Chapter Twenty-One

Meeting the Parents

 

“You what?” my father shouted at me then his eyes sliced to Tor, his fists hit the table, he shot out of his chair and bellowed, “Get away from my daughter!”

I closed my eyes tight.

Let’s just say that dinner was not going well.

It had started okay.

Sure, Mom and Dad had been a little overawed in an obvious way when they first laid eyes on Tor. For one, he was a lot taller than any of my other boyfriends (a lot). For two, he was also a lot more powerfully built (a lot). And three, he was a lot scarier-looking (a lot).

Tor was hot but that didn’t mean he looked like a guy you messed with. All of my boyfriends were relatively good-looking but they were also laidback, easygoing and fun-loving. Tor looked like what he was. A warrior dressed in jeans, boots and a nice shirt.

His scar, no matter how sexy, obviously helped.

But my parents seemed game and were themselves, friendly and charming.

Things disintegrated when Tor was, well, Tor. He was touchy, very much so. He was also attentive, very much so. And he was possessive, clearly so. I couldn’t really explain how he demonstrated the last, he just did. And Mom and Dad caught it. And Mom, who for two decades of my life (to my utter embarrassment as a teen) didn’t wear a bra and Dad, who read Mom’s newsletters from the National Organization for Women from cover to cover (sometimes taking highlighters to it just so Mom, during her perusal, wouldn’t miss things Dad thought important she note), didn’t take to it too well.

It didn’t help matters that I was freaked out, worried, confused and my life was in a turmoil… and it showed. They noticed and didn’t take to that too well, either.

They started to pry into the last two months of my life, specifically how I hooked up with Tor, and, wanting to pick the best time to deliver the news that Tor and I were at the mercy of unpredictable blue mist magic, my answers were cagey. Tor took my lead and kept completely silent on the subject. Again, they didn’t take to that too well.

Conversation became stilted. Mom and Dad exchanged unhappy glances. Tor was catching my eye, communicating to me that if I didn’t do something, he would. I didn’t want him to do anything Tor-like which would likely not go over very well either so, after eating Mom’s delicious herbed chicken, cheesy-garlic mashed potatoes and steamed greens but before she moved us onto dessert, I told them that Tor was from a parallel universe, the same parallel universe I had been hurled into in my sleep and resided in the last two months and we were at the whim of blue mist magic.

“Forrest!” Mom cried when Dad finished shouting.

“Dad, please sit down and calm down,” I urged.

“No!” Dad returned to me. “What hold does this man have over you?” he asked then didn’t allow me to answer and looked at Tor. “What are you doing to my daughter? Why haven’t we seen or heard from her in two months? Why does she believe this crazy story? Are you drugging her fruit juice?”

I didn’t drink fruit juice primarily because I preferred to chew my calories unless they were alcoholic (not that I chewed very much fruit, but you get what I’m saying) and my Dad knew that (not about the calories, just that I didn’t drink juice). He was being dramatic. He was also being loud.

“Pardon?” Tor asked, his tone quiet but also deadly. He didn’t like my father’s words or the way they were thrown at him, he was the future king after all, and a prince to boot and, well, Tor and I could see him struggling for control.

“Drugging her fruit juice?” Dad continued. “Addling her mind? A parallel universe! That’s insane! Are you in some kind of cult?”

“Dad!” I exclaimed. “Tor’s not in a cult!”

My father ignored me.

“What kind of name is Tor, anyway? Were you born with that name?” Dad asked Tor, forgetting, in his histrionics, that he had for a brief period of time called himself (and made others call him) Eaglethorn (Mom had taken the name Jasminevine, luckily they stopped doing this before I was born).

“No,” Tor replied calmly then announced in his deep, commanding voice, “I am Prince Noctorno Allegro Hawthorne of the House of Hawthorne, heir to the Kingdom of Hawkvale and ruler of Bellebryn. Those close to me, including Cora, call me Tor.”

Uh-oh.

