Redeeming (2 page)

With that, for the next thirty minutes or so Jett explained his world, including everything that was at stake with Kane, as best he could. The initial reaction of the women was predictably incredulous. After all, it was hard not to be. Daniella knew that from
firsthand experience. But as he continued and it became clear that, in fact, this was not a bizarre fantasy their moods turned dark and laced with concern. As Jett finished his thoughts, the women turned and looked at each other once again.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Marilyn was the first to break their silence. Using her index finger, she pointed to everyone else at the table except Tricia and said,
“You
all
knew about this?”

A smattering of
‘yesses’ and head nods followed her question.

“Billy?” She scoffed. “Even you?”

“Yeah,” he said as he nodded. “Of course, I found out by accident when I shot Owen.”

“Wait, that old man…” she began. “He’s one of these… what are they called again?”

“Shifters…” Daniella replied.

“Yeah, he’s a… shifter… as well?”

Billy nodded. “Apparently…”

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms at her chest. She sat in silence for several moments and appeared to have difficulty coming to grips with all of it.

“No, no, no…” Marilyn said as she at last shook her head. “This is just…
not possible
. I don’t know what’s going on here or what this is all about but a human
cannot
turn into a bear.”

“Mom…” Daniella said. “It’s true.”

To Daniella’s disbelief, Tricia remained speechless.

Daniella exhaled. She turned towards Jett.
“Can you show her?”

“Are you sure?” Jett asked. “I don’t want to frighten them.”

“Daniella,” Billy interjected. “I have to agree with Jett. I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“Well, do you have a better one?” She replied. “Look, we are running out of time and everyone here needs to be on the same page. Those two…” she said as she gestured towards her mother and Tricia. “…
have no clue what this is all about. We don’t have any choice.”

The two men looked at one another and shrugged.

“Alright…” Jett replied with a deep exhale. He turned his attention to Marilyn and Tricia. “I want you to understand I am in total control of what you are about to see. You have nothing to be concerned about, okay?”

The two women leaned a bit closer to one another and nodded in nervous agreement. Marilyn clutched at Tricia
’s left hand with her right and as she did, she squeezed the color out of it almost right away.

Jett cleared his throat and stood from the table. He removed his shirt, tossed it onto the back of his
chair, and sat back down. He extended his right arm across the table and flexed it. As he did, a rumble emerged from deep within his throat. As the sound passed between his lips a distinctive growl filled the air. Marilyn and Tricia recoiled at the noise. It wasn’t something a human could do.

He took a deep breath and looked up toward the ceiling. As his held fell back, his right arm started to flex and twitch. A second, louder bellow
came from him as his arm pulsed and swelled to nearly twice its size. At the same time, its shape started to change from the familiar form of a human arm to a rounded, powerful appendage. A rapid burst of thick, brown fur emerged from it and within seconds covered his arm all the way around. His head fell forward and he made eye contact with the women. As he did, the final piece of his partial transformation appeared in the form of large paw, easily the size of a catcher’s mitt.

Gasps of fright and awe emitted from the lips of both women as Jett held it in the air for a moment before he placed it in the center of the table. As it came to rest, the long grayish claws scraped against the wood finish. There was little question they were real. With eyes as wide as moons, they looked at the paw, each
other, and then back at Jett who stared at them… expressionless.

“Go ahead…” Jett said after a few seconds of silence. “Touch it.”

“I…” Marilyn began. “No, I… I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“No problem.” He said. “Tricia?”

Tricia made a quick circle around the table with her eyes until at last they locked with Daniella’s.

“It’s okay, really.” Daniella said to her.

Tricia nodded and swallowed hard. “Um, oh… okay.” She brought her right hand up from her lap while Marilyn maintained a death grip on her left. As she made her way towards it, the tips of her fingers shook. While Jett waited for her, his paw remained motionless. She reached for it and placed her hand on top of it, albeit gently at first.

Her fingertips explored the thick fur and dipped beneath it in spots as she moved around the top of the paw. While she continued to touch it, she moved from the top of it down towards the claws. As she did, Jett lifted it up ever so slightly, exposing the thick, black pads underneath. For several more seconds, she continued to explore it until she withdrew her hand and placed in her lap once more.

“Real…” she whispered to Marilyn but loud enough that everyone heard. “It’s real…”

Marilyn looked at Tricia and nodded. She turned back to Jett.

“May I?” She asked.

“Sure…” Jett replied.

And in a manner almost identical to Tricia moments earlier, Marilyn spent the next minute or so touching his fur and paw. In her entire life as a daughter and nearly as long of a friendship with Tricia, Daniella never recalled the two of them being so quiet for this long. Moments later, her mom brought her hand back to her side and looked around the room. To Daniella, she seemed upset, maybe even a little nervous.

“Mom?” Daniella said. “Are you okay?”

Marilyn began to nod but almost as quickly, started to shake her head to the contrary.

“No, I…” she began. She started to stand from the table. “Will you all excuse me for a moment?”

“Mom…” Daniella replied as she got up as well. “What’s wrong?”

Her mother covered her mouth and made her way towards a guest bedroom down the hall. Daniella hurried after her.

“Daniella…” Jett said as she started to walk away. “I’m sorry, I…”

“It’s okay,” she replied. “You didn’t do anything. Don’t worry about it.”

As Daniella passed by Tricia’s seat, her friend looked up at her. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No.” Daniella said. “Stay here for a minute. If I need you, I’ll let you know.”

