It's Dark Within

Meeting His Mother

            “Mornin, rain.”

            I sat down next to Jack in our first class of the day, frowning when I saw what his face looked like. His busted lip hadn’t healed as well as it should have and was still predominantly there on his lips. Luckily, the bruises seemed to be almost gone. He looked like he was doing much better since he was currently clearly checking me out.

“            Good morning, Jack.” My eyes rolled in their sockets while my hands took my notebook out for class. “How are you feeling?”

            Jack shrugged, watching me settle in. “I’m perfectly fine. I rather hear about you though.”

            I shrugged. “I’m okay. I have to talk to you later, about this thing you have to attend with us.”

            “I get to go on a field trip with you and your scary family? How nice.” Jack rested his head on his elbows, a smirk showed on his handsome face.

            I giggled before I shook my head. “Yep, you’re a lucky guy Jack.”

            He winked at me with a subtle smile. “Oh yeah, I’m aware of that.”

            “Anyways, we’ll have to leave tomorrow night. Is there something you could tell your family? Maybe that you’re staying at a friend’s house or something?” I leaned in a little to be more private.

            Jack raised an eyebrow. “On my third day of school? Wont that seem kind of suspicious?”

            I shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you usually have a hard time making friends or something?”

            “Have you met me? Ya know, you could just come home with me and explain that I’m going with your family on vacation this weekend?” Jack said as he watched my face lose its smile.

            “Are you serious? Your mom would let you leave for a weekend with a girl you just met?” I rolled my eyes.

            “I have no idea.” He said, reaching out to tuck a wild strand of my hair behind my ear. “It was just a thought. Unless, you didn’t want to meet my mother.”

            I couldn’t stop the smile that reappeared on my lips. “Okay, I’ll go with you after school then. Maybe I can convince her to let you come with us.”

            Jack nodded. “Meet me in the parking lot after school then, rain.”

            I gave him a curious look. “Did you drive here today?”

            “Yeah, I had to bring something for the teachers this morning before school.” He said as he watched my curiosity ridden face.

            “You have a car? Then why walk the past two days?” I asked confused.

            Jack laughed a little. “I’ve been walking with you, rain. Remember?”

            I smiled. “We’ve been quite busy.”

            Luckily the rest of the day went by smoothly, and before I knew it I was in the passenger seat of Jack’s old Chevy truck. I would occasionally look over and smile, feeling like he was ignoring me on purpose.

            “What have you been thinking about?” I asked, leaning back in my seat to focus my attention directly on Jack.

            He shrugged. “Only you, rain. Why, what did you want to ask me about?”

            “I’m just curious about your family. I’m assuming they have no idea about you being a Wulfkin, so, how have you hid it from them all this time?” I watched his face for his reaction, but there was nothing.

              Jack let out a deep breath. “If I ever got an urge to run or be a wolf I leave, drive somewhere and release my energy. My mother is a sweet, soft woman. Never asks me where I’ve been or who I’ve been with, just waits for me to confide in her myself. I’ve only had a problem when we travel. It’s hard to disappear when we’re all together.”

            I smiled a little. “You have siblings?”

            “Yeah. A younger brother, who is fourteen and an older sister who is luckily away at college.” He said as he glanced over to me.

            “Don’t get along with her?” I asked, but I saw something strike across his handsome features, and to me it looked a lot like anger.

            Jack nodded. “Her names Gabrielle, and…she is the reason why I try to stay away from everyone. Including, female humans.”

            Feeling bad for prying, I touched his arm gently. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Jack.”

            He shrugged. “I do. We’re not blood related, and she has never thought of me as anything other than a burden to my family. To spite me, she convinced me to drink with her when I was fifteen. She laced my alcohol with a ‘male stimulant’ and talked me into sleeping with her while I was drunk. Being young and stupid, she got me into a vice grip. For almost two years after she blackmailed me into doing whatever she wanted until leaving for college.”

            “Holy s**t, Jack…” I said as I felt sick just hearing how evil this Gabrielle was. “That’s…horrible.”

            “Yeah, I hope she stays away forever. At least until I move out and she has no reason to tell my mother about what happened.” He said letting out a deep breath.

