Chapter 11 - Violet

I spent all night in my new art room, alternating between painting, exploring, and resting on the comfortable couch. Despite my work, I managed to get a few hours of sleep, and I awoke the next morning to the sound of Penelope playing in her room next door.

I smiled as I heard her chattering to herself. She really was a wonderful kid, and I felt grateful that I had the chance to be a part of her life. I opened the door and saw that hers was open as well.

"Good morning, little love," I said. "Are you still in your pajamas?"

"Daddy slept in, so I was just playing until he made me breakfast. Will you help me get my dress out of my closet?" she asked.

I opened her closet door and saw a row of dresses—identical except for the color.

"Are all of your dresses exactly the same?" I asked.

"No, silly! There's different colors," she said, as if I were blind. "Can I have the blue one, please?"

I chuckled and pulled the blue dress off its hanger, handing it to her. "Need anything else while I'm in here?" I asked.

Penelope shook her head, so I went downstairs in search of Nile. The door to his room opened as my foot hit the bottom step, and I could see that he looked a little worse for wear.

"Stay up too late?" I teased.

"Yeah, my mate is this really amazing artist—maybe you've heard of her?" he teased back. "She kept me awake for ages just talking about paint and canvases and who knows what else."

"She sounds really fun," I remarked.

"I'm sure you'd get along with her really well."

"Cute," I replied. "But I actually did have something I wanted to ask you."

"What's up?" Nile said.

"Penelope wanted help getting a dress from her closet, and when I went in there, it looked like they were all the same. Did you buy them, or were they gifts?" I asked.

Nile winced. "Ah. Yeah, I buy them in bulk from an online store," he admitted. "I just move up to the next size when she starts growing out of the ones she has. I know they aren't very stylish, but I don't know a lot about fashion."

It didn't surprise me, and in fact, it was exactly what I expected to hear. Nile loved Penelope, but he was still a very practical man. Being a girl-dad had challenges that were much different than caring for boys.

"Would it be okay if I took her shopping today? I think she might like to choose something with a bit more pizzazz," I said.

"Of course," Nile said. "I'll leave my credit card on the counter, and you two go have a good time."

Penelope was thrilled when I asked if she wanted to go shopping with me. We drove down to a children's boutique that I had seen a few days ago. Her eyes lit up when she saw all the options.

Since she didn't have a lot of experience with choosing her own clothes, I decided to have her try on a few different styles and materials to see what felt comfortable to her.

"I get to wear all of these?" she asked excitedly as I hung the choices up in the dressing room.

"We won't buy them all, but you can try them on here and decide what you like best," I explained.

She squealed with excitement as she went inside to try on her first dress. Some of them she found too itchy or not the right length for her preference, but in due time we had whittled the choices down to ten.

"I know you like all of these," I began. "But you can only wear one dress a day. Can you pick your top five favorites, and we'll put the rest back?"

I worried that she would be upset or disappointed about not getting all of the dresses, but she happily sorted through the pile and pulled out the ones she wanted to leave behind. While she did that, I grabbed a few pairs of kick shorts for her to wear under the dresses. She was an active child, after all, and some of the outfits she picked were quite short. Nile would have been less than impressed if he got a call from preschool saying that Penelope had exposed her underwear to the class.

With our selections made, we checked out at the register. I carried the bags out while Penelope skipped along next to me.

"You up for some ice cream while we're out?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said enthusiastically.

I stopped at the ice cream shop just up the road and ordered each of us a cone. On the way out the door, I accidentally dropped one of Penelope's bags just as I caught sight of the last person I wanted to see today: Diana.

"Hello, dear!" she said to Penelope, hurrying over to her granddaughter and giving her a big hug. "What are you doing out with Violet? Where's your daddy?"

"He's at home. We went shopping!" Penelope said.

Diana raised her eyebrow judgmentally at the bags in my hand. "I can see that," she said. "Spending all your daddy's money, are you?"

