“Curt Williams isn’t your father. Ellen isn’t your mother either. They’re neither yours nor Clara’s parents.” Bryson looked at her, then back at Piper. She explained to him everything that she’d just told Blaze, leaving nothing out. “I only found out about it because I was doing a search to find out if your mother had any information that we could use about your father. Your father is blocking his mind about certain facts. But he does know that you’re not his children. He has no idea that Clara has magic either. At least not that I can find by searching. I was just telling Blaze that I’d have to hurt him to dig deeper. Or make him remember it somehow so he pulls it from his memory on his own.”
“But that’s not possible. I remember her coming to our house after Mom left for the hospital.” Piper told Bryson that she’d gone to the hospital, but it was because she’d sustained injuries from Curt when he’d knocked her around. “If she left while I was still a kid, then how do I remember her so well? I remember Dad hitting her too. Mom begging for money for food when he’d taken off with it.”
“May I touch your head? I can get a clearer image of what you’re seeing with a touch.” He nodded. “Just don’t try and block anything out. Let me look.”
It took Piper less time than Blaze thought it would to find out something. She knew that Piper found something, but what, she hadn’t said as yet. She was still processing, Blaze thought.
“They’re not your memories. You remember them because someone planted them in your head. And it looks like it was Ellen.” Bryson asked her why she’d do that. “I don’t know. I have to find Ellen to figure that out. But I do have a better understanding of what went on in your childhood. Also, I have more things on Curt that I’m sure the police don’t know about.”
When she simply disappeared, Bryson looked at Blaze. He was visibly upset, and she could tell that he was having a hard time trying to equate what he’d been told with what his memories told him.
“Does Clara know about this?” Blaze told him that she didn’t. “I don’t think we should say anything until we have more facts. Otherwise she’ll hunt down Mom...Ellen, and get them herself. Not easily either. I don’t even know what to call them now.”
“That’s reasonable.” He nodded and picked her up from her chair, and sat her on the couch next to him. “She’s not human. Did you know that before today?”
“Not a clue. I’ve never seen her do anything other than just be my sister. And now I find out that we’re not even related by blood.” She waited to see what he said next. “Not that it matters, I guess. I would still love her if she was a three headed rat with a sharp tale. Speaking of which, there are mice in the barn. What can we do about that?”
“I’ll go out there as my bird, or you can, and scare them off.”
Bryson sat there for a moment before he burst out laughing. He was still laughing when they were called to dinner. She was glad that he found humor in things still, because she had a feeling that things were going to be bad once they got things figured out with his parents.
~*~
“I don’t understand what it is you think I’ve done to you.” Bryson just stared at his dad when he spoke. “Why would anything at all that you might think I’ve done warrant you treating me like this?”
Bryson looked at his sister. He’d promised her that he’d be quiet, that he’d let her do the talking. So far that hadn’t gone over any better than any other time he’d tried to have a conversation with him. It was always about him deserving something, mostly money from them.
“I’m not talking to you about what you think you deserve in the way of compensation for raising us. I asked you about how you came to have Bryson and me as your children. We’re both aware that not only are you not our father, but Ellen isn’t our mother. What did you do to get us?” Dad just looked at him, then back at his sister. Dad said that he wanted money. “You mean that you’re going to blackmail us for the answers? Fuck that shit. I’ll find it on my own.”
When Clara stood up so did he. They were nearly to the door when Dad laughed. Bryson didn’t turn back, like he supposed his father wanted them to, but opened the door. He was done fucking around with his father. They had resources out the ass to find what they needed.
“Good luck finding out anything.”
They moved out the door and into the hallway toward Bryson’s new office. The entire building was his new offices. Having a job, several of them in this case, was making him itchy to get started on even one of them. But he wanted information on what had happened to their birth parents.
The conference room, where their dad was, had all kinds of cool cameras and electronic devices. But with all that shit, their dad had only whined about not having any cash. He and Clara went into his office.
“He knows something. More than likely all of it.” Bryson told her that he did, he was just being a jackass. “I think you’re right. But how do we get it out of him?”
“I make a phone call and we search his head. Piper said that the memories might not have been there before for her to find because he’d buried it so deep. But now that we’ve sort of made him think about it, she’ll be able to get it.” He picked up the phone. “She’s going to ask if we want it all or not. Can you handle that? I know that I can.”
“I think so. I hope so, I guess.” She looked around his office. “This is really nice. I love your desk. I mean, it’s so you. All the outdoor stuff you did when we were younger? This desk is perfectly you. Yes, make the call. I need to know more than I’m afraid to know.”
The call was answered by Remi. He told her what they’d run into and what Piper had told them. When she laughed, he had to smile. There was something so very wonderful about all their laughs, but Remi did it with all that she was.
“I’ll look right now.” He said that he’d wait. “Nah, you go do what you need to do to comfort your sister. I can feel her tension all the way here. Take her to lunch. Your dad isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll keep him away from you for a little while.”
