It's Our Last Chance to Feel Again

I toyed with the hem of the huge shirt my father had so kindly provided me with, before a determine frown furrowed my eyebrows.

"Hey, Daniel. Is my mom there?"

"Your mo- Katherine?" Daniel's voice cracked, and I smiled at the mental image of Daniel looking absolutely flabbergasted.

"Yes?" I asked nonchalantly, acting as if it was completely normal for me to be calling my mother for no particular reason.

"Did you say Katherine, Danny?" The shrill of excitement in my mother's voice tugged at the corner of my lips, morphing my smile into a toothy grin. Uncle Jack, who sat watching me, looked uncertainly around the room before settling on looking curiously at me, probably having decided that my sanity wasn't worth worrying about.

"Yes, I- Wait, Jess hold on. Stop- Kat, I'm sorry, your mom's snatching the ph- Alright, alright!"

For a while, all I heard were noises that sounded like a fight for the phone was going on at the other end, before my mom's breathless voice rang from the receiver, "Katherine!"

Her voice brought back the nerves I had initially overcame, and I found myself finding excuses to give my mother just so I could squirm out of talking to her. However, when an image of the russet wolf I now knew to be Jacob flashed through my mind, those nerves were momentarily forgotten, and with a demanding tone I never knew I could adopt, I confidently asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

My mom was silent for a while, before she slowly questioned, "Tell you what, sweetie?"

"Gee, I don't know mom. You're the one who kept dad a secret. You tell me," I snapped with a roll of my eyes, conscious of the fact that my mother would never have been able to know.

A sigh escaped my mother's lips before she apologised, "Katherine, honey, I'm really sorry I've never brought your father up. It's just- I never knew how to, and I thought that maybe if I sent you to La Push, you'd see that your father was still alive, unlike what you said about him being murdered by a serial killer, and he'd explain everything."

"Oh, he explained everything. He explained about how you thought it'd be better if I never found out," I quipped, the frown that creased my forehead deepening.

"What? He said 'forever'? I never meant it to be forever, honey. Never forever. That was the whole purpose of sending you to La Pu- Oh, I'm so sorry! You don't know how bad I feel, it's just... I can't believe your father would say that! Forever? Really?"

Uncle Jack, who had been watching the whole time, looked at me with nerves written all over his face, motioning for me to stop the conversation entirely. With a raise of an eyebrow, I turned with an air of indifference so that my back was now facing Uncle Jack as I listened to my mom stumble on her words with a mixture of fury and remorse.

Eventually deciding that I had had enough of her stumbling, I sighed, "Mom. It's not the fact that you've kept him a secret from him all my life that's making me so mad. I mean, sure I'm angry, but I'm pretty sure I can find it somewhere within myself to understand why you did it."

"I always knew you were understanding. I've raised you up well, haven't I?" My mother laughed, before stopping herself, "So then why are you mad?"

A wave of doubt washed over me for a second as I took in my mother's confused tone. However, when I was reminded of the fact that she had acted so clueless about my father's whereabouts for the past fourteen years of my life, I shook it off.

"I'm mad because you didn't tell me my father was a fucking werewolf."

I heard Uncle Jack's surprised gasp from behind me, and my mother's disapproving tongue click through the receiver.

"Honestly, Kat. I'm sure I raised you up to be a more presentable lady," My mother tutted, while Uncle Jack remained speechless behind my back.

"At this point in time mom, I really couldn't care less about my presentability. I just want to know why you thought the fact that my father was a werewolf wouldn't have been of any importance to me," I nearly growled, had it not been for the fact that I was temporarily amused by Uncle Jack's inability to talk at that moment.

It was at this point where my mother remained speechless that the doubt that had once washed over me came rushing back. Had I been too quick in assuming that my mother had known? What if she hadn't, and I had just entrusted her with a piece of information that she might never have wanted to be aware of?

"Danny, would you mind if I took this call in the kitchen? Katherine's having a bit of a problem settling in." My mother sounded muffled, and I presumed that she had covered the receiver with her hand.

The doubt was, once again, gone, and I sighed in satisfaction. I was pretty good at solving these things. Making sure that Uncle Jack couldn't see my face, I smiled cockily at the wall. Katherine scores.

"Oh, sure. Just don't burn anything in there," Daniel laughed, and I rolled my eyes. No wonder my father seemed alright with Daniel. Both of them actually thought they were funny. How was my mother able to stand them?

I heard my mother respond with a humorless laugh, with silence that followed the next few moments as she made her way to the kitchen before she whispered, "How... How did you know about that?"

