Letting Go [complete - expanding chapters during rewrite]

Chapter Eleven

    "I'll tell him tonight after dinner," the doctor says.  "That way he has all night to think about what to do before he tells everyone.  We'd better get back out there before we're missed."
    Would they miss me?
    She opens the door, and leaves.  I'm surprised to hear Mason ask her where I am.
    "I'm right here.  Dr. Graham was just tending to the cut on my cheek," I say not wanting to be the one to tell him about Jessa.
    "Look at your face.  That's definitely going to bruise.  I'm sorry I told you to go talk to her.  I didn't know she'd attack you," he says holding my chin to the side so he can look at my cheek.
    "Does it look terrible?"
    "It's alright, honey."  Honey?  "Are you ready to get out of here?"
    "Sure."  I stoop a bit to tuck my hand behind his back, and then he stands up.  We leave together.  He hasn't worked out yet today because of the doctor's appointment and then all the fuss so we eat a late lunch and then head to the gym.
As he gets his sweat on I ask him, "Are you okay?  It's kind of been a big day."
"I thought I killed her.  I thought she was dead because I wasn't strong enough."
"Can you tell me about that day?"
"We were in human form.  I smelled them first, but before I could do anything they grabbed me and threw me against a tree."
"How many were there?"
"Five.  I couldn't see her from where I was laying, but she screamed and I heard them laughing.  When I finally had the energy I dragged myself over to where I heard them last.  All I found was a bunch of bloody leaves.  I failed her."
If the doctor was right, she'd orchestrated the whole thing.  How could she do that to someone she'd professed to love?  I couldn't wait for the doctor to tell him.  I had to let him know our theory.
"Mason, there's something you should know."  I tell him about my conversation with the doctor.  He grew increasingly agitated.
"So there's a chance I have children out there that she's hiding from me?"
"Yeah, but I think if they were yours, or could pass as yours she would have brought them with her."
"Maybe the kidnappers killed them after their birth."
"That's possible too, but their birth proves she lied about the torture.  And she still has her engagement ring.  Why wouldn't they have taken it.  It's worth a lot of money.  Why kidnap her and keep her, and not use her to get something out of you.  Why stage her death?"
He rubs his face with his hands.  "Her injuries, those bruises, they're all superficial," he says.  "I can't believe she would do this to me."
"Do you know who else the father might be?"
"She was rebellious, especially against her family's belief in purity.  I was a freshman at WAU at Tacoma when I met her.  She was part of an organization called Mates First.  They protested animal purity, tame stuff like handing out fliers, and putting up graffiti.  I think she had a boyfriend at the time in the organization that her parents definitely didn't approve of.  When we realized we were mates her parents saw me as the lesser of two evils because I'm from an alpha line."
The problem with animal purity is that a mate can be from any animal.  A lot of people have to have ignored their mate to keep the family line pure.  That kind of thing can invite madness and emotional problems into the family.  People who believed in animal purity believed that their animal would be stronger for having purer blood.
"So, you think maybe she never got rid of the boyfriend, just hid their relationship?" I ask.
"That seems to be the most likely scenario.  She didn't seem too broken up about it at the time.  I thought maybe she was just dating him to go against her parents."