Bryson didn’t even bother telling her not to hurt him. He was at the point now where he couldn’t care less about anything to do with his father. Last night, he thought, was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as he was concerned.
“How’s it going with your decision with your job?” Clara asked him how he’d found out. “Blaze. She tells me everything. You might want to remember that in the future. Also, she can’t lie to me, nor can I lie to her. I wouldn’t anyway, but I like that rule. So? How is it going?”
“I’ve decided not to take it. I might later on, but I have a project in mind that I’m working on with Remi. Did you know that she has more than a dozen degrees? All of them do, I guess. Anyway, after talking to Blaze, I decided that I have plenty of time for a lot of the things that I might like to do. But I want to help out with as many projects as I can that you guys have.” It sounded to him like she was quitting her job, so he asked her about it. “No, taking time off. I’ve never taken a vacation, and I have a lot of it built up. Since I’m struggling with you getting married and this thing with my father, everything was approved almost as soon as I asked for the time off.”
“Yes, I can imagine how much of a struggle it is with me marrying your best friend.” They both laughed. “What kind of things did you tell them about our dad?”
“The truth. Or at least most of it. I didn’t want to tell them that I didn’t need them, in the event that we run across something that we might need the bureau for.” Bryson nodded. “Do you think that I’m really a witch?”
“I do. I think that I might have known it for a while now, but never really put the pieces in the right place. You’ve always had this uncanny knack for figuring out a crime scene better and quicker than anyone else. I don’t know if you ever noticed it or not, but you bring things to you. I saw you a few times, but wrote it off as me being exhausted.” She told him t
hat she’d caught herself doing that very thing last night. “It’s not that bad, is it? I mean, to be a witch and have all this power?”
“No. I mean, other than the bringing things to me and being observant, I don’t know what all I can do now. I’m more worried about what my parents did to have me end up with Ellen and Curt.” He smiled at her. “Yes, I’m calling them by their first name. Until someone tells me otherwise, I think that the two of them had something to do with both of us being with them. I don’t know what yet, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be terrible.”
Almost as soon as Clara sat down the phone rang. Clara popped back up in the chair when he nodded to her that it was Remi. Before she could start talking—he could tell that it was serious—he asked if he could put her on speaker phone.
“Yes, but I want you to know that this is going to be hard on your sister. Hard on you too, but you can handle it since you’ve already written your father off.” He told her that he thought Clara had too. “Not yet. But this will make it happen.”
After he put Remi on speaker phone, she told Clara the same thing that she’d told him. That it was going to be difficult on her, and that it was terrible. Did she still want to hear it all?
“Yes. I do and I don’t. But I need to know. As far as writing him off, I think that today in the offices, that might have been a deciding factor for him.” Remi told her that was good. “Is this really bad?”
“He killed your parents. Both of them, on two different nights. Your mother first, then your father. I’m working to see where this happened. Curt is a little vague on the details. However, Ellen had nothing to do with either of the things that brought you to them. It was why she left him, by the way, because he’d killed your parents, Clara, thinking that he’d get some of the money and magic that came with it. Mostly the magic. Little did he know, or even could figure out, that before they were dead, each of them gave their magic, all of it, to you.” Bryson asked if that was why she’d not spoken or had any memories when she first came to them. “I believe so. The magic, and there was a considerable amount of it, would have been too much for your mind at that time. You were nearly forty then. And because you got it all at once, they made you appear to be younger so that you’d have a long time to figure it out while living with someone that would hopefully take care of you. When your mother gave you hers, she thought that your father would be there to help you with it. The same idea that your father had about giving you his. They didn’t know that the other had been killed. At least not until it was too late for you to have someone to guide you through the magic that you’d gotten.”
“He thought that they were rich.” Remi said that they were. “So not only did he kill them both and take me, but he robbed them as well?”
“No, he didn’t find the estate. And if you think about it, you’ll understand why. He didn’t know where they lived. Curt had taken them both when they were out of the home. He was clueless to know where you lived, because they didn’t live long enough for him to ask. You didn’t know, he found out, because you weren’t talking.” Bryson started laughing first, then Remi joined him. It wasn’t until Clara started laughing that he felt better about it. Curt really was a dumbass. “I have how much you’re worth now. Your parents were immortals. Not true ones as you both are, but they had been around for a very long time. Again, not as long as the other birds and I have been, but enough to have a considerable fortune. It’s been waiting for you to find it. The witches’ council has been holding it since you came up missing and your parents’ bodies were identified.”
“Did they suffer?” Remi said that they had not. “Curt killed them because he knew that they had money. But after doing so, he didn’t get anything because he was too stupid to take them from their home. Or see them coming out of it.”
“Yes. You have a very lovely mansion not far from where you lived with the Williams. Oh, your name isn’t Clara at all. Your mother named you after her mother. You’re—please don’t laugh—Dawn Stardust Fitzgerald. Your mother was also Stardust, but her first name was Glenna. Dad was James Lloyd Fitzgerald. That’s all I know for now, but will have more soon for you, Clara.” Remi laughed and asked if she wanted to be called Dawn or Stardust.
