Page 24 of The Alien's Private Redemption

"What was your mother's name?"

"Sarah Lillian McBride."

"What was your father's name?"

Angela struggled with the answer. It was a basic question and she was certain she'd written it on her official paperwork but she was having trouble grasping the words before they slipped away from her.

"Gabriel," she said, after a battle with her brain to dredge up the information and her mouth to speak it.

Tell us his full name,Ae-cha demanded. Her voice surrounded Angela's consciousness, her presence looming over her like a shadowy monster and Angela recoiled.

It's none of their business,the voice in the back of her head hissed.He doesn't matter, anyway.

"Angela," Dr. Phillips pressed. "What is your father's full name?"

"I don't know!" Angela cried out, and yanked herself away from Ae-cha.

At some point during the interrogation, her eyes had closed, and she blinked hard to bring the room around her back into focus. Ae-cha's presence in her mind felt foul and Angela was struck with the sudden urge to scrub every inch of her skin, even as she knew she'd never get rid of the feeling of violation.

Zoric reached out for her and she clung to him. His gentle reassurance through their Bond felt like a breeze to blow off the storm clouds that were hovering over her.

When she looked up, she could see the disapproval on Ae-cha's face and the speculation on Dr. Phillips.

"Were your parents unmarried?" Dr. Phillips asked, looking down at the file. "Previous sources indicated that your father was an active part of your childhood."

Angela shook her head, struggling to pull together what she remembered about her father. He was tall, but all of her memories of him were from the perspective of a child, so she didn't think she could actually judge that. Dirty blonde hair and mustache, a constant five o'clock shadow, and kind, gray eyes.

"My mother never married," Angela said, struggling to pull the words together. "My father lived with us for a long time, and I know mama loved him. I never understood what he did but he had to leave a lot, and he'd come home as often as possible, until he didn't. Mama was sad, and I missed him, but I'd always known we didn't get to keep him."

"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.

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