Open Road, Unknown Location, Colorado....
The wind seemed to pick up more and more as Rae clung to the waist of her husband as he drove them via his motorcycle down the long and winding highways getting closer and closer toward their current destination before they ventured off to trade green pastures for concrete and high rising glass and artificial light. Rae had not known what to make of Duke's home state, as it was a surprise he had come from Colorado at all. They rode down the winding back roads and Rae took note of the various twists and turns. She felt a bit nervous about the prospect of meeting her newly acquired father in law and what he might say about her union with his only son. She might have been head over heels in love with Duke and even accepting that he'd been someone else entirely, but there was no guarantee that his father would approve of their rather unconventional union especially given her age.
Duke didn't seem to care on way or the other about his father's opinion of his marriage as he'd already made up his mind and Rae was already his wife. He was simply informing him of his marriage as a courtesy or sorts. There was another reason Rae had been so nervous about the upcoming meeting. She had secretly stopped by the drug store and picked up a pregnancy test in the hopes of making sense of her recent bout of odd symptoms. While she was inexperienced with notion of sex before meeting her husband, she wasn't in the least native about the fact that he could have possibly gotten her pregnant the longer her nausea and cravings seemed to get the better of her.
She had yet to take the test and was hoping to find time when they reached Duke's father's house, of course she had wanted to believe that she was simply ill and it would pass but the nagging feeling she had deep within her mind told her otherwise. She wondered how Duke was going to take the news. He had quite a bit to deal with given his being a werewolf and not knowing it and then there was the possibility of the traits being passed along to their unborn child. So many questions plagued her weary mind and the most of them had been whether or not Duke's father had also been a werewolf and what it meant for her in the long run to be linked with two werewolves in the wake of brutal attacks that left many dead as they traveled.
She sighed as she continued to cling to her husband as he navigated the scene almost on instinct despite not having been back home since he'd first returned from Iraq after being honorably discharged following his stint there. For much of the ride Duke was his relatively silent and moody self, focusing more on just getting them to his father's house than he'd been on showing her around the very place he grew up. Rae got the feeling that there weren't a lot of fond memories of childhood for him and wondered just what it had been like for him in this vast place.
Duke remained as silent and stoic as ever when the bike pulled into the familiar streets that he'd known since he'd been a boy. He didn't seem all that impressed with how much everything had seemed to stay the exact same since the last time he'd been home, aside from his father aging that was.
Rae was amazed when they pulled up to what used to be a white house with the paint faded and chipped from years of neglect and weathering. She didn't doubt that the upkeep inside had been any better, but she was delighted to finally see the place where her husband had spent much of his adolescent years before enlisting into the Iraq war.
Duke pulled his bike up toward the front of the house and parked just a ways from the faded front steps. He took note of his father's latest attempt to keep the grass cut so as to keep away the bolder nature creatures whom believed they'd have the run of the place. He climbed off the bike and slowly, assisted his young wife as she did the same as he lead her toward the front porch.
Rae could feel the minor amount of pressure in her belly as she stood with her hand across it wondering when the next bout of nausea would get the better of her and hoping that it could wait until well after introductions had been made with Duke's father.
Duke walked up to the porch and immediately knocked on the front door after opening the outside screen door. He seemed to remember his way around the house well enough and was quite comfortable being back in his familiar surroundings.
Standing on the porch seemed to intensify Rae's anxiety as she found herself being shrouded via doubts about whether or not she had a place in this new family given her age and the possibility that her father in law would not approve of her and his son's union.
Duke seemed to sense her apprehension and turned his attention to her and away from the front door where he'd been about to knock again to get his father's attention.
"No matter what happens...you and me are legally married and we are going to start our new life together." he said before briefly kissing Rae on the lips before turning his attention back to the door.
Rae nodded as she steeled herself in the wake of her doubts.
Duke was hers no matter whom had objected, he'd even managed to convince the old Judge and her Ed Earl to back off their union. The stood no reason that he couldn't manage the same thing with his own father.
The brutish man knocked on the door again as Rae swiftly took his hand. She took a deep breath as she heard the twisting of the locks and the knob as the door finally opened. She found herself surprised to see the aged leathery face of an old man with nearly white hair and sorrowful looking eyes as he took in the sight of his only son and the new arrival.
"Channon?" he said unsure of what to make of the visit from out of the clear blue sky.
"We were passing though old man." replied Duke. "Only right that we came to see if you were still breathing."
"We?" asked Charles Lovell with an arched brow before he took notice of Rae. "This your daughter?"
"No." replied Duke meeting his father's gaze. "She's my wife."
Charles looked at Rae in silence for what seemed like the longest time.
She got the feeling he'd been looking her over and trying to make sense of why his son would want a woman so young but he simply opened the door and allowed them to step inside without a word.
Rae seemed to have been relieved of this it seemed.
If Charles had any objections to their newfound union, he was more than content to keep them to himself at the moment.