Howl (2 page)

It’s not like I had never met handsome men
before. I volunteered at Thomas’s office when they would do free
pet clinics on Christmas weekend. Tons of men would bring their
dogs and ferrets to the clinic. None of them had this effect on me.
For a split second I thought I might be losing it.

Thomas took my blaringly loud and yet
non-verbal cue to move on. I caught just a shadow of a scowl on
Thomas’ face as he led the way to lunch. I followed wordlessly.
Thomas led us to the first floor solarium where several picnic
tables were permanently set. The sparkling golden streaks of
sunlight danced through the floor-to-ceiling windows along the back
wall of the solarium. Even when the weather outside was
bone-chillingly cold, the solarium was cozy and inviting.

“So Sophie, you are Thomas' younger sister,
right?” Jaime asked me as we sat down at the middle table.

I tossed a quick glance at Thomas who nodded
almost imperceptibly.

“Yeah, I just turned nineteen at the
beginning of March. Thomas, Lorelei, and Gavin are the triplets.” I
said.

“Triplets, that’s incredible. And you have a
twin, right? Or am I thinking of someone else?”

“No you’re right. Tristan is my twin. We also
have a younger set of brothers – Kylin and Ethan. They are
fourteen.”

“That’s pretty amazing that your mom had so
many sets of twins and triplets. That must be some sort of record.”
Jaime grinned and glanced at Thomas who just smiled back and chewed
cheerfully on his sandwich.

“That’s possible.” I laughed a little too
loud and fast for my liking. I took a moment’s pause to regain my
composure before speaking again. “Multiple births are just
extremely common in our family.”

“Chips?” Thomas put a small bag of chips in
front of me.

To keep me busy, no doubt. Emboldened, I
refused to take the bait.

“What about you? Do you have any brothers or
sisters?” I asked before giving in to the chips laid before me. It
was so hard to look at his handsome face and not stare. I had to
force myself to glance every now and then at the food Thomas and I
were sharing.

“I have a younger brother named Chris. He’s
in college in Boston studying philosophy. We’re very different,
obviously.” Jaime took a bite of his sandwich.

I was burning to know more about Jaime but I
had to try really hard to conceal my craving for information. Would
I dare force my hand with Thomas and ask Jaime something else? I
glanced at Thomas. His ears twitched ever so slightly. The muscles
in his jaw were set taught though the corners of his lips curled in
an expression of outright pleasantry. No human would have picked up
on his ruse. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

My wish was secretly granted after Jaime
swallowed. “I can only imagine what it would be like to have such a
large family. You must have always had fun having so many playmates
around growing up. And to hear Thomas talk about your family, you
all must be really close. I envy you both for that.” Jaime’s bright
eyes shifted to Thomas and back to mine, making my stomach jump as
I caught his attention again. “My brother and I are as close as we
could be considering that he is five years younger than me. Also, I
don’t get to see him as much as I would like because he’s so far
away in school.”

Jaime’s cell phone rang just then, cutting
him off. He glanced down at the number and turned off the ringer.
“I’m sorry. I have to take this.”

He quickly grabbed what was left of his
sandwich and stood up. “It was really great meeting you Sophie.
Feel free to bring Thomas lunch any time.” He gave me one last
brilliant smile and walked away, the cell phone to his ear.

Sorely disappointed, I watched him go out of
the corner of my eyes.

“He’s human.” Thomas’ tone was low and edged
with warning.

“So is your wife.” I shot back.

“That’s different and you know it.” The sharp
points of his canines glistened in the sunlight. I lowered my ears
and eyes.

Without another word, I left Thomas at the
table. The three miles walk to our house went by faster than I
anticipated, since I was lost in my own thoughts for the majority
of it.

At home that night, Gavin spread the word
around about the sighting. He didn’t know who was spotted since
Jaime never gave any real identifying information about the wolf in
question. It may have been a passing wolf from another pack for all
he knew. But either way, it was made very clear to all of us that
we were to take the utmost care to stay far off the trails and
roads.

“It’s for all of our safety.” Gavin reminded
us. “We mustn’t raise any suspicion.”

