Chapter 31: A Real Family

“You believe me? You believe us?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure at first, but… now I don’t have much choice.” Corrie took a deep breath. “Apparently he’s in contact with someone I know on campus. I talked to him—Charlie—and, well, he showed me. Is that how my dad convinced you he was telling you the truth?”

“Yes, exactly. He… transformed. He didn’t tell me until after I found out I was pregnant with you, though. That’s part of the reason we broke up.”

Corrie winced. “That would do it. I wouldn’t want to date anyone who was lying to me either.” She thought of Byron briefly, then pushed the thought away. They’d both been honest with each other, at least as far as she knew. “But you decided to keep me anyway?”

“I did want to have a child, even if I ended up not having anyone but my mother to help me raise it. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d turned out to be a werewolf after all. He said he would take you and raise you among werewolves if you were one. Maybe I would have gone with you. I did love him, at least for a little while.”

“Well,” Corrie said, smiling, “I’m glad you kept me.”

“So am I.” She could hear that her mom was smiling too.

“Did you think it was a good idea, when I was looking at colleges, for me to go to Chatoyant College? Since, you know, they have magic here?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to try to influence your decision on colleges, but I did like the idea that you would go here. That way if I had to tell you about your father you would be able to understand more easily. I guess it worked.”

“Yeah, I already knew about magic and… other things, so even though I didn’t believe him, I knew the possibility was there.”

“So he found you on campus and showed up in the middle of the night to talk to you?” Corrie’s mom sounded worried. “Even if he really is your father, that’s still a little creepy.”

“I think he didn’t know when else to show up. But yeah, I agree. I think I’m going to try to contact him again, though.”

“Really? How?”

“Through Charlie. I guess they’re in the same pack or something. I’ll try to talk to Charlie tonight, or maybe tomorrow… Tomorrow is the full moon, you know.”

“I know.”

“Apparently they don’t have to change at the full moon, but they usually do.”

“He did tell me about that. I think he was trying to make me feel safer.”

“Did it work?”

“Yeah. It just didn’t make me any happier.”

Corrie sighed. “Do you think if he hadn’t been lying to you that you would have stayed with him? Made a real family?”

“Oh, sweetheart. Don’t you think that you and your grandma and I were a real family?”

“No, we were,” Corrie said quickly. She didn’t want her mom to be upset. “I’ve always been happy to have you. I guess I meant a normal family. You know, like all the other kids at school had.”

Her mother paused, then finally said, “I just don’t know. Maybe. I might have been too freaked out by the idea that he was a werewolf. I mean, who would have believed that things like that really exist? If he hadn’t been a werewolf at all, I’m sure I would have stayed with him for longer, but you never know if these things will work out. Maybe we would have only stayed together for a little while. I can’t predict the future. And I guess it doesn’t really matter, either, since he was a werewolf and there’s no changing that.”

“Do you think…” Corrie hesitated, then plowed forward with her question. “Is that why you never remarried or had any long-term boyfriends? Because you were still wondering what would have happened with him?”

“No, I don’t think so. I was just busy, with a child and jobs, and even when I did date I just didn’t find the right man. Maybe now I’ll start dating more and find someone special after all. Actually, I’m already dating more.”

“Oh yeah?” Corrie grinned. “You told me about the disastrous one last week.”

Her mom laughed. “Yeah, well, it was still a date, wasn’t it? But I was asked out again today.”

“Ooh! Did you say yes?”

“Well… no. She was very sweet but I’m straight.” Corrie snorted with laughter, and her mom joined in. When the laughter had died down, though, her mom continued, “There is that cute guy who works at the coffee shop. Maybe I’ll ask him out. He’ll probably say no, considering he’s more than ten years younger than me, but I’ll never know if I don’t try, right?”

“Mom, that’s weird! He’s probably closer to my age than yours!”

The conversation drifted to more mundane topics. Corrie relaxed. She’d gotten the answers she wanted, and she had a new plan.