My mother?”
“She moved far away from her family,” Flora explains. “And owns a small bar now with her husband.”
“So, she managed to escape,” I muse. “And make a life for herself. Does she have children?”
Flora hesitates.
“I am fine,” I reassure her. “I really just want to know.”
“Yes, she has two children,” Flora says.
I nod thoughtfully. It’s true what I told Flora. I am fine. After everything that‘s happened, I am just glad my life brought me here, and that I can finally call a place my home. What happened to my mother is just a puzzle piece I was missing.
“Do you want to meet her?” Flora asks.
“I think it’s fine the way it is,” I say. “I just wanted to know the truth. I don’t want to upheave her life, or mine. Is that weird?” I pause. “I probably should react much more emotionally?”
“It’s fine. I never knew my father, either,” Flora says.
“Only as a late teen, I started to dig up the truth and find out what happened to him. I did not really have a wish to bond with him, just to know what happened. I wanted answers. I did learn that he passed away, and to be honest, I mourned for him, for the fact that we could have had a relationship when I was a child. But, just like you, I am not sure I would have wanted to dig him up and rebuild old bridges.”
“We weren’t even the ones who burned them,” I say.
Flora nods. “Exactly.”
“I am happy now,” I say. “I am happy with Felix, and I love this pack, and I feel at home here,” I pause. “Maybe one day I will reach out to my mother, but I am not sure. She always knew where I was, and never reached out either.”
Maybe one day I will feel different.
For now, it’s good the way it is.
Besides, Charlie will come later and drop off some things from my old pack, some of Dad’s and my old belongings.
And Faye will visit as well for some riding lessons.
I can’t wait to see her. We are the first pack that gives horse riding lessons for kids, and Faye was one of the first to come and learn how to ride.
She has been thriving with Celine and Marius in their pack, meaning I have truly fulfilled Marina’s last wish.
All of this feels real and precious to me. I do not want any changes right now.
I watch how Maddox takes two boxes, puts one on top of the other and grabs them. There is a young man next to him, with sunburnt skin and a bright smile.
Silas is standing with them with a list in his hand, while Charlie is dashing around.
She looks so happy, it warms my heart.
“All the blue boxes go to the stables, Benji,” Silas says.
“Got you,” Benji beams. He turns to Maddox. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”
Maddox is quiet for a while, eventually he nods. “I am fine,” he says.
Benji grabs two boxes as well and then follows one of our warriors to the newly built stables. Meanwhile, Silas approaches me. “I have never met someone as quiet as him,” he says.
“Maddox, you mean?”
Silas frowns. “Yes. He barely talks, and he takes ages to react, as if he isn’t always with us.”
“He probably really isn’t,” I say quietly.
“If he hadn’t been Charlie’s mate, I would have probably invited him to Marc’s and my poven – pack and coven,” Silas says. “But he will do well in Liam’s pack. He can work as an advisor and warrior there and be less in the spotlight than he used to be. I strongly believe it will be good for him.”
Maddox and Benji reach the stables, putting down the boxes. Benji seems to be saying something, and Maddox nods slightly. It’s at that moment that Charlie comes out of the packhouse and runs past the parking lot. She waves briefly at Benji and then stops next to Maddox.
He wraps his arm around her, a smile blooming on his lips.
“Unless he is with her,” Silas says. “Then he suddenly seems to be alive.”
“I think it will be fine,” I say. “Liam will make sure he receives help, and Charlie is obviously very happy to have him around. And he looks happy when she is with him.”
He does. Charlie keeps telling him something, and he seems to be listening intently. It’s not like before with Benji, when he was rather absent-minded; he seems to be fully aware, almost hanging on her lips.
He even brushes a strand of hair past her ear, smiling when she blushes.
Goddess, they are adorable.
I used to think Maddox was a stuck-up, arrogant alpha’s heir, but now he has willingly given up everything to be with his mate.
His whole rank and his position never meant anything to him.
Funny, in a way, he and I are pretty similar.
We both were stuck in an awful pack that treated us like we were disposable.
But now we finally found a person we can love, and who loves us.
And a place for ourselves.
A place called home.