Chapter Twenty-Three: Mother's Advice
Previously in Echoes in the Wind...
"I also think you should kiss her," Faith announced, looking directly at Tara.
"Um...w-w-what?"
"I think you should kiss Red. It would help you decide how you feel about her, and possibly make Red willing to continue to fight for you."
Tara was confused. After her conversation with Faith, all she could think about was the advice that Faith had given her. She didn't know if she wanted to use her body to catch Willow's attention like Faith had advised. She also wasn't sure that she was ready to kiss the dark witch. Not when everything between her and Willow was so difficult. The only other thing that Faith had told her to do was not to hide, and that was something that would take a while for Tara to be able to do.
She's never been comfortable with expressing her emotions to people. When she tries to tell someone her feelings about something, her cursed stutter kicks in and just results in making people laugh at her.
Finally realizing she wasn't going to make it very far trying to figure this out on her own, Tara decided it would help to bring this up to her mother. Laura Maclay was the only person who knew Tara better than herself, and Tara needed her mother's advice on the current problem.
"Hey, Mom," Tara whispered as she walked into her mother's room.
"Hi, Baby Girl. I'm glad your here. Willow just left a few minutes ago, and I was starting to get lonely," Laura announced, giving her daughter a soft smile as Tara walked further into the room.
"I guess I showed up right on time then," Tara joked as she sat down beside her mother. They sat in silence for a few moments. Tara wasn't sure what to say to her mother, and Laura knew something was bothering her daughter and knew Tara well enough to know her daughter would bring it up when she was ready.
Heaving a sigh of frustration, Tara lifted her eyes to look into her mother's blue ones. "Can I ask your advice about something?" Tara wondered, searching her mother's eyes for help.
"Baby girl, you know that you can always come to me for advice. You never have to ask," Laura told her, taking her daughter's hand in hers. "What's bothering you?"
"Willow...I mean...this whole reincarnation thing to be exact," Tara admitted, dropping her mother's eyes to look down at her hands. "I don't know how to accept it. I mean, do I have to accept it? Do I have to just fall in love with Willow because the other Tara did? Am I suppose to live my life exactly like she did?"
"Sweetie, all you have to do is live. You don't have your life written out for you. Just because the other Tara fell in love with Willow doesn't mean you have to as well. You're your own person. You're not her."
"I feel like everyone expects me to fall in love with her though. Like everyone wants me to end her curse. I can't do that, Mom. I can't love someone that's killed before. It's not in my nature. It's not something I can just accept," Tara admitted, staring at her mother in confusion.
"But?" Laura pressed, knowing her daughter was holding something back.
"A part of me already does," Tara whispered, tears filling her eyes as she looked at her mother. "I feel it every time she looks at me and it terrifies me. It feels like it's always been there, but I know that's not possible."
"Tara, your soul is the soul of Willow's old lover. Maybe that's why you feel like that. Maybe you're feeling what she was feeling," Laura explained, hoping to ease her daughter's fears and confusions.
"Then why does it feel so new?"
Laura sighed sadly and held out her arms to her daughter, waiting silently as her daughter climbed onto the bed and laid in her mother's arms. "She's not a bad person, Tara. She has a darkness in her, but she's never been a bad person. Yes, she's killed someone, but everyone makes mistakes. Her mistake was that she loved someone so much that she lost herself when her love died. Don't punish her when she's already been punishing herself for almost a century. If you feel something for her at all Tara, I think you should give it a chance. Maybe it'll be just what you were searching for," Laura whispered to Tara, knowing that Tara needed to hear the words.
"What about the curse?"
"What about it?"
"How do I ignore that she has that much darkness in her? It's right there showing itself on the surface, Mom. How can I let myself be with her if all I see when I look at her is the darkness inside?" Tara wondered.
"Just remember the person you see isn't who she is. It's who she once was. That person is long gone now, Tara," Laura said, hugging her daughter.
"We've seen her surface, Mom. More than once," Tara pointed out, frowning at her mother.
"Darkness always blocks out the light, Tara, but the light will always find its way back out. Why do you think the sun rises brighter in the morning after a new moon?" Laura asked, waiting for understanding to dawn on her daughter's face.
"To remind us that darkness can't hide the light," Tara realized, smiling brightly at her mother. "Thank you, Mom."
"You're very welcome, Baby Girl," Laura said, giving her daughter a soft smile.
"There's one more thing," Tara told her, giving her mother a nervous smile.
"What is it?" Laura wondered, curious about what was making her daughter nervous.
"Faith gave me advice about Willow. She wanted to try to convince me to win Willow over," Tara admitted, looking down at her hands.
"Oh no. What did she tell you?" Laura asked, knowing how Faith was from the few times she had met the brunette.
"Um, to s-show off m-my assets and to tell Willow how I feel. She also said I should kiss her," Tara whispered, glancing at her mother.
"Kiss who? Faith?"
"Um...no. Willow," Tara explained, waiting for her mother to process everything.
"She wants you to kiss Willow. Wait...did you say she told you to show your assets off? What assets?" Laura asked, her eyes narrowing as she stared at her daughter.
"My...um...my c-chest."
A/N: Thank you Gimpy72 for all the help with this and all my other stories.