“Sound familiar?” Margo snickered.
It did. Enola could totally relate. If it weren’t for Gideon, Enola wished that she could go back in time, five minutes before she found out that monsters existed, and erase everything after that.
“Gran, why did she kill my father?”
“It was an accident,” her gran responded with tears welling in her eyes. “Baby, your mother and father were very much in love. They were gonna marry, especially when she found out that she was pregnant.”
Marie paused, maybe a bit too long, because Margo blurted, “So why did she kill him?”
Marie cut her eyes at Margo, and Margo threw her hands up.
“What? Gran, you know we waitin’ to find out.”
Marie narrowed her eyes at Margo and turned back to Enola. “One day, Olivia was attacked by a vampire. She used her abilities to defend herself. She was able to defeat the vampire, but she was severely traumatized. Eric, that was your father’s name, Eric Manolo was an immigrant from Cuba.”
“Ooh, Nola, you’re Cuban,” Margo chirped.
Enola was astounded. Her life was like it could have been a Stephen King novel. She had never known her father, not even his name. Then she learned that her mother killed him, and the only thing Margo could pull from the story was that she was Cuban. She rolled her eyes at her dense cousin and then focused her attention on her gran.
Marie cleared her throat and continued. “As I said, she was traumatized. That night, when she was finally able to sleep, Olivia was having a hellish nightmare. In the dream, she was being attacked by vampires. She began to fight back.”
A single tear danced down Marie’s cheek. Enola reached out and gently swiped the tear from her gran’s face. She didn’t like seeing her cry, but she needed the rest of the story.
“Go on, gran,” Enola urged.
“You see, Olivia was telekinetic. She could move things with her mind. When she woke up…” Marie dropped her head and swiped at the tears that escaped, then looked up at Enola with sadness in her eyes. “When she woke up, she was terrified, screaming at the top of her lungs. When Eric ran into the bedroom to check on her, she sent a fireplace poker in his direction.”
Enola’s breath hitched. She clutched her chest because she was actually feeling the pain that her mother must have felt. Her own tears began to escape.
“He died instantly,” Marie sniffed.
“Oh, my God,” Margo whispered. “Oh, God.”
“I had the shifters clean it all up. Olivia was devastated, so she ran and never looked back.”
An overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over Enola. She knew that her mother had loved her dearly. Enola never lacked love, affection, or understanding. But no matter how wonderful her mother was, she couldn’t hide her sadness. Enola often wondered why her mother suffered from frequent bouts of melancholy.
“Oh, my God! What is happening?” Ruby blurted from the doorway. She scanned the room with tears in her eyes. “Why y’all so sad? Mamma, you okay?”
Ruby rushed over to Marie and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Mamma, why are you crying?”
“Olivia,” was all Marie said.
“Oh, Mamma. Come here,” Ruby said softly as she pulled Marie into her arms.
She held her mother and gently rocked her back and forth. The tender moment reminded Enola of the many times she had been comforted by her mom. It also brought back memories of the times that she comforted her dying mom.
Enola dried her tears, crawled over to her gran and aunt, and wrapped her arms around them both. Margo wiggled into the hug and kissed her mom on the top of her head.
“I love you guys,” Margo whispered.
“I—”
Ruby’s declaration was suddenly cut off. She froze and went completely silent. She eased off of the bed and stood perfectly still.
“Mamma, wha—”
“Shhh!” she said, cutting Margo off.
