Chapter 92

After we got off the train, we caught a ride share to Charles’ mother’s cottage. It turned out that this “cottage” was bigger than any house I’d ever seen. But it still had that quaint, charming, country appeal to it, with a garden that rolled all around it and lace curtains in the windows.“It’s cute,” I said.

“I thought you’d like it,” Charles replied. “Come on inside. Mother’s dying to meet you.”

He led me up the stone path to the front porch, and Agent Tang slumped along behind us. A woman who must have been Charles’ mother threw open the door before we even reached the porch, rushing Charles and squeezing him in a big hug.

“You finally made it home,” she said. “I’m so glad to see you.”

She drew back and gave him a scolding look. “You shouldn’t wait so long between visits to your mother.”

“I’m sorry, Mother,” he said, leaning in and kissing. “Mother, I’d like you to meet Elena.” He pointed at me.

“Elena, this is my mother, Gwenivere Rafe.”

I started to wave shyly, but she reached over and pulled me into a hug as well. She took a deep breath of my hair and sighed.

“I get it now,” she whispered. Then, in a louder voice said, “Call me Gwen. And I’m so glad I finally met you. Charles has been talking about you… Well, all the way since high school. I wondered when he’d get around to bringing you here.”

I blushed, unsure what to say. But lacking words didn’t matter because his mother didn’t let me get in a word edgewise. She hooked her arm around my back, drawing me up onto the porch.

“This was our summer home while Charles was growing up,” she explained. “We spent all of our vacations here.”

She pointed around the far side of the house to a thicket of trees. “There’s a trail through there, and the ocean is just on the other side. It’s not quite the same as an ocean view. I don’t know what sort of vacation property you imagined. It might not be that kind, but it’s always been a home away from home for us.”

“This place is amazing,” I said.

I already felt more at home at this house than I had just about anywhere I’d ever lived except for my current apartment.

“I can see why you would want to come here on your vacation. It’s lovely,” I said.

Gwen nodded. “It is lovely. Now, did you guys get anything to eat on the train, or are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” Charles said. “We did get a little bite. But it wasn’t much. Just some sandwiches and apples.”

“That’s hardly a real lunch,” Gwen fussed, shaking her head. “Come inside. I’ve got real food for you.”

The moment she opened the door, a mouthwatering smell hit my nose. My stomach grumbled in response. Gwen laughed and patted me on the back.

“Don’t worry. There’s plenty. I made my homemade pot pies. I hope you like chicken.”

Charles rubbed my head on his way past me to hang his jacket on a coat rack. “She’s an indiscriminate carnivore,” he said. “She’ll be fine with chicken. And I’m glad you made pot pies.”

Gwen gave his cheek a pat. “Of course. I always remember my baby’s favorites.”

“Speaking of babies,” Charles started, “When is Jennifer going to be here? I wanted Elena to meet her and the kids.”

“They’ll be over just before dinner time,” Gwen replied. “It’s Soren’s soccer night, and Emily has ballet class.”

“Always busy,” Charles said. “Will Andy be coming with her?”

Charles’ mother nodded. “Yes. Do you think they would miss your first trip home in nearly a year? Your last trip back was the lunar new year.”

Charles turned, giving me a smile. “I always make it home for the holidays with the goddess,” he said.

“Both Andy and Jennifer really want to see you,” his mother said, ushering us into the kitchen.

The entryway had been full of wood, warm and welcoming. The kitchen, on the other hand, looked like a farmhouse kitchen from a magazine. It was spacious and expensive, with a butcher block countertop and a big sink for washing whatever she brought in from the garden outside. Stainless steel appliances winked from their spaces, and, cooling on a rack in the center of the island, stood a couple of pot pies, wafting that mouthwatering smell.

Passing the time until Charles’ sister and brother-in-law and his niece and nephew arrived was easy. After being stuffed full of the best home-cooked meal I’d ever eaten, we followed his mother out and sat on the porch, just drinking in the smells and sounds of the outdoors. A small tang of salt wafted through the trees, reaching the house. Birds twittered and fluttered back and forth amongst all the branches between us and the shore.

Late autumn insects buzzed around in the shade that the trees threw across the backyard. The same shade kept the temperature just perfectly comfortable. Gwen told me story after story of Charles’ family while he was growing up.

By the time the shadows had gotten long, and she said she needed to get dinner, I felt like I practically knew his entire family. The stories had made his father and his childhood come to life. I did have to stamp back down a jealous twinge that I hadn’t had any of this. My circumstances weren’t the fault of anyone in this happy family.

When she left us on the porch, I reached over and took Charles’s hand. I squeezed it.“You must really miss your father a lot.”

He nodded. “I do. He was more than just a great businessman. He was a great father. It doesn’t feel like the family is whole without him.”

“How many years has it been?” I asked.

“Four,” he said. “It’s been long enough that Mother doesn’t cry about it anymore, but not so long that we don’t still miss him terribly, especially when we have family gatherings like this.”

“I wish I had this sort of family growing up,” I said.

He squeezed my hand again. “Don’t worry. You might not have had it growing up, but you can have it going forward. From now on, just consider my family, your family. They’re determined to treat you like family anyway, whether you like it or not. So you might as well just accept it.”

I laughed. “I can see your mother wouldn’t take no for an answer. And she’s already treating me like family like there’s lost time to make up for.”

“She does know that you grew up an orphan, so she probably wants to make you feel as comfortable as possible.”

“That doesn’t bother her?” I fretted. “She married an alpha, after all. And her son is one. I’m just nobody special.”

“You’re special to me, and she knows it,” he said firmly. Charles shrugged. “In some ways, my mother is very traditional. But the one thing she’s never failed to do was recognize that people’s potential comes from their actions, not the accident of their birth. We might be privileged, but we know plenty of people born into families like ours who did absolutely nothing with themselves and plenty of successful, self-made people.”

“Your mother sounds more and more amazing.”

He chuckled. “Undoubtedly. And you aren’t the first to be awed by her. Mother’s always been one for entertaining. Her hospitality is legendary.”

“I can imagine her welcoming everyone. What I can’t imagine is what she must have been like living in the city. She seems like she grew out of the countryside. I can’t picture her in some chrome apartment like you’ve got, throwing glittering parties for all of your dad’s business associates.”

Charles laughed outright at this. “You’d be surprised what she can swing. If you think she’s a master of entertaining on a small scale, no one could throw a party like her. She was legendary around the city for her hospitality, and it wasn’t small country comforts.”

“Her warm smell of clean cotton makes me feel a little homey, too,” I said. “Kind of the way that you sit and sniff me, I could sit and sniff her. I wonder if that’s the way I would have felt about my own mother if I’d known her?”

He reached over, pulling me closer on the wicker bench that we sat on so that I was leaning against him. “As I said, my family’s your family now. If you feel that drawn to her, enjoy it. Consider her your mother for now.”