Page 59 of Destiny

“So you’re pulling an Ava? Very strange indeed.”

“Stranger for her than for me. But yes, I suppose I’m pulling an Ava. My father and I… We want to figure out this thing with his great-uncle once and for all.”

“I do too, Brendan. Can the two of you meet me later today?”

“Yeah. I think he’d appreciate that.”

“Actually, I’d like to meet Lauren.”

“I can probably arrange that. I’ll call Jack.”

“Great. If the three of us could go over there sometime today, I think that would be helpful.”

“Yeah. I’ll arrange it if I can and get back in touch with you as soon as I know anything.”

“Thank you, Brendan. And for what it’s worth, I hope you and Ava work things out.”

“I do too, Ruby.”

“I wasn’t born a Steel, and I know better than most that they’re not always the easiest people to love. But they are worth it in the end, Brendan. Trust me on that.”

“I do love your daughter, Ruby. That’s not in question at all. I’ll call Jack and get back to you.”

“Very well. Thank you, Brendan.”

Chapter Eighteen

Ava

I need a break.

Why am I doing this again?

Why do I feel like I need to know something from this woman?

Because she makes up a quarter of my DNA? She makes up half of my dad’s, a quarter of Gina’s as well.

Does it even matter?

I don’t have to be anything like her.

But I feel something about her. Some kind of bizarre link.

I wipe my mouth and then rinse it with water from the sink. Then I walk out of my room.

My mother’s in the kitchen. “Ava, do you need anything?”

I shake my head.

“You look a little…green.”

“Just things.”

Mom touches my arm. “You don’t have to do this.”

I meet her gaze. “Mom. Idohave to. There’s a reason why she reached out to me. Not to Dad. Not to her other daughter. Not to Gina. But tome, Mom.”

“Ava, you can’t try to make sense of anything a crazy person does.”

---