Fears To Face

∞ Chapter 22 ∞

~ Kayley ~

I couldn't help it. Even before my father was gone my stomach was already twisting nervously. Rayne would be here in two hours. My mother was trying to get my dad out of the house and wished him a lot of fun for his afternoon, assuring him that he could take the time he needed. No need to rush.

From the second he was gone she had this self-confident smile on her face. The smile I normally loved, but now it turned me crazy. I was so scared that this was some kind of trap, that she had an underlying, negative, reason for asking Rayne here, although she was really calm and happy,  seeming just as nervous as I was, only with her it was in the positive sense of the word.

Mom was upstairs for the moment, cleaning up her clean laundry when I heard a car pull up in our driveway. I shot up and peering through the window in the kitchen, I saw Rayne's car door open. A rush of fierce happiness warmed me at the sight of his wonderful face. It had me running for the door, opening it and racing across the yard. I flew into his open arms, huge smile on his face, taking me in his embrace, snuggling my face in his shoulder, my nerves fading in his tight hold.

"Hey," he grinned. "I missed you. Are you nervous?" I nodded to his shoulder, unable to speak. "That's what I thought," he chuckled softly. I pulled back, looking in his eyes. He brushed the side of my face, tucking my hair behind my ear as a lopsided smile played on his lips. "Let's do this," he said as he took my hand and walked to the door with me. We looked at each other, took a deep breath, shifted our gaze back on the hall, squeezed our hands tight and stepped inside.

My mother walked down the stairs, the empty laundry basket under her left arm. Rayne and I let go of each other's hands at the moment we saw her legs grow longer as she came down. She smiled friendly when she saw him, offering her hand when she said, "Hi, I'm Mia, Kayley's mother. You must be..."

"Rayne," he said, shaking her hand with a polite smile.

She motioned to the living room. "Come, take a seat. Would you like to drink something?"

"A soda would be nice," he said as we passed the kitchen and sat down on our couch. Me at the far left end, Rayne at the right while my mother took the other couch after she put the glasses down on the table.

"So," she said, "I heard you don't live with your parents anymore. Why is that?"

Well that was straight to the point.

Rayne's hand twitched uncomfortably, but he tried to hide it. He didn't like to talk about his past. "Because I didn't want to put them through that awful evening again. I had already harmed them too much."

She nodded slowly. "Yet you did decide to get my daughter involved in your faith."

He swallowed and looked down when he said, "I didn't know a lot about the curse when I met her and when I saw that Kayley knew, I hoped she would know more. She was the first person I ran into who knew since I had left home. I never intended to pull your daughter in my curse."

"But you did," she said.

Now it was my time to speak up. "Mom. It was my decision to meet with him again. You can't put all the blame on him. I choose to find out more, too."

She shifted her gaze to me, making me feel self-conscious, interrupter of the conversation. I sat back in the couch, making myself small and shut my mouth. Her eyes back were on Rayne when she said, "What I don't understand is why you left your parents. One of them was werewolf too, so they could have helped you when you turned the first time, teach you everything you needed and wanted to know."

He shook his head. "My parents weren't werewolves."

"That's impossible," she said, but Rayne interrupted her.