Page 90 of Destiny

“Of course. Because you knew my grandfather, Theo Matthias. And my mother.”

“Yes. I couldn’t have chosen a better woman for my son than your mother.”

“Did you—”

She shakes her head. “No, I had nothing to do with them getting together. That happened all on its own.”

“But my mother…”

“Yes. She tried to kill me. I didn’t die, of course, but when she tried, she proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how much she loves my son.”

“Tell me about my grandfather. Theodore Matthias.”

“Theo was brilliant,” Wendy says. “I hated putting an end to his life.”

“Then why did you?”

“His time had come. He had come full circle. He had grown to love his daughter again, and I knew he wouldn’t be any good to the organization at that point. Besides, Tom and Larry were both gone already.”

As much as I want to keep talking about this, find out more about what my grandmother knows, we’re getting off the subject at hand.

“Grandmother, the bracelets…”

“You’re a smart girl, Ava. You saw the etching, didn’t you?”

“Yes. The WM.”

“I doubt Didi ever noticed. But once you were born, and I told her they were meant for you, I knew you would notice the initials someday.”

“How did you know that?”

“I’ve known since the day you were born, Ava. You’re the key.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You want to know why I reached out to you. Why you, and not your sister. Or your father.” Wendy closes her eyes, sighs, opens them again. “Your father has no love for me. As much as I yearn for his love, I’ll never have it. And your sister… Even though she and I share artistic talent, she is your father’s daughter through and through. But you, Ava. You’re not just your father’s daughter. You’re alsomygranddaughter.”

“Grandmother, you’re not making any sense.”

“Think about it, Ava. Think about it. Think about who you are, and you’ll see that I’m making sense.”

“I am my father’s daughter.”

“You are.”

“But so is Gina.”

“She is. Biologically, you are as much your father’s daughter as I am his mother. So is Gina.”

“And I don’t understand—”

But then Idounderstand.

What the cards have been trying to tell me this whole time.

Who I am isn’tchangingso much as it isemerging.

“I think I’ve always known, Ava, that you were more mine than Ryan ever was. More than Lauren, more than Jack, more than Gina. I was there the day you were born.”

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