Harper couldn’t have been more surprised if the woman had announced she was the Queen of England.
“I’m sorry,” she said, almost stumbling over the words. “Who did you say you are?”
“I’m your mother-in-law and these two…” The red-haired woman who had called herself Kat nodded at the two tall Kindred warriors. “These are your fathers-in-law.” She came forward and took Harper by the hand. “I know you bonded with Shad before he was called away,” she said in a low, earnest voice. “You left too quickly for us to get to know you but I want to change that—I want to make it right.”
“You…know Shad and I bonded?” Harper shook her head. “But I didn’t tell anybody. How could you know?”
“Shad told us,” rumbled the Kindred with black hair and eyes whom Kat had introduced as Deep.
“He did?” Harper asked uncertainly. “But…how? Do you have some way to communicate with him in, the, uh in the future?”
“I’m afraid not,” the brown-haired Kindred called Lock said gently. “We didn’t speak to future-Shad, for want of a better way to say it. We talked to present-day Shad. Or rather—he talked to us.”
“In our time—in the present, now—he’s still a little boy,” Kat explained. “But he’s always been a special child. He’s always just known things. And, well…” She gestured helplessly. “He told us that you were bonded to his future self and that we needed to come and see you.” She raised her hands, palm up. “So here we are.”
“Harper?” Her mother was looking back and forth from the visitors to her. “Honey, none of this makes any sense. Do you want me to get your step father to ask these people to leave?”
“No, mom.” Harper shook her head quickly. “No, I know it doesn’t make any sense to you but believe me, it makes perfect sense to me. Please just let us talk for a little while.”
“Well…all right.” Her mom looked at her worriedly. “Would anybody like anything to drink?” she asked, obviously trying to be a good hostess despite how confusing her guests were.
“Some water would be great.” Kat smiled at her gratefully. “I’m so thirsty. Or maybe some ice tea?”
“I don’t have any on hand but I can make some up,” Harper’s mother said.
“Oh, would you?” Kat exclaimed. “That would be so nice of you! I haven’t had really good sweet tea in ages—it’s just one of those things it’s really hard to get up on the Mother Ship.”
“All right. Well, you all just…make yourselves at home.” A bemused look on her face, Harper’s mother wandered into the kitchen.
Harper looked at Kat gratefully—she knew what the other woman was doing—buying them some time to talk, really talk without sounding crazy in front of her mom.
“Thanks,” she said in a low voice. “So…Shad the little boy told you I was bonded to Shad the man?”
Kat nodded, her red hair gleaming. She certainly was pretty, Harper thought, though it was hard to think of her as a mother-in-law. She was so young—probably the same age as Harper herself if not just a little younger.
“We didn’t want to bother you in your time of grief,” Lock said gently. “But Shadow, well…”
“He’s been waking up with bad dreams for weeks,” Deep rumbled. “He’s been begging to come see you—telling us we needed to come see you.”
“He has?” Harper shook her head. “I don’t understand—why?”
“He says the Goddess has something to say to you,” Kat said with a perfectly straight face. “I’m sorry—I don’t know if you’re a believer or not, in the Kindred Goddess, I mean—but she is real. And she speaks to Shad quite often, or so he tells us.”
“Yes, he told me that too.” Harper nodded. “I…I believe. After everything I’ve seen—everything Shad and I went through together—of course I believe.” She shrugged. “But if the Goddess wants to talk to me, why doesn’t she just talk?”
“Shad says she needs you to come up to the Sacred Grove for some reason,” Lock said. “We don’t understand it ourselves but he’s been very insistent.”
“We finally had to come down here and ask you to come back with us,” Kat said apologetically. “Although we’re aware you might not want to see us. It might…remind you too much of Shad.”
Harper felt a lump rise in her throat but somehow she managed to swallow it down again.
“Of course I want to see you,” she said in a voice choked with emotion. “Of course I want to meet Shad’s family. I’m just…” She sniffed. “Just so sorry I didn’t try to meet you earlier, back when I was on the Mother Ship. I was in a bad place and I didn’t even think—”
Suddenly the front door crashed open and a high, childish voice could be heard.
“The pretty lady! The pretty lady! Harper!”
A little boy with velvety black eyes and hair so blond it was practically white came barreling into the room and headed straight for Harper.
“Shad, no!” Kat looked aghast. “What are you even doing here?” she exclaimed.
The little boy ignored her and threw himself into Harper’s arms. Enthusiastically, he gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
“Harper!” he exclaimed. “You have to come back to the Mother Ship with us. The Goddess told me so—you have to!”
“I…I…” Harper didn’t know what to say—how to reconcile this sweet little boy with the man he would grow into—the man she would come to love. Though his hair and eye coloring were different, she could see the ghost of Shad’s chiseled features in the soft, childish face and hear the beginnings of that familiar voice when he spoke, though it would be years before it reached its deep adult timbre.
“I’m so sorry.” Kat got up and reached for Shad. “He must have stowed away in the ship. I never would have let him come down here to upset you on purpose, I promise, hon.”
“No, no—it’s okay.” Harper held the younger Shad in her lap. She was aware of what a strange situation this was but somehow she couldn’t let him go. “Why do I need to come with you?” she asked the little boy. “Do you know why the Goddess wants me to come?”
“She said it’s time.” He nodded with absolute certainty. “She said you should say goodbye to your mom for a while—maybe for a long time.” He looked at his own mother and then back at Harper. “That’s really sad, I know. But the Goddess says to tell you you’ll be happy again soon. But you have to come to the Mother Ship in order for that to happen.”
Harper felt a flutter of hope around her heart. She couldn’t help remembering how Shad had told her that the Kindred Goddess talked to him as a child…and how she had told him from an early age that Harper was his reason for existence. Could it be she was speaking to him again—giving him a message to give to Harper so that she might see his older self again?
“You see how he is,” Kat said, almost apologetically. “I know it sounds crazy but, well—will you come? Even if nothing happens we’d love to have you as a guest and get to know you for a little while.” She smiled. “You’re so gorgeous—I can see why Shad would fall for you.”
“Thank you. And yes,” Harper whispered, her heart in her throat. “Yes, I…I’ll come.”
“Come where?” Her mother appeared in the door of the den, a tray full of ice tea glasses in her hands. “Where are you going, Harper?”
Harper took a deep breath and rose. Keeping the younger Shad’s hand in hers, she turned to her mother.
“Mom,” she said. “Don’t get upset but I need to go with these people. And I might be gone for kind of a long time.”