Eventually my mother and I finally ended up in the living area where we could talk along with Em. My mother just wanted us all in one room to discuss the fact that marriage was at both of our doors. Even though Luke hadn’t officially asked Em yet, he still asked for permission from her guardian. Which my mother approved after asking him why he suddenly decided to marry Em.
She kept out some details that I knew were missing, but I knew she was doing it for Em’s sake. My mother explained to Em that Luke’s change of heart was due to the fact that he just wanted to marry me because it was what was expected. He really wanted to be with Em. I just sat quietly while Em jumped up and down in her seat with excitement. I was pretty sure that if Luke was to come in right now to formally propose, she would literally jump in his arms screaming ‘yes!’
Then my mother turned towards me. It was now my turn to have a talk. Sadness filled her eyes as she tried not to cry, “I can’t believe my little girl who used to write in a journal about the man of her dreams, is getting married now.”
I felt my jaw drop, “You read my journal?!”
My mother let out a small chuckle, “I may have come across it a few times. To know that you’ve admired Trent for so long made me approve of his proposal to you. I was reading it when your father and I decided to talk about it fully. It’s best to see you happy since it's something I couldn’t have for myself.”
Em looked at me shocked, “Trent was your childhood crush?! And, you didn’t tell me?”
I gave her an apologetic smile, “It’s not like I expected him to return the feelings. He’s ten years older than us and he probably only saw me as a kid that just had a fantasy of marrying someone like him.”
My mother nodded her head, “He did think that until he risked his life to save you.” I looked at my mother confused. She looked back at me, “You probably don’t remember since you took a blow to the head. But we were helping the Ocean Region at the time and one of their land structures collapsed while you were helping escort people out of it. The earthquake was unexpected and we only had so much time before the large waves came crashing in.”
“I remember hearing about that,” Em said, “It must have been so scary to know you had a small window before the real danger showed up.”
“It did show up sooner than we wanted. Meaning that the earthquake we experienced was just an after shock,” my mother explained, “I remember yelling at Luna to get to high ground the moment I saw the water disappearing. But she was determined to save every last person in that building. By the time she started running for the path leading to where I was, the first wave came crashing in.”
Listening to my mother explain the day I didn’t remember, made me feel guilty. It must have been so hard for her to not be able to help me. Especially when one of the big waves came crashing into the shore.
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My mother looked at me, still lost in her memories, “Trent had seen my panic and ran to save you. But he only got there in time to block some of the impact of the water pushing you two against the cliff. He thinks that was probably when you hit your head. He was able to hold on to you as he swam to the surface of the rushing water so we could pull you out. Sadly that wasn’t the best option either for him when a tree branch went into his chest.”
Em’s hands covered her mouth in shock, “Oh my gosh, how did he survive that?”
“Some people from the Blizzard region were visiting at the time and Luna’s father was luckily part of the group. When I learned he was there, I had told him to pretend to not know us. It hurt him, but he understood.”
“So Dad saved Trent at that time.” I said as if stating a fact.
My mother nodded, “I was in the same tent as your father tending to your head wound while he struggled to save Trent. At one point you had woken up and told Trent to live so you could properly thank him for saving you. I don’t know if you ever did.”
Silence fell on the room as my mind tried to process all that was going on. Part of me wished that I would remember all of it, but it had to have been something too traumatic for me to cope with. It sounded like it was, especially for my mother.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that, Mom,” I heard myself say.
She smiled back at me and patted me on the knee, “I’m just glad that you are still here.” Then she got serious, “Did you decide? I thought we had more time, but Marcus wants to leave as soon as possible.”
Leave it to Marcus to decide that it was best to keep my parents apart as soon as he could. I know he told me that he wasn’t over my mother’s rejection, but he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it. Weren’t my parents’ happiness more important than some alpha’s ego?
I nodded my head to answer my mother, “I’ll accept Trent’s proposal. I don’t know him that well but at least I know him better than my own father.”
In all honesty, I didn’t really make a choice but I knew I had to make one. I just went with the option that seemed the least extreme. If there were any other options, I probably would have chosen something else. Instead I had to pick between two different strangers that I would have to live with. At least with Trent I could still be close to my mother.
“Are you sure, Luna? This isn’t a decision you can take back,” my mother mentioned.
I nodded my head, “I’m sure.”
My mother accepted my answer and stood up to go do something in the kitchen. She was probably going to prepare some food for us to eat. Or, she could have been trying to do something that would keep her busy. My choice wasn’t only going to affect me, it was going to affect her as well. But before I could fully process what my mother must be going through, Em knelt on the floor in front of me.
She was smiling from ear to ear in excitement and happiness. I’ve never seen her so happy since the day her parents passed away. It was nice to see for once. But I felt bad that she was just the second best option for Luke when she should have been the first choice.
“We’re both getting married, Luna,” she said in almost a happy squeal. I just nodded and smiled back at her. Wishing that I felt just as excited as she did. But for some reason I just couldn’t.