Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
My hands stilled. I had a choice here, and I made my decision. I’d hoped for a miracle, that he hadn’t woken anybody up, but that was wishful thinking. “That’s what people tell me, but I don’t know for sure, Agnes. I’m sorry he’s waking you up.” I wrinkled my nose for a second. “I promise there’s nothing for you to be scared of.”
“I’m not scared,” she chuffed like I was dumb. I could’ve pointed out how she’d been shaking around the gnomes, but it was enough for me to know the truth.
“Good. Because you shouldn’t be,” I assured her. “None of us are going to let anything happen to any of you.” I would do whatever I had to to keep Duncan and the rest of the pups safe. I would even include Henri, Randall, Ani, and Maggie, too, on my list of people I was protective over here. There was Phoebe the satyr too. She was the one parent who talked to me the most. We had gone grocery shopping together the day before, and she was still quiet but very sweet. We’d made plans to go again.
Then there was Franklin, who might get there someday after he’d gotten bent out of shape on my behalf with the other elders, even though there was something still suspicious about him. Since getting back from Alaska, he’d been quiet when we shared meals together and also super tense. More than once, I’d caught him watching me discreetly, but I’d played it off like I didn’t see him. When we did talk, it was usually about the puppies at the nursery, and every once in a while, he might ask a personal question, like where I had grown up, where my parents lived, and where I’d lived before.
Everyone else here though? I’d think about it. It would probably be a case-by-case basis.
“Why’s he doing that?” Agnes asked, bringing me back to the present.
“Waking us up?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You have pretty hair, Agnes,” I told her, drawing the brush through it. “I don’t know why.”
“Who is he?”
Her own family situation went through my head, and I knew I had to be careful. “I’m not sure. Remember the gnomes? They told me it’s my dad, but I don’t know any of my family,” I admitted. This was the first time she’d asked me something personal about myself.
That got her to peek at me over her shoulder. She didn’t resemble Henri physically at all, but her expression couldn’t have been any more Fluffy if she’d tried. I wanted to tease her over it, but it was too soon.
“You don’t know your mom or your dad?” the little girl scoffed like she couldn’t believe it.
How did I explain this? “No.” I pressed my lips together. “When I was a baby, these two werewolves found me and decided I could be their daughter. They were my mom and dad, but I came out of other people’s bodies. I don’t really count my birth parents because my werewolf parents did everything for me. They raised me and took care of me and loved me. I was their baby, and they’re my family. I love them very much. Does that make sense?”
She faced forward again. “Uh-huh.”
I didn’t want to call my biological parents my “real” mom and dad because I didn’t think of them that way. “Real” parents were the ones who did the work and put in the effort and love, but that would be way too complicated to explain to a child, so I was going to have to go with it. “But my mom and dad, who are like me, I never met. Or anybody else, not my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, no one. All I’m trying to say is that I don’t know why that voice is waking us up. I am sorry that he’s bothering you, though.”
I managed to start her pigtail before she spoke up again, her own voice more careful than I ever would’ve expected. “So you have two dads?”
She still wanted to talk about me? “Sure, I guess,” I answered.
“And that’s okay?”
I had to pretend like I had no idea how she was relating this to her own life, because if I did, it would make me cry, and I could not cry in front of this land shark. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. One was in my life and the other wasn’t. One wanted to be my dad, and the other didn’t. There’s no law that says you can’t have two.”
Another long minute went by before, “So sometimes… dads don’t want to be dads?”
My tear ducts activated.
It took me a second to say, in a voice I thought was pretty even considering I was real close to weeping, “Sometimes, Agnes. I wish I could tell you why, but I have no idea.” I touched her hair. “But like with my parents that weren’t a part of my life, it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t anything I did for them to not be with me. I didn’t do anything wrong. I try not to let it hurt my feelings.” I swallowed. “Sometimes it does though. But I was lucky like you are; I had people who loved me and wanted to be in my life. They’re the ones who matter the most. Some words, like mom or dad, are just words. It’s how someone makes you feel that matters.”