Chapter 37 #2
“I’ve never met a wolfman,” Samantha says, sounding slightly awed as she stares at me.
“Nice tail,” Molly adds, grinning. “I want one.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Well, your mom’s in the living room, right through there. She has no idea you’re coming.”
Samantha’s eyes go soft behind the glint of her glasses. “This is the best surprise. Thank you for arranging everything.”
“I’m glad you’re here. She’s been missing you a ton.” I gesture toward the living room. “Make yourself at home.”
They rush past me, and I hang back, offering my arm to Eomma. She takes it, patting the back of my hand as we walk in together.
Julia is on the sofa with her back to the door when her daughters burst into the room. For a moment she just stares at them, her mouth opening and closing, no sound coming out.
“Surprise!” Molly shrieks, throwing herself down beside her mother.
“Merry Christmas, Mom,” Samantha says, kneeling on Julia’s other side. “Oh my gosh, your belly is huge. You look so pretty, though. Oh, don’t cry, Mom!”
And then Julia is crying, really crying, her arms wrapped around both her girls as they all dissolve into a huddle of tears and laughter and overlapping voices.
“How are you here? I don’t understand. You aren’t supposed to be here for another month!”
“Ian arranged everything,” Samantha explains, wiping her eyes. “He contacted us weeks ago, when you were still staying with Mattie’s moms. We’ve been planning this forever. We would have been here sooner, but we had to wait for Halmi’s visa to be approved.”
Julia looks up at me, still standing in the doorway, and seems to notice her mother for the first time. The wondering expression on her face makes my chest ache. “Eomma?”
The woman on my arm sniffles, and tears slide down her cheeks as Julia heaves herself out of the couch and rushes to hug her, exchanging fast-paced Korean that I wish I could follow.
“You did this?” she mouths at me over her mom’s shoulder, still embracing her tightly.
I nod. “Merry Christmas, pretty girl.”
She laughs, a wet, hiccupping sound. “Get over here.”
I join them, making it a group hug, my arms wrapped around both of them. When we finally part, Julia’s daughters study me with undisguised curiosity.
“Is his fur soft?” Molly asks Julia.
Samantha elbows her and hisses, “You can’t ask that!”
“What? It’s just a question!”
Julia laughs, cleaning the tears from her glasses so she can look at her daughters again. “I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you so much. I am just so, so sorry. For everything. For tearing our family apart.”
Samantha’s expression turns stern. “Mom. Stop it, seriously.”
“I just want you to know—”
“We mean it.” Molly’s voice is surprisingly firm. “We’re not doing this. We’re not going to let you apologize for finally being brave enough to leave him. We’re glad you did it.”
Julia blinks. “What?”
“We’ve wanted you to divorce Dad for years,” Samantha says. “He’s awful, Mom. He’s always been awful.”
“I... I didn’t realize you knew.” Julia’s voice is small. “I thought he was just awful to me. Not to you. He always seemed so good with both of you.”
Molly takes her mother’s hands. “He didn’t have to be mean to us. We saw how he talked to you. How he treated you.”
“A good dad wouldn’t be cruel to his kids’ mom,” Samantha adds quietly. “He’s not a good father if he doesn’t respect and cherish our mother. We’ve been worried about you for so long.”
Julia scrubs new tears away with her sleeve until her mom hands her a handkerchief. She mops her cheeks. “You’re not mad at me for sending him to jail?”
“We’re proud of you,” Molly says fiercely. “He tried to hurt you. And he deserves whatever he gets for all the illegal stuff.”
“We just want you to be happy.” Samantha reaches out and gently touches Julia’s belly. “And it looks like you are. Look at you, Mom. You’re glowing.”
Eomma looks at me with a warmth that makes my tail wag. Samantha translating, she says, “Thank you. For taking care of her. For making her smile again.”
“She’s my mate,” I say simply. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
Molly makes a face. “Okay, don’t be so adorable. Hey, can we eat? The airline food was terrible.”
I laugh and push myself to my feet. “I caught a steelhead yesterday. Let me bring you all some hot drinks and get dinner started.”
“You caught it yourself?” Samantha looks impressed. “Like, in a lake?”
“In the river. I can take you fishing tomorrow if you don’t mind getting up early. Fair warning, it’ll be cold.”
“I want to go!” Molly bounces on her tiptoes when Samantha signs up to go fishing, too.
“As long as Mom doesn’t go into labor tonight, anyway,” she adds.
I leave the four of them to catch up in the living room while I head to the kitchen to make a pot of tea.
Their voices carry through the cabin, a blend of laughter and tears and rapid-fire conversation.
I can tell from her animated gestures that Julia is telling them about the cabin, about the nursery we’ve set up, about the three little stockings hanging above the fireplace.
Tea made, the dinner comes together quickly. When I bring the plates out to the dining table, all four women look up at me with identical expressions of appreciation. The family resemblance is strong, just like the women themselves.
“Smells amazing,” Samantha says.
