Chapter 159: After Everything

(ALICE)

I know it may seem unreasonable to Katherine, heck, even Mary disagrees with me, but I can’t shake off this perpetual fear that Mira may become an outcast if she keeps learning at this rate.

I don’t want my daughter to live the life I led. Although my reasons for being an outcast were not the same, at the end of the day, it all boils down to being different. I was different from the other children because I did not have a wolf spirit. My daughter is different because she is too intelligent for her age.

“I am proud of her,” I say quietly. “She knows that. I guess I’m just… I tend to overthink things when it comes to Mira.”

“I still say you should put her in private school.” Katherine sips her wine.

“She picks up on things really fast. If I had a kid like that, I would be trying to send her to the best private school I could find, even if it meant shipping her off to Switzerland or someplace where only the top one percent of the population goes.”

My head whips up before I realize she’s joking. Well, maybe not entirely joking.

“I can’t send Mira away,” I frown into my drink. “What would I do without her? She’s my whole world.”

Katherine gives me a concerned look. “I didn’t mean that you should send her off to Switzerland. I would never recommend separating the two of you. I know how much she adores you. She worships the ground you walk on. I was just saying that you should give her the best opportunities to cultivate her intelligence. I mean, I know you’re doing everything you can for her, but don’t let your fears get in the way of her growth.”

Katherine’s words trouble me. When I reach home an hour later and pick up my sleeping daughter from Mrs. Getrude in the apartment below ours, I wonder if I’m hindering Mira’s future. I always told myself that I would put her interest first, but am I doing that? Am I being a good mother?

Mira is already wearing her pajamas, and Mrs. Getrude has given her a bath. My little girl snuggles against me, and I kiss her forehead.

After laying her down in her bed, I cover her with the blanket and sit by her side for a few minutes, just gazing at her.

In my former community, when wolf shifter couples become parents, the grandparents are heavily involved in helping raise the child. That’s usually the case for the first child, anyway. By the time the next child arrives, the couple has more experience, and they are left to manage on their own.

Aside from Mary, I didn’t have anybody to guide me. When Mira started teething, she had fevers constantly. I didn’t know this was common for young shifters when their sharper teeth are coming in. Terrified for my baby’s life, I called Mary, and my friend immediately flew to Arizona. She stayed with me for a week till she was certain I could handle it. It took me quite a while to figure out how to react to situations like that when it came to my daughter.

Maybe I seem obsessive, but this child is the only person I have in the world. The idea of anything happening to her…

I stroke Mira’s hair, my heart overflowing with love and warmth.

Six years, and I thought I had learned to be the perfect parent. But when it comes to kids, I guess one can never stop learning. Maybe I can have Mira quench her thirst for knowledge at home, and then in school she can try to be a normal child. I don’t know if this would be the right solution. I don’t want to hold her back, but at the same time, I cannot let go of these fears that are consuming me. The wolf shifter community is always on the lookout for intelligent humans. I can’t let Mira get on their radar.

“I’ll protect you from everyone,” I whisper to her. “As long as I’m alive, I will make sure nobody can hurt you.”

Kissing her forehead once again, I leave her to dream.

I take a quick shower before putting on my own pajamas and sitting down in my study. My reading glasses on, I open my laptop. It’s time to get to work.

Whatever secrets Acme Intech Corporation is hiding, I’m going to dig them all up.

*****

It doesn’t usually rain in December, but when it does, the weather in Phoenix grows much colder than it normally is. After dropping Mira off at school in her little raincoat and umbrella, I head over to the office. It’s not raining cats and dogs, and neither is it a soft drizzle. This is the kind of rainfall that makes me curse at the weather and try to tell it to make up its damn mind.

I park my car outside and hurry over to the building. As I walk in, I greet Toby, the security guard. “I hate rain.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re telling me? Car’s in the shop. Umbrella’s in the car. Buses aren’t running today because of the damn union strike. I had to change my uniform when I got here. Not my finest day.”

I give him a sympathetic look. “You win. Want me to drop you off after work? Your house is on my way.”

Toby has been working here since before I joined the firm. He’s in his early seventies, and when I first started here, I didn’t have a car. Sometimes my workload would be heavy, and I would leave late at night. Toby was on second shift at the time, and he would drive me home if it was an ungodly hour. The man is large and brutish looking, but he has the softest heart.

“Don’t you worry about me, Miss Alice. I got my daughter coming to pick me up.”

The meeting with Acme Intech is this afternoon. I have to go over some of the documents before I leave for Katherine’s office. Harry is waiting for me outside my door, chatting lightly with Holly. When he sees me, he smiles.

“Ready to lead your new team? I thought you might be nervous, so I got you breakfast. I know you usually don’t eat in the morning.”

“Old habits die hard,” I admit as I accept the egg sandwich and coffee from him. “Thanks for this, and I’m glad you’re here. If you don’t mind, can I walk you through some things about this collab? I haven’t had the chance to run them by anyone yet, and I think they need to be looked over by a higher-up.”

“Certainly.” He looks delighted.

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