What he said was true but it was not the right thing to say. I could see it because my Mom went pale but my Dad went beet red.

“Prince… Prince… what the hell!” he boomed. “It’s you that’s insane and you’re with my daughter!”

“Sir, I am far from insane,” Tor gritted between his teeth.

“Dad, he’s not insane,” I rushed to put in. “I know this sounds…” my mind searched for a word, my eyes found Tor’s and then it came to me, “fantastical.” I heard and saw Tor draw in an annoyed breath and my eyes shot to my father. “But it’s true.”

“Um, maybe… uh, Tor,” Mom cut in, “I don’t wish to be rude but considering things are, uh… intense and we haven’t seen Cora in awhile, perhaps you could go so we could have some time alone with our daughter?”

“I’ll not do that,” Tor replied immediately.

“And why the hell not?” my father returned just as immediately.

“Because, sir,” Tor stated slowly, visibly fighting for control, “as Cora explained to you, we are at the mercy of magic and I do not want to be far from her should it start to take her… or me.”

Dad glared at him then he turned his glare to my mother. “The mercy of magic. This is insane,” he breathed with disgust.

“I would thank you to stop saying that,” Tor said softly and Dad’s eyes cut back to him then he leaned into him, hand on the table and everything.

“And I would thank you to get up from my table and get the hell out of my house but especially, while you’re doing that, out of my daughter’s life!”

Tor’s face turned to stone, he rose out of his seat, tossing his napkin to the table and I knew it was time to intervene.

So I shot out of my chair and rushed around the table to put my hand on my father’s arm.

“Dad, listen to me,” I begged.

He didn’t even look at me, just glowered up at Tor. “I’m busy, sweetheart. I’m about to escort this man out.”

“Dad,” I squeezed his arm, “listen. Please, listen. It’s true. All of it. I woke up in a parallel universe. A fairytale land. A fantasyland. Where they ride horses and birds talk to you and the air shimmers like it has glitter in it. But there is a me there like there is a Tor here. All the same people are in both worlds, I reckon, and I was switched with the Cora of their world.”

Dad slowly swung his head to face me and the look in his eyes made my heart clench. He genuinely thought I’d gone around the bend and this thought pained him. So I got closer and pulled him around to face me, lifting my other hand to take his other arm.

“I know it sounds crazy, trust me, I know. But it isn’t. I woke up and all the furniture in my room was wonky, like out of an animated kid’s movie. And it wasn’t my room. And then my sister came dancing in and she was so beautiful, so graceful, it was unreal. Her name was Rosa and…”

I stopped because the minute I said the name “Rosa” Dad’s body got still under my hands, his eyes shot to my mother and the air in the room grew heavy.

“Rosa?” my mother whispered and I turned my head to look at her. “In this parallel universe, you had a sister named Rosa?”

“Uh… yes,” I replied, looking at my Mom who was even paler and when I did her eyes moved swiftly to my father and she put a hand out flat on the table.

“Mom?” I called and released my Dad in order to go to her because she looked like she was about ready either to burst into tears or pass out.

“Rosa,” my Mom whispered again when I got to her, crouched down, her eyes were tipped up to my Dad and I covered her hand on the table with mine and squeezed. When I did, her head slowly turned to me. “Rosa was alive in that world?”

Oh. My. God.

“By the gods,” Tor murmured, I looked to him to see he was gazing at my mother, his face contemplative but his body had lost its angry energy.

I looked back to my Mom and whispered, “Is there something I don’t know?”

Tears trembled in my Mom’s eyes before she replied, “We had a little girl.” Oh my God. “She died at birth.” Oh my God! “We named her Rosa.”

I closed my eyes then opened them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“I… I couldn’t. I couldn’t talk about it. It was bad, sweetie. The birth was bad. For me too. After that, I couldn’t have any more kids. Your Dad and me, we wanted a whole houseful and we lost that and we lost Rosa and I…”

“Stop,” I whispered when her tears spilled over. “Stop, Mama. I understand.”

