Green - a werewolf story

27. Family

"Hello? Aiden? Why haven't you called me back?" an annoyed voice asked.

Aiden, Vanessa thought and had to suppress the sudden urge to do a celebratory dance. His name was Aiden. It was spooky how that had been one of the first names she'd thought of when she saw him, one of her favorite names to be honest, but...

"Oy! Are you there? When I said it was urgent, I meant it was urgent."

Vanessa was brought back to reality and realized that she should say something.

"Er..." She cleared her throat. "This is... Aiden's phone. He's not here right now. Can I take a message?"

Damn it, she sounded like an assistant.

"Who's this?"

"I'm... you know, never mind. Try calling him in an hour and..."

"You're her, aren't you? The chick he went after?"

"So what if I am?" Vanessa snapped. She didn't like his tone. It sounded as if he was angry with her and he had no reason to be. If anyone ought to be angry it was her. She'd had to endure listening to the phone ringing because this guy didn't know how to text.

"How long are you going to be away on your trip? He's got things to do back home, you know."

"That's none of your business and I've told him he's free to leave any time he likes."

There was a pause for a moment and then the guy on the other end of the phone laughed.

"I can see he's going to have his hands full with you. No wonder he's been in a mood."

Vanessa was quite sure she'd just been insulted by this Ted-person. She was sorely tempted to hang up on him, but then she'd miss this opportunity to get more information about Green. Aiden.

"What's so urgent then?" she asked instead.

"His sister's about to have a baby and he promised he'd be there for her."

Oh. Vanessa remembered what it was like to have a sister. It hadn't worked out so well for her, but Green loved his family. She could tell when he talked about them.

"When... when is she due?"

"In two weeks," Ted said, his voice softening. "But she's big as a whale and the doctor says it might be any day now."

"And Green said he'd be there?"

"He promised her. We've gone to all the delivery breathing classes together and..."

"Wait a minute, you're going to be there too?" Vanessa asked.

"Of course! I'm her husband and let me tell you, she'll see to it that my life's not worth living if I don't get her brother there. He was with Alyssa when Mya was born and Abby and Alyssa both swear that he was essential to the process."

"How can he be essential to the process?"

"He calms them down. That's his role in the family, you know. He's always calm. Nothing fazes him."

Vanessa laughed, convinced that he was being sarcastic but Ted didn't join her.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not. He's the only one who can calm his sisters down and I need both of them to be calm and happy if I want to survive the next couple of weeks."

Vanessa knew that was a gross exaggeration, but she couldn't help but wonder what Green's family was like. Particularly if he was considered to be the calmest member of it.