by C.M. Owens
“I don’t know what you mean.” Angelica stalled. It seemed like her father already knew her secret and was trying to get her to tell him about it. Wondering how he could possibly know, she then remembered Jerome’s admission the day before about being able to read people’s emotions.
“Angelica, I am not your mother. You can tell me what’s going on with you.” Marcus said. Angelica got the impression that her not confiding in him was hurting his feelings, which was something she never wanted to do.
“What did Jerome tell you?” Angelica asked, sitting back down in her desk chair and looking up at her father.
“Not much. He just told me there’s something going on with you and that I should talk to you about it. Jerome takes his gift very seriously, and since he reads people’s emotions without their permission, he won’t betray what he learns out of respect for their privacy. He can’t control his gift, even after years of trying to do so. You don’t have to worry that he told me something you didn’t want me to know.” Marcus told her with a grim resignation that she would not confide in him now.
“Dad, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you…” Angelica started but let her voice trail off when she saw the sadness in his eyes.
“Let’s go to dinner. We don’t have to talk about this now.” Marcus said and helped her stand again, before tucking her hand securely in the crook of his elbow and leading her toward the door to her room. Before they could reach it, Angelica stopped and pulled her father to a stop. Looking up at him she decided to at least confide part of her secret to him.
“I found my mate yesterday, it’s just not who I ever imagined it would be and if mother finds out who he is, she’ll kill me.” Angelica said with true fear in her voice.
“She won’t kill you my dear. I promise you that.” Marcus said, happiness and concern mixed into his voice.
“You’re wrong Dad. She’ll never forgive me for this one.” Angelica said with a sadness in her voice that made her father frown.
“Will you tell me who it is?” Marcus asked her with caution.
Angelica shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet anyway. We’re still getting to know each other and figuring things out.”
“Ok, I trust you. I know you will tell me when you are ready. Just know that no matter who he is or where he comes from, you are my little girl and I love you with all of my heart. We don’t choose who our mate is but there is a reason for that person being chosen for us. The mating bond is sacred and important. No matter who he is, do not deny him as your mate. He will make you stronger in ways you don’t understand yet and you will do the same for him.” Marcus told her with a reassuring smile on his face. She smiled brilliantly up at him for his words of love and advice, before they proceeded through the door and down to their usual dinner routine with Camilla.
*****
Thomas had a hard time containing his pure joy over having Angelica as his mate. He wanted nothing more than to shout it to the world with all the love in his soul he felt for her, but knew that would be a huge mistake. There were too many opposing forces that were out to keep them apart.
For now, he’d have to be content with their shared lunches at school and walking her to her classes. The entire time they were apart was pure agony for him.
He met her at the bus each morning and spent their time together chatting with her friends and Alex, who’d decided to join their newly merged group, before walking her to her homeroom. After each period, he hurried to her classroom so he could walk her to her next class, before heading off to his own. Lunchtime they spent together, alone at the quiet table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Some days they went for walks on the school grounds for something different.
Weeks went by with this new routine for them. They became more and more comfortable with each other and found themselves smiling at just the thought of seeing each other. They’d graduated to holding hands as they walked and Thomas insisted on carrying Angelica’s backpack for her too, which she’d roll her eyes at first before giving up and handing over the bag.
When the holiday break rolled around, both Thomas and Angelica were afraid of being apart for the three weeks that break lasted. They were delighted when Tracy, Amy and Alex put their heads together and came up with a plan for them to spend time together each day. The three of them would provide alibis and cover so their parents wouldn’t know what they were up to.
The break passed by in the blink of an eye thanks to their friends’ help. Those weeks turned into months and before they knew it, prom was coming.
Chapter Seven
Prom was just a few weeks away and Thomas had already asked Angelica to be his date. Both Tracy and Amy were gathered in Amy’s bedroom with Angelica while she freaked out about how they were going to pull this off.
“My parents don’t know about Thomas, and they’d kill me if they knew. I doubt he’s told his parents either, because he’s still alive. How are we going to do this?” Angelica asked both of her friends in a frantic voice.
“Angie, chill out.” Tracy said in a calm voice. “I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Angelica whirled around on her friend and asked.
“What if you tell your parents that the three of us are going as a group? You could meet Thomas at the prom.” She suggested and Angelica tipped her head to think about it.
“Yeah, that would work. Tracy and I could pick you up in Trace’s car a few hours before prom and we could get ready here at my house. It would be perfect.” Amy chimed in, clear enthusiasm for the plan.
“I hate lying to my dad though.” Angelica said, worry in her voice.
“I know Angie but what are you gonna do? It’s not like you’re going to go to prom with some other guy and ditch him there. At least with us, you don’t have to worry. We think you and Thomas are great together.” Tracy said with a sigh. Angelica knew her friends were jealous of her relationship with Thomas, but happy for the couple at the same time.
“Yeah, he’s such a great guy. He’d do anything you asked him to do. He’d even try to capture the moon and stars if that’s what you wanted him to do. I wish a guy would look at me the way he looks at you.” Amy said, becoming all dreamy eyed when she talked about how attentive Thomas was toward Angelica.
