Page 36 of Destiny

“Hell, no. My mother can’t stand her own mother. You heard her when we were talking.”

“Right. Family squabbles and all,” I say.

“What happened with us goes way beyond family squabbles. My mother suspects that her own mother orchestrated the rape that resulted in my half brother.”

My jaw drops. So does Dad’s, but probably for a different reason.

Ryan’s theory… That Wendy had her daughter raped by those three…

“I see that surprises you,” Jack says.

Dad nods. “For sure it does. Do you believe it?”

“I don’t know. I was only three years old, and I was staying with my grandmother at the time.”

Our waitress comes by then, and I’m thankful to have the chance to stop talking about this.

Damn.

Ryan Steel seems to know his mother very well…and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Chapter Twelve

Ava

I head home in the morning after security for Wendy is in place and the nurse Dad hired has taken over her care. I make some preliminary arrangements for the contractor to come in for my remodel, make sure Luke and Maya are taken care of, make a few calls to get the necessary permits started, and throw out all the deli meat that will expire in the next few days. Ugh. I hate wasting food. Then I put up a sign.

Temporarily Closed For Remodeling

Then I head up to my apartment, take a quick shower, and text Brendan.

He doesn’t respond right away, which is odd.

So I head to my cards.

I’m going to do a reading. My question is, why was I chosen by my grandmother?

I remove the deck from the scarf with the daisy print that belonged to my Grandma Didi.

And I feel…

I always feel a connection to Didi when I touch the scarf, but this time I feel something different. A connection, yes, but something more.

I feel my two grandmothers together.

It’s an odd sensation, to be sure, because Wendy has nothing to do with this scarf. It was Didi’s.

Perhaps I’m imagining it.

I remove the deck, shuffle them once, twice, three times, and then I hold them to my heart, infusing them with not only my own energy but also the energy of my paternal grandmother, Wendy Madigan.

I choose the three-card spread.

The first card is the hermit.

An old man with a walking stick holds a lantern.

It’s a card I’ve drawn many times before, but it signifies something different this time.

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