“Holy shit. Can you hear me when you are like that?” Jessie started to get up from the table, but then sat back down, unsure of the protocol for approaching a wolf.
If Norah’s wolf could have given a cocky grin, she would have flashed one at Jessie. The beast bowed her head and licked her paw. Then, without warning, she put her foot back on the ground before transitioning back to the human Norah.
Jessie waited until Norah was fully back in her human body and standing before she spoke. "Holy fuck. What has this man done to you?" Norah gave a patient smile and then leaned across the table to pat her friend’s hand.
"He didn't do anything I didn't ask him to do. He gave me a choice. Shifters are different than humans. The Goddess oversees their lives and gives each shifter a fated mate. I am Lukyan’s and he is mine. When I met him, I knew he was the one. It was like nothing else I’d ever experienced. I was instantly drawn to him and he to me. Lukyan told me, right from the start, that we were fated to be together. That we would forever be mates and that he would protect and cherish me all eternity." Jessie stood and picked up Norah's pajama top from the floor. Norah finished pulling her pants up and reached for the top.
"Then I don’t understand. If you are fated mates, why did you leave him? And how is it that he doesn’t love you? How can that be if he is fated to be your mate, to cherish and protect you forever?" The tears streamed in earnest down Norah's face now.
"I don't know. I know I love him, but I don't know how he feels about me. What if it's just some sort of animal instinct?"
"Would it even matter? Would you know the difference between animal instinct and love, Norah? Would he?" Norah nodded her head emphatically.
"Yes, I would. I know that what I feel for him is not animal attraction, it's a real love. But I don't know what he feels for me. Is it a sense of obligation? I thought, perhaps, he was beginning to love me, but he couldn’t say it. I outright asked him and he practically choked."
"Call your mother. There is no one on earth that would have better advice for you than her. I've never been in a relationship, Norah, never gone out on more than five dates with the same man. I am absolutely the worst person to give you advice about anything like this. She can. She and your dad are the two most in love people I’ve ever met. She would know what to tell you." As if on cue Norah's cell phone buzzed on the coffee table. Jessie went across the room and picked it up. "It's your mom. Answer it." Norah backed away from the device.
"Give me until tomorrow. I promise I will talk to her. I just need one more night." Jessie sighed and gently tossed the cell on the dining room table.
Jessie sat at the dining room table working on a presentation she planned to give the following day at the hospital. Norah watched her from the couch. She had work of her own to do, clients that needed her response, but she just needed time to sit with her own thoughts for a while so she ignored her own computer. From across the room to the computer began to ring. Norah knew that sound. Someone was Skyping her friend.
“Hey, Elen, I was waiting for you to Skype me. It was just a matter of time." Norah perked up. Her mother had contacted Jessie via the computer. There would be no escaping a conversation now.
"Is my daughter there, Jessie?" Jessie nodded at the screen and Norah suppressed a groan.
"As a matter of fact, she is, and this time I don't think she can escape you. She's sitting right across the room on my couch. Would you like to speak with her?" Norah mouthed the wordNoto Jessie, but it didn’t stop her friend from waving her over. Getting up from the couch she walked across the room and sat at the table across from her friend. Jessie slid the computer around so that Norah could see her mother's face.
"Hi, Mom. I'm sorry I've been ignoring your texts." Norah had the good sense to look chagrined.
"Eleanora Jane Robinson, you are too old for me to fuss at, so I won’t, but I did have higher expectations. What's wrong with you?" Her mother looked both frustrated and worried, a combination that stabbed at Norah’s heart.
"There's nothing wrong with me mom. I'm just needed a little time to myself." Norah hoped the bad explanation would be enough to subdue her mother's questions. She knew better.
"Norah, I am your mother, I have been your mother for twenty-seven years. You might think that your friend Jessie knows you better than anyone, but I assure you I am the one that is most familiar with your emotions. Whatever is going on with you has something to do with the hunky young man who was just at my door this morning." Norah sucked in a sharp breath.
“Lukyan was there? Why? What did he say?"
