Mangled Heart (On Hold)

[.chapter.seventeen.]

It's kinda short but... yeah, I hope you'll still like it later. Let me know.

~Ever 

~*~*~*~ 

When we reached the bottom of the stairs the old woman from earlier was standing there with a sorrowful expression on her face. My heart clenched and I looked down her words still burning in my thoughts. I'd never considered myself a bastard child. Not until today, that is. 

As I stood in front of her, I put my head down. A small pressure was applied to my chin, her hand lifting it up. "I'm sorry," she said. Her eyes let me know that she really was. "I was rude to you and I said some things that I shouldn't have. I blamed you for something that you had no part of and that isn't fair to you." I bit my lip as she talked. Her hands found mind and I smiled sadly.

"Thank you for apologizing." She smiled at me. Drew walked up and set his hand on my lower back. 

"Katalyna, this is Mrs. Smith." I shook her hand before getting lost in the crowd of people he was introducing me to. I knew I'd never be able to remember all the names, but I tried my hardest. Parker, as usual, was better than me at this and seemed to know everyone's name, age, and back story before five minutes was up. 

Apparently, everyone had stopped eating and the food was still waiting. We sat down in our original spots and ate. This time, though, I was included in on the conversations. People still seemed troubled at the thought of me, but they held it in; a feat which I was grateful for. Stephanie had run upstairs when she saw that people were being nice to me. She's been about to throw a hissy fit when Drew sent her away.

Once everyone was done eating, the people dispersed, the older ones headed home and the teenagers huddled together outside while the children ran around playing. Once that happened, the adults were left inside. The men had resorted to watching a football game in the living room and the women were chatting away happily. Parker didn't want to leave me but I'd forced him to go have some man time.  Plus, he needed to learn about a new type of football if he was going to stay here. 

He reluctantly left and I went to try to sneak upstairs. That plan didn't go over well when Faeth caught me and dragged me back to the kitchen with her by the arm. She hopped up on the counter and patted the space next to her. I sighed and jumped up. The women around us were sipping wine and laughing together at what one woman was saying. 

"And when they walked out of that room their hair told us everything that had gone down in there!" I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "But I mean, come on, she couldn't hold out for long. He is her mate after all." I stiffened and looked at her. There was that word again. She caught her breath and looked up at me. Faeth looked between us, her face full of panic. 

I ignored her and opened my mouth, addressing the woman, "What's a ma-"

"Oh hey! Katalyna," Faeth interrupted, "I was going to ask you earlier. Where'd you get that dress? It's positively darling!" I looked down at my dress and blushed. 

 "Oh, um," I shook my head. "I don't quite remember. I got it almost a year ago when I went shopping with my mother." She smiled.

"Well it's beautiful, especially on you." I blushed as the others came out of their frightened stupor and agreed with her.

"Thanks." Someone quickly struck up a conversation, making sure to steer clear of anything to do with "mates." Big surprise there. After a little while, I'd gotten used to the way they talked and added my two cents here and there. When one of them asked my about my hobbies Faeth came out of her shy state and began talking animatedly about my dancing, saying how wonderful I was and how much of a run for her money I gave Stephanie. I laughed and shook my head.