“I was so afraid you’d not have gotten my message.” Her mother kissed Storey’s cheek. “It was all so crazy with the festivities, the people I met – one in particular – and the wild weather. It seems like every time I managed to call home, you were out.” Her mother shook her head and tugged Storey inside. “I’m so glad that’s all over and we’re back together again.” Her mother glanced over at Eric. “How nice to see you again too, Eric.” She motioned to the table. “Come. Sit down.”
Storey cast a questioning look back at Eric. He shrugged. Storey sat down at the kitchen table. She glanced around. It looked wonderful. It looked like home.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t supposed to be gone so long. The ceremony lasted all weekend, and…” she blushed, “I met someone there. And given who it was, I needed to stay and work through a few things. And of course with all that weird weather, and highways being closed, well… I stayed. Still, I hadn’t expected to be gone so long.” She leaned forward earnestly. “I did try to call several times, but the crazy weather had service out all around the country.
Weird weather? Closed highways? No phone service? Storey exchanged a long look with Eric, knowing it was most likely the time twists and portal tears that had caused all the damage. And then she remembered the festival. There’d been special festivities planned that weekend. She was stunned. Everything that had happened to her had taken only a couple of days, even though it seems like weeks or months. If she’d been here, she would hardly have seen her mother anyway.
“And who did you meet at the ceremonies?” Storey asked cautiously, still trying to figure out if her mother had been aware at all of her absence.
Her mother smiled, a little lopsided, a little insecure, but sweet. She glanced between Storey and Eric then back to Storey. She took a deep breath. “I didn’t expect this. I’d never imagined…after all this time.” She reached out and grabbed Storey’s hand and sat down beside her. “I don’t know how to tell you this, and with Eric here…but…well…I have to tell you.” The words burst out in an excited, girlish torrent. “I met your father.”
Storey jerked. Her gaze met Eric’s. Her father? Her thoughts spun on the possibilities. Time twisting. Dimensions trying to reestablish balance…was this real…?
Her stylus spoke quietly in the back of her mind.
This is real. Balance returning for all.
“And…” she asked cautiously, shocked and yet, intrigued.
Her mother’s excited voice bubbled over. “I know this is sudden. Maybe it’s good that Eric is here. You can talk with him.” She took a deep breath and barreled forward. “He would like to get to know you,” her face pleaded for acceptance, “if you’re open to the idea. We talked. About our past. The mess we’d made of our lives since. Our relationship. Like really talked. And…” she took another deep breath, as if not believing this herself, “We’ve started…well, you know…seeing each other.”
Her mother sat back, a worried look on her face. “But he’s concerned about how you’ll feel.”
*
Storey shut down for a moment. Shock was too mild a word to describe what she was feeling. Stupefied might be better. If that was a word. Yet, inside, with all that had happened, she had to wonder. She’s been so torn over her father’s presence in the other dimension, so confused over her own emotions, this just seemed too bizarre.
Maybe her parents were being offered a second chance.
That, she hadn’t expected. When the dimensions shifted, she’d had a pang of regret for what could never be with her father. And now here was the opportunity again.
And this time, her father wanted back in her life?
Had she created this? And did it matter?
No and no.
She smiled at her stylus’s answer. Eric’s silent support made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. She wanted to rage at him and hug him. To laugh and scream a million questions. Yet none would form in her head.
“I don’t know what to say.” She tried to speak her words carefully, not wanting to upset her mother, but not knowing how she felt herself. She had to find a way forward. Somehow.
“Then don’t say anything. We’re going to take it slow,” her mother promised. “This isn’t about him or me. This is about us.”
She smiled. “Now, how about a cup of tea.”
Tea. Her mother’s answer to everything. She watched her mother bustle about the kitchen, putting on the kettle. Probably to give Storey some time to process the huge bombshell she’d just dumped on her.
Eric took the chair her mother had been sitting in. She leaned closer and whispered, “I can’t help but think this happened because of us.”
“Or maybe we just made it happen faster.” He tilted his head to look at her closer. “Is it so bad?”
She frowned, considering it. Then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He turned slightly to look at her mother, then glanced back at Storey. “Your mother appears happy. Young almost.”
That was true, and after all she’d been through, Storey knew how important happiness was. She studied the dreamy look in her mother’s face and smiled.
Storey had found someone, so why shouldn’t her mother find someone? And if that someone ended up being her father…maybe that was a good thing – for everyone.
It would certainly change things. But then, as she’d found, change could be good – very good.
Just then her mother, from deep inside the fridge, popped her head out and asked, “Storey, do you know what happened to the cheese?”
Storey gasped, looked over at Eric wide eyed and the two broke out laughing.
In fact, the world looked damn bright all over.