Chapter 33: Shopping

The following couple of weeks contained endless police interrogations. In reality, there weren’t that many, but that’s how it felt because of the overwhelming vacuum after what happened with Kemar.

Now I could put a final period on that chapter of my life. A chapter I would spend the rest of my life trying to forget. As for now, Christmas preparations and nest building were the best distraction I could get.

Mom and I were on our way to Water Tower Place, one of the biggest shopping malls in Chicago. The traffic was slow, and we were listening to 60s music when I felt something move inside me.

It was almost like a bubble that burst. Then another one, and I finally figured out what it was.

I wrapped my arms around my growing treasure that for the first time made me feel its existence, and who reminded me that I would always carry a part of this chapter with me after all.

A part of ~him~. A part of Jared.

I smiled and wished I could meet him again someday. Then I felt sad when I remembered the moment when he fought against Buck and lost. He could never have survived a fall like that.

I’d fallen off a cliff myself and barely survived, but that was nothing compared to the one Jared fell off. I blinked away a tear. I had to stop wishing for something I knew was impossible.

I needed to focus on the future, on my baby, giving him or her the best childhood possible, despite growing up without a dad.

I needed to earn a living that would still let me get an education, and thanks to my parents, it looked like I would manage just that.

The challenge of telling little him or her about their real dad would come later, when both of us were ready.

We were shopping for a baby crib and the few Christmas gifts that were left on our list. I was searching for something special for Keesha, but I didn’t know what yet.

Of course, she would get a silly gift as well, which this year was a nicely wrapped pack of oatmeal.

We’d always done that. We gave each other the most ridiculous things and tried to embarrass each other in the most creative ways we could think of.

Last year I gave her a set of grandma panties with a matching bra, and received a bottle of fish oil in return, which stunk like crazy because the bottle was leaking.

Of course, we gave each other normal presents afterwards, but the silly gift was always the one that made the day, even for those around us.

I had ordered Mom and Dad’s Christmas gifts online, two gold medals with the inscriptions “World’s Best Grandfather” and “World’s Best Grandmother.”

It wasn’t real gold, of course, but it symbolized how they would be as grandparents. I already knew they would love and support us when my little prince or princess was born.

And just like I guided Mom through the stores so she could finish her list of things we needed for Christmas now, she would guide me when I was trying to become the same loving mother to my baby as she was to me.

“What do you think about this one?”

Mom held up a dark-green square-patterned button-up shirt in flannel, and I vigorously shook my head.

“I thought you loved Dad!” I exclaimed dramatically, then wheezed when I saw how startled she was.

“Of course, I do! Why are you even…”

“Because it will make him look old, Mom,” I interrupted and groaned. “You might as well add suspenders and a cane, and the outfit will be complete.”

She pursed her lips into a little pout and kept looking. “How about this one, then?” she asked, and held up a sweater on Christmas steroids.

“That’s even worse,” I groaned. “Why in the world would you want to dress your husband in a reindeer sweater? And with antlers and bells? Seriously?”

“Because it’s Christmas?” she replied like it was completely obvious, but honestly it sounded more like a question.

“Well, if you insist. But it’s going to make him look dumb.”

Mom gasped. “Skylar! How rude! Take that back.”

I just shrugged and held up a gray sweater with the seams on the outside, and with a black inscription of some random label.

“Whatever. This one is cooler, and it’s something he can use all year round.”

Mom squinted at it and tilted her head. She was skeptical.

“Are you sure about that? Isn’t it more the outfit for a teenager? I don’t want that, and I don’t think he would want that, either.”

“Absolutely not,” I retorted. “Unless he suddenly starts sagging his pants, gets a lip piercing, and wears his cap backward, he’ll look normal.”

Her eyes went wide when she envisioned her life partner in a totally different light than usual.

“My dad is cool, and this sweater will match his personality. So please stop dressing him like he’s seventy.”

“I’m not!” she protested. Then she held up her hands in defeat.

“Okay. Let’s buy it and go home. My feet hurt, and I’m tired.”

We walked toward the cashier to stand in line, and my thoughts drifted away with me. I thought about Christmas, about school, and the forest.

I thought about the snake that magically transformed into a dragon and flew away, and the momma moose who was protecting her babies.

Next Christmas and in the future, it would be me protecting my baby from all potential danger, and like the moose, I wouldn’t have a partner to rely on.

Then I thought about how relieved I was to know who the real father was and felt bad for not telling anyone else but Keesha.

“Hey, Mom?” I chewed on my lip while I grumbled over whether to tell her or not.

“Yes, dear?”

A part of me wanted to spill it all and tell her everything that happened in the depth of the woods. But wasn’t it easier to let them think it was Kemar’s, instead of a dead werewolf’s?

It sure would save me from a lot of explaining and convincing them that I wasn’t losing my mind. Besides, standing in line in a store was probably not the best place or timing.

“Never mind,” I muttered, which caused Mom to raise an eyebrow. I’d never been good at lying to my parents, and this was no exception.

