His lips quirked but he resumed glaring after he caught himself on the verge of smiling. “Mom thought your mother was a hippie-dippy, as she put it. I’m sure your mother thought mine was controlling and bossy.”
“She would have been used to that with May as her mother.” That’s when something else hit me. “Has anybody seen her?”
Galen’s expression softened. “No. I tried finding her. When you went missing … .” He shook his head. “I called for her but she didn’t come.”
“I think she’s over there with Wesley.” I didn’t even know I believed that until the words were out of my mouth. “Or maybe I just want that to be the case.”
“We know that souls can exist without bodies on that plane,” Aurora said reasonably. “It’s possible May is there too.”
I tried to picture what had happened to get my grandfather to the other plane. “She probably wanted to stick close to Wesley.”
“She should have come to us,” Galen argued.
“Yeah, but when you have to think fast … .” I choked up. “If I was the ghost I would’ve gone with you.”
He gave me an exasperated look. “I’m still mad at you.”
“Oh, I know.” I smiled. “You won’t be for much longer, though. You can’t hold out and we both know it.”
“Now I’m going to stay mad just because you said I can’t.”
He made me laugh. He always made me laugh. My smile didn’t last. “How are we going to get Wesley back?”
“I don’t know,” he replied solemnly. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Tell us about your mother,” Aurora prodded. “What did she say?”
“She made a few references to me having May’s sense of humor,” I started.
Booker gave me a sidelong look. “You know, you do have May’s sense of humor.”
“Is that good or bad?” I was honestly curious.
“It’s funny,” he replied. “If I had to live with you, I might not think it was funny.”
“It’s not,” Galen replied moodily. He really was determined to bemad at me. I couldn’t change it — I was oddly tired even though I didn’t feel as if I’d been gone that long — so I decided to ignore it.
“She mentioned that I reminded her of my father.” I had to run the interaction through my head again. “She didn’t act nostalgic. She didn’t cry.”
“Did you want her to cry?” Aurora asked.
“If I’d never known my daughter I might cry a little.” I frowned. “I mean, what if we had a kid?” I gestured between Galen and me. “What if I died in childbirth and he raised our daughter? I would be weepy if I got to meet her as an adult.”
“I believe you’ve traumatized me enough for one day,” Galen growled.
“Sorry.” I held out my hands sheepishly. “I guess I just expected more emotion. I used to dream about seeing her." I swiped at my cheek when a lone tear escaped, irritated with myself for falling apart.
“Dammit!” Galen pulled me to him for a hug. “I’m still mad,” he announced, his hands roaming my back as he kissed the top of my head. “But I can’t stand it when you cry.”
“I’m being stupid,” I said, pushing away from Galen. If I let him hold me I would cry harder. “Forget I said anything.”
Galen gave me a dubious look. “I’ll let you cry on my manly chest later when it’s just the two of us. That can be your penance for the door thing.”
“Aw, how sweet,” Booker taunted. “You’ve already forgiven her. You’re such a marshmallow.”
Galen skewered him with a glare, then turned back to me. “Baby, it’s okay to feel things about what happened. I wasn’t close with my father but the thought of seeing him under similar circumstances … .” He held out his hands. “You’re allowed to feel what you feel.”
“I don’t know what to feel,” I admitted. “It happened so fast.”
