His Second Chance Mate

Chapter 3

I looked at my mom. I was enormously grateful she had agreed. I'd never really imagined even the possibility that she would. I also had something to apologize for. I turned to face her and cleared my throat. 

“I’m sorry I lied.” My voice seemed extra loud in the silence. My mom gave a start and looked at me confused. I guess both of us had gotten lost in our thoughts.

“I meant, about where I was going. I figured, you were more likely to be agree to an all-girls trip to a safe beach house than camping in the middle of the woods to see a possible haunted and/or supernatural temple where people have disappeared, never to be seen again, and where I'll be surrounded by hundreds or thousands of strangers and possibly, dangerous wild animals.”

My mom gave me a wide-eyed look. “You’re not really helping your case with that description, you know.”

I shrugged. “You promised to keep your word.” My mom always kept her word and never changed her mind. I never thought I'd be grateful for the fact, but here I was.

She nodded slowly. “I did, didn't I?" She heaved a huge sigh, before turning to look towards me. "But camping? I figured you’d stay at one of the inns nearby.”

“The closest inns are at least a few hours outside of the woods. I mean, we always hear about another failed attempt to build something closer to the temple. I think the last one said a ghost ate all his underwear?”

I couldn’t help giggling. Whichever ghost it was, he or she had my full support. The last thing we needed was some money hungry corporation razing the entire forest to the ground. Though there had been countless attempts, they’d all failed with all the workers running away, screaming about the forest being haunted.

On the other hand, none of the visitors ever had any problems with underwear eating ghosts

I’d always felt like the forest was also connected to the temple somehow, not that there was any research to prove me right or wrong. Like the disappearing photos, any attempts at research also failed. It has driven scientists crazy for generations now. Any new article about these occurrences always made me laugh.

“I guess they wouldn’t have any free rooms with the full moon this close either?”

I nodded. There was no chance. The inns were always booked months in advance and usually by adults who refused to stay in tents, even if staying in the inns meant a drive and a few hours hike. Most kids preferred to camp near the temple instead. Booking for the camping ground also had to be done months in advance, but the graduates of my school had done it ages ago. Every year, the graduating class went there around this time of year, before everyone headed off to different colleges, so we usually had a standing reservation for large area to pitch tents. I hadn't signed up for the trip, but I figured there was bound to be place for a single person. I'd have to call Katie as soon as I was able to. She'd be able to figure something out in a matter of minutes.

Even if she failed to, I was ready to sleep on the ground if I had to. Not that my mom needed to know all this.

“Besides I wanted to go camping. I've never been. Obviously."

My mom ignored my jab. “Will you be able to find a space to camp though? If all the inns are full, then what about the camping grounds?”

“You don’t have to worry about that." I told her about the yearly standing reservation our school had had for years. "Besides, a few classmates have been there a week, kind of holding down the fort. They volunteered so I guess they must really like camping. I'll be able to find a spot, though. I'll tell Katie and she'll handle it. I wasn’t even sure I’d be going. Like I never imagined you would let me. She'll be absolutely psyched to hear you agreed.”

My mom nodded thoughtfully. “Normally, you would have had a snowball’s chance in Hell. But only because it’s that temple. I know how much you wanted to go. And I know its tradition too.”

It was tradition to visit the full moon after graduating.  Almost every single graduating student in our entire country followed it. For these three to four months every year, the temple's visitors are exclusively students. For most, it was tradition, but for me it was something more than just that.

It always had been, since the moment I’d heard of the temple. Not that anyone had been able to understand that.

Katie thinks I’m just desperate to find my soul mate there, even though I’ve told her hundreds of times that I didn’t believe you can simply find your soul mate, you have to make them. She thinks all my bullshit is because I have such terrible luck with guys. (She’s not totally wrong, but I will never admit that out loud.) She’s a huge romantic and only believes in things like Destiny and Fate. I think she’s an i***t. (She won’t admit that out loud either, unfortunately).

Still, she believes its her Destiny to meet her soul mate at the temple this full moon and I really really hope she does-mostly because I won’t be able to console her if she doesn’t.

“It isn’t just about the tradition. I really needed to go there. I wouldn’t have lied to you otherwise.”

