Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

“I’m sorry you fell. Do you need anything?”

She licked her lips and cleared her throat, glancing at the chocolates. “I… don’t really like the cherry liquor ones. But it’s thoughtful of you.”

Radek counted to ten in his head instead of screaming nothing’s ever good enough! “I’m sorry about the last argument we had, I wasn’t in a good state of mind.”

Mom glanced at Yev, then back at Radek and exhaled. “I might have overreacted.”

That tiny acknowledgement that not everything was Radek’s fault made his heart so much lighter. “Sooo… This is Yevhen, my boyfriend,” he said, barely able to breathe in anticipation of what her reaction might be this time.

She watched him for the longest moment, and then her face twisted, and she let out a sob, hiding behind her cast.

Radek’s chest sank, but Yev’s hand was the support he needed. “I know it’s not what you wanted for me, but I can’t hide it forever.”

She sobbed with even more desperation and looked up. Yev might not have needed protection, but Radek was ready to deflect any mean words that might come out of Mom’s mouth next.

She bit her lip, trying to wipe her tears with the cast. “You will take c-care of him, right? He can be so useless sometimes…”

Radek sat straighter, not sure whether he should be relieved or offended, but he doubted his relationship with Mom could ever cease being complicated.

“Mom!”

He could sense Yev silently laughing behind his back, but the answer came back fast.

“Of course I will.”

Thanks, Yev. For nothing.

Then again, being the butt of the joke was better than Mom not accepting their relationship altogether.

“I won’t always be around, Radek. We all like to imagine ourselves as invincible, but as you must have realized,” she glanced at his stump with wet eyes, “death is always around the corner.”

Radek groaned. “Jesus, Mom…”

“It’s true. So… that’s why it’s good to have someone you can depend on,” she uttered and squeezed his hand.

Yev cleared his throat. “Do you want anything to drink, or a snack?”

“Coffee, please. And vanilla wafers,” Mom said as if she’d been waiting for that question.

Yev left, closing the door behind him, but the atmosphere had become less dense within a couple of minutes, so Radek didn’t feel deserted.

“I’ll try to be around more,” he said, deciding it was his time to make amends. “I’ve decided to sell the apartment in Cracow and move back, though I’ll probably stay with Yev permanently.”

Mom exhaled, her gaze wandering off to the TV. “Or you could both move in with me.”

Radek swallowed, his mind racing when he remembered all the arguments he’d had with her over the years, yet it felt as if he’d become a different person since, as if the past two months had transformed him into someone who wasn’t only focused on his own needs and pleasures. And what if Mom really didn’t have all that much time? The property was massive, and they could technically move into the guest house.

He dared a little smile and squeezed her hand harder. “I mean… it would be sweet to use the pool.”

Something changed in her face. As if his openness made her features relax for once. “I know we argue a lot, but… it’s become so quiet without your father.”

“Mom? I know I’m putting you on the spot here, but any time I ask, you avoid the subject. You and Dad had me very late in life, and I really need to know if there were any… unusual circumstances around it.”

She gave a short laugh, but her gaze instantly drifted off. “Strange? What could you possibly mean? You might be gay, but I’m sure you know how babies are made.”

Again, she was trying to change the focus of the conversation by being dismissive. But Radek would be patient this time.

“Mom, I will never ask again, but you have to tell me if something happened at the fox farm. Whatever it is, I’ll understand. Since I remember, you refused to go there, and you never let me accompany Dad either. I need to know, even if you feel it doesn’t make sense.”

“And what could have happened at the fox farm?” she snapped, but the pallor of her unbruised skin showed that there was something she wasn’t telling him.

“Whatever it was, I won’t laugh at you. I need to know, Mom.”

She pressed her lips tightly together, panting as if she were about to have some kind of fit. “Fine. I was pregnant, and I thought I’d miscarried. I went down with a bad fever and had a really strange dream about the farm. And when I woke up, turned out you’d been born, and I remembered it happening. Is that what you wanted to know?”

Radek promised himself he’d be patient, because this was already more than he’d ever gotten. “What was the dream?” he asked softly.