Page 69 of The Alien's Private Redemption

"How did you know?"

"He wasn't ours to keep. He'd been borrowed from another holler to make Mama happy."

"What do you mean 'borrowed'?" Ae-cha asked.

Angela struggled to answer. It wasn't something they talked about and how did she even begin to explain?

"He didn't belong to us. He wasn't…family."

"But he was your father?" Dr. Phillips pressed.

"He was. But he wasn't a McBride. He was a Hauser. So, he came to be with my mother, but he eventually had to go back."

"Are you a Hauser, as well as a McBride?" Ae-cha asked.

Angela shook her head. "I could have been just a Hauser, and if I was, he would have stayed until they'd had a McBride. Part of the deal was that there would be a McBride child from their union. That I was also a girl made everything easier, I think."

"How did they know you were a McBride and not a Hauser?" Dr. Phillips asked.

"There was a test," Angela said.

"What kind of test?" Ae-cha asked, her voice suspicious.

She didn't know. Instead of panic at the realization that she couldn't remember the test, there was a sense of calm. As though it was just a normal part of losing early memories. "I don't know," she answered. "I was so young when it happened, I don't know if I ever could have remembered it."

"Was your father's name Gabriel Hauser?" Dr. Phillips asked.

"No," Angela said. She knew that answer. Her line was unique for holding the family name. Many of the families had changed names throughout the years but hers never had as long as anyone could remember. And memories ran for generations in the hollers.

"I'm fascinated that your father was loaned to your mother to create a child. And there was a contract involved but not a marriage," Ae-cha said. There was a subtle hint of a question beneath her statement but Angela didn't feel compelled to answer it until she asked it directly.

"Do you have any siblings?" Dr. Phillips asked. "Or cousins?"

"No siblings," Angela said. "Lots of cousins, though. Mama's siblings married into other lines and the town."

"Why didn't your mother marry?" Ae-cha asked.

Angela shrugged. "She didn't have to and I don't think she would have wanted anybody else but my father."

"Who arranged the contract between your parents?" Ae-cha was leaning towards her across the table and Angela could feel herself being caught in her eyes.

Panic began to rise in Angela's breast as she tried to capture the thought that her family belonged to someone. Zoric reached out through their Bond and calmed her before her breath seized in her lungs.

Ae-cha recognized her reaction and began to pursue the line of inquiry. "Did the person who arranged the contract ever hurt you?"

Immediately, memories of a warm and loving presence filled her. Shadows over the side of the mountain that filled her with joy combined with a certainty that, whatever happened, she was safe. Warm naps in the sun, hot chocolate in front of the fire, and worried voices settled by a calm presence when she was sick.

He'd never hurt you,the voice in the back of her head said.

"No," she said. "We were precious to him."

Unease at her memories filled Zoric and spilled across their bond. She reached out to discover what was causing it and found his own memories shut tight against her.

"Do you know why you were precious to him?" Ae-cha asked, and Angela could hear the tension in her voice.

"We were family," Angela explained. "He'd been watching over us for years. Mama worried sometimes that he was alone too much and invited him to everything."

"Did he tell you to join the armed forces?" Ae-cha asked. "Were you trained from birth to become a Marine?"

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