Chapter 374

My mom ushered us all inside and we sat down in the living room. She went around and asked about drinks, then she looked at me. “Hey sweetheart? Why don’t you give everyone a tour? I’m sure Abby will love to see your bedroom. You have that small closet full of all your old teddy bears.” She smiled. “I just have a few things to finish up in the kitchen and by the time you come down, dinner will be ready.” With that, she was gone behind the wall and I turned.

“Tour it is.” I brought them around the bottom floor, but I could tell Abby was being impatient.

“Amy?” Her soft voice had me turning.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” I crouched as she came up to me.

“Your house is really nice…”

“But?” I winked at her.

“Can we go see your room?” She sounded a little hopeful.

“Of course.” I looked up at Rick. “It’s upstairs.” My eyes flicked to Abby, and he nodded.

“Come here, baby.” He swooped down and picked her up. “Stairs are still a little hard for us, aren’t they, baby?”

Abby nodded. “I get tired.”

“Me too.” I winked again, and we turned to head upstairs. I pointed out a few other rooms, and then we came to my door. “Here we are.”

I opened my door and Abby ran in. I laughed as she spun around. “This is just your bedroom?” She ran to the bathroom and spun again. “Wow.” I ushered everyone in and closed the door. I walked to a small closet I had next to my bed and swung it open. Abby screamed as she saw all the stuffed animals I had. I kept everything from when I was a child. My dad used to give them to me every time I left until I turned sixteen and asked him to stop. “Oh my goddess.” She ran and started playing.

I chuckled and then nodded to the other side of my room, where the other bigger closet lay. “While she is occupied, we can speak freely here.”

Shelly turned to me. “Rick hasn’t told me anything. He won’t, not in our home, because of Vince , but something is going on and I want to know what.”

I nodded. “I’m getting you out.” I cut right to the chase. “And I know you’re going to bring up the fact you can’t leave because Abby is suffering from the Withering, but she’s not.” I whispered, hopefully low enough that Abby couldn’t hear.

Shelly reared back. “What are you talking about?” She looked at Rick. “Is she insane?”

He rubbed his face. “Babe, listen. We went to lunch, getting Alannah and Ternen away from Brandon because Amy stood up for Tern, and Brandon decided to beat and fire him instead. When we went to lunch, I told her about Abby. Just basics, why we were here, why I was helping Vince.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain what she just said.” She tossed out.

“I know, I know.” He pulled out the napkin. “Amy has never seen Abby before today. Ternen has never even talked about Abby.”

“I swear, neither of us have. We thought you deserved your privacy.” Alannah slid in.

Shelly looked around. “Okay, she hasn’t ever seen Abby. What does this have to do with what we are talking about? Our daughter is sick, and she just said she wasn’t Rick.”

“That’s because she’s not.” I quickly glanced over at Abby. “Do you know anything about witchcraft?”

Shelly looked confused and lost. “What in the goddess are you talking about?”

Rick handed her the napkin. “I told her about the Withering. But Amy asked how old Abby was. She said she was too old for the Withering to affect her. But there was a spell. A spell that branded the affected wolf with a mark. That is the mark she gave me.” Rick pointed to the napkin Shelly had crumpled in her hand.

“This is a fucking napkin, Rick. What does this have to do with our child?” Shelly got louder, but Rick grabbed her face and kissed her.

“Babe, I love you, and when you get protective of our cub. But look at the napkin and you will understand.” He lifted her hand that held the crumpled napkin.

Shelly shook her head but unclenched her hand and smoothed out the napkin. She gasped and her eyes shot up to mine. “Have you ever seen our daughter?”

“No.” I met her eyes.

“Have you seen any of the children in her class?”

Again, I answered honestly. “No.”

She sagged for a moment. “Please.” Her voice wavered. “Please don’t pretend that you can help us unless you actually can. I don’t have it in me to go through all of this, only to be let down once again.”

“What do you mean?” I tilted my head.

“She means she can’t listen to another person say they might be able to save me, only to be told I have less than a year to live.”