“Skylar?”

“I…Uhm…” I had to think fast. I had to come up with something random that didn’t sound suspicious, and I had to be completely casual when I asked.

“I was just thinking about what to buy Keesha for Christmas, and I wondered if you had any suggestions, that’s all,” I mumbled fast, which wasn’t a lie at all.

I actually had no idea, and after a few seconds of scanning me from head to toe, she seemed content that I wasn’t lying. It was then I decided that Jared would stay a secret for the rest of my life. It was best that way.

“How about…,” Mom started, then rubbed her chin while she thought hard. “A cookbook?”

I snorted so loudly that an old lady turned her head and stared at me, but I just rolled my eyes at her. That was the lamest idea ever.

“Yeah, right. That’s like buying makeup and stilettos for Dad. Keesha can’t cook to save her life. But eating…?”

It was rhetorical, so I didn’t bother to finish the sentence. Everybody who knew Keesha knew she devoured every meal like it was the last one before hibernation.

But Mom pretended not to have heard me and started snapping her fingers with eagerness for her next idea. “No! A friend bracelet.”

“But I already gave her that a couple of years ago,” I sighed, and her triumphant smirk vanished.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. Then…”

She pursed her lips and squinted out in the air, before she had a visible eureka moment.

“I know what you can give her! It’s for both of you, actually. And your Dad and I will sponsor some of it.”

“Sponsor?”

“You can give her a gift card for a spa treatment for the both of you. Then you can have a whole day in luxury, after the baby’s born.”

Mom gave me one of her warmest smiles and waited for my response, but I wasn’t sure how to feel about being naked in front of a stranger.

Being naked in front of Kemar had been traumatic enough. Then I remembered that Jared had seen me naked too, and how different that felt because he was…

“Skylar?”

I looked at Mom, and my mind returned to Keesha, who would be absolutely thrilled to get a gift like that. My answer was clear. I would do it for her.

“That’s an excellent idea. Thanks, Mom,” I said and smiled with gratitude. Then it was our turn to pay, and our shopping was done. It was time to go home.

***

“No, Skylar. Let’s wait until your dad gets home,” Mom protested when I wanted to carry the baby crib inside.

I knew Dad wouldn’t be home for at least a few hours, and I didn’t want the crib to stay in the car, so I wasn’t going to budge.

“It’s not that heavy.”

“You shouldn’t carry stuff like that. At least wait until I’ve brought all this stuff into the house, and I’ll help you.”

Mom juggled several bags, her purse, her phone, and a bagel that kept falling out of the grocery bag I was carrying, and hurried toward the house while she tried to find her keys.

However, I had already pulled the cardboard box with the flat-packed baby crib halfway out of the trunk. I was right. It wasn’t especially heavy. Just bulky and large and hard to get a proper grip on.

“I’m not sick. I’m just pregnant,” I grumbled.

“Dad can help put this thing together instead. Besides, I’m barely halfway through the pregnancy. The doctor didn’t mention anything about lifting heavy things until the third trimester.”

She didn’t hear me. I heard her mumbling inside the house, and I was mumbling outside, and neither of us heard each other until I pulled the box almost all the way out. Then I heard her loud objections.

“Skylar! Stop that!” she scolded and came running back to the car.

“You’re just like your father. Too stubborn for your own good, do you know that?”

I giggled, but not loud enough so she could hear me.

Truth was that I was actually glad to get a little help since I was still carrying the grocery bag, and after huffing and puffing for five minutes or so, the box was finally standing in the middle of my room, ready to be opened.

But where was my phone? “Mom? I think I forgot something in the car. Do you have the keys?”

“On the counter!” she yelled from her bedroom. She was already busy hiding away Christmas presents so Dad wouldn’t sneak a peek. He always did that whenever he came across one.

Whether it was his own or someone else’s didn’t matter to him. He just loved to know what everybody was getting so he could snicker and reveal the secret right before they opened their gift. Annoying, but still a little bit funny.

“Found them!” I yelled back. Then I hurried back outside and started searching through her old Toyota, and I almost thought I’d brought my phone inside after all when I finally spotted it underneath the passenger seat.

I quickly grabbed it and locked the car. But just as I started to walk back to the house, I got a scary feeling of being watched.

“Kemar is dead,” I whispered to myself, but the feeling was too strong to shrug it off as nothing.

However, no matter how discreetly I looked around, I couldn’t see anything other than our neighbor’s gray cat, who was busy playing with a mouse.

Unfortunately, I also knew ~something~ that could be invisible until it decided to attack. Could it really be the demon? Did it follow me all the way to Chicago?

“Please, God. Please don’t let it be true,” I begged and actually felt close to tears. Then I forced myself to think rationally.

“It’s just your paranoia, Skylar,” I said loudly to myself. “Just your paranoia.”

And with that I hurried back into the house, slammed the door, shut, and locked it, and I hurried into the kitchen where Mom was unpacking the groceries.

Just paranoia…