She was talking to Penelope, but she was looking into my eyes judgmentally as she spoke. I wondered if she thought I spent all my days shopping on Nile's dime.

"Not all of it, Grandma," Penelope said with a laugh.

"Well, you let your daddy know that I need some time with my granddaughter soon, okay, sugar? Grammy misses you," Diana said, ruffling the girl's hair.

"Okay, Grandma," Penelope said, concentrating more on her ice cream than on Diana's words.

"Pen, go have a seat over at that table so you can eat your ice cream. I'll be right there after I grab this bag," I said.

I reached down to pick up the fallen shopping bag as Penelope moved off toward a chair.

"You seem pleased with yourself," Diana sneered at me.

"Excuse me?" I asked. She had never been kind to me, but the venom in her voice was unmistakable.

"All of this," she said, gesticulating at the shopping bags and ice cream. "You have no problem spending Nile's hard-earned money, do you. It's just despicable. My poor granddaughter is growing up without a proper woman to look up to now that her mother is gone. Instead, all she has is you ."

Her words stung me, but I refused to back down to a bully.

"You're out of line, Diana," I said calmly. "I earn my own money, as you know, and these purchases are for Penelope. Nile specifically said I should take her out today. You really should think twice before disrespecting your luna."

"Is that a threat?" Diana demanded.

"It's a fact," I replied. "Nile wouldn't like hearing you speak like that to his mate."

I hoped that my calm, no-nonsense demeanor would end the conversation. Instead, Diana seemed to take it as a challenge.

"His mate? Oh, please. You're nothing but a warm body in his bed. Jana was his true mate and always will be," Diana said unkindly. "I'll speak to you however I please. I am the grandmother of Nile's daughter, after all. And what are you? Just a guest in my family's home."

I could tell she was trying to goad me into having a reaction that she could use against me later, but I refused to rise to her bait. More importantly, Penelope was still sitting a short distance away. As much as I disliked Diana, I knew that Penny loved her. I would do anything to prevent her from witnessing an argument between us, so I chose to remain silent as she finished her tirade.

"It's just a matter of time before Nile sends you back where you came from," Diana continued. "And I'll still be right here, keeping the memory of my beloved Jana alive. You have no right to be here. He'll see that, soon enough."

I took a deep breath and tried to center myself while I did my best to ignore the terrible things she had said.

"Always a pleasure to see you, Diana," I said.

I turned abruptly and joined Penelope at the table. Diana scoffed behind me but didn't follow me. As I'd hoped, Penelope was blissfully unaware of the interaction between us.

"Violet, you haven't eaten any of your ice cream," Penelope said. "It's going to melt!"

"You're right!" I said, matching her urgency.

I placed the bags on an empty chair and began to eat my ice cream. She smiled at me and took a big bite of her own, smearing chocolate across her top lip like a mustache. I smiled and passed her a napkin. Kids always had a way of helping to distract me from more serious matters, but even Penelope's cuteness couldn't get rid of the thoughts swirling in my head.

Diana's confrontation had drained me. After the emotional high I felt yesterday with Nile and the peace of spending the day with Penelope, the subsequent low I was experiencing now felt even worse.

It was a given that Diana would always feel that her daughter had been Nile's true mate, but what bothered me about her words was that I couldn't be sure Nile didn't agree with her. Maybe he also thought I could never measure up to Jana. Maybe I would never be good enough to be his wife and Penelope's stepmother.

Last night's date with Nile had been the best evening I had spent with him since arriving in Pinedale, but he had left the room when I had started to open up to him. Was it because he had finally decided not to pursue me? Did he realize that I was just a random she-wolf who had become his mate by happenstance? Was his attraction for me gone?

You need to stop thinking about things like that, I reminded myself.

No good could come of it. Our marriage was an act, but both of us had started acting a little too well lately. It was getting more confusing by the day, and I could no longer tell where the line was between my real feelings and what I was putting on for an audience.