I smiled, this was better than my plan. “How long will they be tied up?”
“Thirty minutes, easy, if they don’t find anything in the cars. It’s a felony stop, they have to run all their records and search the vehicles. They won’t be a problem for you. Have a good trip home, Miss Ella.”
“Thank you.” I hung up the phone, Remi was smiling as she could hear both sides of the conversation.
We got onto the freeway and soon were in the middle of nowhere again. I was busy checking my phone, I’d gotten a number of messages from Mark and a few made me blush.
“So, when are you going to tell me?”
I looked at her in shock. “Tell you… what?”
“That you are in love.” I blushed hard and looked down. “We know you too well, and you’ve never been like this with a guy before. What happened last night?”
“We had sex, Aunt Remi, you KNOW that. I’m sure you smelled it before I even got in the room.”
“You had sex with him before, but something changed in you last night. Tell me what happened.”
I went through the evening, telling her about the conversation and how he reacted to finding out I was pregnant. It felt good to talk about things that I would have shared with my mom if she was still here. She kept prying, and I gave in. “Mark proposed to me, he wants us to get married in a few weeks. He said it would be the best thing for us and the baby.”
I could see her grip the wheel tighter as she thought. “What do you think?”
“It’s sudden.” I looked out the window. “I’ve known him forever, we’ve always been good together, and I would have been his earlier if it wasn’t for the mate thing. Still, it feels right to me.”
“You still have a mate out there somewhere, Ella. Someone made just for you. You fought so hard to have the choice, and now you’re turning your back on him before you even meet him. There’s nothing forcing you to get married now, is there?”
“No.”
“So why rush off into something that will change your life forever? Human relationships don’t have the certainty that a mating does. You just watched it happen with Al and Carol, their bond is there and it will grow. Would you rather be like her, or like Kayla? Trapped in a marriage when your mate comes along? One thing you know for sure is that Mark is NOT your mate.”
I closed my eyes and thought for a while. “I don’t want to be a single mom, Aunt Remi.”
She shook her head. “You won’t be, you’ve got Marge and Mabel with you, and Mark and his family will still be there to support you. It’s not uncommon for humans these days, so don’t feel you have to get married or your baby will be something less. Take your time, let your relationship develop, and when you are completely sure, THEN you get married.”
“But I already accepted his proposal. I am in love with him.”
“You’re also still in high school, and he’s in his first year of college. Even if you didn’t have everything going on with the Packs, you’d still get the same talk from me. Take your time, use the engagement to learn about each other and grow. You can always get married later.” She patted my thigh. “I bet if you talked to him, he’d be relieved. He just wants you to be secure, and to show you he’d do anything for you. I bet his parents would be happier with a long engagement as well.”
This was true, I could tell his parents weren’t happy with us eloping but were deferring to what I wanted. I needed to talk with them alone when we got back.
“There’s more to this. You realize that with what just happened back there, you’re no longer as protected from the other three Packs. The Tanner Alpha will be dead by tonight, and his Pack taken over by another; your baby is no longer important to the line of succession. We are protecting you, but that only goes so far. What do you think will happen when those three Packs learn you are married? They may not touch you because of Doug, but…”
“They’ll go after Mark.” I slapped my forehead. “Fuck, what was I thinking.”
“You weren’t, and that’s the problem. It sucks having to grow up so fast, but that’s the lot Luna has for you. Don’t get ahead of her.” She thought for a few moments. “You still want your dreams, Ella, there’s nothing wrong with that. You just need to have your revenge first, eliminate the threat, and then pursue your dreams again. It’s not fair to Mark to drag him into your revenge.”
She was right.
Dammit.
I sent a text to Tom, asking if I could talk to him and Shelley before our scheduled meeting Monday. I then sent a text to Mark, telling him I was getting cold feet and I didn’t want to rush into a marriage anymore, but I still loved him.
He said we could talk more when I got back, and that he loved me too.
I laid down in the seat and placed my head on Remi’s lap. “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry, Ella. I wish I could do more.” I fell asleep as we kept heading west.