Mom simply nodded understandingly. “I know baby.”

She opened her arms wide and I crawled into them, sprawling over the rest of the sofa. How long had it been since I’ve cuddled with my mom like this? I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d done something like this. It felt incomparably amazingly warm.

“I know exactly how you feel. I felt it when I was your age. Your dad did too. That’s where we met. Didn’t you know?”

I sat up and turned around to look at her incredulously.

“Of course, I didn’t know. You guys never told me. And unlike some people, I don’t snoop through diaries.”

My mom laughed, before pushing my head down. I lay down obligingly. Instead I looked at her hands. Her impeccably manicured hands. My mom was many things, but she was not the type of person to sleep in the middle of a possibly haunted woods.

“So you actually went there?”

My mom gave me a sharp slap on my thigh. “There’s no need for you to sound that incredulous. I wasn’t always your mom, you know.” I nodded slightly. Of course, I knew that. But it was still weird to imagine my mom at my age. She’d always been a Mom in my mind.

“I’d heard of the legend at school, same as you. Obviously, I was drawn to the stories of people finding their soul mates like it was magic and I couldn’t wait to visit, but I’d planned to visit after I left for college. My parents were very strict.” I let out a involuntary snort at this point and received another slap on my thigh for my troubles. My mom continued as if nothing had interrupted her.

“They were deeply religious and the stories about a wolf temple and the talk about werewolves were about as welcome as the devil in our home. So, obviously I’d never talked about my plans in front of them. But suddenly, a month after my 18th birthday I started having regular dreams about visiting the temple. They were so vivid as if I’d been there already. Every night for almost two weeks I had the same dream and the need to go there and be there just kept increasing, until I couldn’t resist.” My mom took several deep breaths as if the feeling of having to go there had suddenly resurfaced. She didn’t speak for a minute, clearly lost in thought again. My curiosity was bubbling but I didn’t want to interrupt her line of thought. Finally, she continued.

“Anyways, luckily, my winter break was coming soon, so I planned to visit then. I had a foolproof plan. At least, it was foolproof to an 18-year-old. I was going to tell my parents that I was staying over at my aunt's house and that’s when I would go to the temple. My aunt was very chill and she agreed to back me up. But, for some reason, they refused to let me go to her house. I was absolutely desperate so...so I ran away.”

I sat up in shock, whipping around to look at my mom so fast, I cricked my neck. There was no way I heard right. I massaged my neck, still staring at my mom, waiting for an explanation.

My mom continued to speak, looking straight ahead. 

“This is why your dad and I never told you how we met. We didn’t want to give you any ideas. Well, anyway, I ran away and I was terrified because I’d never gone anywhere by myself in my entire life, but somehow I got there and as soon as I entered the temple, I just bumped into your dad and that’s it.”

“That’s it?" My voice had gone up at least three octaves. I cleared my throat and tried again in a more normal tone.

"That’s not nearly enough. What happened after you bumped into each other? What happened after you came home?” If my mom's parents were as strict as she said, I can't see a happy and joyful reunion happening. I wondered what kind of future I'd barely avoided.

“You happened silly.”

My face must have looked truly ridiculous because my mom burst into laughter.

“Not immediately, of course. My father would’ve murdered me and your dad if we had you before getting married. Your dad was already in college and I was graduating high school in a few months. The night we met, we talked until we passed out and then he took me back home. Of course, on the way back reality sunk in and I realized I had run away from home for no reason my parents could or would even try to  understand. I imagined all kinds of scenarios with police and nation-wide manhunts but your dad was able to calm me down enough for me to go home. As soon as we reached home, I ran inside and hugged my mom and told her I was sorry a million times. I thought your dad was waiting in the car to be polite or something but years later he told me that he was so terrified that he couldn’t move his legs.” She chuckled, lost in her memories.

“My parents refused to talk to me for ages and they hated your dad until they died. I think they thought I had gotten pregnant and eloped or something. They didn’t even call the police because they were worried about their reputation, which was stupid, but it worked in my favor.” She shrugged. She didn't look as nonchalant as she sounded. I guess I would be too if my parents had been more worried for their reputation than their daughter disappearing. Luckily, I knew with a 100% certainty that my parents would never react that way. They'd probably turn the world inside out.

