Chapter 248

Helen’s POV

Each of the twins had gotten to choose party clothes for the event, and they were quite excited about it, probably because I let Luke have a tie that had a dinosaur print all over it. And because his little suit wasn’t anywhere near as fancy as Aurora’s poofy dress, or I guess it was just as fancy but less to his taste, I let him pick out a little undershirt and underwear with dinosaurs on them, too. That way, he felt he had a satisfactory number of dino garments on and was much easier to coax into his little gray suit.

Aurora had chosen a dress perfect for a budding princess, all tulle and lace and sparkles in a vivid teal that complimented her dark hair, each accentuating the color of the other. I had just finished pulling on her tights and buckling her sparkly little shoes when Celine joined us.

“Why don’t you come and help me greet the guests, Luke?” she suggested. “While your Mama finishes doing Aurora ‘s hair.”

“Okay.”

He took his nanny’s hand and left, and I fussed with Aurora’s locks, trying to get the coils up into respectable twists rather than something that looked like she’d been running wild in the breezes in the backyard.

Thank goodness they were born early enough in the fall that we could still host a good portion of the festivities outside. Perhaps the gods smiled on us, or maybe one of the witches connected with the True Mates pack knew some weather magic. But whatever the reason, balmy temperatures accentuated by golden sunlight ruled the garden today.

When I finished her hair, setting it full of little Bobby pins with rhinestones on them, she turned to me, her face very solemn. “Mommy, I want as many colors in my coat as possible because I want to have a strong wolf like yours.”

I gave her head a pad and her forehead a kiss. “It doesn’t matter what color your wolf is,” I said, “because you are my daughter. And I know that you can be strong no matter what. You don’t need lots of colors in your coat, and you don’t need to be pure white. Strength comes from in here.” I rubbed the back of her head.

“My hair?” she asked, patting it down.

I laughed. “No, your brain, your character, and your heart, Sweetie. All of those things will make you strong as long as you exercise them properly.”

“I will, Mama,” she promised, taking my hand. “Now, can we go have the party? Because I want cupcakes?”

I left and let her lead me out to the garden. Justin greeted our guests and gave a little speech about the twins, but I didn’t let him ramble for too long. They were squirming, and if they weren’t allowed to eat cupcakes soon, they were probably going to start chewing on each other. That was the last thing anyone here needed.

When he called the twins up beside him, I let them go to their father, the whole time crossing my fingers and holding my breath, hoping that their colors would be a beautiful mix. While I meant what I said that I believe she could be strong no matter what color her coat was, it wouldn’t hurt for them to have auspicious coloring, as well.

Being the older twin, Aurora went first. Her wolf was the cutest thing I’d ever seen, a little cub with rounded ears and big floppy paws, and to my pleasure, she was a tricolored female. What’s more, her coloring was beautiful.

She had a base of the purest white overlaid with blotches of lighter and darker Gray. The two shades of grey gave her a very leopard-like appearance. Picturing her wolf as a lithe, lean predator in adult form with that leopard-like appearance, she would certainly turn heads and hearts and elicit fear. She would definitely have a predatory air about her.

When she turned back to a little girl, she promptly declared that she and her wolf had decided upon a name, and they were going to name her wolf after her favorite flowering tree. Her wolf would be Snow Bell.

Then it was Luke’s turn. In wolf form, he was as adorable as his sister. And like her, he also had a certain predatory feel to him, only he reminded me of a tiger.

Luke only had two colors in his coat, but the rusty red-brown slashed with inky black fur gave him a tiger appearance. Again, I had no doubt with his bloodline that he would be a formidable predator. But, hopefully, he wouldn’t take that out on anyone.

When he shifted back, not to be outdone by his sister, he declared that he had named his wolf, as well. To my shock and dismay, and probably the horror of those around us, he declared his wolf’s name was Luce. All the name was missing was the ifer, and he had just named his wolf Lucifer.

By now, it was an unspoken but common-knowledge secret that one of the twins was the result of the Huntsman raping me, and with all four of us gathered together in front of the bulk of the pack, there could be no question which child it was since Luke was the only one of the four of us with pale blonde hair.

For anyone who knew the truth about the Huntsman and was smart enough to add two and two together, they would be nearly as horrified as I was. At least on the outside, Luke’s wolf looked normal, but with one-quarter demon blood, who knew what the animal was capable of?

I just prayed that with peaceful times on us, that Luke’s wolf never got pushed in that direction. Despite the shock of everyone watching, Luke seemed to remain blithely unaware of what he had just done. So, Justin loudly announced that it was time for cupcakes and gifts.

The cupcakes were only for the children present. I had ordered several large cakes to feed the adults since so many people were coming. But the little ones deserved something special, and I wasn’t indulging them with some ridiculous, oversized, wedding-style tiered cake. They were just children, after all.

Besides, my stepmother had never made a cake for me. I wanted my children to grow up remembering that their mother cared enough to make their cakes for them. It seemed like such a silly thing to say out loud or even in my head, but these were the experiences that I missed when I looked back on my childhood.

I wondered what sort of person I would have turned out to be if my parents had shown me any human kindness. And I resolved that I would not neglect my children in any of those ways, that no matter how small they seemed, those missing details stuck like little barbs in my skin.

Watching my two older children and my younger one toddling around after them as they all played in the yard with Russo’s children from many sources left me feeling like a balloon that might float away. For all those experiences that I had missed at the hands of my abusive parents, and for all of the trials that we’d gone through to get to this point, surrounded by my friends and family, all lovingly connected to one another, tied together through our struggles and relishing in each other ‘s happiness, I could only hope then we could surf this wave of tranquility for as long as possible.

Would it hold for another generation or two? Could I someday be standing here watching my grandchildren at this age, feeling the same peace that I felt now?

Behind my back, I tucked my hands together and sent a silent prayer to the gods, to anyone who was listening. Please just let my family live in peace now that we’ve finally found it.

-The End-

Thank you my dear readers for reading this story. I’ll appreciate it if you explore my other stories as well. Please follow my f b page and group Jane Above Story if you wanna chat and keep updated on my writing schedule.

Lots of love,

Jane