Page 89 of Always Be True: Tino
Chapter 25
Natalie wanted to stomp her foot in frustration. Her favorite relative was being a royal pain and refused to explain himself. “Look, you asked me to stop by for no particular reason knowing full well I have work to do, and now you won’t let me leave. Why?”
“Because I said so.” Cyrus glared at her one last time before wheeling his chair around to disappear back into his library.
“But, Granddad—”
She started after him, when the doorbell cut her off mid-protest. Rather than follow him, she called out, “I’ll get it, Esther.”
Her grandfather was back. “Well, it’s about time.”
Who was stopping by that had her grandfather fuming like that? Only one way to find out. She opened the door and then wished she hadn’t. What was Tino doing standing on her grandfather’s front porch? She hadn’t seen him or heard from him in over a week. Yeah, he’d told her he had some things to take care of, but he could’ve kept in touch by email or sent her a text message. Heck, even a tweet would’ve been better than total silence. Surely, she deserved that much.
And yet he’d clearly been in communication with her grandfather.
Her mood took another turn toward the dark side. She picked up her purse and jacket. “Well, Granddad, look who’s here. I hope you and your chess partner have a long and happy life together.”
Tino muttered something unintelligible, most likely a string of curse words he hadn’t really meant her to hear. Her grandfather joined in. “Dammit, Natalie, don’t go off half-cocked. We can explain, or at least he can.”
She rounded on her grandfather, ready to really rip into him, when Tino planted himself right in front of her. “Don’t be mad at Cyrus. This is all on me.”
Right now, she was in no mood to play favorites and gave each of them a dirty look. “You’re obviously here to see him and not me. Fine. Pretend I was already gone before you got here.”
Because if she stayed another minute, she would either start crying or throwing things. Maybe both.
“I don’t blame you for being angry, Natalie, but let me explain.” Tino crooked his finger under her chin and lifted her face so that she had no choice but to look at him when he added, “Please.”
She’d always been a sucker for his dark eyes. That didn’t mean she had to surrender completely to his whims. “Fine, you get five minutes. After that, or if I don’t like what you have to say, I’m out of here.”
Her grandfather rejoined the conversation. “Why don’t the two of you go into my library to have your talk.”
Natalie kept her eyes pinned on Tino, but she didn’t hesitate to let her grandfather know she wasn’t any happier with him. “So you can sit outside the door and eavesdrop?”
When he didn’t immediately respond, she glanced in his direction. His guilty expression said it all. Esther joined the conversation. “I’ll take him back to the kitchen with me and ride herd on him as long as necessary.”
At least one person was on her side. “Thank you, Esther.”
The old man clearly didn’t appreciate having his plans thwarted, but at least he surrendered to the inevitable. “Fine, I’ll go. Tino, that package you were waiting for is on my desk in the fancy bag.”
Then, with one last defiant look at her, Cyrus wheeled his chair around and took off toward the back of the house with Esther following right behind.
When they were out of sight, Tino stepped back and swept his arm in the direction of the library door. “Shall we?”
Now that the two of them were alone, her anger was replaced by something more akin to stage fright. She didn’t know what part she’d been assigned in this play, and she clearly didn’t know her lines or how she was supposed to act. Once they entered the library, Tino closed the door. “This might take awhile, so I think you’d be more comfortable sitting down.”
Tino waited until she was situated on the leather sofa before continuing. Rather than look in her direction, he stood in front of the fireplace and stared into the flames. What was he seeing there? Whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t making him happy.
Finally, he spoke. “I’ve owed you an explanation for a while now. But before I could do that, I needed to find answers to some pretty hard questions I’ve been asking myself.”
After checking his watch, he glanced back over his shoulder in her direction. “No matter how this plays out tonight, I appreciate that you’re willing to listen at all.”
The five minutes she’d promised him were ticking away far too quickly. Maybe she’d been too rash. “Don’t worry about the time limit, Tino. That was my temper talking. I’m here for the duration.”
“Thank you for that, Nat. I appreciate it.”
He drew a deep breath and started talking. “As you’ve probably guessed, Marlene Lukash and her late husband weren’t my birth parents. My real folks were killed in a car wreck when I was a kid. After that, I got passed around to various relatives until the last one finally turned me over to the state.”
She gasped and then immediately regretted it when Tino quit talking. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I know this can’t be easy for you.”