“Anyway, I introduced your dad as my boyfriend and your dad asked my dad to let me marry him. My mom kept trying to ask if I had slept with your dad a hundred different ways without actually coming out and saying the words. That was horrible but also kind of hilarious. Anyway, they assumed I was pregnant and I never said I wasn’t, so my dad rushed the marriage. I was only the second girl to get married while still in high school in my batch. Almost everyone assumed that I was pregnant and that was kind of the worst time of my life.” 

She wrinkled her nose at the memory. “But I didn’t really care because I had your dad. He drove over whenever he could and when I was with him, everything was perfect. I had no regrets. The rumors all died down in a few months anyway, because I clearly wasn’t carrying a baby. I don’t think my parents ever got over me running away from home. Of course, as a 18-year-old, I didn’t know what that does to a parent, but our relationship wasn’t ever the same. Though it got a lot better when I had you.” She caressed my hair. “They absolutely loved you. It’s a pity they died when you were so young.”

She fell silent and I realized she’d been crying silently for a while. I had no memories of either set of grandparents, so I listened eagerly. My mom almost never brought up her parents and she cried almost every time they were brought up so I’d always been reluctant to ask.

Every thing I’d wanted to ask fell to the wayside as I considered every thing my mom had told me.

I’d never know that my mom and dad had met at the Wolf Temple. Though I’d read a lot of accounts of people meeting their soul mates there, I didn’t put too much stock in it. After all, it made sense that a few handful of couples found their soul mates there, but I’d come across what felt like thousands of records of people who claimed to have met there soul mate there that were depressingly identical  during my research phase and I figured the soul mate legend was blown out of proportion.

It probably was.

Still, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of my parents- my boring parents having such a fairy tale type of meet-cute. For some reason, I’d always assumed they’d met through friends or a blind date or something else equally boring. In my head, they’d gone on like, five dates and gotten married and had me and that’s it.

And for my mom to have run away from home?

I’d never have imagined that happening in a million years. Actually, not even then.

I stared at my mom in amazement. Was this the same woman I’d known all her life? It was hard to reconcile the two in my mind.

My mom's voice pulled me from my thoughts .

“That’s actually the reason I gave you permission to go. Sometimes, you are the exact opposite of how I used to be at your age, but then the other times, you are so scarily alike. You remind me of myself too much for my peace of mind.” She chuckled. “Sometimes, you say or do something or make an expression, and it just hits me, you know- that ‘Wow, this person is my daughter. She came from me. She is literally part me. It’s amazing, that feeling.” She paused to stare so intently I wanted to look away, but I found I couldn’t. Suddenly, she smiled widely. Honestly, the smile made my cheeks ache.

“Like I said, part of me is in you and I hate to think that you might have to resort to running away to get there, like I had to. Of course, I was kinda waiting for it since you turned 18. I wondered if you’d run away or ask permission first. I told myself I wouldn’t get mad if you do and also would not just assume that you got pregnant.”

I laughed.

“Thanks for your trust in me, I guess.”

My mom laughed at that.

“It’s just... I know how intense the....the call is, if you can call it that even?” I nodded in agreement- a call really was the best way to put it- as I silently watched my mom put her thoughts together. The truth was she did know me pretty well- to a degree that amazed me sometimes and made me wonder if she could read my mind.

I had contemplated running away many times, but never very seriously. Though, running away had seemed more and more like a viable option the more the intensity of the call increased. I was still too much of a coward, but needing to be there was starting to take more and more precedence over anything-including my parents’ feelings. I was suddenly immensely grateful my mom had given me permission to go today because I couldn’t honestly have said what would have happened if she hadn’t. I’d like to think I’d have waited until I had a long enough vacation in college and then gone, but I truthfully don’t think I could have lasted that long.

“I didn’t want to have you go through what I did, because when your child runs away, it doesn’t just hurt the parent, it affects the child too.” I lay down in my mom’s arms again. She automatically began to run her fingers through my hair and I melted.

“I considered it actually. Running away, I mean.” I'd spoken without really meaning to. I felt her fingers stop moving for a few seconds. “Never very seriously. At least, not yet.” My voice ended in a whisper. I suddenly felt too guilty to put into words.

