Read Online Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) by Robin Roseau - Free Book Online

loaned me extra money to pay for the repairs I would need to do right away. They were going to do it without interest, but I insisted on paying what the bank in town was charging. They offered a twenty-year loan, but I wanted ten, and I paid them off in four. I hunted nearly all my food for four years, but I paid them off in four years. I did all my repairs myself, but Robert insisted I had to accept help for the roof, and I had to do it the weekend after I moved in. I thought he'd come over and show me what to do. But instead he, Virginia and Bree came. And his brother and nephew. Virginia's father was there, and a cousin. The cousin was a contractor, and he brought all these tools with him. He got all of us going, and then he disappeared. Later I found him inside, and he was fixing the plumbing.  By the end of the weekend, we had fixed the things Robert told me I had to do right away. And the cousin had done a complete inventory of the entire house, telling me everything I had to do and how to figure out how to do it."
    I dried my tears. "Robert and Virginia gave me a house warming gift. They bought home repair books, several of them, plus all the basic tools I would need. Hammers, screwdrivers, saws, all that stuff. "
    I sat up straight. "But after that, I did the rest. I fixed everything. The walls were plaster, but they were rotted from water damage, so I stripped them, one room at a time, and replaced them with drywall. I didn't want to work with plaster, but drywall seemed easy. I painted, I learned how to fix the electrical. I replaced both toilets." I paused. "Well, you get the idea. I spent years fixing the house, making repairs and improvements as I could afford to pay for the materials."
    "You have a right to be very proud," Vivian said. "I've never done anything like that. Neither has Lara."
    "You don't have to," I said.
    "No," she said. "But you did, and you did an amazing job. You should be proud."
    "I am, I guess, but it's not like millions of people don't do the same things I did."
    "That doesn't belittle the accomplishment," she said.
    "I guess."
    I had been talking for a long time. "Why did you want to know all that?"
    "Because it's part of who you are. And maybe I suspected some of the story, and I wanted you to remind yourself of what you've accomplished."
    There was more. "And you don't want me to avoid you anymore."
    "No," she agreed. "I don't want you to avoid me anymore."
    "All right," I said. "I won't make up any fake excuses anymore."
    She smiled. "Good."
    "No, I'll make sure I have real ones."
    "Michaela-"
    "Teasing!" I said. "You're always so serious."
    * * * *
    I didn't avoid Vivian anymore. Some days were harder than others. Some days I'd arrive for our session, and I would tell her, "I am having a bad day," and we would talk about Bayfield, or how I felt about Lara, or whether I felt I was integrating in with the pack. One day she tried to get me to brag about all the ways I lose the wolves when we're playing our games out in the woods, but I fed her a line of bullshit a mile wide. She knew I was doing it but kept a straight face the entire time. When we got done that day, she asked, "Was a single word of that true?"
    I laughed and replied, "I'm sure if you rearranged the words very, very carefully, you might arrive at something resembling the truth."
    And, slowly, I told her the things she wanted to know. She pursed her lips a lot, and I thought perhaps she didn't believe me. Nothing about telling her any of the things she asked made me feel better.
    But every morning, Lara told me, "Today, with me, you are safe." And she would pull me into her strong arms and make sure I knew how much she loved me. And that helped.
    I started to wonder whether when she promised to keep me safe forever, it might actually happen. But I knew it wouldn't.
    But for now, for the first time in my life, I felt safe.

Shopping
    The summer continued to zoom past. Lara acquired more land near Bayfield and was working