Erik noted that his mom seemed to accept Liona's answer, since she didn't press her for more details. He was slightly relieved that his mom wasn't attacking her with her preconceived notions, but that didn't mean that his mom accepted her yet. He knew his mom could hold on to a grudge for a long time. After all, she never ever forgave those girls who had attacked Nikki, pretending that they were her friends.
Then the community service that he had done to keep Nikki out of trouble when he had been caught stealing when that incident had occurred. His mom resented the shop owner for pressing charges of theft of the marked down items he had only stolen out of desperation. They had been at rock bottom at the time and were desperate for the things he had stolen. In his experience, charities didn't deal with the extreme poverty like his family fell into.
It was like they were invisible until they had become desperate enough to show up on someone's radar. This was usually when things got so bad that they were ridiculed for being either too lazy to get a job, or sneered at for even attempting to better their lives through education or other means. It was a vicious cycle. It wasn't as if people in their situation were too lazy to work, it was usually because too many barriers were in the way, preventing the opportunities that were just handed out to those with money.
He admitted that he too had thought of Liona as someone who was just pitying them and had been paying attention to him and his sisters because she was bored. But he had been so wrong. She was an amazing person who genuinely cared and wanted to befriend his family alongside him. Then they had discovered that their mutual draw to each other was fate calling their name.
"Well, I suppose you aren't so bad, but I still have my reservations about you, young lady. I don't want to find out that you're stringing my son along while you are secretly engaged to some well-off alpha or whoever your family wants you to marry. What does your family think about you dating my son?" Julie asked Liona.
"I am not dating anyone besides Erik. I'm also not betrothed, or otherwise engaged, to anyone. Any relationship I did have, ended before I found out that Erik was my fated mate. As for my family? They don't interfere in my love life. They let me date anyone I see fit and only want to see me be happy. The only time my family has ever gotten involved in my relationship choices was when some asshole decided that he couldn't accept that we had broken up and continued to harass me. Only then did my family step in, when it was clear that my attempts to handle it myself weren't working." Liona explained briefly.
"She's right, Mom. There was a guy who chose to harass her at her birthday party that was her ex. Her family let her handle him first before the guy tried to get physical. Liona explained to him that he had no right to force her to continue their relationship because he couldn't accept that she didn't want to date a cheating asshole. He even had the audacity to bring the girl that he had cheated on Liona with to her party when both of them hadn't been invited. Only then did her dad step in to handle the situation." Erik elaborated for his mom.
"What does your family do for a living?" Julie asked.
"My mom is a doctor and my dad works for the EEA." Liona simplified her family's jobs, since she was pretty sure that Julie would probably be completely against her seeing Erik if she told her that her dad was actually head of the Northwest Branch. And that her mom was the most respected obstetrician and gynecologist that specializes in omega care in this part of the world.
Before his mom could continue to question Liona, the shrieks of laughter and the sound and feel of feet stomping up the outside steps to the house, shook the trailer before the door burst open. His sisters were now home from school, having just gotten off the school bus.
"Liona's here!"
"Yay!"
"Big sister's here!"
"Sissy!"
The joyful cries of his sisters reacted to seeing Liona in their small living room. It didn't take long before she was surrounded and given hugs from Kylee, Sarah, Heather, and Kirsten, while they all clamored for her attention. Liona greeted each sister with a hug and chatted with each one, not leaving a single sister out. Even when Emily woke up from her afternoon nap, trudging out from the back of the house and saw Liona, and promptly crawled into her lap.
To his mom's astonishment, his reserved and shy sisters all climbed over or were generally affectionate with her. His mom hadn't witnessed the times when Liona had made the effort to include his sisters in whatever activity she came up with while at the park, even if it was just reading to the younger ones. Then the shopping trip before her birthday largely cemented in his sisters' minds that Liona was a good person.
"Mommy! I'm hungry, when's dinner?" Kirsten whined.
"Didn't you eat at school?" His mom asked.
"That was long ago, Mom. We're all hungry!" Heather piped up.
"Fine, I'll get started on dinner a little early. Erik, look after Tyler while I get our meal prepared."
"I can help, if you'd like, Julie." Liona offered.
"That's alright, I don't know if I can afford to let you ruin any of the few ingredients we have…" Julie said as she handed Tyler to Erik.
"Mom, that's not a fair assumption. Besides, I told you that Liona was the one that has been making me those lunch boxes. She's an excellent cook."
"That's all well and good for the fancy foods she can waste in the process without you knowing or worrying about wasted ingredients, but we barely have enough to feed ourselves, let alone your girlfriend, so no, I will not be accepting her help." Julie said firmly. She didn't believe for a second that this rich girl didn't waste a lot of food in the process of creating those fancy lunches that her children brought home to show her. Just because the end product wasn't a disaster, didn't mean that the process wasn't wasteful.
While Erik wanted his mom to see Liona for the person he had come to know her as, Liona just focused on entertaining the littlest of the kids. This was to distract herself from making a rude remark to Julie about her cooking skills. She didn't waste ingredients anymore. Even her failed attempts when she had been learning to cook had been eaten. Her mom had laughed and compared it to her mom's cooking, and that's how she had found out that her Grandpa Darrol had been a terrible cook for the longest time. She apparently got her love of cooking from her Grandpa Ash, though, so it evened out.
Watching Liona play with his little sisters, made Erik's heart thump in his chest. He didn't understand why seeing her so engaged with his family made him desire her all that much more. He gave himself a stern reminder that she wasn't an object to lust over and that she was his sweet and caring girlfriend. She was doing him a favor by meeting his mom and trying her best to ease his mom's fears.
Erik bounced Tyler on his hip as his baby brother started to fuss. While he tried to distract his baby brother, he wondered where Nikki was and why she wasn't with the younger kids when they had come home. Usually, she kept them distracted while their mom made dinner, or she did chores while he looked after the younger ones. It was unusual for her to be late.
As if on cue, the sound of footsteps on the stairs and then the door opened with what seemed like some difficulty. There was his sister, out of breath and struggling with a large box in her hands.
"Thanks for the help, Kylee!" Came the sarcastic remark of his winded sister as she set the large box down with a thud on the floor. "Mom a packaged arrived today for us, but since there was no answer at the door, the person delivering it got dragged over to Mrs. Mucklemyers trailer for tea. The handyman waved me down on the way home and explained what happened. Did you or Erik order anything that required a signature?"
"Hey! I helped by getting our sisters home safely!" Kylee stuck out her tongue at her sister, making Liona giggle at their interaction. It was similar to her sisters, with the way they acted when they were younger.
"I didn't order anything, Nikki." Erik replied as Tyler rubbed his eyes. He was getting tired, which was why he was fussing.
"I didn't order anything either, Nichole. You should know by now that I don't buy things online often." Julie responded.
"The box says it's from a company called, Guiding Light." Nikki said, looking at the label.
"Oh!" Liona exclaimed. The package had arrived sooner than she had expected. It was all the new electronics for Erik's whole family.