"Dear, I believe we both know why. That man was beside himself worried about you. He said you've been gone for a couple of days and he had no idea where you were. He finally tracked you down to my house, but obviously, you aren’t here." Her mother gestured to the empty room behind her. "Now, would you like to tell me why you left a man who is so desperately in love with you, or do you want to continue to keep me in the dark?" A tear formed at the corner of Norah’s eye but thankfully it didn't fall.
"He isn’t desperately in love with me. I love him but he doesn’t feel the same.” Her mother cocked her eyebrow. Norah rushed to continue her explanation, “I think he cares for me but I don't think he loves me." The unshed tear threatened to drop; Norah wiped quickly at her eyes to remove the offending moisture.
"Norah, honey, you're a fool if you don't think that man loves you. He was absolutely distraught that you weren't here. He thought for sure he had found you. Why in the world would you not think that he loves you?" Norah ran her hands through her hair, letting it drop dramatically.
"Because he isn’t, Mom. I asked him, point-blank, if he did; he couldn't say it. I think that's pretty clear."
"It is nice to hear the wordsI love you, isn’t it? I still get a little tingle of satisfaction every time your father says it. But saying the words, meaning the words, and feeling the words are three different things. I don't know exactly what's going on with you and Lukyan, but I know love when I see it. That man adores you. You know it in your heart. That's why you look so heartbroken right now because you know deep down inside you left a man who loves you to distraction.” Her mother leaned in closer to the screen and locked eyes with Norah. “It's not his words, honey, it’s how he treats you. Does he treat you like he loves you and puts you first in all things? Don't be fooled by man's words or lack of words.
“You have had so many boyfriends since you left college. Some were okay, some of them were atrocious. I tried not to say anything at the time. I’m going to guess that most all of them said they loved you, right? I also have a hunch that you might have uttered those three words to them a few times, too, right? But did you love them, Norah? I mean really love them? I have a doubt that you did because I've never seen you this forlorn. I suspect that your love for Lukyan, at least based on your attitude and the look of you right now, means you really love him. And I would stake my life that he loves you."
Tears now flowed freely down Norah's eyes. She was so sick of crying all the time. Her mother's words made so much sense to her. It wasn't what Lukyan said, it was how he treated her. And yes, he put her needs above his, every single day. He woke up early to comfort her so that she could have a few more moments without morning sickness. He stocked every single room in the house with cherry popsicles to ease her nausea. Occasionally, he would bring small gifts and flowers home. He rubbed her feet and her aching back. Every gesture, every action, every interaction proved that he loved her. And she had left him because he hadn't said those three words. She was a fool. But not any longer. Norah had been waiting for love to find her for years, she would not squander it now that it was within her grasp. Not anymore, anyway. She was going to fight for this relationship. Lukyan was hers and she was his, and that's how it would be forever.
"You are right, Mom. I've made a huge stake. Everything he does proves to me that he loves me. Now I have to leave because I have to go find him."
"You don’t have to go anywhere. I told him that you were staying at Jessie's. I called her this morning and she confirmed. He left Pittsburgh this morning so he should be arriving in the city pretty soon. Just wait around the apartment. Your man will show up soon.” Norah smiled and blew a kiss at the screen. “Also, come see me. I think as your loving mother, I have the right to see my unborn grandchild." Her mother cocked an eyebrow, a look that told Norah she was not pleased to be left out of the circle of information. Norah darted her eyes across the table to Jessie, who gave her the same cocked eyebrow. Did everyone in her life think they knew better than her?
"I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you and Dad out of the loop. It's just that everything—" Norah's mother nodded her hand and held up her hand to stop her daughter’s excuse.
"I understand sweetie. Go clean up, you look a mess. And when you make up with that nice man I met this morning come down to Pittsburgh. Your father and I want to see you and your new beau together. I love you." Norah told her mother that she loved her, too, before turning off the Skype chat. She ran her hands through her hair once again. Lukyan was coming and she hadn’t showered for two days!
"I need to shower, Jessie. Like now! Lukyan is coming. I don’t want him to see me like this." Jessie just laughed and pointed towards the bathroom. Norah skipped across the room and shut the door.
