Page 17 of Destiny

“Yeah. He went to see her last night to get answers to some questions.”

“How did he expect to get answers from a woman who’s in a medically induced coma?”

“I don’t know that he was actuallylookingfor answers, Ava. I think…”

“Whataren’tyou telling me, Brendan?”

“I will tell you everything, but I wanted to let you know that your grandmother is no longer in the hospital. I don’t know where she is, but I’m sure your father can find out.”

“I’m honestly not sure my father wants to know.”

“Who could blame him?” Brendan takes another sip. “But I thought maybe we should talk to him.”

“I saw him last night. I was exhausted, and I wanted to spend the night in my old room.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I was a mess. But my mom talked me out of it, said I’d be too tired in the morning to make the drive to the bakery on time. She was probably right.”

He wrinkles his forehead. “That sounds odd, coming from your mother. If you were tired, she should have wanted you to stay.”

“Right? Itwasweird, but that’s not the main thing I want to tell you. I was talking to my mom about the future lawmakers club, and she gave me this.” I grab my purse and pull out my grandfather’s future lawmakers ring.

Brendan takes it, gazes at it. “That’s a lot of gold. And what is that? Onyx?”

“Probably. Mom didn’t know. I’m surprised my dad and uncles didn’t have it analyzed. But check out the symbol.”

He turns the ring over. “Nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“Me neither. Apparently my grandmother designed it. It’s a long story, but it represents an evil woman. Which she, of course, was. Or is. Hell, I don’t even know what tense to use.”

“Do you want to leave, Ava? Go back and talk to your parents about this?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t. I want to enjoy my pink squirrel—which is not nearly as good as yours—and I want my rainbow trout. I’m looking forward to it, Brendan. Thank you for this nice dinner.”

“You’re absolutely welcome, Ava.” Then he jerks. “Sorry, my phone buzzed.” He pulls it out of his pocket. “Do you mind? I have to take this.”

“I don’t mind, Brendan.” I take another sip of pink squirrel.

Chapter Five

Brendan

I rise and walk to the front of the restaurant. “Hey, Dad,” I say into the phone.

“Hi, son. I just heard from Jack. He’d like us to go to a clinic in the city tomorrow morning to have our blood drawn for the DNA test.”

“Okay. I can make that work. As long as I’m back by around two to get the bar ready to open.”

“I’m at the bar now,” Dad says. “I came to see you, but Laney said you’re off tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m in the city. I took Ava to dinner.”

“Ava… That’s good.”

“I thought so.”

“Yeah, it is, but that’s not what I mean.” Dad pauses a moment. “The thing is, I’d like this clinic checked out. You never know who you can trust these days, so I thought maybe you could ask Ruby—”

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