“He’s been spoiling me with good food,” Julia says, squeezing my hand. “He makes some of the best pie you’ve ever tasted.”
“There’s pie?” Molly’s eyes go wide. “Can we have dessert first since we’re adults now?”
Julia laughs. “Why not? It’s Christmas.”
Dinner is loud and wonderful. The girls fill us in on their academic pursuits.
Eomma peppers me with questions about wulver culture, about my brothers, about how Julia and I met.
Julia fills in the gaps, telling the story in two languages with a self-deprecating humor that makes her daughters crack up.
“You hit on the hot wolfman after doing a big bad wolf voice?” Molly is crying with laughter. “Mom, that’s iconic. I wish you had video.”
“I didn’t hit on him! I was mortified!”
“She was adorable,” I correct. “All cute and embarrassed. I was a goner from the first moment.”
After dinner, we move back to the living room for presents.
They brought a suitcase full of them: Korean treats and products that are hard to find here, T-shirts for me and Julia from the university the girls attend, cute matching jammies for the new babies, beautiful baby blankets Eomma crocheted for the pups.
But the main present is a large flat box that they push toward Julia with barely contained excitement.
“Halmi sewed it,” Samantha says. “You have to wear it tonight.”
Julia unwraps it carefully, pulling back the tissue paper to reveal a gorgeous traditional Korean dress in layers of peach and gold. The fabric is silk and embroidered with delicate flowers, and it glows in the firelight.
“Oh,” Julia breathes. “A hanbok. It’s beautiful.”
“Put it on,” Molly urges, whipping out her phone to record. “Please? We want to take your picture in it.”
Julia hesitates, glancing down at her body. “I don’t know if it’ll fit at this point.”
“It will. Trust us.” Samantha is grinning. “Go try it.”
I help Julia to her feet, and she waddles toward the bedroom, the hanbok garments draped over her arm. The girls watch her go, then turn to me with conspiratorial expressions.
“Do you have it?” Samantha whispers.
I pat my pocket. “Right here.”
“This is so exciting.” Molly is practically vibrating. “She’s going to freak out.”
I grin at them. “That’s the plan.”
A few minutes later, Julia emerges from the bedroom, and the breath leaves my body.
She’s a vision. A short jacket frames her face.
Below it, the peach silk skirt cascades over her pregnant belly, the gold embroidery catching the firelight.
The style accentuates her pregnant curves, making her look like a goddess of spring, all warmth and fertility and life.
Her dark hair is still in its messy bun, a few fallen strands framing her flushed cheeks.
“Does it look okay?” she asks nervously.
“You look perfect,” Molly breathes, capturing the moment with her camera phone, Samantha nodding beside her. Eomma is already crying, dabbing her tears away with a handkerchief.
She knows what’s coming because she’s the one who helped me plan this proposal. The hanbok was her idea, and from Julia’s reaction I can tell it was the right choice. It makes her feel beautiful, and I want her to feel like a princess when I ask her to be my wife.
I move toward Julia, hand clutching the small velvet box in my pocket. My heart is hammering so hard I’m surprised she can’t hear it. I go down on one knee, and she gasps. Her hands fly to her mouth, and I hear Molly’s gleeful squeak behind me.
“Julia.” My voice comes out steadier than I expected.
“I’ve loved you since the moment I scented you.
I’ve loved you through everything that came after.
The complications. The chaos. The moments when you doubted yourself.
When you stood up for yourself. I’ve loved watching you become the woman you were always meant to be. ”
Tears are streaming down her face now, but she’s smiling. Radiant.
“You’re my mate. You’re the mother of my children.
You’re my best friend and my favorite person and the reason I wake up happy every single morning.
” I open the box, revealing the ring I’ve been hiding.
A round diamond, classic and elegant just like her, set on a gold band with a subtle woodgrain pattern so it has a little bit of me in it, too.
“I want to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you’ve made me. Julia, will you marry me?”
She laughs through her tears, a sound of pure joy. “Yes. Of course, yes. I can’t believe this is really happening.”
I slide the ring onto her finger and stand to kiss her, cupping her face in my hands while our daughters cheer and Eomma sniffles behind us. When we finally break apart, she’s glowing brighter than the Christmas tree.
“You did such an amazing job planning all this,” she whispers. “Surprising me with the girls and Eomma. The hanbok. The ring. How did you pull it off?”
“I had a lot of help.” I nod toward Samantha and Molly and Eomma, who are all crying and hugging each other while they try to record everything. “They’re excellent co-conspirators. Richard said you couldn’t contact them, but he never said I couldn’t.”
“We’ve all been dying to tell you,” Samantha admits. “It was so hard keeping the secret!”
Julia pulls her girls and mom into another group hug, and I step back to watch my new family. My mate. My future stepdaughters and mother-in-law. My pups, still safe inside their mother’s belly.
“Best gift ever,” Julia declares, her voice muffled against her mom’s shoulder.
I couldn’t agree more.