Luna

• 25•

Not As Much As I Do 

It didn't take long for my mother to begin explaining. I sat unmoving as I kept my face completely blank. I was touched with sympathy for her story, but I couldn't let her back into my good graces just yet. 

"Paul told me what happened," I prompted, implicitly pressuring her into not lying to me. 

"Paul only knows the watered down version," My dad spoke, a hard edge to his tone. 

"My relationship with my father..." my mother sighed, "It was awful. It wasn't a stable house to live in as a child and my sisters and brother knew that." 

"So you ran away and left them?"  I accused, a streak of pain hitting me at the thought of Jacob's dad all alone. 

"The way our dad was with them was different than with me. I was the oldest and my mom died giving birth to my sisters, Jennie and Connie. I was expected to take care of everyone from a young age and it was a lot to handle. My dad drank a lot and was physically abusive...he would never hurt the little ones but I took on most of it just to spare them." 

Guilt rushed over me, how could I think that she was being selfish? "They knew about it?"

"Jennie, Connie and Emmie were too young to remember it, but Billy is only a few years younger than me...When I turned 17, I had planned on waiting it out until college, but somehow my dad found out that I was planning on going to school in Chicago with a friend from Seattle. It had gotten worse and I knew I had to leave then... so I slept on friends' couches until I graduated and I left the summer after."

"Wait, you didn't leave with dad?" I looked between the two of them. 

"No, it was with her first boyfriend." My dad explained. "I know you're hurt that we didn't tell you the truth but your mom was trying to mend her relationship with Billy first before introducing everyone."

"For months?" I whispered, my tone having a hardened edge. "I understand not telling us all of this when we first moved here but I've met Billy and Jacob and I didn't even know they were family. And then Cole..." My voice cracked and I pressed down my emotions before pushing on, "it could've been preventable...all the signs of him shifting were there." 

"I'm sorry!" My mom gripped my hand tightly, "If I thought there was an ounce of truths behind the legends I would've stopped this."

A scoff left my dad's mouth as both our gazes shifted to him. Once he noticed, his anger seemed to sizzle down, "I'm sorry, but this- this is ridiculous- impossible! My son...a werewolf. My daughter, dating one! Jesus."

My eyes widened at his last statement. They knew?

"Yeah we know about Paul and  the rest of them," My dad rubbed his eyes and groaned, "How could you not tell us?"

Another bubble of aggression bursted in me, "No. I'm not the one to be apologizing for this. The main focus is that my brother just mauled me and the fact that I have a secret family." 

The blood drained from my dad's face and I saw the evident regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry. You're right." 

Ignoring his apology, I turned back to my mom, "So you know everything then? About vampires too."

My mom nodded and her grip on my hand tightened as she gave me a small smile, "and how you're Paul's soulmate." 

I groaned and my head fell back onto the pillow. Of course the focus is always gonna shift back to Paul. Yet I couldn't help the small blush to rise as my mom's inquisitiveness at Paul's and my relationship.