A dull ache formed inside my chest as I
thought about Jaime and Gavin’s order. No good would come of
getting too close to a human. I was a line-walker and our two
worlds were eternally separate.

This will pass. I told myself.

~Additions~

By the beginning of June I had almost
completely forgotten about Jaime. Early summer was the busiest time
at my house so there was plenty of work to keep me occupied. The
diversion helped immensely.

We had a greenhouse and an outside garden
that needed to be cleaned, weeded, remulched, and so on every year.
Any dead branches and trees had to be felled for firewood and
maximum sunlight. Maintaining the garden and surrounding area was
enough to keep us working from dawn until dusk. Not to mention
everything that went on inside the house.

Mom would have us work on spring cleaning
everything. Curtains were taken down and washed. Bookshelves and
cabinets repainted, if needed. Old clothes were torn up into rags
or repurposed into quilts and pillows. Old, broken furniture was
fixed or new were made. The list went on and on.

The Matthews family has always taken a lot of
pride in our home and land. Our yard was vast and rocky but well
manicured with flower beds around a concrete patio at the front of
our house. Herb gardens flowed like a sweet smelling river on each
side of our small pebble path leading from a gravel driveway.
Nothing in our yard or house was pretentious or over-the-top.
Simplicity and functionality ruled our land.

Our home was an open, farm-style house which
had gained added-on apartments as our family grew. From the outside
it looked almost lopsided but I doubted most human eyes would have
caught the flaw. The clapboard siding hid a few sins with its rich
mahogany stain. It was “our big cabin in the bigger woods.” as my
Mom called it. Surrounded on all sides by miles of Allegheny
National Forest, we were secluded and protected. It had always been
the one place that was truly ours. The one place we didn’t
hide.

“Tristan can you bring the hose and water the
seedlings while we get cleaned up?” Mom called to my twin who was
working near the greenhouse.

Mom and I were discussing nitrogen levels in
the soil when a cold burst of water hit me in the back. I screamed
and jumped several feet from where I had been. “Tristan! You ass,
that’s freezing!”

“Just bring me the hose!” Mom commanded
clearly annoyed.

Tristan didn’t move but just laughed at
me.

I slapped my hands on my legs and whistled.
“Come here boy! Good doggie!” He raised the hose again and I braced
myself for another blast of icy water when mom yelled at us.

“Will you two please act like adults?! I
swear you are worse than children.”

Gavin came around the corner of the house
just then. “We need to have a family meeting so I need everyone
inside.”

Tristan set the hose down tentatively as if
he thought I might make a dash for it. I rolled my eyes at him and
stuck my tongue out. Thankfully the weather was hot and rather
humid or else I might have actually gone for the hose. I’m ten
times faster than him and would have gotten the hose in no time.
The look on Tristan’s face as I pelted him with a spray of freezing
water would have been priceless.

Walking into the house I could still hear his
laughter a few feet behind me.

I might not give up on that idea just yet. I
mused.

The kitchen and dining room were basically
one very long room at the front of our house. The dining room
flowed into the living room behind it. Everything was open and
white-washed but warmed by black cherry furniture handmade by
Granddad or Tristan. The house would probably have been too airy
for a regular human family who would prefer closer quarters, but
with a family of eight adults, two teenagers, and two babies on the
way, we needed space.

Everyone was already gathered around the
extra large dinning room table where our most important family
meetings took place. Granddad, my mom’s father, sat cattycorner
from Gavin. Mom occupied her usual spot opposite the table from
Granddad. Next to her sat Will, Mom’s mate. Or as I prefer to call
him, my step-dad. Kylin and Ethan, my still yellow-eyed teenage
brothers took up the spots next to Will. Lorelei and her mate John
were on Granddad’s other side. So that left just me and Tristan to
squeeze into the remaining two seats.

Tristan plopped himself down next to Lorelei
and rubbed his head puppy-like against her arm, making whining
sounds.

“Tristan! You are not a dog.” Irritated, she
tried to shake his head off her arm.

