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1163 Words
Elizabeth put her arm around Sawyer and moved closer to him, resting her head on his chest as he stroked her arm gently.
"I hope you weren't planning on talking to Klara about anything important for a couple of days."
“She’s given me enough to think about for the time being, I don’t think I have anything important to talk to her about…why?” Elizabeth sat up and looked down at Sawyer, but he had his eyes closed and the comment had been offhand.
He smiled, without opening his eyes, and pulled her back to lie down next to him.
“Because she turned the volume up on the television.”
Elizabeth blushed; part of her had been expecting him to tell her he wanted to leave with her again or something, and she hadn’t been thinking about the fact her cousin was downstairs alone.
“I couldn’t help it.”
“I know… and I am definitely not complaining. I just don’t think she is going to make eye contact with either of us for a while.”
“What would I have to say to her that can’t wait a couple of weeks, anyway?”
Sawyer exhaled, and Elizabeth remained silent so that he would be forced to explain himself.
“Why don’t you tell me what you were talking about when I got back? I’m assuming it was at least somewhat serious if you felt a need to ply her with alcohol to elicit a response?”
“Or maybe I was just trying to be sociable?”
He laughed, and Elizabeth blushed because she had been well aware it wasn’t convincing, particularly when she hadn’t touched the stuff herself.
“I just wanted to know more about myself.”
“Yourself? You think she’s going to have the answers you’re looking for? I’m pretty sure Francesca…”
“...I’m pretty sure Francesca would have figured out what I was really asking and why I was asking it if I started asking about whether there are while wolves in my lineage, and I thought it would be better to ask my own flesh and blood about our family history.”
“Oh…” he sounded surprised. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know… I guess it’s just taking a little time for this to sink in. It’s unexpected… what did she say, anyway?”
“I didn’t ask very directly, so I think her response is about as valid as the one you got from Francesca, but she did tell me that my relatives were nothing like yours and that they weren’t anything particularly noteworthy. She also told me that not everyone is like you with a detailed record of everyone they are even distantly related to to help them, but from everything I know I am pretty sure any tenuous link to white wolves would be blown massively out of proportion and presented as something monumentally important even if it was hundreds of years ago, right?”
“Kind of… it’s a little more complicated than that.”
Elizabeth’s heart sank a little and she sighed.
“Oh…”
“I don’t really think now is the time for a history lesson. You should come to see the baby with me in the morning. I think my sister will enjoy having someone to talk to about that side of things and it will probably interest you.”
“Does it have to be her? Why can’t Jonas teach me? He doesn’t make me feel like I am an i***t for not knowing things like that.”
“Because Jonas doesn’t need friends here, Elizabeth.”
“But she does…”
“...and so do you. I’m taking your lead on this; I trust that you are serious and that this isn’t a whim, so I am willing to consider this seriously. I think it would be better for everyone if you made things up with my sister for a whole host of reasons, but if this is going to happen it is particularly important to me that you guys are on civil terms.”
“So she can babysit?”
“Elizabeth…”
She sighed, and apologized.
“I don’t mean to be like that… it’s an instinctive response. I’m still angry at her for what she did to me. What would people normally do in this situation? Forget about it and move on? I’m fairly sure your father…”
“...don’t. Do not bring Tobias into this. You don’t know what the f**k he would have done to her if she’d had a baby like that while he was still alive, and I would rather not think about it myself so just… don’t.”
“I’m sorry. I just find it difficult to let go when I am angry about things. I always have done; I guess that’s something else I can ask Klara about, because I certainly didn’t inherit that from my mother, but…”
“...but you’ve always been that way.”
Elizabeth nodded, and swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Perhaps that’s why she didn’t tell you the truth about your father? Because you’re stubborn, and determined, and you are completely incapable of forgiving anybody for even minor indiscretions, and..:”
“...and she knew I wasn’t going to forgive her. Even when she was dying she knew that I wouldn’t look past it; that’s why the house was left like that. And if you are going to tell me not to bring up your father, I am going to ask you not to bring up my mom. I know I f****d up, Nathan. I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life, and she knew me well enough that she knew I would feel like this eventually. It’s f*****g infuriating. She left me that picture because she knew I would go there, and if she had just shown it to me before…”
He had raised his eyebrow at her and she stopped talking.
“At what point was she supposed to show you the picture? Before you knew about who you really are, and it was just a picture of your mom with a regular wolf? Or afterward, when you were refusing to see her and she had no idea where you were or how to find you? I don’t think it would have made things any easier for you to know they cared about each other, I think you would have been just as angry and confused by everything and I can’t say I blame you but there’s no point thinking about that now.”
“What should we be thinking about?”
“I would rather just enjoy the moment, Elizabeth. I was worried that things would be different when we got back here, but after that… I’m not worried anymore.”
- Writer
