Recap:

“There are some things I need to figure out. Some promises I need to keep. I’ll explain later, I gotta go,” I ran up the stairs and into Andrew’s room. I had a promise to keep to Kyle.

I found his duffle bag in the corner by the window. I zipped it open, finding wrinkled bundles of clothing. I shifted through them, but only found more clothing and a small, worn pocket-bible. But at the very bottom, was a picture frame. I pulled it out of the clusters of fabric that had been stuffed carelessly in the duffle bag. Behind the scratched, clear plastic, there was a small picture of Kyle with his arm around a woman, a small baby in their arms. Another man stood behind them, his arms around their shoulders as he looked lovingly down at the baby. I took the picture out of the frame and read the back.

Mark, Kyle, Sophie, and Anna

June 17, 2007

I could barely see the baby’s face under her blankets and little pink hat. Her little nose and lips just barley stood out. The girl was just barley shorter than Kyle and had long dark-blond hair. Her eyes were a crisp blue and looked down at the baby with love and exhaustion in her eyes.

I had never met Kyle’s family. No one had.  He never really talked about them, even to us, and we accepted that. We all had things to bear, so we never questioned his secrecy. All we knew was his parents lived across the country, and he only got to see them on occasion. I lightly touched the faces of the people, and my heart ached at the sight of Kyle’s grin. I took the picture with me as I walked back to my room.

“Hey, Maggie!” I turned to see Andrew running down the hallway. I stuffed the picture in my back pocket as quickly as I could as he got nearer and wrapped his around me. “Theres still some food downstairs, and Connor doesn’t want it to go to waste. Bailey, Davo, Donnie and Luke are all down there too. Why don’t we join them. Have a little snack before we go to bed?”

“Sure,” I said, quickly kissing his cheek. “I’ll be right down ok? I’m just going to change into a tee shirt.”

“Ok, see ya,” He kissed my forehead and walked toward the stairs. I quickly ran to my room and put the picture under my pillow. I left it there to wait for me as I went downstairs to join my friends. We ate for a while, laughed and talked. As the night lost its youth, we all went to bed. Our wounds were throbbing, our minds heavy as lead, but for the first night in so long, we could sleep in peace.

**********

 Chapter 35

We had just come from the church, the smell of the incense still stuck in my black clothing. Andrew held my hand as we walked behind the burgundy coffin to the gravesite. It had only been about four days since the battle, I still had my cast on and Andrew still had his stitches in. Tears still filled our eyes at our loss. I could hear the mourners around me whisper prayers and gently sing hymns. They all had their heads bowed in silence, and some clung to loved ones, somehow walking as one entity tangled within its self. This was how Andrew and I walked.

Donnie and Luke trailed along behind us, their black suits pressed to solemn perfection. It was the first time I had seen them in something other than t-shirts and jeans since we had met. They each held a white carnation in their hand, as did many of the people. Andrew held two in his hand, as my hands were busy clutching to him in sorrow. When we got to the gravesite, they prepared to lower the coffin. The preacher said a few words, about how we would all meet Kyle again in Heaven some day, and how God always has a reason for his actions. He said a prayer and we repeated after him as the casket was slowly lowered into the ground. One by one, people threw the white flowers into the pit with him. I watched as each puff of white was swallowed by the grave, sinking into that black hole. Then, for but a second, there was a flash of red in the sea of white. I watched as a woman, clad in a long black dress with her blond hair pulled into a bun, tossed a blood-red rose into the pit. As if sensing I was looking at her, she turned and looked at me with her crisp blue eyes for a moment. I kept watching as she turned from the grave and picked up a small figure dressed in a black dress and stark white tights.

I let go of Andrew and slowly walked to them, as not to disturb the mourners. I could feel Andrew’s confusion and worry, but I sent him a wave of calm and reassurance, letting him know that everything was alright. I wanted to tell him, but Kyle had kept this a secret for a reason. He had entrusted it to me with his dying breath, and I wouldn’t tell anyone until I was sure he would be ok with it. As I approached the woman carrying the child, she turned and saw me. Her eyes widened and turned into the crowd, trying to get away.  But I had speed on my side, and I carefully and quietly cut her off. She looked shocked and gasped as she saw me in her path. She placed her hand on the young girl in her arms, clutching her protectively. A small golden band glistened on her finger. She began to back away.

