Page 266 of His Sunshine Baby

He’s watching me walk in circles inside his apartment while he’s carrying Estelle, who fell asleep in his arms. I just can’t calm down since I left the gathering. Firstly, I’m still mad at Clark and the Lewis siblings for tricking me into this. Secondly, I’m still completely amazed that they even dared to come up with such an idea. I thought I was the crazy one for suggesting a fusion between the clans! Lastly, I’m supposed to be a pariah in that pack, and now I’m some sort of last-minute savior?

“It’s a good idea, I think.”

I immediately turn to him with a glare.

“Not you too!”

“Well, it does make sense,” he continues. “Elena, you’re not someone who can stand on the sidelines.”

“Yes, but I was expecting to fight like any other wolf, not be some damn beacon for my former pack!”

He chuckles, walking to the sofa to sit down.

“As if you’d listen to anyone’s orders, my sunshine. Your Alpha– I mean, Clark is right. You can certainly do this, and you should.”

I shake my head. No, no. Not when I had just found who I am, who I want to be. This is madness. The whole point of putting the events with Diego into the light was to have the pack see the Blood Moon differently, not have Clark step down from his position and push it over to me!

I go to sit next to Nate on the sofa, suddenly tired from that whole mess. He puts a hand on my knee, gently caressing me.

“Don’t think too much for now. You don’t have to answer them now, Elena. You just confronted your former pack, that’s enough for today. We need to talk to Damian and Nora about your idea too.”

I nod, feeling a bit comforted by his words. He’s right. I should take some time to consider it, see if I think I can shoulder this. I have no doubt Nora will agree to it though. She’s always been keen on making any differences between the packs disappear, and she respects my opinion. I am not worried about my cousin-in-law either; almost everything Nora says he’ll agree with anyway. And Nate agreed it’s a good idea too.

“… We should make plans,” he suddenly says.

I look at him, a bit surprised. What is he talking about? Nathaniel smiles and kisses Estelle’s temple, laying her on the couch next to him before turning to me and taking my hand.

“You, Estelle, and me. I want us to have plans for when this whole mess is over.”

“Nate, I’m not sure this is…”

“I don’t want to live as if we are going to die, Elena. I want to have something to look forward to.”

“I am not marrying you,” I assert with a growl.

He laughs it off, but I know he’s still holding on to that stupid idea. Well, he can forget about it. I don’t want to get married, and certainly not to him. That jerk is not reliable at all. Moreover, he already got more than he was supposed to from me. I am not indulging him again. Well not for a few more years.As Danny said, he should suffer a bit for all the shit I went through.

“I’m talking about something else, Elena,” he explains. “Like a trip, for example.”

“A trip?”

That’s probably the last thing I would have thought about at such a time, but Nate seems serious about it.

“We could go on a holiday, once this is all over. The three of us, somewhere far from Silver City. I want to see where Estelle was born and grew up in too.”

It does sound good. Something we could look forward to. I want to imagine us, after all this madness, having fun together, somewhere safe and warm, and visiting our old house again… if there’s anything left of it. That damn witch probably found it.

“To be honest, I miss the house a bit,” I admit.

“How was it?”

I can’t help but chuckle.

“When Sylviana took me there, it was just an old, abandoned house. But I liked it. It was made entirely of wood. It took us a while to clean it. Sylviana used her powers to sweep away all the dead leaves, replace the rotten wood, and repel the plants that had started growing in or on it. I’m glad witches are so good at cleaning, but still, just the dust and dirt took ages to get rid of, since it was so fucking big. But it was worth it. It was the kind of old family house that has its own charms you uncover little by little, with large windows, a terrace, a big kitchen, a big bathroom. Ah, I really miss that place.”

I can’t help but smile, just thinking about it. Those four years there were really peaceful, just me and my daughter. Every day going by slowly, taking care of the house, hunting our food, and even growing vegetables in the little garden Sylviana made for us. There was a human village a few miles away, but we only made the trip once in a while. Whether they knew or theirinstincts sensed that we were werewolves, we were not welcome there. I just bought the groceries and left as soon as I was done.

Estelle played with me, or the pets she befriended, like the little rabbits she found and adopted, her bunnies. Maybe she can get to school in September. It would be good if she made some friends.

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