Chapter 150
Nova’s POV
It wasn’t like I didn’t really know. Even before Leo asked my birthday, I had some suspicions. Ivan had been a good uncle, but I didn’t really look like him. He and Mom never really acted like Mommies and Daddies usually did.
Gideon, meanwhile, was a lot of fun to be around. He had always been kind to me and I could see myself in him sometimes, even when that didn’t really make sense.
It made sense now.
I didn’t want to talk to Mom anymore. She was a liar who had kept this from me all this time. We’d been visiting Gideon’s pack so often, it had basically become a second home, and not once did she want to tell me the truth, that Gideon was my dad?
It hurt. I didn’t even want to look at her. She was my Mom, the person I felt closest to in the whole world, and she had kept something so important from me.
My chest hurt. Being in the same room as her caused me pain. So I hopped off the bed and ran out into the hallway. Leo’s door was open and he was just sitting there at the foot of his bed, reading a book. I rushed to him, threw my arms around him and cried into his shoulder.
“Gideon’s my Dad, too,” I said. “Mommy just told me.”
Leo seemed confused. “That’s good, right? You are my full sister now. And my Daddy is a good Daddy, you’ll see. Why are you crying?”
Because Mommy lied to me. Because I didn’t know I had a Dad. Because I was right and Mom must have had a good reason for keeping this secret.
I had thought Gideon was nice, but maybe he wasn’t so nice. Maybe he had hurt Mommy and was the reason she was always running and hiding, never wanting to go back to her home pack.
It was all too much for me to understand or to try to process. Everything hurt. I wanted my Mom and I wanted a Dad, but I didn’t want them to hate each other.
“Gideon wants me to go to your pack like you come here. To spend a week there,” I said.
“This is a good thing,” Leo continued to say, “Now we get to spend more time together.”
I peeked up from Leo’s shoulder to look him in the eye. “What if I don’t like your Dad? What if he hates me?”
“You won’t and he won’t,” Leo said. “But… if that happens, we can hang out instead.”
I considered this. I didn’t know how to feel about my father or this revelation, but I liked Leo. It could be fun to hang out
with him.
“Okay,” I said.
“I can tell him no,” Mom said from the doorway. “If you don’t want to go, tell me, and you won’t have to.”
Leo gave me a hopeful look, and I found I didn’t want to disappoint my brother. “No, I’ll go,” I told Mom. “I’ll go.”
The next week was incredibly awkward, at least between Mom and me. I hung out with Leo as much as I could, or spent a lot of time reading alone in my room.
I loved my mom, but I didn’t like the secrets. I didn’t know how to feel about things really.
16:15 Sat, Jan 31 G.
Chapter 150
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My distance was making Mom feel bad, which made me feel bad too. But my feelings were messy and I wasn’t ready to apologize or anything. So I just kept my distance.
It worked for a while, up until I was packing. My week at Gideon’s was going to happen as Leo’s week here ended. I guess it made sense to do it back to back.
“Can I help?” Mom asked from behind me as I was packing my suitcase.
“I guess,” I said stubbornly.
She came closer and helped me fold the clothes I wanted to take, then slipped them into the suitcase.
“I don’t want you to leave being mad at me,” she said. “If there’s anything I could do… maybe I could answer what questions you might have. Would that help?”
I thought about it and decided that maybe it would.
“Why aren’t we a family?” I asked. “Why are you and Uncle Gideon… Dad… apart?”
Claire’s POV
Nova wasn’t going to take it easy with me, it seemed. She had to start with the most difficult question. I didn’t want to lie to her, even by omission, but neither did I want to paint her father in a bad light and tarnish whatever relationship they could possibly build between the two of them.
Nova deserved the chance to have a relationship with her father. Even if he had cast us out all those years ago.
“Gideon didn’t see our relationship the same way that I did,” I said vaguely. “After Leo was born, uh… it was agreed that I would leave…”
“Dad didn’t want me?” Nova asked.
“He didn’t know about you,” I said carefully.
Nova frowned a little. “You told Leo you didn’t want to leave him.”
“I didn’t want to leave him,” I said.
“So you were made to leave?” Nova asked.
I lowered my head, ashamed I couldn’t spin this any other way. “It was a long time ago,” I said. “We were all different people then.”
I didn’t know how much Nova believed.
The next day, I walked with the kids to the border. I carried their suitcases most of the way. Gideon was already there when we arrived, waiting beside his car. As he had done before, I left the suitcases on the border line and stepped back.
Kneeling I gave both children tight hugs before standing again.
To Gideon, I said, “In one week, I expect to be back in this spot.”
“We have an agreement,” he said. “And I won’t break it.”
Standing still, I watched my children cross the border and leave me.
Gods, I hoped I wasn’t making a terrible mistake here.
He would bring my daughter back… right?
16:15 Sat, Jan 31
Chapter 150
Gideon’s POV
It is voicche
After loading the car, I sat in the back, sitting between the two children. I’d hired a driver to take us back to the pack house.
Leo was smiling, excitedly looking out the window.
“Did you have fun?” I asked him.
“So much fun,” he replied.
I looked over at Nova. She was the polar opposite of Leo, slouching in her seat while crossing her arms. She looked absolutely miserable.
“I think you’ll have fun at the pack house, Nova,” I said, trying to lift her spirits. Now that I knew she was my daughter, I wanted to connect with her and form a new, deeper bond.
“I guess,” she said.
Strange. She seemed a little mad at me. I couldn’t imagine what I had done wrong. I hadn’t even seen her since the rescue. Was I reminding her of that trauma?
I needed to turn this around, so that she would relate me only to joy and protectiveness.
“I can give you a proper tour this time,” I said. “And we could go shopping. How about a gift, huh?”
“Whatever,” she said.
My expression started to mirror hers. “Nova, I’m starting to think you are mad at me. Did I do something? Can you forgive me?”
Her gaze cut to mine, sharp. “I don’t care what you do or say, I will never forgive you for abandoning me and my mom.”
AD
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