“Wait! Wait, I’m Maggie Burks, a good friend of Kyle’s,” she still didn’t seem convinced. I pulled the rosary out of my pocket. “He told me to give this to you, Anna.” Her blue eyes narrowed at me.

“I’m Sophie,” said the woman. The little girl lifted her head from the girls shoulder.

She was maybe four or five years old, her blond hair was pulled back into a braided pony tail which rested on her black dress. She looked at me with her green eyes, inspecting me with a confident curiosity, a look Kyle had given all of us, time and time again. Her voice was as soft as silk and melodious like a harp. It almost seemed as if she was singing. “My name is Anna. You knew my Daddy?”

* * *

Sophie had, understandably, not wanted to talk the day of the funeral. She had said Kyle had told her about me, and that he wouldn’t have given the rosary to just anyone. So she had invited me over to come to her home the next day. Connor had lent me a jeep with a GPS and I had entered the address into it. I followed the directions for over an hour before I got there. I stopped in front of a small light blue house. I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket and checked the writing on the back. The address matched up, so I got out of the Jeep and walked to the door. I put my hand in my pocket and gripped the thin chain and rosary. There was no doorbell, so I knocked on the door. After a few moments, an older woman opened the door. She was dressed in all black.

“Yes?” She said in a gruff voice.

“Hi. My name is Maggie Burks. I was a friend of Kyle McGraw,” She looked at me skeptically. “Sophie invited me over,” I pulled the rosary out of my pocket and showed it to her. “I was with him when…well he told me give this to Anna.”

The woman nodded. “Come in,” she said, opening the door wider and letting me in. “Have a seat,” she gestured to an old-looking paisley couch. I sat down on it. The couch had a homey feeling, like it had a million stories to tell and it was as if it hugged your body as you sat. “Sophia and Anna will be back from the store any minute. So you knew my son-in-law…” She said as she sat down beside me.

“Son in law? So you’re Sophie’s mother then?” I asked.

“Yes, I am. Would you like anything to drink?”

“Oh no thank you,” I said. Just then I heard the sound of the door opening.

 “Gamma!” Anna ran into the house and to the old woman, her blond curls bouncing around her face. She wore a pink dress and a purple headband, the little dimples at the edge of her grin making her face all the more innocent. It looked as if she had never been touched by a bad memory. She leaped into the woman’s lap and hugged her. “Hi Gamma!”

“Hello sweetheart,” said the woman as she kissed the little girls forehead. Sophie walked in the door behind her.

“Hello Maggie. I see you’ve met my mother.” She said, putting some brown grocery bags on the floor.

“Yes she has,” said the old woman. She turned to me. “Anna, do you remember Maggie from yesterday? She was a friend of your fathers.”

“Hi!” She said, waving her little hand at me.

“Hi Anna,” I said. “I meant to give this to you yesterday…” I held out the rosary. Anna jumped off the woman’s lap and crawled onto mine.

“That was my Daddy’s,” She said.

“Yeah…yeah it was. And now it’s yours…” Looking closer at her eyes, I could see so much of Kyle in them. A little bit of his wisdom, his age beyond his own, was in her deep emerald eyes. “He loved you very much, Anna. Very much. He told me to tell you that, and to give you this.” I undid the hitch and put the chain around her neck.

“Ooo…” she said as she traced the cross with her dainty finger. It hung a little low on her small frame, but she seemed to like it. “Look Gamma! Look Mommy! Pretty!”

“Yes, it’s very pretty dear,” Sophie smiled at her. “It looks beautiful on you.” Sophie sat down on the couch.

“I think I will go get some tea,” said the old woman, nodding to Sophie. “Anna, dear, why don’t you come help me?” She held her hand out to the little girl

“Okay Gamma” she said, following her into the kitchen.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, turning to Sophie. “When were you and Kyle married? I mean, I knew him for years and I didn’t even know he was dating.”

