When asked to meet someone's parents, you know it's a big deal. The kind of big deal that leaves your mouth dry, your heart racing and gives your stomach the very insistent need to throw up. Not the best condition to meet someone's parents in, but things don't always go the way you plan.

You don't give just anyone an inside look into your personal life. To the world of your younger, vulnerable self. It was a gift, a terrifying gift. One that I did not deserve. 

I hadn't met Luke's mom before, but I knew of her. Like most Walkers, she was famous. A titan of industry. The woman who currently sat at the head of the Walker Empire, holding everything together. The head of a very terrifying wolf pack. The head of a family of potential murderers. 

I had nodded, mentally preparing to go to his mother's lavish mansion and try not to make a fool of myself. But when Duke came over to watch Carter, who refused to come out of his room, needing time to be alone, I found myself at the hospital. 

"Your mom is here?" I asked, confused as I stared up at the building we walked into.

Luke nodded, looking nervous as we exited the elevator on the forth floor, walking down a hall labeled 'Psych Unit'. 

"She comes in sometimes." His voice was quiet, unsteady. A shadow crossing his features.

We wove our way around several corridors, and I watched Luke grow more and more quiet, until we walked into a clean room where a woman sat on a bed next to a large window, her back to the door. Her long black hair spilled down her shoulders, glistening in the afternoon light that fell through the window. 

At the sound of the door opening, she turned and took Luke in with surprise. "Luke?"

He walked into the room, shadows vanishing as he smiled. "Hey mom." 

She stood up, her hands clasped in front of her, her smile tired but bright. "I didn't expect to see you here today." 

Then her eyes fell on me and they went wide, her face paling. "What..." she trailed off at the sight of me. 

Luke took her hand and brought her over to stand in front of me. "Mom, this is Em. Em this is my mom."

We stared at each other for a long moment, both stunned speechless. I wasn't sure what to say, because this woman, wasn't Mrs. Walker, but the woman I saw exiting Luke's trailer not that long ago. 

She must have had Luke when she was young and the reality of this woman not being a Walker was enough to make my head spin. I had never read about her anywhere. The world's best kept Walker secret. 

"Luke?" she turned to look up at him, alarmed. "What's going on?"

"It's okay mom." Luke offered me a shy smile. "Em Springs. This is Bailey James, my birth mother." 

I offered a surprise smile. "Hi, Ms. James."

She blinked, seeming to settle into the conversation and smiled. The smile was so much like Luke's that I suddenly realized why she had seemed so familiar in the first place. "Please, call me Bailey."

Excitement seemed to pour out of her, buzzing and bright as she took my hands and pulled me over to her bed ushering me to sit beside her. "Luke has told me so much about you."

She looked me over with open curiosity. "I like your tattoos." 

I rubbed the back of my neck, blushing and self conscious. This was not the meeting I had expected to have. She was warm, open. Nothing like Mrs. Walker who had often been compared to an ice queen. 

"Thank you."

"I wish I was brave enough to get one. Luke has so many that I am half convinced he has no pain receptors," she said shooting him a smile from where he stood, leaning against the wall, watching. 

He shrugged giving her an easy smile. "High pain tolerance."

She clucked her tongue. "Show off."

Then her eyes came back to me. "By the surprise on your face when you walked in, I bet you have a lot of questions." Before I could answer, she jumped in, telling me her story. 

"I was fifteen when I met James Walker." She let out a little laugh at the name. "Looking back on it, it felt like fate since my last name was James. I didn't know his last name at the time. So to me he was just... James." She looked out the window, her eyes wistful. 

"He was seventeen and completely lost, his father dropping him off in the middle of nowhere with no money or food forcing him to find his own way home to teach him a lesson. Tough love he called it. He showed up at our farm, covered in dirt, having gotten half trampled by a heard of sheep." 

Luke snorted. 

"It was love at first sight," she said honestly, smiling to herself, staring down at her hands as if she could still feel his fingers touching hers. "He wasn't supposed to stay for more than a day... A week later, he was still on our farm, working for room and board. I had no idea who he was or the family he came from until his father showed up in a limousine two weeks later. And even then, he didn't tell me his name. I didn't think I would see him again." 