My mom didn’t say anything for a minute or two before she let out a sigh, chuckling softly. “I told you. Sometimes, you are just too much like me for my peace of mind.”

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled into her arms. I was suddenly too embarrassed to say it too her face.

“I know you are baby. I was too, when I came back. But there’s some magic in that place and we are helpless to resist when it calls us.”

I nodded understandingly. Magic really was the right word. My was still stuck on what my mom had revealed.

“I still can’t believe you ran away from home! I always figured you’d kill me if I even thought about something like that.”

“Normally, yes. That is what I would do. But I went through what you’re feeling right now. And I did run away. I figure I can cut you some slack here. Besides, you are a better daughter than I ever was. And I’m always grateful for that. And I’m also grateful you asked for permission, even if you did lie to me.” She pinched my waist, but I was too sleepy to react. “At least I can sleep well now. It’s been way too long, since I’ve had a proper night’s rest. I keep wondering if I’ll wake up to your empty bed but I figure it’s my karma for what I did to my parents, coming back to bite me. I deserve that much at least.” She continued to run her fingers through my hair as we both sat in silence.

“Did you regret it?” I hadn’t even realized I’d been thinking the words, but once I said it I realized how curious I was. Did she regret meeting my dad and having me? She’d essentially sacrificed her relationship with her parents for us, though she hadn’t known that at the time. After all, if she hadn’t met my dad there, she might have met him somewhere else. Or she might never have met him too. Who knew all the possibilities a single choice could lead too?

She barely thought for a second before answering.

“You know, I have never once regretted going there at all. I know I was meant to be there at that very moment to meet your dad. It was our fate. You were our fate. But I do regret running away. I’ve wanted to tell my parents this thousands of times, but I was always too much of a coward to say it to them. I regret that too.”

I squeezed my arms around my mom in a hug. How long had she been holding that inside? Had she ever even told my dad all this? I was afraid to ask.

Once again, I was super thankful I wasn’t forced to make a decision I might have regretted the rest of my life.

“I didn’t want to have you go through the same thing I did- having to choose. I know that your dad and I have always been a tad bit overprotective of you, but I had a reason. Just like I had a reason to send you there, even if I don’t entirely like it.”

“A tad bit?” I blurted out incredulously. I felt another slap on my thigh.

“Well, fine. A little more than that then.”

I wasn't satisfied. “A lot more than just a little.”

“Whatever.” My mom imitated me perfectly. We broke into giggles at that.

“Why don’t you like it though? That’s where you met Dad. You said you didn't regret it.”

“Yes, but like you said, the middle of the woods isn’t very safe. I’m only okay with it because I know you have to go. Just like we had to.”

“Have you and Dad ever gone back then?”

“No actually. We never felt the same urge to go back there. I wanted to go when I was pregnant with you. Around the 7th or 8th month, I think.”

“But you didn’t? Why not?”

“Well, for one, your dad was very busy and for another, that time during a pregnancy isn’t the most comfortable time to go on a road trip.”

I nodded. That made sense.

“Why didn’t you go after I was born then?”

“I don’t know. The urge to visit passed. I was so invested in you. Being a parent, especially for the first time, it’s just like being in some kind of time warp. By the time I looked up and looked around, you were almost 6. Besides, I-” She let out a deep breath before continuing. “I kind of blamed the place, you know? I met your dad there, but I also lost my parents there. I know it’s a hundred percent my fault and not anybody else’s, but it’s easier having something else to blame.” 

I nodded again. Even if I couldn’t exactly understand the feeling, I think I understood what she was trying to say.

“I don’t know. I’ve never really felt like visiting, but maybe I’ll go with your dad on our 25th Anniversary.”

She shrugged. “It’s not like I forgot what the temple looks like anyway. It’s impossible to erase from your mind once you’ve been there. It’s beautiful, if slightly terrifying. A good terrifying, though.”

“There’s a good terrifying?” I laughed.

She shrugged again. “It’s hard to put into words. I suppose you’ll see soon enough.”

“I guess I will.” I was filled with excitement. I absolutely could not wait. I’d been wanting to go for the last 8 years. I couldn’t believe that within a week I’d be standing in front of the infamous temple I’d dreamt about for years. Finally.