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I wasn't sure what the emotion was that was welling up in my throat, but I had to swallow several times before I could speak. "He wants Pierre to be able to come out of the shadows and stand by Father's side as his true mate. He is an important member of our family, and it's about time everyone knows that."
"Oh!" My mother pressed her hand against her mouth even as big fat tears welled up in her eyes and slowly slid down her pale cheeks.
"It's also time for you to be able to date whoever you want without getting yelled at or made to feel ashamed." I reached over and grabbed my mother's hands. "You did your duty to your family. You mated and produced and heir. Don't you think it's time for you to live your life?"
"Oh, darling, don't ever think I haven't been living my life. You, your father, and Pierre have given me the best twenty-five years of my life. I haven't regretted a single second of it."
I knew that because my mother was almost always happy and smiling, but I also knew there was a secret part of her that longed for someone to call her own. I'd seen the sad looks she had sometimes given my father and Pierre when they weren't looking.
I still wasn't positive why she hadn't found someone to be at her side through all these years, but she had never really dated anyone more than a few months. I never really felt like I had the right to ask her either.
But maybe I did.
"Mother." I glanced down at our clasped hands as I tried to gather my courage to ask the question I had always avoided. "Why have you never brought anyone home longer than a couple of months?"
Even then, she hadn't really dated anyone until I was gone from home, and she never took anyone back to the clan home with her. They were always "holiday flings" that ended when it was time to return.
"That's a very complicated story, René."
"I'm willing to listen if you want to tell me about it."
My mother sighed before letting go of my hands and sitting back in her seat. Her head turned toward the window and I had to wonder if she even saw the clouds and snow-capped mountain tops we were flying past.
I was surprised when my father sat down next to her, but not. He always seemed to know when my mother was upset. While they weren't true mates, they were still mates. There was a bond there.
"When your mother was about nineteen," my father started, "she met a young girl named Isabella Rinaldi. She had recently moved to your mother's birth clan with her family. Isabella and—"
My mother laughed, but it sounded almost soaked with her tears. "Bella."
"Bella." My father smiled. "Bella and Antoinette loved each other very much, but their love was forbidden by both families and your mother wasn't old enough to oppose them, nor was Bella. They tried to run away together several times, but they were always caught and brought back, and then punished for their disobedience. In the end, Bella was forced to mate a vampire from another clan and Antoinette mated me. Your mother never saw Bella again."
"Is that why you hate your parents so much?"
She had never said it in so many words, but I knew the truth. My mother despised her parents. I couldn't say I blamed her considering they kept her and Bella apart, tried to keep her and my father apart, and then keep Pierre and my father apart.
They had a lot to answer for.
My mother's face was streaked with tears when she turned back to me. "It's one of the reasons."
"Pierre being the other?"
She nodded. "After what they did to Bella and me, I wasn't about to let anyone keep Armando and Pierre apart. I knew that heartache, and I didn't want that for them."
"Was Bella your true mate?" I asked.
"I think so."
"You think so?"
"It was a long time ago, René, and we barely had any time together. Plus, I had been raised my entire life believing that same-sex matings didn't happen." She smiled through her tears as she pressed a hand to the side of Armando's face. "It wasn't until I met your father that I realized they did, but by then it was too late. Bella and I were both mated to other people."
"Have you looked for her? Maybe she's still out there waiting for you."
"Oh, son, it's far too late for that."
Want to bet?
"Maybe this celebration will change that."