She sighed, her fingers tugging at the edges of her hospital gown, showcasing how young she really was. "Three years later, he suddenly shows up at my door looking exhausted admitting that he ran away from home. From the life he had let happen to him." 

"My grandfather put him into an arranged marriage," Luke said quietly from the corner of the room, his eyes unreadable.

"Like they tried to do with Andrew," I realized. He nodded. 

"James confessed that he loved me. Wanted a life with me, and said that even if he had to stay on our farm, he didn't care. Whatever it took to have me in his life was enough." She turned her face back to the window. "I didn't know he was married. That he was planning on getting a divorce but had run out the door so fast that he had left everything up in the air at home."

She paused, her eyes glazing over at the memory. "He lived with my family and me for six months before I found out. His father came after searching everywhere for him. They had a big fight, James learned that his wife was pregnant. Pregnant with his baby." 

I sucked in a breath and Bailey turned to look at me. "She hadn't told him, but she was three months pregnant when he ran off. She was weeks away from giving birth." 

My heart ached, ice soaking my veins as her story began to come down to the final details. "So he went home and was with her when Andrew was born." 

There was no venom in her voice at the mention of Andrew. Not that I could blame her. Andrew was incredibly kind and the fact that he always treated Luke so well must have made it easier. 

"I found I was pregnant a month later," she said quietly. "I know that I should hate James... for picking Mrs. Walker over me but..." she gave me a helpless shrug. "I couldn't have handled that life. All that attention. All that need to be perfect. You need to be..." 

Cold as ice, I thought. 

"His wife was perfect for it. And even after he died..." Bailey swallowed. "She kept everything together. Doing everything she could to keep his family name intact. Something he cared about even though he pretended not to." 

I had a thousand questions, but by the way she set her jaw, I knew there was no room for them. This tiny slice of life I had just been given was sacred, and I was struck again by how little I deserved it.

...

My mind a buzz as we left the hospital. Luke Walker was the sole heir to an empire and his step mother had begged him not to loosen the reigns. And if the others found out about his real mother... 

It send a shiver down my spine. 

"I like her," I said. "You look like her."

Luke smiled at the sky. "So that's why you like me. Because I'm pretty?"

I snorted. "I never said I liked you."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, fighting a smile. "You didn't have to. I'd say your kissing does the talking for you." 

I rolled my eyes. "You got that from a few kisses? My message clearly implied that I can't stand you." 

Luke raised a brow, glancing at me as we continued to walk. "Wow. Imagine the kind of kisses I would get if you actually liked me."

I bit my lip to keep from smiling. "The kind of kisses that would knock you off your feet, Walker."

Color filled Luke's face and he looked away. "She liked you too, my mom."

I thought of Bailey's smile. Her gentle spirit. How utterly terrified she was as soon as Luke introduced her as his real mother.

"Why did you want me to meet her?" I asked, my voice quiet as we walked along a small garden outside, where several patients wobbled along, soaking in the sun. 

A muscle worked in Luke's jaw. "I didn't want to lie. I have to lie to everyone." He stopped and turned to look at me. "I don't want you on that list."

I looked away, afraid of the open honesty in his expression. "We all have secrets, Luke."

He shook his head, sending several strands of hair falling against his temple, framing his jaw, dark chocolate eyes taking me in with sharp intensity. "I don't want to have any with you."

I closed my eyes, blocking him out. Guilt snaked across my chest, squeezing tight. "Think about what you are risking by telling me any of this. The last time you told me something, the world knew about it a few hours later."

"That wasn't—"

I gazed up at him, my own eyes filling with tears. "You need to stop assuming that things will be okay. Your mom doesn't need me to know her. You don't need me to know. And now somehow, someone else will find out and soon she will be known. Her name everywhere. And after all she's been through..." I swore. "I don't want that for her."

"I don't want that either. But it won't come to that Em. We came to the hospital. A place I come to all the time. I visit her hear when she has her appointments." 

I blinked. "Is that why you were in the hospital when I brought Carter in? Is that how the doctor knew you?" 