            I scooted over to him and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “Forget I pried about this. Think happy thoughts.”

            Jack bit the inside of his lip to control what he really wanted to do or say. “So, just think about you in a bikini?”

            “Shut up.” I rolled my eyes.  

            He laughed a little. “Come on, rain. What else should I be thinking-“

            “Black.”

            Jack raised an eyebrow. “What?”

            I looked over at him with a sly smile on my red lips. “My bikini. It’s black and a little too small.”

            He swallowed hard as he nodded. “Bloody hell, rain. You know were going to meet my mother, right?”

            “Your house is beautiful.” I looked at the stunning brick house in front of me. Enjoying the deep red of the brick, the lovely grey shudders, and the perfectly manicured garden in front. “It’s so humanly.”

            Jack rolled his eyes as he draped his arm around my shoulder. “Come on, rain. Let’s get this over and done.” 

            The moment he opened the door, the smell of chocolate filled my nostrils and I felt my mouth water a little. Without stopping, Jack led me straight back to the kitchen and smiled when he saw his mother bent over to pop in another batch of my cookies.

            “Mom, I’m home.” Jack said, watching her jump.

            “Jeez, Jack! You scared the crap…out of me…” His mother stopped as her dark brown eyes landed on me, and then to Jack’s arm around my shoulders. She smiled big and wiped her hands off on her apron real quick before rushing around the counter to greet us. “Hello, I’m Sandra. Jack’s mom, and you are?”

            I smiled as I shook her hand. “I’m Christelle Carter, I go to school with Jack.”

            Sandra nodded. “Are you his girlfriend? Please, tell me you’re his girlfriend?”

            Unsure on what to say, I looked over to Jack who shrugged and decided to help me out. “No, ma. I haven’t even asked her out. Ell is…just Ell.”

            “You do a horrible job at closing, son.” Sandra said as she sighed, nearly making me laugh. “Still, I’m over the moon with you bringing home a girl. I was starting to worry that you were going to be lonely forever.”

            I giggled a little. “He’s really not good at making friends, but it’s really nice to meet you. Jack talks about you as if you’re an angel from heaven, and he’s pretty spot on.”

            Sandra blushed, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. “You flatter me, Christelle. May I ask, are you staying for dinner?”

              “Oh, I don’t think so. My brothers are adamant that I get home before dark. They are worse than my mother on strictness. Your cookies smell wonderful though, Mrs. Sandra.” I said while Jack slipped his arm off me to go and retrieve one.

            He took a chunk out of it before coming back over and holding it out. Without hesitation, I took a bite and nodded my approval. He gestured to the pile of cookies and winked at me. “This is how I’m going to end up fat.”

            Sandra watched us intensely, seeing a whole new side of her oldest son she has never seen before. She had never seen Jack have a soft expression like she was seeing he had when he looked at me. Watching as he leaned in close to me to wipe some crumbs off my face nearly made her cry.

            “What’s wrong, ma?” Jack asked, drawing Sandra from her thoughts.

            She shook her head. “Nothing, son. Why don’t you go put down your stuff in your room?”

            He nodded, glancing reassuringly at me before disappearing around the corner. When he was gone, I knew his mother was going to interrogate me.

            Sandra smiled as she leaned against the counter. “Thank you.”

            “For what, ma’am?” I asked, now confused.

            “For being there for him. Jack has never been real good with people, and tended to not make any friends. It was easier for him to get into fights than have people like him, but he brought you home. You must be special to him, and I hope you feel the same way.” She said with a heart melting smile.

            Knowing exactly what Sandra was taking about, I nodded. “Jack’s a good guy, I appreciate being with him more than he knows. Even if he picks on me a lot.”

            Sandra giggled. “I’m sure he’ll listen if you tell him. You two look absolutely smitten with each other. It reminds me of when I was with my late husband. Even the being picked on part.”

            “I’m sorry to hear about him passing. I lost my father too, and my mother hasn’t been the same ever since. I didn’t even know love that strong could exist until he passed on. It was like my mother died along with him, but none of us can blame her. She is forever heartbroken.” I forced a smile, trying to keep from looking miserable talking about my mother.

