The White Wolf of Winter

Part Twenty, Good-byes

Chapter Thirty Three
Bill
    I arrived at the airport to meet my pilot, a guy named, Juan. He appeared to be in his forties with shoulder length salt and pepper hair, full beard and mustache and a Spanish accent. Juan was very friendly and jolly. He was definitely not Dan's dad but seemed like a great guy to fly with. Mary came to see me off. She's standing there with tears streaming down her cheeks.

    "I'll be back, Mary, I promise. I know your mom never came back, and Dan never came back, but I will come back. And as soon as you graduate next month I'm going to marry you. And we are going to have a baby to raise together, ok?"

    "Ok, Bill please call me as soon as you can. I love you."

    "I love you too, Mary, and I will call you as soon as I can. But I have no idea how long that may be. So don't panic if you don't hear from me right away, ok?"

    I jumped on board and waved good-bye to my Mary. It broke my heart to see her crying so much. But I had to do this. I had to find Dan, for us and for Dan's son.

Mary
    I could feel the baby kicking as Bill flew away to search for Danny's father. Bill and I had already decided as soon as we found out it was a boy, to call him Daniel, after his father. Had it been a girl, it would have been Daniella. I got on my snow mobile and headed into the forest to see if anyone had been to Dan's abandoned tree house. When I got there, everything looked just the same as I remembered it. I climbed down my mobile, climbed the stairs and gently pushed open the door. "Is anybody here?" Nothing but silence. I walked inside remembering the White Woof that stole my heart. The place appeared deserted, just as it had before. I cried my heart out remembering the love Dan and I shared. A love we thought would last forever. But now forever is gone. I laid down on the floor remembering how the woof held me against him all night long giving me comfort when I needed it most. "I will always love you, Danny. I will carry you in my heart until the day I die and hopefully, thereafter. I don't know why you never came back. But I believe you had a good reason. Because the love we shared was real. You even killed for me, Danny. Now all I have left of you is our son. But I promise you, Bill and I will love your son just the same as if he were ours. Bills a great guy, Danny. You would have liked him. The problem is that we don't know if our son is a werewolf or a human. I assume your genes are dominate over mine. I guess time will tell. But in the mean time, I must protect him from any humans who could mean him harm. That's why Bill is trying to find you. To get your input on what we should do. Should he be raised with your people or mine? No wonder you never came back, werewolves and ordinary people don't exactly mix well together. Well, until we meet again, my Danny."

I climbed back down, giving one last look and sped away on my snow mobile. I headed home to study for my final exams and let my dogs out to run awhile. When I got home I sat by the fire with my school books spread out on the rug. All I could think about was Bill flying, who knows where doing, who knows what. It's hard loving someone. I never thought I could ever love again after Danny but Bill just kind of grew on me. He's so kind and so thoughtful and loving. How could I not fall in love with him? The question is; how could he fall in love with me? All I did for weeks is cry my heart out for Dan. But he was always there to comfort me and care for me. He's a one in a million wonderful man. "Please God, bring my Bill back home to me! Please watch over him and keep him safe!"

Chapter Thirty Four
    After a week had went by, Mary got a call from Bill. He said everything was going great. He was able to see so many beautiful sites, especially from the air. He said he was amazed at how many people lived so remotely. He said he did hand out flyers or posted flyers at all of their stops, but so far he had no leads. He said he and Juan had become great friends and he was actually enjoying his vacation very much, and would be home in a week.

    Mary was much relieved to have heard from Bill and could not wait to be with him again soon. But his absence had given her plenty of study time and she was able to do well on all of her tests so far. Maybe some day when the baby is a little older, she could think about attending college. But for now it was, one day at a time.

    Finally the week was over and Bill phoned to say his plane would be arriving on Saturday at eight in the morning. Mary was so excited. She got up early and put on a cute pink dress and a jacket. It was getting much warmer outside, which was a welcome change. She was standing outside looking up when she saw the plane coming in for a landing. She wanted to jump and shout because her man was finally back home. The plane taxied to a stop and Mary was hopping up and down when Bill stepped off of the plane.

    "Bill!" She shouted as she ran to throw her arms around his neck.

Bill picked her up and held her up against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed for several minutes. And then he lowered Mary to the ground.

    "Careful, little momma, I could feel our son kicking."

    "He's glad his daddy is home at last and so am I."

    "Well, I wish I had better news for you but I still have no leads on Dan. However, Juan and I have become great friends and I made up more flyers which he offered to hand out and post as he travels from place to place. There's no way we could cover every place in just two weeks. Maybe someday we'll get a bite. Who knows?"

    "I'm just glad your finally home, Bill. I missed you so much."

    "I missed you too, Mary. Let's go home."We need to stop and get a cake. Tomorrow's your eighteenth birthday. I didn't forget. I bought you something I think you will like very much."

    When we got home, Sammy and Jake went crazy jumping on Bill. They were so excited that he was home. We spent the day playing Frisbee with them and hiking with them. Then when night came we all settled into the big brass bed for movie time. Finally Bill had to kick the dogs out to their own beds to spend quality time with mommy. Bill was a wonderful lover and I could not wait to make him my husband.

    Sunday morning we made bacon and eggs together. Then we took the dogs for a run. Later Bill brought out the cake, complete with eighteen candles and said, "Make a wish."

So I closed my eyes and made a secret wish for our son to be born healthy. Then Bill pulled out a gift wrapped box from his luggage and handed it to me.
    "Happy Birthday, Mary."

    I unwrapped my gift in bright red shining paper with a bright red bow. Inside was a snow globe with a big white woof and a little white woof in some evergreen trees. When I shook it glittering snow swirled all around the globe. I could not believe this man. He is just so thoughtful, so loving. Tears filled my eyes as I looked up into Bills.

    "Thank you, Bill. This is such a thoughtful and loving gift. What did I ever do to deserve a man like you?"

    "No Mary, what did I do to deserve a girl like you." You deserve the best and I'm going to try and give that to you for the rest of my life."