Chapter 69

#Chapter 69 – Childhood Home Two hours later, our convoy pulls into my father’s driveway.

Almost before the car stops, I yank off my seatbelt and start to open my door, desperate to know if they’re here.

“Evelyn –“ Victor calls as I jump step out of the car, slamming the door behind me. I hear him open his own door as I quickly scent the air, seeking any sign of my missing children. Then –

“They’re here,” I say, catching a quick whiff of Alvin’s unique scent on the air. Not too old, either. I run for the front steps, Victor close on my tail.

“Evelyn, please,” Victor says as we fly up the steps, “we’ve got to be careful here –“

I ignore him, throwing open my old front door, a door I haven’t seen or touched in six years. Everything is at once familiar and yet also so strange – tiny changes –

I don’t stop to notice them, flying through the hall, calling my boys names.

“Mama!” I hear, a happy noise echoing from the back room that looks over my family’s sprawling property. I run for it, throwing open the door –

And then, suddenly, my boys are in front of me, sitting on the ground in the middle of this old familiar room – my own favorite place to play as a child – a set of books spread out in front of them on the floor.

A cry rips from my throat and I’m on my knees amongst the boys and the books, gathering both of my sons to me in turn, tears slipping down my face as I check over them with my hands and eyes. But from what I can tell, they’re fine – no cuts, no bruises –

“Mama, are you okay?” Alvin asks, worried, putting his hands on my cheeks.

“I’m fine, baby,” I say, laughing a little through my tears.

Victor kneels down next to me and I can see him doing his own survey of our children, checking to see if they’re all right.

“Why are you upset?” Ian looks between us, ignoring his books as he starts to look around for some kind of threat. “Did something bad happen?”

“We just didn’t know where you were, baby,” I say, brushing his sweet cheek softly with my knuckles, my tears starting to dry up. “We were worried that you were hurt.”

“We’re fine, mama!” Alvin says, smiling at me, working to cheer me up. “And grandpapa brought us here, and we got to see all these cool books, and we had cookies and –“

“I’m so sorry, Evelyn,” the woman’s soft voice makes me freeze, wrenching my heart. I don’t move, staring at the floor, wondering if it’s possible. But from the corner of my eye I see Victor turn sharply towards the corner where she must be standing.

“We didn’t know that you didn’t know,” another woman’s voice this time. I gasp at this one and then slowly turn, hardly believing it as I see my own mother and sister standing in the corner of the room, holding hands.

“He brought them here this afternoon,” my mother says. My eyes rove over her. So changed – more grey in her hair, more fine lines around her eyes – but in so many ways, still the same. Still beautiful, refined, with a quiet elegance that I always admired but could never copy. “He told us yesterday they were coming – we were so excited to see them –“

“But we had no idea that he didn’t tell you,” my sister says, worry all over her face. Emma, my sweet sister. I shake my head slowly as I take her in. She betrayed me, once, but in so many ways she inherited the terrible life that my father wrote out for me. In so many ways we look like twins ourselves, with our dark hair and slight figures. But her face betrays a sadness that I know I don’t carry.

“No, he didn’t tell me,” I whisper, still staring at them, the two women who are most important to me in the world, who I haven’t laid eyes on in six years.

I see Victor cross his arms, staring at the women, clearly figuring out who they are, clearly still full of rage from this trick from my father. I can see him wondering if these women had something to do with it or if they were truly ignorant, as they say. Still, he stays silent, letting me handle it.

My mother looking worryingly at the door. “He played you a dirty trick, then. Again, I’m so sorry, Evelyn – I thought they were coming here to meet us with your consent.”

I huff a little laugh, full of derision. “Why would I ever let my boys come here, with him? After what he did to me?”

My mother’s eyes return to me, tears standing on their lids. “I’m so sorry, Evelyn,” she says, reaching out her hands to me. “I thought…perhaps you had forgiven me…”

I rise to my feet and walk to my mother, taking her hands. “There’s nothing to forgive, mama. You didn’t do anything at all. I know that it’s his pride that’s to blame for everything –“

With a soft sob, my mother wraps me in her arms and I bury my face in her shoulder, taking in her lavender verbena scent, a smell I didn’t realize I had missed –

“Evelyn,” my sister says, and I peek at her from my spot by my mother’s side. Her lower lip trembles, her hands pressed together and held anxiously in front of her. “Please, Evelyn, can you forgive me as well? I have so much more to apologize for than our mother, but if you can –“

Silently, I hold out my arm to her and she takes two faltering steps forward, joining our hug. Our mother laughs softly and I join her in it.

“I forgave you long ago, Emma,” I say. “It’s in the past, and I imagine you paid for your crime many times over. I just…I had to stay away, I had to be free of this,” I say, sniffing and pulling back from the hug a little so that I can look at them some more. I just hope they will understand why I didn’t come back for them.

“It’s okay, Evelyn,” my mother says, giving me a tremulous smile. “We can see that you have built a happy life. We are glad for you.”

“A little jealous, honestly,” Emma says, bitterness tinging her tone, as she looks over at my two sons.

Victor still stands quietly, watching us all, wariness in every line of his body.

“They’re wonderful children, Evelyn,” my mother says, giving my hand a squeeze. “I’m so sorry it happened this way, but…Evelyn, I’m so glad to have had the chance to meet them. My grandchildren.”

“Yeah, they’re special,” I say, joining the two of them in gazing at my boys, who smile up at us. I wipe tears from my eyes.

“We like meeting you too, grandmama!” Alvin says, always so sweet and earnest.

“Yeah, I like your stuff,” Ian adds, paging through a book. “And you have good cookies.”

The three of us laugh, though Victor does not join in. I grimace a little, realizing that I’ve let him stand in silence too long.

“Mom, Emma, please let me introduce you to Victor Kensington,” I say, stepping back to Victor’s side.

“He has welcomed me into his pack as my Alpha and, as I’m sure you already know, he is the father of my sons.”

My mother walks forward with a smile, hand extended. “So pleased to meet you again, Alpha Kensington,” she murmurs, all elegance, the perfect Alpha’s wife. “I’m sure you won’t remember, but we did meet a few years ago, briefly, at an Alpha’s ball.”

“Of course,” Victor says, taking her hand and bowing slightly over it, the proper political deference for a fellow Alpha’s wife. “How could I forget?”

“And my sister, Emma,” I say, putting out my hand and inviting her forward. I decline to mention that she, too, is an Alpha’s wife. I keep Joyce’s name out of my mouth as much as I can. Unlike Emma, he has not been forgiven.

Emma comes forward to take Victor’s hand. “Pleased to meet you, Victor,” she says. “As I was saying to Evie, your boys are…truly extraordinary. It’s such a true pleasure to meet them as well as their father.” She smiles broadly down at my children and I’m struck, suddenly, with a pang of guilt for keeping my boys away from their aunt for so long.

“If all the pleasantries are finished,” a cold voice rings out. “Perhaps we can get to the business of the day.”

We all spin towards the door, where my father stands, glowering.