Chapter 122

Sarah POV

“So, has the puppy’s been good?” I asked Grace and Chloe in the kitchen. It was a Tuesday, but I had a few minutes before Ollie needed to take them to school. “Hasn’t done anything you don’t want?”

“Like what?” Chloe asked, poking at her oatmeal. I knew she preferred bacon and eggs for breakfast and made a mental note to make them for her in the morning. I had made breakfast for years before Chef Rachel came into my life. I should feel fine making them now, even if Rachel did tut-tut when not everything was exactly the way she had left it.

I shrugged. “Like anything. She’s been responding to all her commands OK? Hasn’t suddenly started barking at nothing or growling at you?”

Chloe looked at me like I were crazy. “It’s Selene, Mommy. She’s just happy to be around us.”

Selene, lying on the floor at the base of Grace’s chair, perked up at hearing her name. Then lost interest when there wasn’t any food being offered.

“Of course,” I said, trying to think of a new way to ask the question.

“Mom’s worried because she knows Emile’s a friend of Ella’s,” Grace said flatly while putting grape jelly on her toast.

“Oh,” Chloe said, which was just as disconcerting.

Not only did they both know I was worried about Ella, now they knew I was worried about Selene’s trainer, and thus Selene herself.

“Sometimes I really wish you two weren’t so smart,” I grumbled.

They giggled dutifully, but then Grace looked at me. “Selene’s been perfect.”

The puppy whined.

“No begging at the table,” Chloe said sternly. “You know better.”

“And have you fed her yet?” I asked pointedly.

Chloe rolled her eyes, but I knew it was more at herself than at others, got off her kitchen stool, and went over to the puppy’s bowls. She got the puppy food out of the cabinet and poured the right among.

Selene pounced on it like she hadn’t been fed for days, her tail wagging so hard her rear end lifted up. The girls laughed, and I had to smile.

I’m raising them the best I can, Olivia, I thought. Promise.

Then Chloe turned to Grace and beamed a smile of confidence and approval.

“Maybe I should cut my hair,” Grace said with a quiet, and I thought very small, voice.

“What?” I asked.

“No,” Chloe said, walking back to the kitchen island. “I was being stupid.”

This was my chance, and though I was a little terrified, I took it.

“Grace, honey, has Ella ever made you feel that you weren’t good enough?”

Grace looked at me for a moment. “Ella is nice,” she said.

“I’m sure, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Even though she’s nice and your father likes her a lot, has she ever made you feel you weren’t good enough?”

Grace just looked at me.

“I’m not trying to get anyone into trouble, I promise,” I said. “It’s not about that. It’s not about getting anyone into trouble. You’re a wonderful girl, and I just don’t think you always know that; that’s what this is about.”

“Grace?” Chloe asked, having regained her perch on the kitchen chair.

Grace’s eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t control myself. I swooped in to hold her.

Goddess, what a piece of shit Ella was. Goddess knew it was bad enough to be self-absorbed; in many ways we all were, at least a little. But I knew as I held that little body against mine she had been a way for Ella to feel better about herself by making her sister’s pups lesser.

“You are wonderful,” I told Grace as she began to cry. “You are precious and beautiful and one of the best people I have ever met.”

Zane appeared in the doorway, and I thought about it hard before I subtly waved him away. He needed to talk to Grace, absolutely, but this was my and Chloe’s time. He nodded, trusting me, and left, probably back to his study. I knew I would tell him what was happening as soon as I could.

“She told me I was my mother,” Grace whispered in my ear. “She said everyone would know I carried her mother’s spirit, and I needed to be like her.”

I kept my breathing even, but I seriously wanted to puke.

Werewolves didn’t believe in reincarnation to the extent that someone’s soul was manifest in the next generation, but they did very much believe in spirit, in the idea of being a certain way or thing or person. It was usually called a “legacy,” the idea that some great ruler’s or some poor vendor’s spirit was so great that their children took on the legacy of being so loyal to the pack, so much a force for good, that the children had to carry it on.

Humans called it an “inheritance,” though that had more to do with money and property, but they also considered it a moral and generational responsibility to something.

In any event, it was something to be told to a human or wolf when they were coming of age, not to a child who would have no idea what it meant.

“You are you,” I told Grace as I held her in my arms. “You are your own person, and, yes, your mother was wonderful too, but that should inspire you. It’s not some standard you need to live up to, some personality you need to emulate.”

“But Ella said my personality was irritating,” Grace whispered. “She said people get annoyed by me because I’m not good in groups. I’m boring.”

It took everyone ounce of muscle memory I had not to squeeze Grace too tightly. I also knew better than to shower her with praise.

“You are a little shy, honey, but most people are much more interested in talking about themselves than in listening to others talk about themselves. I think it’s more likely you’ve left people hoping they knew more about you than too much.”

Grace sniffed. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Look, you’re really smart, so can’t you see that Aunt Ella is happiest when she’s talking about herself.”

Grace dug her nose into my neck. “Yes.”

“So, if you’re talking about you when she wants to be talking about herself, she’s going to tell you that you’re talking too much about yourself, isn’t she? That’s the way she sees the world.”

“But.”

I waited, but Grace didn’t seem to know how to continue.

“But she’s an adult and should know better?” I finished for her, shooting an enraptured Chloe a wink, all the while thinking about what a selfish little witch Ella was.

“Well, some adults do, and some don’t,” I said. “You can still love Aunt Ella but not take everything she says to be true.”

“Yeah?” Grace asked into my neck, and my heart broke.

“Yeah,” I said.