"I know."
The phone rang, prompting her to leave the pair and go to her coat, hanging on the rack. It took her a second to dig the cell phone out, another to recognize the caller and tap the small screen.
"Hi, Jean." Cass turned and waved at Michael as he grabbed a handful of Alec's hair with a mischievous grin.
"What the hell are you doing? Selling the bar to Danny and taking off? What sort of crazy idea is that man putting in your head?" The words were short and snapped, like a frayed elastic band stretched too far.
"How did you—" Cass cursed under her breath. "Of course. Veronica."
"Just imagine how I felt when she called just now, congratulating me on having world travelers in my family. It was all I could do to keep calm."
"Jean, we're going to be fine. Michael is—"
"No." The single word cut through the air. "It's one thing for you to take Alec back into your life, another to drop everything to go on the road and follow him God-knows-where." She drew a long, shallow breath. "I'm not having it. I've already got my plane ticket to come see you in a few days—if I don't like what I see, I'll be reporting you as an unfit mother."
The invisible punch sent Cassie back a step.
Alec stood up, frowning.
"You can't—" she started.
"I'm your aunt and Michael's cousin and I'm not going to have you running off with some street punk who appears and disappears for months at a time. If it were only you, that'd be bad enough. But with a baby…" The anger seeped through the line. "My God, Cassie... what would your father say? To me, to you—to Michael."
"He'd want us to be happy." She fought to keep her voice calm, keep her temper in check. "You can't do this to us."
"I only want what's best for Michael," Jean said. "You can't expect me to just sit back and let you sell off everything your father worked for and hand it all over to Alec."
Alec put a finger to his lips as he moved closer, easily able to hear her raised voice.
"Look, I..." Jean paused, choking up. "Look at it from my point of view. You take up with this guy and then he disappears, leaving you pregnant. Now he comes back, and you're dropping everything you have to go on the road with him, with a baby in tow?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Cassandra, what do you expect me to do?"
Cassie bit her lip, her stomach twisting and turning.
The worst thing was—Jean was right. If Cass had heard the same story about anyone in town, in the same situation, she'd respond like Jean had.
If she only knew…
Alec raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to one side. Michael grabbed the stuffed dolphin and threw it across the room.
Cassie closed her eyes, tamping down the panic churning inside. "I hear what you're saying—listen, we'll talk all of this over when you get here. I'll pick you up at the airport, don't forget to send me the flight number." She steadied herself. "Safe travels, and we'll see you soon."
She cut the connection and threw the phone onto the couch, prompting the baby to laugh and begin crawling toward the new toy.
"What do we do?" She scrubbed her face with both hands. "Jean's not stupid. She's going to ask questions, too many. Where you were, our travel plans, reservations..."
Alec nodded. "True. I guess we'll have to move up our travel date." He pointed at the window. "Slip away before any trouble can start."
She stared at him. "But if we leave before she arrives..." Cass shook her head. "I can't do that to Jean. I promised we'd be here, and we will be. After that—"
"Listen." He took her hands in his. "You'll have to decide what you and Michael want. I can't make it for you. I won't make it for you."
"Our plans..."
He led her to the couch, sitting down beside her. "We can still go, there's nothing stopping us from getting to the river. But if Jean causes trouble, I don't know if we'll be able to come back like we planned, to this house and to your friends. We might have to totally walk away from the land for months, maybe years, if she calls the authorities on us. I'll be honest, this might be the biggest decision of your life."
A throbbing started behind her eyes, forcing her to close them. "I just need to think about this."
Alec squeezed her hands before releasing them. "We've still got some time before we have to make any sort of decision. I'll take care of Michael. Rest up."
The couch shifted as he stood up, calling out to the happy, giggling baby.
Cassie laid her head back on the cushions, her mind spinning.
Damn you, Jean.
The options were limited. Tell her or don't tell her about Alec, about what he was—and Michael. The problem was if they chose to reveal the secret... how to approach it.
She ran the words over in her mind, wincing as she imagined her saying them out loud.
"Hey, Jean. Alec's an otter shapeshifter, his son as well, and he's managed to make me one too. So, if you don't mind, we'll be hitting the road for a bit to frolic in the underwater world until it's time to come back—so keep the house safe and locked up, we'll send you a postcard."
But the alternative was to leave everything forever, abandon her life on the land—and Michael's possible future. The bar, the town, her friends...
***
The next few days passed in a whirlwind of paperwork and banking, the sale of her half of the bar to Danny going through without any issues. The money was deposited into her account and the ownership transferred.
Too soon, it was December 31st.
"Her plane arrives in an hour," Cassie said as she crossed the living room, checking her watch. "I've got to leave now to pick her up in time. The traffic's going to be brutal, the airport crazy."
Alec sat in the rocking chair, Michael napping in his arms after they'd all had lunch. He watched her pull on her coat and boots.
"What are you going to do?" he asked softly, as not to wake the sleeping baby.
"I don't know." She shook her head. "I can't even begin to think about how to tell her, if we tell her, about this. Us. But the alternative..."
"I'm not going to lie; you're asking me to take a big risk if you want to tell her. But if you think you can trust her to keep our secret..." He stared at Cass, the slow motion almost hypnotizing her. "Please understand—my people, our people, we don't want everyone to know about us. That'd only lead to trouble. The handful of humans we've shared our existence with, they know the importance of keeping silent."
"I can imagine."
"No." The single word was softness on steel. "No, you can't. One of our biggest fears is to be caged up, poked by scientists who want to figure out who and what we are." He stared at Michael. "I can't subject him to that. I won't."
"Don't—" The breath caught in her throat. "Please don't do anything until I come back with Jean." The nugget of fear rolled around her insides, chilling her soul. "Please, don't leave and take him with you."
Alec shook his head. "You're his mother—I'd never do that to you. But I won't let Jean sell me to the military like some sort of test animal. If we have to run, we'll run."