“It wasn’t like I was trying to keep anything from you, it was just –”

I cut her off again. “Stop, Mom. I understand.”

She blinked and more tears fell then she turned to Tor. “Rosa is alive in your world?”

I tensed, for Rosa was alive but she was also the hostage of a cruel witch-god but Tor simply said, “Alive and beloved. The only beauty in the land more exquisite than hers is Cora’s. The only qualities in the land more dear are those of my Cora, the Cora of this world.”

I felt my body start at his words and I whispered, “That last part isn’t true,” and Tor’s gaze came to me.

“It is, my sweet.”

“It isn’t, most everyone hates me,” I reminded him.

“No, Cora, everyone hates the Cora of that world.”

I rose, telling him, “But they think she’s me.”

“Indeed, they do but it has been you gracing my castle for the past weeks and it was you, and your rabid, not befitting a princess behavior that you displayed in towns and villages for miles that people have been experiencing. Word travels. They used to call you Cora, the Exquisite due to your beauty. Now, you’re becoming known as Cora, the Gracious.”

Cora, the Gracious?

Wow. I liked that.

“Really?” I asked.

Tor’s eyes grew warm. “You read to blind women, love, and rescue wild, wounded birds and make them your pet. You smile at every child you see and touch their cheeks or ruffle their hair, which, by the way, you must stop doing.” Even if his words were melting my heart, my eyes still narrowed and he smiled at me. “You are friendly, you are polite, you are kind and you are merciful. You are Cora, the Gracious.”

Oh my. I was Cora, the Gracious.

How freaking cool!

“How freaking cool!” I cried, grinning at him, he shook his head and looked at my mother.

“This language and her stubborn bent at being uncommonly friendly to everyone she encounters is not behavior befitting a princess. I persist in telling her this but she doesn’t listen. I assume I have you to thank for that.”

“I, uh… uh… um…” Mom stammered, looking up at Tor and, I could see, coming to the realization that she had a being from a parallel universe at her table. “My daughter’s a princess?”

“Of course, she’s my wife,” Tor replied.

“I keep telling you, Tor, I’m not your wife,” I snapped and his eyes cut to me.

“And I keep telling you, my love, that you’re going to be and, as far as I’m concerned, you already are.”

“You’re married to my parallel world twin!” I cried.

“This will be severed officially upon our return. Luckily, Cora and I were wed in Bellebryn and the person who grants annulments in Bellebryn is me. Therefore, it will simply be a signature on a piece of paper and then you and I will be wed.”

“You’re marrying him?” Dad asked.

“No!” I exclaimed hotly.

“Yes,” Tor answered.

“I am not!” I stated, my voice rising.

“My love, you are,” Tor said to me.

“No I’m not. You can be a jerk,” I informed him.

“And you’re not a handful?” he returned.

“No! You just said I was Cora, the Gracious,” I retorted and Tor looked to my father.

“She’s exceedingly friendly to every creature in my realm. Even the birds flock down to tell her good morning and my horse has told me he’d die for her. But to me, she can, at times, be extremely vexing.”

“Salem said that?” I whispered, feeling my heart squeeze and Tor’s eyes came to me.

“He cares deeply for you,” he whispered back.

Then something else he said came to me and I snapped, “I’m not vexing!”

He crossed his arms on his chest and leveled his gaze on me. “Cora, you cleaned my cave and scraped your feet raw in doing so. You fled after our fight with the vickrants and put the entire kingdom in jeopardy. You made me climb up a tree to save a half-dead bird –”

“All right, all right, I can be vexing,” I gave in then fired back, “But you’re more vexing!”

It wasn’t good but it was all I had.

“And how am I vexing? Except,” he said swiftly when I instantly opened my mouth to speak, “when I’m not giving you your way.”

“Tor, you bought two carts full of food at the grocery store.”

“Did you pay for this food?” Tor asked.

“No,” I answered tersely.

“Did you carry it up to your rooms?” he went on.

“No!” I snapped.

