Chapter 1 Father, Daughter visits
Lucy Blue Moon Whitewolf awoke to the sound of her alarm blaring. it was 7:30 am on a Saturday, every Saturday morning she would be picked up by her biological father, William, and stay the night at his house at Echo Lake. Lucy had been adopted by a white family as a baby, she was told by them that she had been taken due to him being an alcoholic, and although he drank each day after work, her adoptive family drank wine almost every evening. Her father admitted to her that he was having a few beers on the afternoon of his day off when her mother's water broke and that he had to drive her mother to the hospital because an ambulance would have taken too long and could not be afforded. A hospital employee had smelled alcohol on him and accused her mother of had drinking that day as well even though she did not drink at all while pregnant. Her mother disappeared the day after she was born and her father always blamed himself for getting arrested as he was angry that his daughter was being taken away and had was under the influence. The hospital wrongly discharged Lucy's mother the day after she was born and her father was kept in the cell until Monday so her mother made the attempt to hitchhike home and it seems she never made it. Lucy got dressed and kept watch for her father out the window. About 10 minutes later the old red 1985 Dodge truck pulled up outside. Lucene grabbed her overnight bag and ran down the stairs. 'I'll see you guys tomorrow night's she called to her adoptive parents before heading out the door. When she got to the truck and climbed in she gave her father a big hug. 'Lucy, I'm so glad to see you sweetheart'.
'me too dad'.
'how bout we take the canoe out and go fishing tonight'.
'sounds great dad'.
Lucy's dad took her out hunting, trapping, and fishing, as well as gathering wild berries and other useful and edible plants. He wanted his daughter to learn about the importance of nature and how she both gives and takes. Lucy's father did not necessarily get to learn these things growing up, but he visited reserves in his early years to learn knowledge from elders. He never could find his birth parents, so he did the next best thing so he could pass on at least some cultural knowledge to his child. Things were quiet as they drove through the city towards the highway. Driving the route towards the highway always reminded William of that day he went looking for his wife. She was never found and Willuam had long ago accepted the worst, his wife likely was not alive, her spirit likely unable to rest, sometimes William felt almost as though he could feel that restlessness.
They arrived a little while later, William's house was an old 2 story house with 2 bedrooms that looked like it had seen better days, but it wasn't completely falling apart. It was what him and Lucene could afford and it worked well. Lucy got out of the car and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, which kind of smelled like the nearby lake. They headed inside and Lucy headed straight upstairs to her weekend bedroom to put her bag away.
'I'll make us some sandwiches for lunch' her father called below.
'great!' Lucy called back to him.
She came back down the stairs to join her father.
Lucy zoned in on a framed photo that sat in the living room, of her mother and father together, they had the hugest smiles on their faces.
"Any updates on mom's case?" she asked. Her father froze for a moment, then suddenly snapped out of whatever brief trance he was in and answered, 'Nope, nothing, not since her clothes were found in Indian Head shortly after her disappearance, apparently they dispatched scent dogs but the dogs couldn't pick anything up indicating she was even there, they think someone just dropped them off from a car and left, that's all they could find of her up to now, even I spent many nights risking being found out as a wolf trying to pick up her scent, but to no avail, I'm sorry Luce.'
'And the tip about the white Toyota?' Lucy asked, trying not to push her father too far, but she was curious.
'There's thousands of white Toyota's across the country honey, unfortunately the police can't stop everyone in a white Toyota, they said they investigated a few in the area, but couldn't find anything to indicate anyone of them were involved.' William set a plate with a bologna sandwich in front of her, and sat at the other end and began to eat his sandwich, they ate in silence.
'Dad, do you know when I might be able to transform into a wolf?' asked Lucy.
'well, I can't say for sure, but soon, and your first turn will end up being on a full moon, so you will need to be vigilant around the Roswold family during full moons until your 16th birthday, when you can choose to move in with me, that is if you want, I can't guarantee that you will end up being able to take wolf form, but its likely you will, and it would be dangerous living with them if you do.'
'I would rather be living with you anyways.' Lucy smiled at her father. Her adoptive parents were okay, they weren't abusive towards her, and always tried to make her feel as much like family as possible, and always welcomed the inclusion of Lucy's biological father in raising Lucene, but nothing could beat the love she had for her father, in fact Lucy felt it was unfair that the system decided her father couldn't raise her, but there wasn't much she could do until she was 16 and was allowed to make her own choices. She would be 16 in two months, and it felt like forever, she couldn't wait to live with her father full time. Lucy would of course miss certain things about living with the Roswold's, including her adoptive mother, Eva's parents coming on holidays bringing Lucy a gift or two each time, the adoptive father, Andrew's father would come around once in awhile as well, his wife died before Lucy was adopted by Andrew and Eva.
Thinking about visits with her adopted grandparents made her wonder about her biological grandparents. 'Dad, I know you were adopted as a child, and you don't talk to your adoptive parents, but I'm wondering about my mother's parents, did you know anything about them? Are they still alive?'