Book Two: Kim and the Wolf that Loved Her

Book Two Chapter 8: Jared's Hug

July 15th 2008, 9:47pm: The Bathroom

It was stifling hot in the room, my rounded pregnant belly pressing down on my bladder and forcing me to hobble to the washroom. I was 8 months pregnant with our second child, Taylor. Taylor Cameron was the current agreed upon name. Exactly like the last months of my pregnancy with Ethan, the naming process was a bitch. We moaned and groaned, having to adopt a veto process for names that should never have been put on the table like Dakota and London.

It was made especially difficult to decide after the last ultrasounds where the sex should be determined, but our mysterious Taylor decided to turn the wrong way; making it impossible to know.

We juggled trying to make two different lists of boys and girls names, but we fought about it constantly, never being able to come to an agreement until a country diddy called "Our Song" by a girl named Taylor came on the radio of our newly purchased minivan.

Yup that's right, a unisex name saved our marriage. Jared and I also chose one girl name (Amber), hoping with all hope it would be girl. This would be our last child, Jared and I were already at the breaking point when it came to money but we thought it bad luck to openly express our preference.

After Ethan's birth I enrolled at Peninsula College, with the track of social work. I soared through one successful year but now that I was so far in the pregnancy I had to put it on the back burner again. I didn't mind really, I loved this baby, as much as I had loved my Ethan, but putting off school was just another way of putting off work, which was putting off money, which we needed now.

I was working as a receptionist at the community center now, a job Sue secured for me after Ethan was born. It was easier than the Fish Hut and paid a bit more, but not a lot more, and now with the small house Jared's father bought us, things were even more expensive. We didn't have to pay rent but we had to pay bills: water, gas, lights, insurance, electricity—they were the bane of our happy little existence.

I loved our home though, the best present I'd ever received. I had lived here before, my childhood home, little cottage like home that we lived in before my father was taken to prison and our lives quickly devolved. It went back up for sale right after Paul and Rachel's first child, Trisha, was born and Jared's dad saw it as an opportunity to spoil his grandkids.

Paul's daughter, Trisha Sarah Lahote, was just a few months old now, entirely adorable and loved by all, especially Ethan who could stare at her for hours without getting bored.

As soon as I reached the bathroom and sat with considerable effort my cell phone rang from my room and Ethan joined it in a shrill cry from his crib.

Jared was on early patrol, he was meant to be home soon but there had been a lot of vampire activity recently. The word was spread among vamps everywhere that there was an area in America they could settle down in relatively unnoticed.

I hobbled to Ethan crib and rocked him gently taking measured steps down to my room but the phone stopped ringing by the time I reached it.

Ethan was giggling now, holding his little head up to look over my shoulder. Being pregnant while having a baby goes in the list of bad ideas, but it wasn't planned. Jared's freaky mutant werewolf sperm got the better of me, twice.

The front door opened and I took careful steps down the stairs. Ethan squealed as Krys, older and wider, but still compact came into view. He wasn't short, not really, by normal human standards he was average about 5'10, but next to the rest of the wolves he was dwarfed, my Jared standing at just about 6'3.

"Sorry I wasn't here earlier, Kim," he smiled taking Ethan from my arms. Ethan now 13 months was cooing and gurgling in my arms, reaching wildly for Krys who he called 'Ish'.

"Where were you?" I asked smiling. He wasn't my child but I worried about him constantly. He was 15 now and spent most of his time with Anna, Michael and the other young wolves.

After Crystal's death Michael and Jordan stayed in their family house, Sue making sure they had everything they needed but they were surprisingly self-sufficient. Anna moved in with them not long ago, it caused a stir with her family but she was in a rebellious stage and no one could stop her. She was young, immortal and she was in love.

"I was at Michael's house," he said rubbing Ethan's nose with his index finger. He didn't really live with us anymore, officially he did, his things were still here but most nights, after patrol, if he knew Jared was at home with me, he'd head over to Jordan and Michael's. He came home as if it were his duty and stayed with me if Jared were on patrol and he was a great help. "I um, I'm going to be moving my things there soon."

"Yeah?" I asked trying to sound nonchalant as he watched for my reaction. He knew I saw him as my child and that his leaving would be upsetting but we both also knew I had to let him go.

"Yeah, but I'll be here all the time to help you with Taylor though," he said rubbing the apex of my stomach.

"That's sweet, Krys, but we'll be fine. I just worry about you. I don't know how you guys are going to keep that house, it's expensive owning a house and they don't have much money coming in from the estate. Me and Jared both work and bills are a struggle," I said covering his hand on my belly with my own.