Tricia nodded and Daniella continued down the hallway after her mom. After a moment or so, she came upon the bedroom door. Marilyn left the door partially open after she went inside. As Daniella peered within, she noticed her mom sat on the edge of the bed with her back towards the doorway.

“Mom?” Daniella said in a soft voice as she rapped on the door.

She saw her mom’s right hand go up and wipe at her face. “Yes?” Marilyn sniffled.

Daniella
’s heart sank. A lump of guilt formed in her throat.

***

As she entered the bedroom, Daniella closed the door behind her. She walked across the room and joined her mother on the bed where for several moments they didn’t talk. Daniella cast a sideways glance at her mom. Marilyn’s face was expressionless almost as if she were in a state of mild shock. Even so, it was clear to Daniella the tears weren’t imaginary. Her mother’s eyes were puffy and pink.

Daniella cleared her throat.
“Mom?”

Marilyn didn
’t acknowledge her so Daniella reached over and touched her mother’s knee. After a few seconds, she turned to face her.

Marilyn shook her head.
“What… What
is this
Daniella? What are you,
we
, doing here? We don’t belong with these people.”

“What do you mean, Mom?” Daniella asked. “What people?”

Marilyn gestured towards the bedroom door. “Out there… Jett, his family. I don’t understand any of this and moreover, I don’t understand why you want to be a part of it.”

Daniella nodded and began to reply when Marilyn interrupted her.
“I mean, what is he anyway? Is he a person? Is he an animal? What?”

Frustrated, Daniella said,
“Mom, he explained it all and…”

But as she spoke, she saw the fear and confusion in her mother
’s eyes. Even though Daniella thought telling her mom was for the best, now it didn’t seem that way. In fact, it felt like it got worse by the second. Daniella tried to speak once more but her mother kept going…

“Please help me understand why this is okay because right now I don’t and I’m worried about you.” She said. “This whole situation is terribly dangerous. Don’t you see that? I…”

“Mom…” Daniella said as she patted her mother on the knee. “Just… would you calm down for a second and let me say something?”

Marilyn nodded and wiped a tear away from her cheek.

“Thank you.” Daniella said as she got up from the bed and grabbed a box of tissue nearby. She returned to the bed and handed them to Marilyn. “Look Mom, I don’t expect you to understand everything. Hell, even I don’t.”

“Then why…” Marilyn interjected as she wiped her nose with a tissue.

“Mom,” Daniella said as she leaned away from her. “Just let me finish. I promise we can talk about this as much as you want to once I’m done.”

Her mother nodded once again and made a zipper motion across her lips.

Daniella smiled. “Good,” she began. “Mom, you know, just because someone is different, it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them. Jett and his family are
good people
. Kane did a terrible thing to them and it’s connected to
who
and
what
Jett is. There’s no getting around it.”

Her mother
’s head dropped a bit as she listened.

“So what doe
s that mean, Daniella?” She asked. “Why does any of what he has to do with this Kane person have to involve you? Isn’t this his problem to handle on his own? As a man? Or a bear? Or whatever…?”

“Yes, I mean… I understand what you are saying.” Daniella replied. “Look, you told me once to never place boundaries on my feelings.
If I someone is meant to be with me, then, that’s it. End of story.”

“Daniella, honey, I know but…”

“Mom, no… no ‘but’s’…” she said. Daniella turned and looked over her shoulder towards the bedroom door. “I really don’t know what is going to happen but I am prepared to stand by him through this, no matter what.”

Marilyn took Daniella
’s hand in hers. “Stand by him… I understand. Stand
with
him… no.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this idea of you going with him to Fesser’s Grove. It’s terrible…” she said. She pointed towards the bedroom door and continued, “How can you hope to do anything except get in his way or worse get yourself hurt or even killed? There’s a whole community of these shifter things and what, they are just going to let you show up and do whatever you want?”

Daniella wanted to say something to disagree with her mom but the truth was she
’d come to a similar conclusion on her own. And that was while Owen was still able to help. With him unable to do anything now, it seemed difficult to argue with her mom’s logic. Even so, this was not the time to place any more doubt in Jett’s mind so she kept her concerns private.

“Mom…” Daniella said as she exhaled. “I hear you. Nothing is set in stone. Okay? I promise you I won’t do anything without talking it over with Jett first.”

Her mom nodded. “I suppose that’s the best I can hope for right now, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Daniella said as she went to hug her. “For now… but I promise I heard what you said and I’m not ignoring it, not at all.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

Daniella released her from her grasp. After she did, they sat quietly for a few more moments.

“Honey, I’m sorry.” Marilyn said as she looked down at the tissue in her hands. “I didn’t mean to cause a scene out there. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I know.” Daniella replied. “You didn’t. Everyone understands. Don’t worry about it.”

Marilyn nodded but didn’t respond. Daniella rubbed her mom’s back and said, “Ready to go back out and join everyone?”

“Yes, in a minute…” she replied. “I’d like to fix my face first. Would you be a dear and bring my purse to me? I’m going to step into the bathroom.”

Daniella nodded. “Sure, Mom. Need anything else? A glass of water, maybe?”

“No, no thank you. Just my purse.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Daniella walked across the bedroom, opened the door and as she did, she noticed Tricia and Jo stood down the hallway a little. They turned their attention to her as she came out.

“How is your mom?” Jo asked as she approached.

“Yeah, she seemed pretty upset a minute ago.” Tricia added.