“Then why is that vexing?” he enquired sensibly and logically.

My neck twisted so I could look at my mother and I announced, “He’s the sensible and logical one, even in my world. I tell you, Mom, it’s annoying. When I hit his world and the curse started to fall, I freaked way the hell out. I was a wreck! But Tor here?” I leaned back and shook my head. “No.” I drew out the “no” for about twelve syllables. “He doesn’t freak out. He wants to drive a car, I show him the ignition and the turn signals and,” I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers, “he’s driving a car. We need to change a lock, we go to the hardware store, get the stuff, go home and,” I snapped again, “he’s changed the lock. I’m telling you, it drives me mad.”

Tor called my attention to him by asking, “Sweets, would you prefer that I was quivering, scared of my shadow and incapable of providing for you?”

“No! But you could give me something.”

“Why? You didn’t give me anything. You kept the fire burning. You cooked the rabbits on the spit. You cleaned the cave. You say you were a wreck, my love, but I saw none of that. By the gods, you wielded a blade and fought the vickrants with me.”

“A blade?” Mom whispered.

“Your daughter is handy with a dagger,” Tor informed Mom proudly and I turned and grinned down at her.

“Totally, Mom. You should have seen me,” I bragged then pointed at myself. “Warrior princess, in the flesh.”

“Bloody hell, warrior princess,” Tor muttered and my eyes shot to him.

“Well, I was! You even said so!” I cried.

“I need whisky,” Dad put in at this point, my body went ramrod straight and I looked at my father who had an expression on his face I’d never seen before. I was guessing he now wished that I was actually simply insane or had hooked up with the leader of a cult who seduced feeble-minded women and convinced them he was from an alternate universe instead of being hooked up with an actual warrior prince from a parallel world.

“Dad –” I started but Dad was looking at Tor.

“Do you drink whisky?” he asked Tor.

“I do,” Tor replied.

“Comin’ right up,” Dad muttered and turned to the liquor cabinet on the wall.

My eyes went to Tor and his came to me. Then his face went soft, one of the sides of his mouth curled slightly up and he winked at me. I took in a deep breath and smiled back. He tipped his head to my chair and waited until my bottom was in it before he resumed his seat.

Dad came back with two whiskies and he brought the bottle. Mom refilled her and my wineglasses.

Dad threw back his whisky like he was doing a tequila shot then refilled his glass.

Then his eyes came to me.

Then I watched him take in a breath.

Then he said quietly, “All right, sweetheart. Let’s start at the beginning.”

I pressed my lips together and looked at Tor. He sat back and sipped his whisky, his eyes watching me over the rim of his glass the entire time. I took a sip of wine, looked between my Mom and Dad and then I started at the beginning.

* * * * *

Dad and Tor were in the dining room, drinking whisky.

Mom and I were in the kitchen, doing the dishes.

I didn’t want Mom to have to do the dishes by herself but I didn’t think it was wise leaving Tor with my Dad.

I’d told our story and my parents believed it. They were shocked by it, but they believed it.

This was good.

I had left out the part of Rosa being kidnapped by the evil Minerva but Tor had gone into some detail of what a sweet-tempered, lovely young woman she was, how she was destined to marry his brother and how much she was loved by her family, those around her and especially her husband-to-be. This made both my parents’ eyes get wet. It also, with the information I’d already communicated about Tor taking care of and protecting me, made them like him. And from the way they were looking at him, I was guessing they liked him a lot.

This I wasn’t sure was good.

“Do you think it’s a good idea that we leave Dad and Tor in the dining room…” my mother’s eyes came to me and I finished, “alone?”

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?” Mom asked.

I grabbed a wineglass and started drying it, muttering, “I don’t know.”

Mom hesitated, rinsed a plate and put it in the dish drainer before asking, “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

I bit my lip. Then I put the glass away. Then I reached for the plate.

Then I lied, “No.”

“Cora,” Mom said softly and I hated it when she said my name like that. Soft with disappointment. I hated to disappoint my Mom. That was the worst.

