Would they want to know their granddaughter if they knew the truth about her heritage, or would they shun her? She would never put her daughter through that kind of scrutiny. If her parents could not be happy for her, then she would not allow them in Eliza’s life.
She was so fiercely protective of her daughter, but she didn’t want to be irrational. On the flipside, her daughter missed out on having large groups of aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings.
So far they had not been assigned to draw a family tree yet in school. But the time would come, and eventually her daughter would be required to do that.
It would just be Everleigh and her daughter on that family tree paper.
Of course, she could tell her daughter about her family.
So far she had gotten away with telling her they lived far away, and that they had not been able to visit yet, but her daughter was observant; it was only a matter of time before she realized that there was nothing that kept them from visiting her family, if they wanted to. Maybe a hundred years ago, a family could get away with that lie, but not now. Maybe her daughter would blame her like Everleigh blamed her own family.
But those thoughts were far too morose for a Saturday morning.
Thankfully, one of the moms from the kindergarten class came over and sat down. "Hey, has the teacher talked to you about the St. Patrick's Day party?"
"I thought they were only allowed to have a Christmas party and a Valentine's Day party," Everleigh said.
"Well, technically, that's true, but if the parents organize it, the school looks the other way. The older they get the harder it is, but since she’s in kindergarten, schools are pretty lenient."
"Sure. I'd love to help. What can I do?"
"I was thinking of having a game and then letting them decorate cookies."
She liked the way the human parents focused on their kids. Sometimes they could get a little spoiled, but the pack life had always been about the cubs adjusting to the way that the adults lived.
Most of the time they weren't really considered when decisions were being made.
"Great," Everleigh said. She was thrilled to be included.
"We're going to meet next Tuesday," the mom said. "I'll text you with the information.”
"Thank you," Everleigh said, and the mom launched into a discussion about the upcoming fundraiser for the kids' school and Everleigh zoned out a little bit. It wasn't that she didn't care. She always helped with the fundraisers too.
She just felt Roman's presence getting stronger. She glanced over to check on her daughter and that's when she realized
her daughter wasn’t in her seat.
"Eliza!" she cried out.
The other mom looked at her in alarm. "Oh no. She must've gotten up. Mine do that all the time. I'll help you look."
Everleigh jumped out of her seat. Her daughter was nowhere close by. She scanned the room, looking for any people they might know, or anyone who her daughter might recognize. But she saw no one. In fact, the café was starting to clear out from the breakfast crowd.
She ducked under the tables, searching with frantic motions. Then she saw Roman. Her heart stopped. Did he have her daughter? Did he know?
Had he come to take her away?
But her daughter wasn't with him. However, he was looking in the direction of the corner of the café, a place that Everleigh had forgotten about in her panic.
The owners had taken one corner and made it the kids’ area, complete with small tables and chairs and a stuffed couch and play kitchen and register. They even had little aprons on hooks that the kids could use. Her daughter had tied one around her waist and was currently serving some wooden toast to another little boy.
The panic receded and Everleigh sagged. She had to get out of the café.
Roman’s eyes were on her daughter. She could not do anything about that. She scurried toward the corner and grabbed her daughter. "Honey. We have to go right now."
"But, Mommy! I just made toast for this boy. He's in my class. I don't remember his name, but he really likes toast and I'm going to put some jam on it and –"
She hated to cut her daughter off but that was just too bad. "I'm sorry. We have to go right now."
Her daughter must've been able to sense how serious she was because she got up without protest and came back to the table, shooting forlorn looks back at the pretend bacon and toast.
Everleigh ignored Roman, pretending he was not there. She kept her eyes averted and just walked forward with her daughter's hand clutched tightly as they moved past him. She lifted Eliza into her arms, something she didn't usually do in public.
Most mothers did not carry their five-year-old daughters around town, especially when they were as tall as her daughter, but she needed to feel close to her. She held her tightly and rushed toward their house. For once she was not worrying about whether anyone would notice them.