Chapter Song: Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Chapter 66: Gertrude

Just as Joan climbed out of Seto's limo, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. "It's my mom. I'll meet you inside in a few minutes." She gave Seto a quick peck and picked up the call. "Hey mom!"

Seto turned to Roland and Tamara. "Both of you stick with her." He cast a glance over his shoulder before entering Kaiba Manor, letting Joan wander the grounds under the supervision of the bodyguards.

"Is everything all right?" Gertrude asked. "The news says there was an explosion at Kaiba Corp, but they don't know what caused it yet."

"Yeah, um . . ." Joan didn't feel like giving her mother too many details. "How'd you find out about that so fast?"

"I set up a news alert on my phone so I wouldn't miss anything involving you or the Kaibas."

Part of Joan wanted to scold her mother for prying into her business, but on the other hand, it felt good to have another person looking out for her. "Mom, I've been fine all this time. Why start worrying about me now?"

Gertrude took a shaky breath. "I've been trying to figure out how I steered you wrong. I thought a lot about the story you told me at the brewery. I had trouble sleeping for many nights after I found out you were sleeping around, but then I had a dream. In this dream, I had another daughter, and that other daughter was telling me that I was only allowed to love her and not you. I think God was trying to tell me something in that dream."

"Uh, Mom, what exactly are you saying?"

"George will always be my one and only husband, and you will always be my one and only daughter, but if God blessed me with more, how could I deny them? I'm not in your shoes, so I don't know what it's like for you. I just don't want you to feel like you need to hide things from me anymore."

Joan choked up. After a moment, she managed to squeeze out a soft, "Thanks, Mom. That means so much to me." After brief consideration, Joan decided to test the waters on another matter. "Mom, do you believe in magic?"

"No, but I believe in divine intervention. I've told you that story before about how I almost got in a fatal crash."

"Yeah, how your car mysteriously flipped around and backed into a tree, and the cops were totally baffled about how it happened."

"And I knew, just knew that God had decided it wasn't my time yet. He had bigger plans for me, and part of His plan for me was giving birth to you."

"Yeah, I remember. The thing is, about that explosion, there was a god involved, but it wasn't your God. It was an ancient goddess."

"Sweetie, are you feeling all right? Have you had a concussion test yet?"

"I'm fine, and Seto saw her too."

"Are you sure it wasn't one of those dress-up fanatics like the one who played that card game against Seto?"

"I . . . it's been a long day." Joan wanted to say more but remembered she told Seto she'd only be a few minutes. If she said too much, they could be on the phone for hours.

"You know, you're still welcome to come to church. All the other choir members are always asking about you."

"That's nice. I'll think about it. I gotta get back to Seto now, though."

"I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, Mom. I'll talk to you later." With that, Joan ended the call. She gazed up at the hulking Kaiba residence. God, if you're listening, talk to me. I need to figure this shit out. With silence as her reply, she sighed and headed inside.