I dried the plate, put it away, turned my side to the counter and leaned into it.

Then I found my mother’s eyes and I whispered, “I’m in love with him.”

My mother, who never hid her expressions from me or anyone – she was who she was, she thought what she thought – didn’t do it then either. And her face looked at war. She looked hopeful and happy at the same time she looked frightened and concerned.

She pulled the towel from my hands, dried her own, dropped the towel on the counter and got close to me.

“You’re in love with him?”

I nodded.

“If you’re in love with a man who obviously adores you for everything you are, sweetie, why do you look like your dog just got run over?”

“Things are… complicated,” I explained.

“You got that right,” she muttered and I shook my head.

“No, it’s not just the alternate universe thing,” I told her and her brows drew together.

“Things are more complicated than the alternate universe thing?” she enquired and I nodded. “How?”

“Well…” I started, quickly weighed the pros and cons of confiding the fullness of my history with Tor to my mother, then I decided to do it. I had no one else to talk to about it, my Mom was awesome, she was also wise so who else would I choose? “In his world, I was up front with him about who I was, where I came from. He didn’t believe me.”

Her head tipped to the side. “And?”

“For two months he didn’t believe me, Mom. The Cora of his world is different than me. A lot different. She isn’t a very nice person and… he doesn’t like her much.”

Her head straightened, her eyes went alert and she repeated, “And?”

“But he used to love her. But she spurned his love, I get the gist that she wasn’t nice about it and they were prophesied to marry so he was kind of stuck with her. I got there, he didn’t know I was me, I told him I was me and he thought I was her playing a game with him. So he played one with me. He pretended that he was into me. During this time, I fell in love with him. I found out right before we both came to my world that he thought I was a liar and he was playing me.”

“Well I’m guessing he knows you’re not a liar now,” she replied.

“Yep, he knows,” I affirmed the obvious.

“So this is a problem…?” she trailed off and her brows went up.

“Mom!” I hissed, leaning into her. “He thought, for two months, that I was lying to him. He played the devoted, adoring husband and the operative word in that is played. He never believed me but he led me to believe that he did!”

At this, her brows drew together. “Yes, sweetie, I get that. But that was then. This is now.”

I leaned back and whispered, “What?”

She took my hand and held tight. “Cora, that man in there doesn’t think you’re a liar and he’s not playing at the devoted, adoring anything. I don’t know what went on between you two in that other world but whatever it was, he’s seen it for what it was, he’s seen you for who you are and now he’s just plain devoted and adoring.”

I sucked in breath and stared at her.

She squeezed my hand.

“Love is a mighty thing,” she carried on. “When we deal with the people we love, everything they do, no matter how slight or how huge, has awesome power over us, our emotions, our behavior, our reactions. You love this man and you feel betrayed that he didn’t believe you but pretended he did. I get that. I even get why you’d hold onto it and the power that betrayal would have over you. But, sweetie, you’d told him you were from a different world. If Rosa was not in that world, our dinner in there,” she jerked her head to the wall between the kitchen and dining room, “would have had a far different ending. There is no way in hell you, or Tor, would have been able to convince your father or me that he was from another world. I still find it unbelievable. And the only way I can make it so it doesn’t freak me out is to understand the little girl I lost wasn’t lost in that world, she has a beautiful life in that world. The rest of it…” she trailed off and shook her head.

“I’m sorry it freaks you out,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry you’re going through this. And I’m worried you’re going through this,” she whispered back.

“Me too,” I agreed with considerable feeling.

“But I have to tell you, sweetheart, that if you have to go through it, I’m pleased as punch you’re going through it with that man in there.”

I blinked. “You are?”

She nodded. “That man in there would run through fire for you.”

Oh my.

“Do you think?” I whispered.

Her head tipped to the side again. “Don’t you?”