 “Well, we met when I was eighteen and he was seventeen. We got married a year and a half later. Two years later, we decided to have a child. Then we had Anna…she has his eyes…,” She smiled then, sad and reminiscing, tracing the band on her finger. “We were young, but we were happy, and very well off,” “Something you might not know is his family is very rich, and he ran the sector of their company here. That’s where I work too. So we felt we were able to do what we did, get married and have a child. And it worked out very well. But yes, we kept it very secret. With the things he was involved in, he didn’t want anyone to be able to use me or Anna against him, or have any motive to hurt us.”

“So, you know then?” I asked, weary. “He told you?”

“Yes. First about the Freedom Fighters. I kept telling him to rename it, I always thought it was kind of cheesy,” she chuckled. “But he stuck to it, always told me he loved the name and lived by it. Then, when he found out about the wolves and decided to join, he told me all about that too. Always did want to save the world…”

I smiled, knowing she was right about Kyle. “Does Anna know about the wolves?”

“No. I never told her. My mother either,” She looked toward the kitchen, making sure no one was coming. “We decided it was best kept a secret. One day I may tell Anna, but I’m not sure. Now I have a question for you. Are you a wolf?”

She looked at me with bold confidence, but under it, I could see fear. “Yes, I am. But I’m one of the good guys. I was a good friend to Kyle and all the Freedom Fighters. We were like family,” I saw some tension release from her eyes. But she still held fear, like she was looking at a bear, not a girl. “I understand that it must be an odd concept, the wolves. God knows it took me a while to grasp it. But if you ever need help with anything, what’s left of the Freedom Fighters and I would be here in a heartbeat. And more of my pack if you should need it.” She cringed at the word ‘pack’ but nodded.

“I’ll remember that…I guess now, since it’s all over, it doesn’t matter if the rest of his friends know about us, I would like to talk to other people who knew him…” she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cell phone. “Kyle had this. He said it was given to him by a man named Connor. He gave me one too, in case I needed him. They act like walkie-talkies I guess…they can only call each other and the police. With your offer…I guess you should take it.” She handed me the phone.

“Alright. If you or Anna ever needs anything, you just call.” She nodded.

“Mom?” she called. “Could you grab some water for Maggie and I?” I could tell she was letting her mother know it was alright to come back in now.

“Yes of course dear,” the old woman walked back to the room with two glasses of water and placed them on the coffee table in front of the couch.

It was easy to feel the tension in the air. I could feel that Sophie wasn’t quite comfortable with the idea of werewolves, which was understandable. She seemed weary of me, and kept an eye on my movements. I wasn’t offended, I would feel the same way in her position. Anna bounced back into the room, nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie. She was the only sense of ease in the room, her face shining with beautiful ignorance. She jumped onto the couch and crawled her way onto Sophie’s lap.

“You guys should have this too,” I said, pulling the picture of Sophie, Kyle, and Anna out of my pocket. I handed it to Sophie. Her chin twitched as she traced Kyle’s face with the tip of her finger.

She wrapped an arm tighter around Anna. “Thank you…” she whispered.

“Look Mommy! It’s you and Daddy!” Anna said, pointing at the picture in her mother’s hand.

“Yes sweetheart, and that’s you,” Sophie pointed to Anna in the picture. Anna squinted at it, then smiled and giggled. “Now go wash up Anna, I’m going to make dinner soon”

Anna looked over at me expectantly. “Can Maggie stay Mommy? I like her.”

“I really should be going actually,” I said standing up.

“But you’ll come visit me, right Auntie Maggie?” She looked up at me so adoringly. I smiled at her calling me ‘Auntie’. I looked over at Sophie. She nodded and I took that to mean I should say yes.

“Yeah, I’ll come visit you Anna.”

“Yay!” She jumped up and down, clapping her hands. She ran past us and clomped up the stairs, her hands still clapping away and her laughter filling the air like the chiming of silver bells.

The old woman led me to the door. “You can call me Louise, by the way.” She said. “I hope you do come visit. I know my daughter would love to talk with you about Kyle. And Anna has really taken to you.” 

“I will,” I promised.