“Sophie says I am.” He pouted and whined
again until I kicked him hard under the table.

“Ouch!”

“That’s enough from the Terrible Two. We have
some stuff to go over.” Gavin said over Tristan’s genuine
whimpering. Tristan and I both sat up. Gavin had a commanding
presence and you didn’t question him when he gave an order.

“Going over finances for the month I’m
getting concerned. We just finished paying the property taxes from
last year so that’s a relief. But Lorelei is close to giving birth
and that means we’ll be getting some pretty heavy medical bills
soon. Plus, John will be taking the first two weeks off after the
babies arrive. So I’m going to need Tristan and Sophie to get jobs
again.”

John spoke up. “Tristan, we are in need of
someone at the auto body shop. It’s pretty good money and you can
start right away.”

“Sounds good to me. Do I start tomorrow?”

“Yeah, you can ride in with me. I’d like to
show you around while I can.” John placed a hand on Lorelei’s
protruding belly and smiled.

“Where will I be working?” I asked Gavin.

“The Farmer’s Market is opening on the 12th.
I thought that might be a good fit for you. I didn’t pick up an
application yet so you should probably go into the borough office
and grab one sometime this week.”

“Sure, I’ll make a trip to town tomorrow.” A
flutter of excitement tickled my belly as I thought about working
at the Farmer's Market. The building is open on three sides so that
meant lots of fresh air. Last time I had a job I worked as a
secretary at Thomas’s veterinary office and it felt as if someone
had stuffed me inside a suffocating box and closed the lid
tight.

“Also, we’re doing pretty well at keeping
expenses down. Nobody has been going out on shopping sprees so
thank you for that. But this past winter was a hard one and the
heating bills were awful, even with using the wood stove as
secondary heat. This year I would like to replace as many windows
as possible. We need to seal up the house better before cold
weather hits. But it’s going to be expensive so I have started a
separate account so we can set back some money each month. My goal
is to replace as many as we have money for by the end of
September.”

Gavin went over a few more fixes he would
like to see done to the house and dismissed us. Tristan, Mom, and I
returned to the garden. Tristan watered the seedlings while mom and
I gathered up our tools and put them back in the greenhouse. After
showering and putting on clean clothes I walked into Lorelei’s
apartment which was connected to the south side of our house.

I plopped down on Lorelei's super comfy
suede-like couch and stretched out. Lorelei struggled in her effort
to not fall over as she made a seat to my left. Her stomach rested
on the tops of her thighs looking more like an over-inflated
balloon under her shirt than a pregnant belly. “I feel like a
beached whale trying to move.” She groaned.

“You have multiple babies in there. I’d
imagine one would be enough but you have two.” I rubbed a hand on
her belly. It was alarmingly rock-hard. “Is it supposed to feel
like that?!”

“I’m having a contraction.” Lorelei closed
her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. Her face relaxed as
the contraction eased. “These Braxton-Hicks contractions are
killing me. They are really strong sometimes.” Her nose crinkled in
a grimace as she scanned the apartment. “This place is a disaster.
I’ve been cleaning for two days straight and it seems like I keep
finding more dirt.”

The place looked great, I thought. Besides a
book and an empty tea cup on the coffee table in front of us,
everything was put away and organized. Taking a closer look, I
noticed that everything sparkled as if the entire place had just
been dusted and polished.

“Have you been scrubbing everything?” I asked
a bit more accusingly than I meant to.

“I have to. I feel like I’m going crazy with
all the dirt.” Lorelei grunted as she leaned a hand behind her and
tried to push herself up out of the sinking couch. “Ugh! I need
help.” I stifled a giggle as I stood and stretched out a hand to
pull her to her feet. Her belly nearly bowled me over as we
collided mid-step.

“Thank you! Sometimes just moving is
awful.”

“But you look amazing!” It wasn’t a lie. Her
ivory skin was almost translucent. Honey colored hair fell in
ringlets around her perfect heart-shaped face. Lorelei was the only
one of our family to have any curl in their hair. Even Gavin, with
a dark brown mop of waves, never actually curled. Mine was nearly
toothpick straight.