“I’ll have to think on that for a little while. I’ve always been Clara since I can remember, but I do like the name. Both of them.” Remi told her that it was up to her. “Thank you for this. I’m sure that there is more that I need to know, but for now, I’m all right with what you gave me.”
“You’re welcome. Now for you, Bryson. It was just as we found out about you coming to them. Your father, a worse gambler than Curt is, lost the house that you’re living in, as well as you. Your mom, Rosemarie Andrews, was pretty upset about Brian Andrews losing the house. Once she’d been told about you also being a part of the deal, she didn’t waste another breath on your real father and killed him. Then she killed herself. There were no other children born to them except you. However, you do have maternal grandparents that are still alive, both in their early eighties. I had Piper working on your name while I talked to Clara. Their names are Reba and Paul Shepardson. They’re in an assisted living place, but are as bright and clear, from what I’ve been told, as you are.”
“That’s great.” Remi said that she thought so as well. “Grandparents. I’d be thrilled to meet them. But being eighty, I wouldn’t want to hurt them in any way.”
“They do know that you’re out there someplace. As far as they know, someone came along and took you from your parents. Even the police covered up that they’d been a murder/ suicide. And that the house was used to pay off a gambling debt. Piper looked; they have always assumed that Curt took you. However, they had no proof. I think they’d love to know that you’re alive before they pass on. Piper said that it was all that was holding them back, finding you and seeing you one last time. You were about four months old when you were given to the Williams.” He asked where they were and Remi told them. “I’d go see them, and take Blaze with you. She might be able to take some of their pain away so that you can spend a little longer with them. I wouldn’t think she’d give them immortality. They’re much too old for that, and in a great deal of old age pain. But make it soon.”
After they hung up with Remi, Bryson called Blaze. He was going to go and see them tonight if she was free. When she told him that she’d spoken to Piper and that she had cleared her calendar, they decided they would go there as soon as she got to where he was. Bryson asked Clara if she was all right.
“I think I am. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” He nodded and asked her if she wanted to go with them. “No, I don’t think so. I want to think about all this, and then go see the witches’ council about them. I don’t know what I’d need to talk to them, but I would like to do that soon too.”
“Take Mercy with you. I don’t know why, but I think she might have a connection to them. She might not, but if you don’t get answers from them, Mercy will get them for you.” She hugged him when he stood up. “Not that I mind, but what was that for?”
“You made this happen for us. I mean, I know that you didn’t know that it was going to lead us to what we’ve been told, but it was a step in the right direction. I might never have known what I do now. And because you found your mate, I got six sisters and a really super nice brother-in-law.” Clara hugged him again. “I love you, Bryson. You will forever be my brother. No matter what we find out in the future, You’re my big brother.”
“And you my sister, Clara.” She told him what she wanted to be called. “I think that is an excellent name. Dawn it is then. I’m so glad to have you in my life as well.”
Chapter 6
Reba fussed at Paul about his attire. They didn’t really have a dress code where they were staying, nor did she really care what he wore. But they’d been married for sixty-four years, and she wasn’t going to stop fussing at him now. Even if she had to make things up
to get on him about.
“I’m not wearing a dad burn tie, Reba. I’m going to go in there and have myself a Coney dog. I don’t want to wear a tie to a cookout. If you make me, I’m going to use that thing for my napkin, see if I don’t.” She was laughing with the love of her life when someone knocked on the door to their condo. “I’ll get it. I have to find my shoes anyway. I need one of them locater things on them, I tell you. I’m forever losing something.”
When she heard a man’s voice, she made her way to the living room to see who it was. The man and woman standing there were strangers, but she knew that her husband would know everything about them—
Reba grabbed her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure they could see it beating out of her chest. Making her way closer to the door, Paul moved out of the way when she stood in front of him.
“Bryson? You’re my Bryson, aren’t you?” Paul was speaking behind her, but she could no more understand him than she could see around the tears that were filling her eyes. “You look so much like my daughter. So very much. You have her eyes.”
“Thank you. I’ve never seen a picture of her yet. May we come in?” Feeling silly for not thinking to invite them in, she was nearly to the couch when she turned and hugged the younger man tightly in her arms. “I wish that I had known you before now.”
Pulling back, Reba looked at her grandson. Her only grandson was here, now. Paul asked if he could have a hug. Moving out of his way so that he could hug Bryson too was the hardest thing that she’d ever done. Then she noticed the young woman with Bryson.
“You must think we’re very silly.” The woman said that she didn’t think that at all. “He was taken from us. That old fool, his father, actually sold him and his mother’s home like they were nothing but leftover rolls from dinner.”
“We only just found out today what happened. I’m Blaze Andrews, Bryson’s wife. We also only just figured out that his last name was—” Grabbing the young woman up in her arms, Reba hugged her as well. “I can’t believe that you were still waiting on him to come to you. But I’m so very happy that you’re here for him. He’s lost so much.”
Blaze: Queen’s Birds of Prey: Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 2) Page 8
