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“I’ve noticed,” she sighed and shook her head.
“They’re not here anymore,” Scott said.
“Small mercies,” Mom nodded at him.
“Don’t whisk her away in the middle of the night,” I cut to the chase. “If she wakes up back home without knowing how it happened, she won’t take it well.”
“Of course she wouldn’t,” Mom sighed and shook her head again. “She’ll take it about as well as your father when I try to lay him to rest for the final time.”
“He’s on his own timeline,” I said, not looking at Scott.
Part of me didn’t want him to know I wasn’t quite there on the timeline anymore than he was. He was still one of my favorite people in the world.
“Oh, love,” Mom sighed.
She hadn’t called me that since I was a kid. Since before he died.
“Should I give you two a moment?” Scott offered, ready to nudge his chair away from the table.
“Please don’t. When I return home, you’ll be the one here to put all the puzzle pieces of my son back together. I think you should be informed of these matters. The claiming vows only show so much.”
“He was your true-mate,” I blurted out the words before I could stop myself.
Inside me the traitorous dog wagged his tail, slow and sad. Those had been his words bursting from my lips.
“They do that a lot if they’re not getting their way,” Scott said into my thoughts over the mating link.
“He was,” Mom nodded and looked down at the table. “That is why I want him to rest, Ter. Not because I want him gone or even that I want him to hurry up and cycle back. Those would both be selfish. I want him to rest because life is long and hard. I want him to rest because that is what we do in between lives. He’ll feel better.”
“He just needs to stay until Salta’s sight comes in and she can meet him,” I said before I knew what I was going to say.
“Your sister is many great things. She has many strengths she’ll grow into. Only, love, not the sight. The sight would already be there.”
My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. Mom was right. Of course she was right. By Salta’s age I’d already been frightened and chased by dead enemies. I already started to learn how to deal with them on my own. I already had tiny visions about those closest to me.
“I haven’t said anything about it to her,” I said, scrambling for some silver lining.
“I know. You wouldn’t do that to her. He loves her too. He’s just tired, Ter. We’re all tired. I didn’t know the extent of your visions or sight. You never told me.”
“I told him,” I leaned back in my chair.
“I only knew because I caught you talking to him so many times and because your dreams had a way of showing things as mine do.”
“What now?” I asked her since she always wanted things done her way.
“Nothing. My hands are tied as far as your father is concerned. He won’t listen to me. He believes you still need him and he’s not going anywhere until he thinks otherwise.”
I was the asshole. Not for how the coven reacted to me and the energy that followed me around. Still, I was the asshole. I glanced across the table at Scott. If something happened to him, I’d die on the spot, but that usually didn’t happen. If something happened to him, I wouldn’t want him to linger and fight to stay here with me or whoever kept him.
I bowed my head, and my mother touched my hand.
“We all grow up and see the world clearer once we meet our true-mates,” she said, her voice low and soft. “I can carry the burden, love. I can carry it right to my door of life and death if it ever comes, because that’s what we all do. It never goes away. You carry it as a stone or as something with the potential to bloom. Don’t be concerned for me. Don’t ache for me or even for your father. He made the choice to stay as he is. He needs to rest but it seems even in death the man is a workaholic. Ache for yourself, because of the task before you.”
Aching for myself sounded awfully narcissistic.
Scott touched my leg with his toes under the table and I let out a long breath.
“You don’t have to do anything tonight,” Scott said.