“Go get your own guys you two, Thomas is mine.” Angelica said with a laugh, as she picked up two pillows from Amy’s bed and swatted her friends with them.
Tracy laughed as she grabbed the pillow and tried to yank it free of Angelica’s hold. As they played tug-of-war with the pillow, Amy grabbed another one and snuck up behind Angelica. She swung the pillow and got her good, which made her release her hold on the pillow she was fighting Tracy for and spin around to swing the other pillow at her friend. In a matter of seconds, they had a full-on pillow fight going with screeches and laughter filling the room, while they beat the crap out of each other with their pillows.
The fight lasted for a few minutes until all three girls fell onto Amy’s bed in a fit of giggles.
“That was fun.” Tracy said, trying to catch her breath.
“Thanks you two. You guys are the best.” Angelica said with a huge smile.
“Well, we aim to please.” Amy said with another loud laugh, which sent all three of them into another fit of giggles.
It took a while, but eventually they calmed down and stopped laughing. They laid there on Amy’s bed for a while, not saying a word.
Tracy finally broke the comfortable silence between them to ask, “So I’m going to assume we have a plan to get you to the prom then?”
Angelica didn’t answer at first and thought through Tracy’s suggestion and how it would work. The hardest part would be to lie to her father. She knew Jerome would see right through it and she didn’t trust him not to clue her father in on what they were up to.
“I’ll let you know. I need to think about it some more before I decide.” Angelica replied. She was doing her very best to find her way around Jerome and make this work, but since
the man lived in their household with them, unless he took a weekend off and left for a few days, she couldn’t see how it would work.
“Well, think fast. We’ve got plans to make.” Amy said as she bounced up from the bed and went over to her desk and picked up a fashion catalog with formal dresses all through it.
Tracy rolled her eyes at their friend and Angelica laughed again. Her two best friends were amazing and she felt lucky to have them in her life.
A few minutes later, she glanced at her watch and jumped up from Amy’s bed. “I’ve gotta go!”
“I’ll call you later.” Amy called out as Angelica flew out of her room. Camilla was strict when it came to curfews and if she wanted to keep what little social life that she had, she had to follow them perfectly.
“Okay.” Angelica called out over her shoulder as she reached the top of the stairs and hurried down them. She rushed out of the house and ran as fast as she could all of the way home, which was a couple of miles away. Out of breath, sweating and her stomach cramping, she climbed the stairs to the mansion’s front porch, hanging from the railing.
She dragged herself through the front door right as her curfew time hit and Camilla walked into the entry hall.
“Cutting it a bit close aren’t you?” Camilla said with a smirk.
“I’m sorry, we were doing homework and I lost track of time.” Angelica said, still out of breath from running so far at such a fast pace, when she wasn’t used to it.
“You’re lucky you made it on time. Now get ready for dinner. Anna and Patrick will be joining us.” Camilla snapped, then turned and left the room without another word.
Angelica stumbled over to the stairs and sank down to sit on the bottom step and rest for a moment before heading up to get herself ready for dinner. She was exhausted, but excited to see her sister again. It had been months since her and Patrick had joined them for dinner and their mother never let her go visit Anna in her new home, although she didn’t know why.
She sat there for a few minutes before pushing herself to her feet and climbing the stairs slowly. Her muscles were already starting to ache from the exertion of running to make it home on time.
Entering her room, she closed and locked the door behind her. She crossed the room, picked out clothes to wear for dinner and headed for the shower. As sweaty as she was from her run, her mother would die if she even thought of coming to the table in that condition.
Quickly she showered and dressed. She brushed out her hair and applied a light coating of makeup. She was just finishing when there was a light knock on her bedroom door. She put her lip gloss back into her makeup bag and walked over to unlock and open the door to find her father standing on the other side, instead of the maid.
“You look beautiful Sweet Pea.” Marcus said with a proud smile.
“Thanks Dad.” She said with a wide smile.
“Would you like to walk down to dinner with me?” He asked and extended his arm out for Angelica.
“I’d love to.” She said, placing her hand in the crook of his elbow and moving through the door, pulling it shut behind her.
Together, they headed down to the dining room, where Camilla was already seated with her sister and her sister’s mate, Patrick. From the tone of the conversation, Angelica could tell that nothing had changed and Anna was still their mother’s favorite child, which hurt more than she’d ever admit to anyone.
“Good evening.” Marcus said as they entered. He ushered Angelica over to her normal seat and helped her into it as a gentleman would. She gave him a grateful smile as he headed over to his own seat at the head of the table and took his rightful place.
Dinner commenced and Angelica watched the interaction between Anna and Patrick with a keen interest. She was mentally comparing their mating to hers and Thomas’ mating, even though they were not fully mated just yet.
She wondered about the apparent disinterest between her sister and Patrick. They rarely looked at each other, only spoke to each other when required and almost never touched each other. Their behavior was the exact opposite of how she and Thomas interacted with each other.