He nodded. "They have my information on file. That's why I could give Carter blood that fast." 

The memory of Luke sitting next to Carter, making him laugh caused my chest to ache. "How often does your mom come in?" I asked, pushing away the memory. 

Luke's expression grew soft. "Enough. She's become withdrawn, isolated. I come when I can but I wish she had more people in her life." He paused, lost in thought for a moment. "After you saw my mom yesterday... I knew what you thought. That we were having a relationship and I wanted to explain." 

I raised a brow, trying to bring humor to the conversation. "And you thought I didn't buy the aunt thing?" 

He didn't laugh and we fell into silence again as we walked. We were nearly through the garden when Luke spoke again, his voice distant. "I used to want to hurt my step mom. I held the secret that I wasn't hers like a knife, threatening to give it to paparazzi all the time. She wasn't a kind person, always pushing me away. Always trying to get me to walk away from the family that I had only been half born into." 

Running his fingers through his hair, Luke sighed. "But after everything that happened with my grandfather... I learned that my step mom was... scared. Trying to keep me safe from my grandfather's attention. My dad had been his soul focus and after a while I didn't recognize the man he became. She didn't want me to have that life. Me or Andrew. She had no idea what she married into. In a different life... that fear would have been my mom's." 

"Why did she take you in?" I asked, unable to help the question that bubbled to the surface. I couldn't picture his step mother being that kind even if it ended up backfiring later on.

"My father did. My step mother was against it, but he had a tendency to always get what he wanted. My mom... has had problems for years. She's incredibly kind, an open book. And after my father went back to his old life... it was hard for her." He swallowed. "She wanted me to have a better life. A life that she didn't think she could give me on the farm. And my grandparents— her parents, weren't the biggest fans of me because of who I reminded them of. Still aren't." 

I didn't know what to say. He spoke about his life story with utter calm, but the truth of the pain behind it was clear on his face. "After your parents... visited, I wanted you to know that I understand when family isn't what you want them to be. What you need them to be." 

He took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You aren't alone. My family sucks too." 

I let out a wet laugh, surprised when my eyes filled with tears. "We should start a club. Messed up families club."

Luke smiled sadly. "What a pair we make."

"A very messed up pair." 

I remembered the note left under Luke's door, and suddenly wondered if his mother was the secret the anonymous note giver had referred to. Maybe no one knew about my gossip column. Maybe it really was all about Luke.

"I've been thinking..." I said taking a few steps ahead of Luke spinning to walk backward facing him. 

Luke raised a brow, and my face turned red at the suggestive expression on his face. 

"Why do you assume it's inappropriate?" I stammered, nearly tripping and falling on my butt. 

Luke smiled, teasing, making my insides melt a little. That wasn't an expression he had ever thrown my way. That is a dangerous look. It's no wonder people fall all over themselves when they watch his movies.

 "Goodness and I thought I was easy to fluster."

I ignored him. "I think we should have dinner with your step mom and the other Walkers." 

It was Luke's turn to nearly trip. "Why?" he asked, eyes wide. "I hardly doubt you want to sign up for the most awkward family reunion of all time." 

"Well, if one of them is trying to kill you, it's the place to be. To get answers," I added. "I don't make a habit of hanging out with murder-y family members otherwise."

He sighed. "I think I'd prefer to come home to your parents trying to steal my stuff instead." 

I groaned. "Can we just pretend that didn't happen?" 

"Only if I can call in the same favor when my family tries to emotionally tear you apart."

Nodding in agreement I added one final thing. "I want Andrew and Delle there."

Luke looked surprised. "Any particular reason?" 

I grinned. "Because having Delle there without Andrew would be weird, and I need the human lie detector to tell me who is lying for this particular family reunion." 

---

Thank you for reading chapter thirty one! I hope you are enjoying the story! Or are at least curious to see where it goes!

UPDATE DAYS - A NEW CHAPTER EVERY FRIDAY!

It's time for Em to meet the Walker Wolves. How will that go? 

What will Luke's step mom think of Em? How will the rest of the family treat her?

Will she learn who is after Luke?

What will happen next?

CHAPTER QUESTION - What did you think of Luke's mom?