The Journalist and Her Actor

Chapter 31

When asked to meet someone's parents, you know it's a big deal. The kind of big deal that leaves your mouth dry, your heart racing and gives your stomach the very insistent need to throw up. Not the best condition to meet someone's parents in, but things don't always go the way you plan.

You don't give just anyone an inside look into your personal life. To the world of your younger, vulnerable self. It was a gift, a terrifying gift. One that I did not deserve. 

I hadn't met Luke's mom before, but I knew of her. Like most Walkers, she was famous. A titan of industry. The woman who currently sat at the head of the Walker Empire, holding everything together. The head of a very terrifying wolf pack. The head of a family of potential murderers. 

I had nodded, mentally preparing to go to his mother's lavish mansion and try not to make a fool of myself. But when Duke came over to watch Carter, who refused to come out of his room, needing time to be alone, I found myself at the hospital. 

"Your mom is here?" I asked, confused as I stared up at the building we walked into.

Luke nodded, looking nervous as we exited the elevator on the forth floor, walking down a hall labeled 'Psych Unit'. 

"She comes in sometimes." His voice was quiet, unsteady. A shadow crossing his features.

We wove our way around several corridors, and I watched Luke grow more and more quiet, until we walked into a clean room where a woman sat on a bed next to a large window, her back to the door. Her long black hair spilled down her shoulders, glistening in the afternoon light that fell through the window. 

At the sound of the door opening, she turned and took Luke in with surprise. "Luke?"

He walked into the room, shadows vanishing as he smiled. "Hey mom." 

She stood up, her hands clasped in front of her, her smile tired but bright. "I didn't expect to see you here today." 

Then her eyes fell on me and they went wide, her face paling. "What..." she trailed off at the sight of me. 

Luke took her hand and brought her over to stand in front of me. "Mom, this is Em. Em this is my mom."

We stared at each other for a long moment, both stunned speechless. I wasn't sure what to say, because this woman, wasn't Mrs. Walker, but the woman I saw exiting Luke's trailer not that long ago. 

She must have had Luke when she was young and the reality of this woman not being a Walker was enough to make my head spin. I had never read about her anywhere. The world's best kept Walker secret. 

"Luke?" she turned to look up at him, alarmed. "What's going on?"

"It's okay mom." Luke offered me a shy smile. "Em Springs. This is Bailey James, my birth mother." 

I offered a surprise smile. "Hi, Ms. James."

She blinked, seeming to settle into the conversation and smiled. The smile was so much like Luke's that I suddenly realized why she had seemed so familiar in the first place. "Please, call me Bailey."

Excitement seemed to pour out of her, buzzing and bright as she took my hands and pulled me over to her bed ushering me to sit beside her. "Luke has told me so much about you."

She looked me over with open curiosity. "I like your tattoos." 

I rubbed the back of my neck, blushing and self conscious. This was not the meeting I had expected to have. She was warm, open. Nothing like Mrs. Walker who had often been compared to an ice queen. 

"Thank you."

"I wish I was brave enough to get one. Luke has so many that I am half convinced he has no pain receptors," she said shooting him a smile from where he stood, leaning against the wall, watching.