She also noticed that her sister seemed different, but couldn’t put her finger on exactly what had changed. She still looked and dressed the same. It was something about her attitude and demeanor. It was a huge puzzle for her as she ate and tried to figure it all out in her mind. The bright side was, with Anna and Patrick in attendance, Camilla left Angelica alone about finding her mate.
It was a nice reprieve so she enjoyed the meal for as long as it lasted. Her father kept up small talk with her and she played along as much as could, as she observed her sister and brother-in-law. Maybe she could catch her father alone and ask him about it.
Once the meal was finished, Camilla dismissed her to her room. As much as she wanted to argue, she went without saying a word. She’d missed her sister and hoped Anna would come up to visit with her, for at least a few minutes, before heading back to her own home.
Chapter Eight
Angelica was disappointed when Anna left with Patrick without even a goodbye to her. Maybe her mother was poisoning Anna against her or Anna was trying to keep their mother happy by ignoring the lesser sister, from their mother’s perspective. She vowed to herself that she’d do her best to find out Anna’s phone number and give her a call to find out what was going on.
Pulling out her journal, she updated it with the events of the past few weeks, since she’d neglected to write in it as religiously as she normally did. It took her over an hour of writing to put everything important to her inside before ending with her confusion over the odd behavior between Anna and Patrick.
Closing her journal, she put it back in its hiding place and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling as she thought about what the reason for the disconnect between her sister and her mate could be.
She wondered if maybe they had been arguing before they’d come over. That might explain their odd behavior. Since she and Thomas hadn’t had any form of argument or fight yet, she had no experience to base a comparison on.
Deciding to go with her idea of finding out Anna’s phone number and calling her sister, she shifted her train of thought to Thomas and how they were going to pull off going to prom together. She thought over Tracy’s idea again and again, trying to iron out the details and come to terms with lying to her father.
She needed to discuss this problem with Thomas and see what he had to say on the matter. She knew he wouldn’t want her to do anything she felt uncomfortable with and lying to her father definitely fell into the category of uncomfortable.
Feeling like she had none of the answers to any of her questions or problems, she rolled out of bed and headed off to shower and get ready for bed.
*****
While Angelica was struggling to understand her sister’s mating and how odd it was and how they were going to go to prom together, Thomas was pacing around his room again. He’d already asked Angelica to go to prom with him, and had been thrilled when she’d said yes, even though they didn’t know how they were going to pull it off with their parents’ feud. What had him pacing his room again wasn’t how they were going to get to the prom together, but how to ask her to be his mate.
He wanted the moment to be perfect when he asked her. Maybe during prom, or taking her for a nice moonlit walk in a garden, would be when he asked her. All he knew was that it had to be special for her, just like she was to him.
He wanted to call Alex to ask him for advice but Alex’s parents were having a dinner party that evening for visiting family members and Alex had been required to attend. Short of crashing the party, Thomas was on his own to figure this out, which left him wearing holes in the carpet of his bedroom floor.
He stopped when there was a knock on his bedroom door. He walked over to answer it and found his mother standing on the other side.
“Can we talk?” She asked in a quiet voice.
“Yeah, sure Mom.” He said and moved aside so
she could enter. Once she was inside, he closed the door with a soft click. He motioned for her to take her choice of seat, in either his desk chair or on the edge of his bed. She chose the edge of his bed, so he sat down in the chair to his desk, facing her.
“I know there’s something you haven’t been telling us for a few months now. I just wanted you to know that your father and I love you very much, and you can talk to us about anything.” Marie said, a bit of hurt in her tone because he hadn’t come to them before she’d come to him.
“I wish I could Mom, but right now, I can’t. I will when the time is right.” Thomas said with sadness in his voice because his secret was hurting his mother.
“Maybe I could help you with whatever it is?” She asked, her voice filled with hope.
“I promise Mom, I’m not in any trouble. There are just a few things I need to figure out for myself, about my future. When it’s the right time, I will share everything with you and Dad, but it’s not the right time just yet. I hope you can understand that.” Thomas told her, wishing he could just tell her everything right then and there.
“You know we’re here for you whenever you need us.” Marie said with resignation that her son would not confide in her about what was going on in his life.
“Mom, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings by not talking to you about this. It’s just something I have to work out for myself. I love you and Dad both very much. Please, just give me time.” Thomas said, moving from the chair over to the edge of the bed next to his mother and placing his arms tightly around her shoulders.
“I just worry about you. You will always be my baby boy, no matter how old you get.” Marie said in a shaky voice that sounded, to Thomas, as if she was about to cry.
“I know you do. Everything will be just fine, I promise.” Thomas said as he held her in a tight hug and mentally kicked himself for his mother being upset. She was such a great mom and he was so thankful she was his.
“Okay, I will leave you alone about this for now. If you need help with anything, please let us know. We will always be there for you.” Marie said as she lifted her head and pulled back from their hug. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek before standing and walking out of the room, without another word.