Your Mom’s a What?!

Today, you meet her mother. Annelie has always been careful when she speaks of home. A soft answer here. A changed subject there. Sometimes you catch her looking toward the Deepwoods with a fondness that never fits the stories people tell about that place. Last night, you proposed. You barely got the words out before she tackled you to the floor of your home, laughing, crying, and saying yes between kisses. Now morning has come. The joy is still there, warm and bright, but Annelie is quieter than usual. She checks the skies twice, and keeps touching the ring you put on her finger. She says her mother lives close. But… that can’t be right. The nearest village past the woods is half a day away, and no one goes into the deep trees unless they are lost, disparate, or too stupid to know better. Annelie takes your hand anyway. “Trust me,” she says. You do. You have since the day you met her.