"Our eBay business is going well. Phil's dad has all these connections and we're selling tools left and right. And I've saved some, for you, Jared and Ethan… and Taylor," he added sweetly. It made my eyes water but I choked it back with a deep breath.

"How about you use that for your room. You are getting a room right, you're not going to crash on the couch are you?" He laughed as he stood Ethan on his lap, the baby leaning forward till his lips were settled on Krys' cheek.

"I'm taking their grandma's room…they haven't been able to use it since she died," he said returning Ethan's kiss on the cheek ten-fold. Ethan laughed, a child like giggle that made everything better.

July 15th 2008, 9:29pm: Special Op's Rescue Mission

The phone rang again, as Krys and I discussed all the things he would need for his new room. I hadn't been to the Varn house for a long time, it reminded me too much of Crystal. After a year of teenage werewolf occupants, I was scared to see the state of it. The ringing phone was annoying, loud and insistent but this time Ethan in his big brother's arms I was able to answer.

"You ha-have to come pick me up," Matty's sobbing voice broke through a static-filled connection and I winced at the volume and his pain. He was tough, my Matty was as tough as I was, so his tears meant something big.

"What's wrong?" I asked shooting out of the couch and towards the front door where the keys to Jared's car and my house slippers were ready for me.

"You said if I ever really wanted to come-come back, I c-could! I w-want to come back. Now! She-she found my-my journal and she sa-said I had to-to go to church for s-some kind of gay therapy and—" He couldn't finish but I had heard enough.

As his sister and surrogate mother, I loved Matty in ways not many could understand. I appreciated everything Jenny did for him, and I would appreciate that forever, but if this was the stance she would be taking on his sexual preference, it was time to bring him home. Growing up in the rez, Matty was actually the first experience I had dealing with gays and that kind of thing, but I never saw why it was such a big deal.

"Where are you? Go back to Jenny's house and pack up your stuff, baby. I will be there as fast as I can." I hung up when he promised to be ready within the hour.

"What's up?" Krys asked keeping his voice leveled so Ethan wouldn't pick up on the concern, Ethan was very sensitive to the way things were said. All disagreements between Jared and I had to be done through gritted artificial smiles with level voices—not that we fought often, Jared continued even after marriage and a kid to be the absolute best man I knew.

"I need to get Matty, he's coming home." He laughed, pointing to my belly as if I were joking.

"You can't drive like that Kim, you can't reach the pedals. Jordan can drive you," he said grabbing my phone and dialing quickly. Krys was too young to officially drive, though I knew Solace had already taught him how, as he did with many of the young wolves but I wasn't going to trust him behind the wheel for a long drive.

I waited as patiently as I could for my special op's werewolf team but the thought of my little brother crying somewhere made my chest contract and I ended up pacing back and forth, holding my belly for dear life; it was so extended and heavy, it almost felt like it could snap off of my body.

When Jordan finally arrived, I had had enough time to change into some real clothes and shoes. He came toting Solace, Phil, Michael and Anna which I should have expected. The six of them traveled together, almost like their own separate pack with Jordan and Solace the oldest, as the Alphas.

We took Jared's truck and I left Ethan with Anna, Michael, Phil and Krys, I figured the four of them as a group were more than capable of watching Ethan till Jared got home. I brought the two oldest, Solace and Jordan, with me for carrying and backup just in case. I was at the penguin stage of my pregnancy, too large to carry much besides Ethan and at times that was a stretch and I didn't know how Jenny and her husband Joe were going to react. Jared called while we were on the road, he was worried but was completely on board with Matty coming to live with us.

Sometimes, being the terrible wife that I am, I forget that I can't just make all of the decisions, but Jared supported me fearlessly and we didn't need to turn back. Solace took to the wheel, speeding as we went until I let loose a torrent of swear words on him. I was like most mothers in their final months of pregnancy—terrified—of car accidents, medicine, stress, basically anything that would prevent my Taylor making it into the world, happy and healthy. He apologized and slowed a bit, but he had to keep up some of the speed if we wanted to get there before midnight.

Solace had changed, or maybe not changed, so much as blossomed in the last year. I hadn't thought it possible but he had grown more handsome, his soft features hardening a bit with age, his once long lean frame gaining muscle in all the right places. He rebounded casually from Anna to a not so secret romance with Leah, followed by a much debated affair with Paul's stepmother Holly, an early thirties trophy wife Paul's dad picked up after his divorce. After that, as if he became addicted to women, the brooding wolf became quite a ladies man. He was Embry's partner in sexual exploits that ranged from the strange to the enviable. They worked as a team scrounging the tri-county area collecting women by the bundles, but while Embry went from girlfriend to girlfriend, Solace couldn't seem to keep them longer than a few weeks.