I snorted. "Let's see, shall we? He's extremely big. And from what I've noticed, the hugs guys here in La Push all happen to be werewolves," I started with confidence, before slowing down, "Although he doesn't really burn like the rest of them... And he actually wears a shirt. But that aside, I really don't know how I figured it out."

The silence that followed was painful. I sat, waiting in overwhelming quietness that seemed to echo around the room for an answer that I greatly wanted. Despite my growing impatience, I chose not to say anything, but to let my mother collect her thoughts.

As the silence dragged on, my anxiousness to hear my mother's response seemed to increase simultaneously with Uncle Jack. Even with my back turned on him, I could feel Uncle Jack's gaze boring into the back of my head, anticipating my response to whatever my mother had to tell me.

"Well?" I pressed, no longer able to take the silence.

"I... I really don't know what to say, Katherine," My mother confessed with a sigh.

Not wanting to let her off the hook, I snapped, "You can start by telling me the real reason why he left."

"Well, it's... Okay, I guess you deserve to know," My mother sighed, pausing before explaining, "Your father and I, we were in love. But it just wasn't strong enough. The bond we shared, it was felt between friends- not lovers."

"Meaning?" I asked, with a tinge of hope that she wouldn't say what I dreaded her response would be.

"I mean that your father couldn't love me," My mother replied exasperatedly, spelling out the fact for her clueless sixteen year old.

"What?" I spluttered, event though a part of me had known that would be the answer, "But... You guys were married! Isn't the whole point of a marriage to officially bring the two people who love each other together and declare them as one? Holy matrimony? That sort of thing?"

"The marriage was silly on my part. A part of me knew that your father would never be able to love me, and honestly, that part of me was glad. It's strange, but we both knew that one day, he'd have to leave," She mused with a tone that hinted her reminiscing.

"You were glad? Mom, I'm sorry, but are you crazy?"

By then, I was already on my feet and pacing. All the things that my mother was saying were obviously too much for me to handle sitting down.

My voice had also adopted a tone of hysteria to it, and I caught a glimpse of Uncle Jack looking at me, his face wary.

Wasn't my fault my family was just plain weird.

"Didn't I tell you already, Katherine?" My mother sighed, obviously disheartened that her daughter wasn't fast enough to pick up on the many things she was telling me, "We loved each other as friends. Nothing more. The day your father proposed, he promised me that he'd try to feel what lovers felt for each other. And like I told you, I somewhat knew your father wouldn't have been able to do it. Would I have been able to reciprocate his feelings had he managed to somehow bring himself to love me as more than a friend, well... That's an answer we'll never need to find out."

Exhaling through my nose, I commented, "That's pretty fu- Weird, mom."

"Messed up, more like," My mother laughed, and I couldn't help but gape.

How was she able to laugh at something as weird as that? Honestly. My family was just plain strange.

"So what about Daniel?" My lips moved before I could stop myself

"What about him?"

"Do you love him?" I asked cautiously, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer she had for that.

"Of course I do! He's not your dad, but that's part of why I love him. He loves me, I love him, and that's all that really matters, isn't it?" She replied, and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least my mother was smart enough not to repeat a stupid marriage the second time.

"Does Daniel know about dad?"

"No, he doesn't. To him, your father and I are another one of those couples who got married too early for all the wrong reasons. He doesn't," She explained, before adding emphasis, "And will never, know the real reason why we got a divorce."

I made a sound of acknowledgement to my mother's subtle warning before asking, "So then what's the real reason?"

"Julia."

"Julia? Who's she? Grandma?" I asked, my voice once again adopting a tone of hysteria. Was my dad's mother a lunatic that had brainwashed my father into staying out of love with my mother?

"His imprint," My mother replied curtly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Those damn imprints," I scoffed, which earned me a laugh from my mother, and then continued, "You know, for someone who's been living with a secret for the past fourteen years, your speech of explanation should have been a lot more fluent. You'd think fourteen years was enough time for you to think of something."

"Honestly?" My mother started, "I never expected you to figure it out."

My eyes widened and I snapped, "I had to have gotten my brains from someone. And just so you know, you're my mother."

My mother laughed once again, causing a great feeling of happiness to bubble inside of me. It felt so good to finally be talking to my mother like this, without any hard feelings or questions about my father and Daniel.

"It's still hard to believe, though, that my father is a thing," I sighed, trying my hardest to imagine my father as a huge wolf.

My mother made a noise of agreement. "Imagine how I felt when I accidentally found out about it? But he's not a wolf anymore, I don't think. Apparently, he's stopped becoming one."

"You can do that?" I asked, bewildered.

"Apparently so," My mother replied, and I sighed a breath of relief.

So my father wasn't some sort of crazily big creature that could probably kill me with a snap of his teeth.

But Jacob was.