“I –”

“Let that go,” Mom interrupted me on a shake of my hand. “Cora, you could close your eyes tonight and be anywhere tomorrow. The only way I’m going to be able to live with this is to hope to all that is holy that wherever you wake up tomorrow, that man is with you.”

I felt my nose stinging (yes, again!) and whispered, “Mom.”

“I’m being straight with you. I could… I could… hell, I did lose you for two months and…” she trailed off and her eyes filled with tears.

“Mom,” I whispered again and pulled her into my arms, her arms went around me tight and we both held on as we cried.

Then she suddenly let me go but her hands came up, she grabbed both my cheeks and she got right in my face. Her eyes were bright and intense and at the sight of them, my breath hitched.

“I could lose you tomorrow and never see you again,” she told me fiercely and my breath hitched again. “And the only thing I can hold onto to be able to rest my head on the pillow at night is the thought that wherever you are, you’re with him and he’s riding his horse or driving his car or flying his spaceship, I don’t care, but he’s doing it with you, he’s not letting you go and he won’t let any harm come to you. That’s the only thing I have. And right now, that is what your man is giving your father. So, I think it is very wise to let your father have as much peace of mind as your man can give him before whatever happens next, happens.” Her thumbs swept my cheeks and she finished on a whisper, “Do you get me?”

I nodded and my fingers came up and curled around her wrists. “I get you, Mom.”

“Promise, whatever happens, you’ll be safe,” she demanded fervently.

“I promise,” I promised on another hitch of breath.

“No more wielding daggers,” she ordered and I pressed my lips together because who knew what could happen? I couldn’t promise that.

“How about, I promise not to wield daggers unless absolutely necessary?” I replied, she stared at me a second then she burst out laughing and wrapped her arms tight around me again.

I shoved my face in her neck and when her hilarity calmed, I said into her skin, “I love you, Mom and when I was gone, I missed you and the worst thing about being gone was thinking I’d never see you and Dad again and I didn’t have the chance to say good-bye.”

Her arms gave me a squeeze and she whispered, “Oh sweetie.”

My arms gave her a squeeze and I whispered back, “So, if we go again, I want you to know, and never forget, that I’ll miss you and I’ll always love you. Always.”

She shoved her face even further in my neck and held on even tighter.

Moments passed as we held each other and just when I was about to let go, she said, “One more promise, Cora.”

“Anything, Mom,” I replied and her head went back but her arms stayed around me.

“Hold onto him tight. Don’t let that man go. For me, for your Dad and mostly… mostly, my beautiful, funny girl,” her hand came up to cup my cheek and her eyes stared deep into mine, “for you. Yeah?”

I bit my lips and even between my lips, they trembled.

I let them go and said quietly, “He could be lost to me.”

“Then hold on tight.”

“It might not –”

Her arm gave me a squeeze. “Hold on tight.”

“He –”

“Cora, learn this from your mother. There are not many men like him in this world or his, I’d guess. Men like him don’t come around very often. Men like him who look at my girl like she holds the other half to his soul and he couldn’t exist without her are even more rare.” I held my breath at her words, a part of both Tor and Rosa’s story I did not share, but words she used anyway while she concluded, “So hold… on… tight.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Seriously, what else could I do?

“Promise?” she pushed.

“Promise,” I gave in.

Mom smiled.

Boy, I was screwed.

Mom let me go and turned back to the sink, wiping her face and saying, “Okay, let’s get this done and get back in there. It’s good they’re bonding but they’re doing it with whisky. Whisky makes your father talkative. Talkative means he might get out photo albums. And you went through that unfortunate punk phase when you were fifteen. We don’t want Tor seeing that.”

Oh crap.

No. Agreed. We absolutely, definitely did not want Tor seeing photos of me with ratted out hair, too much black eyeliner and torn clothes held together with safety pins.

I snatched a plate out of the drainer and dried it, urging, “Hurry, Mom. Dad had three before we even cleared the table.”

“Right,” Mom muttered and started wiping silverware.

And I finished the dishes with my Mom and while I did it I memorized every freaking second.