"Is he moving back for good?" Jordan asked as we pulled into the driveway, he had been quiet the entire drive.

"Yeah," I sighed, he huffed in answer.

I didn't really know what that meant. Jordan was a bit of a Rubik cube for me. Since Crystal's death they seemed to have forgotten about the awkward admission of love Matty had given two Christmases before, they talked and emailed each other and at every visit they were inseparable but I wasn't sure how the move back would affect either of them. Matty still loved him, I wasn't sure he was in love with him before but as he got older, it became painfully evident that his feelings for Jordan were real. So how would living this close to Jordan change things?

"What are you going here, Kim?" Jenny asked when she opened the door; there was an edge in her voice, a tinge of attitude as she held her fussing daughter. I know everyone must think this about their kids but my Ethan was just so much cuter than the average baby. Her Krista was cute and all but she was no Ethan, who looked almost exactly like his daddy—meaning he was gorgeous.

"I'm here to get my brother, Jenny," I said simply, walking past her and into the house as Jordan followed. Solace stayed in the doorway, looking around awkwardly as Jenny called for her husband.

"You can't just come in our house and act like you have some authority," Jenny said, howling when Jordan made a sound like a 'pftt' and sprinted up the stairs leaving me with an ominous looking Solace.

Objectively I could see why she brought her husband out, why she would be worried—I came with an attitude, bearing two massive men, both big and brooding. I understood but I didn't care, I would fight to have my brother back where he belonged especially if she were trying to stifle him in any way and I would win. I was much tougher than she could even imagine and, more than anything, it was about tolerance and acceptance. Over time I had no doubt Jenny and her husband, a bit small minded, could learn to tolerate Matty, but tolerance was not what he deserved, my little brother deserved much more. He deserved complete acceptance, love and support. I didn't care if he wanted to be covered in leather, or dress like Cher while swinging from the rafters, he was my brother and I would respect that.

"He's my brother and that's supreme authority," I said, motioning Solace to help Jordan and Matty upstairs as her husband came to the room. I didn't really want a confrontation, and I knew if he provoked him, Solace wouldn't mind taking a swing at Joe.

"He needs therapy," Joe said coming into the living room with a puffed out chest, which would have in no way helped him if the guys did come for a fight; Joe's beer gut stood out farther than his pecks.

He was right, not about the therapy thing, being gay was the least of Matty's worries and the last thing about him I'd want to change, but he probably did need something or someone to talk to.

"I'll make sure he gets therapy, just not the conversion type thanks," I said as they started the truck loading process.

July 16th 2008, 11:15pm: Bye Baby Bird

We left without much more incident, Jordan and Solace serving as buffers, making Jenny and her husband too afraid to try to get any closer to Matty who was still very upset. He stomped a bit, huffing and crying as he got all of his things out of the house he'd spent three years in.

I understood his anger, but I also hoped in the future he might find it in himself to try to understand them, because if he pushed away everyone who didn't accept him as much as I did, he would have a very small circle to run with. They were wrong, but they loved him and in our lives, we had so very few people who did. I had the pack, and the wolf- girls and my small family—together they formed the best support system I ever had, but Matty had less. I hoped being in La Push, knowing the secret of the pack, and being close in age to the younger wolves, that he'd get closer to them. I prayed that they would love him as much as I did and he could experience the warmth of the family I adored, but I also didn't want him to forget what he had before.

Krys' room was cleaned out by the time we got back, it was cleared and ready for Matty. The rest of the pack helped him make way for Matty. He welcomed Matty at the door, and gave Ethan little kisses on his cheek as he slept before he left. It made me sad, I knew Matty needed the room and that Krys had a place to stay where he would be happy and that I would see him all the time, but it still made me sad—I was a mommy having her first baby bird fly the coop.

"I love you," I whispered, kissing his cheek as he bowed out.

"Me too," he said kissing both my cheeks and forehead, before slapping Jared's arm.

"Thanks," he nodded and Jared, being the big sensitive daddy that he was quickly becoming, pulled him in a hug. Not the traditional wolf pack slap-the-back hug but a big fatherly hug, that made me sob a bit.

It was the end of our tiny family, but the beginning of a new era, an era where baby Taylor would soon be welcomed.