            Sandra nodded. “If it wasn’t for my children, I would have been incompetent now. Love is the strongest bond there is, and when you truly find that connection with someone, it’s breathtaking. You’ll know it when you lay in bed at night, and you can’t help but think of ‘that’ person. Just the thought of that special person, calms you to sleep peacefully. That’s how I knew I was truly and deeply in love with Daniel.”

            I blushed as I thought about the past two nights. “You’re a very sweet woman, Mrs. Sandra. I can see why Jack admires you so much. May I ask you something?”

            “Sure, darling.” I said, curiosity leaked into her dark brown eyes.

            “Could I invite Jack to come with me and my brothers on our camping trip? He seems to like the outdoors, and I thought it was a good way to show him what our special town has to offer. If not, I completely understand.” I asked, hoping I was convincing enough.

            Sandra raised an eyebrow. “It won’t be just the two of you right? I don’t need any grandchildren right now.”

            Feeling my whole face turn red, I shook my head. “No, ma’am. I have triplet brothers who are twenty, and they will be coming with. They told me to invite Jack to make him feel welcome since he’s new to the town and all. I’ll even be sleeping in my oldest brother Callum’s tent, and Jack will have his own or share with my two other brothers Troy and Senan. He took me home yesterday and they seemed to hit it off pretty well.”

            For a moment the room was silent, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. At least until Sandra smiled and nodded.

            “That’s fine, darling. Make sure he has a good time. At first, Jack wasn’t too happy about coming to America and starting over, but over the past couple days I’ve noticed a real change in him. I’m sure it’s because he’s met you. His room is the last door on the left and up the stairs.” Sandra said with a wink.

            I nodded as a warm smile graced my face. “Thank you, ma’am. I’ll go ask him now.”

            I hurried down the hall and followed the directions Sandra stated, heading up the stairs to see a smiling Jack sitting on his bed. For a moment we both watched each other, at least until I walked over so I was in front of him.

            “You were listening in on our conversation, weren’t you?”

            Jack shrugged. “It’s kind of hard not too when you have sensitive hearing, rain. Tell me something, is what my mom said true?”

            I shook my head. “What?”

            “About the last person you think about is the person you love? Do you think it’s like that for everyone?” He asked as I went to move away from him. 

            I shrugged. “I suppose it can be true, why? Is there someone you think about when you’re lying in bed trying to sleep? Where are your clothes?”

            Jack laughed a little as he got up off his bed. “Why do you want to know? Do you want to know if it’s you, rain? If so I can tell you that it’s-“

            Before he got to finish his sentence, I spun around to confront him, but didn’t realize that he had gotten up and was directly behind me. So, in this close of space I ended up knocking him backwards and we both fell onto the bed. Jack huffed as my whole weight landed on top of him, while my face went red as I was laying on him.

            “You know, if you wanted to get me into bed, rain. All you had to do was say so.” He said jokingly watching my roll my eyes.

            “I didn’t know you were…right behind me. I didn’t knock you over on purpose, Jack.” I said looking away, hoping he wasn’t seeing how red my face was.

            A soft hand gently touched the side of my face, getting me to look back. Jack had an expression I hadn’t seen on him as he looked up at me. I smiled a little as I nuzzled into his hand, feeling the warm and comfort coming from it. When he let his hand fall away from me, I let out a deep breath before I laid my head down on his chest.

            “Are you okay, rain?” He asked since he couldn’t see my face anymore.

            I nodded, closing my eyes, finally realizing something about myself. It was as Sandra predicted, I was deeply in love with Jack. “I’m fine. Stay like this for a minute with me?”

            To my surprise, I felt Jack lightly chuckle. “I’ll stay like this forever if that’s what you wanted.”

            Jack and I stayed like that longer than we both realized. Only having a few more minutes for me to give instruction on what to bring with him to the Gathering. Friday was a bonfire and BBQ styled dinner just for everyone to get reacquainted and relax after their trips. Then Saturday is all about the leaders of each Pack to talk things over, discus future relations, and settle disputes, usually taking all day and late into the night. Then on Sunday there is a big formal Gathering for everyone to enjoy themselves. They would be heading out Monday morning, arriving back right in time for school.

            Sandra gave me some cookies to take home with me before leaving and after a precarious wink from Jack, I left to go get ready myself.