My eyebrows went up. “What? Really?” Was he serious? He talked about finding his dad before, but… Shit, I had plans with Isaac!
He nodded. “Hurry up. It’s a drive.”
I turned and went into my room. Quickly, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and slipped into a pair of cutoffs and a gray boyfriend shirt. I was downstairs in less than two minutes. Rory already had Hades on a leash.
I got in the truck and called Isaac.
“Hey, what time did you want to meet up?” Isaac asked.
I cringed. “I can’t make it, I’m sorry. Rory’s taking me to see his dad—”
“Yeah... fine.” He hung up on me. My stomach rolled as I put my phone back in my pocket.
We had been driving for almost two hours. The further we got from Spring Mountain, the more tense Rory became, until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“It feels like you’re taking me to stand in front of a firing squad,” I told him.
He huffed. “Yeah, sorry, kid. My father and I don’t have the best relationship.”
I looked out the window at the trees going by. "Is he just an asshole?”
“He’s a grumpy asshole, yeah,” he agreed, his voice dry. Grandpa sounded fun.
“Great,” I muttered.
“He won’t be an asshole to you,” he said.
“Why’s that?” I turned back to him. His mouth was a hard line, his hands gripping the wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“Because you’re his biological granddaughter,” he bit out. “He hasn’t seen Tara since she was born.”
I gaped at him. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “He yanked me out of Susan’s hospital room to tell me Tara wasn’t mine.” He shook his head. “That’s when I told him about my vasectomy and the sperm donor. He hasn’t spoken to me since.”
“What an asshole,” I stated. “Tara’s never met him?”
“I tried around her first birthday. He hung up the phone. I stopped calling,” he admitted as we pulled into a tiny town. “If he wanted to see her, he knew where to find us.” Rory turned down another street.
“If he’s such an asshole, why do you think he’ll help?” I asked, watching the town go by.
“You’re Henry’s biological kid,” he reminded me. “You’re all that’s left of our mom. He’ll be as nice to you as he ever is.”
“I don’t remember him,” I admitted.
“That’s because your mother decided that she didn’t want him around you,” he said. “I always thought that Lisa believed if she kept our side of the family away from you, then you wouldn’t inherit your abilities.”
“What did she say when she saw my red hair?” I asked, oddly half curious and half dreading his answer.
“She was happy you were healthy,” he hedged.
I turned my head to look at him. His face was carefully blank. “Rory?”
He sighed. “There’s a reason you were an only child, Lexie, and your Dad didn’t get a say.” I turned and looked out the window. That was enough to give me an idea. My chest ached a little. What did I expect? For her to have been happy I was born? How could I still have that hope? For years she told me she wished I had never been born. Knowing what I know now, I looked back at my life with my mother and saw hints of her true feelings in my memories. She had never been the hugs and cuddles type of mom, but I always thought that was normal. I was wrong.
“She’s not all there anymore, kid,” he reminded me.
I nodded. “Yeah, but was she ever?”
“At one time, yes,” he said softly. I wish I had seen it. I shoved the emotions swamping me back behind their door. Now wasn’t the time. Rory took a gravel road.
“So, how is Susan?” I asked.
“She’s doing good. She’s on a lecture circuit this week,” he said. “She still asks about you.” I smiled. My memories of Tara’s mom had always been good ones. I remembered her playing dolls with Tara and soccer with me. She even handled the ghost issue pretty well. A memory came from the back of my mind.
“She saved my life once,” I said before turning to look at him. “Did you know that?”
His brow drew down. “No. What happened?”
I looked back out the window. “I was six. You guys had come to visit. Mom was talking with Susan in the family room. I was sitting on the floor drawing when a soul came through the wall and jumped me.” Images flooded my mind. Mom’s face as I dropped, coming to only long enough to watch Aunt Susan shout at my mom. Then waking up, hurting, in the shower with Aunt Susan holding me. “Mom just sat there. Susan got me into the shower, scrubbed me down with salt, and made sure I was okay.”
“I remember,” he said. “Henry and I went fishing. Susan called and told us you were jumped. She never said anything about it. Though, she did say she didn’t trust your mother after that.” Yeah, that sounded like Susan. I shoved everything back behind a door again.
A log cabin came into view through the trees. Small, and charming. There was smoke floating from the gray stone chimney. A small porch with an empty rocking chair. Rory pulled up behind a blue truck and parked. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He really didn’t want to do this.
“I can go in alone,” I offered.
He shook his head and opened his door. I got out, Hades jumping out after me. By the time I closed the door, Rory was beside me and the front door of the cabin was opening.
A tall mam who was closer to seventy than sixty stepped out onto the porch. His short silver hair was buzzed almost to his scalp. He looked so much like Rory I almost did a double take. They could have been brothers. Decades apart, but still. Rory sighed, and then led us over to the porch steps. Brown eyes narrowed at me, or more precisely, my hair, before shooting to Rory.
“How’d you find me?” the old man bit out.
“I’m a cop. It’s not that hard,” Rory countered. “This is Lexie. Lexie, this is your grandfather, Marvin.”
“Hi.” I didn’t know what else to say; there was no instruction book for this.
His eyes ran over me. He turned back to Rory. “You got your vasectomy reversed?” What was with this guy and his son’s junk?
“No. This is Alexis; she’s Henry’s daughter,” Rory reminded him. Marvin’s gaze shot back to me. His frown faded a little. “She was wondering if any of the family had left information that has to do with their abilities. Instructions? Anything?”
Marvin’s eyes stayed on me as he seemed to be deciding something. Eventually, he sighed. “Come in.” He turned and headed inside. I raised an eyebrow at Rory who just waved me up the stairs. I followed Marvin into the house. The great room wasn’t huge. It didn’t need to be, but it was sparse. A recliner, a small two-seater couch, a TV, a fire place, and a bookcase. A stool at a small breakfast counter and a neat kitchen. Marvin turned back to us and crossed his arms. “Now, what do you need?”
“I want to see if… Grandma left anything about her abilities, anything she discovered,” I explained.
His gaze went to Rory. “Stay here.” Marvin turned. “Back here, Lexie.” I followed my grandfather down the short hall and into a work room. Building blueprints hung on the wall, several lay on a drafting table. There was a hand-drawn picture of a building framed and hanging on the wall.
“What do you do?” I asked as he went to the closet.
“I was an architect,” he muttered. “I’m retired now.”
“So, you can draw?” I asked carefully.
He turned and looked down at me. “Yeah. I can draw.” He turned back to the closet and began pulling out boxes and setting them to the side. “These are Amelia’s records. She kept track of her family history, pretty much everything she thought was important.”
I eyed the boxes. There were a lot. “Thanks.” I picked up one and sat down on the floor. Hades lay beside me as I opened the lid. “Do you know if she kept a journal?”
He sighed, grabbed a box, and sat down in a desk chair. “No, I don’t. Is that what you’re looking for?”
I pulled out a large file and set it on the floor. “Yeah, anything about herbs, her abilities, anything at all.”