Page 116 of Homecoming

“Shh… Relax and come see. We’re only going as far as the porch. You’ll hear them.”

As they step outside into the breeze of the late evening air, Kat can see the wooden veranda at the front of the house is covered with woolen blankets and large pillows from the couch.

“See, I knew you’d be worried about leaving them in the house alone, so I did this.” He smiles as he sees her face light up. “Do you like it?”

“Oh, wow!” Kat gasps as she looks at the large nest of cushions and knitted covers circled just outside the front door.

Candles glow brightly in the darkness and the sweet smell of incense and herbs keeps the insects at bay. The evening sky glows with the white brightness of the moon and the dark beyond is filled with stars.

“This is amazing,” she continues to smile. “So pretty.”

“I brought beer, and I even found a lone bottle of mountain dew. I thought we might have a shot for old time’s sake. Just to remember the past.”

“I love it. This is so beautiful. Noah, it’s just what I needed.”

“Come, sit down.”

The evening breeze rustles the leaves and in the quiet, Kat sighs loudly as she sits nestled into the vast array of large cushions.

Noah hands her a beer. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” The bottles chime as they touch. “Mm…oh wow. It’s been a while since I had beer and it tastes very…beery,” she smiles.

“That’s better… you’re smiling… I like it. It’s a been a while since I’ve seen you look so happy.”

“I know that I’ve been distracted with all the training and other things, and I’m sorry. But that’s behind me now so I can get back to concentrating on you.”

“That’s it? You’re just going to give up? You’re not going to pursue other options in the military?”

“No. I mean, I know Edwards will probably offer me another team—one that doesn’t have Darius’ standards or even a job as a medic on the base—but it wasn’t just about a placement. I don’t want to be on justanyteam. I want to be on WOLF and now I can’t. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll lick my wounds and then find something else to do. Riley was right, maybe I should retrain as a gynecologist for the commune. At least that would be of some use.”

“That’s really what you want?”

“I can’t have what I want. Maybe if I’d had another few weeks, I would have kicked that bears ass for sure, but I didn’t have those weeks.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you would have done.” Noah leans toward her, his hand stroking gently along her arm.

“So, how was Riley when you spoke to him?”

“As you can imagine, he was pretty cut up and I could hear his mom sobbing in the background. He said she was devastated,” Noah sighs.

“Poor Alana. To lose the man she cares for so suddenly like that. They were so in love—they’d been together since medical school. It’s so heartbreaking and sad. Riley and Quinn must be hurting so much, and I wish there was something more I could do for them other than just send flowers.”

“Yeah, losing his father will feel like he lost a part of himself. But I’m sure they’ll be fine—they have each other, as a family and he has all of us too.”

“I was too young to remember my parents. I mean, my whole life felt like I had a big hole in it because they weren’t there, but I don’t remember them dying, so I didn’t have to experience that specific pain. But you must know how he feels. You lost both your parents.”

“Yeah, it’s tough and for a while, you can’t really understand it. Those people who have been there your entire life are suddenly not. It's like… well, it doesn’t feel real for a while. It feels like they went away and you’re waiting for them to come home. But then one day you realize they’re never coming back, and that void seems very dark.”

“But what if you found out your father wasn’t your father? Would that make you feel different? If you hadn’t lost yourrealfather?”

“I don’t understand. Do you mean if someone else was my biological father that I didn’t know about? Then no. No, that wouldn’t have made any difference. My mom wasn’t my biological mom, but I mourned the loss more than I ever did my biological wolf mother. Oh don’t get me wrong, anyone passing is sad, but she didn’t raise me. She wasn’t there for me at night time, bath time, bedtime stories, my first hunting trip, or the first time I chopped down a tree all by myself. In truth, it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d never known my biological mother, because I loved the mother I had.”

Kat smiles, stroking his cheek. “Are you saying you wish you didn’t know that your mother wasn’t your true mother—that your true mother was actually a wolf?”

“Maybe. It didn’t make a difference, just confused things more. Gave me complications I didn’t need. Especially as I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know her.”

“So you’re saying if someone’s father isn’t their biological father—but they don’t know—it would be better if they never knew?”

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