“I think I am. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” He nodded and asked her if she wanted to go with them. “No, I don’t think so. I want to think about all this, and then go see the witches’ council about them. I don’t know what I’d need to talk to them, but I would like to do that soon too.”
“Take Mercy with you. I don’t know why, but I think she might have a connection to them. She might not, but if you don’t get answers from them, Mercy will get them for you.” She hugged him when he stood up. “Not that I mind, but what was that for?”
“You made this happen for us. I mean, I know that you didn’t know that it was going to lead us to what we’ve been told, but it was a step in the right direction. I might never have known what I do now. And because you found your mate, I got six sisters and a really super nice brother-in-law.” Clara hugged him again. “I love you, Bryson. You will forever be my brother. No matter what we find out in the future, You’re my big brother.”
“And you my sister, Clara.” She told him what she wanted to be called. “I think that is an excellent name. Dawn it is then. I’m so glad to have you in my life as well.”
Chapter 6
Reba fussed at Paul about his attire. They didn’t really have a dress code where they were staying, nor did she really care what he wore. But they’d been married for sixty-four years, and she wasn’t going to stop fussing at him now. Even if she had to make things up
to get on him about.
“I’m not wearing a dad burn tie, Reba. I’m going to go in there and have myself a Coney dog. I don’t want to wear a tie to a cookout. If you make me, I’m going to use that thing for my napkin, see if I don’t.” She was laughing with the love of her life when someone knocked on the door to their condo. “I’ll get it. I have to find my shoes anyway. I need one of them locater things on them, I tell you. I’m forever losing something.”
When she heard a man’s voice, she made her way to the living room to see who it was. The man and woman standing there were strangers, but she knew that her husband would know everything about them—
Reba grabbed her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure they could see it beating out of her chest. Making her way closer to the door, Paul moved out of the way when she stood in front of him.
“Bryson? You’re my Bryson, aren’t you?” Paul was speaking behind her, but she could no more understand him than she could see around the tears that were filling her eyes. “You look so much like my daughter. So very much. You have her eyes.”
“Thank you. I’ve never seen a picture of her yet. May we come in?” Feeling silly for not thinking to invite them in, she was nearly to the couch when she turned and hugged the younger man tightly in her arms. “I wish that I had known you before now.”
Pulling back, Reba looked at her grandson. Her only grandson was here, now. Paul asked if he could have a hug. Moving out of his way so that he could hug Bryson too was the hardest thing that she’d ever done. Then she noticed the young woman with Bryson.
“You must think we’re very silly.” The woman said that she didn’t think that at all. “He was taken from us. That old fool, his father, actually sold him and his mother’s home like they were nothing but leftover rolls from dinner.”
“We only just found out today what happened. I’m Blaze Andrews, Bryson’s wife. We also only just figured out that his last name was—” Grabbing the young woman up in her arms, Reba hugged her as well. “I can’t believe that you were still waiting on him to come to you. But I’m so very happy that you’re here for him. He’s lost so much.”
“He did.” Reba pulled back and looked at Blaze. “I’m betting that you didn’t know your name was not Andrews either, did you? I just knew that bastard had Bryson. But I was afraid that if he didn’t, then it would break my heart even more. Curt, he told us that if we came sniffing around again, his words not ours, that if he did have Bryson he’d smother him in his sleep. It’s why we didn’t look. We were terrified. But knowing that Bryson would grow up someday and perhaps know about us, then we could feel as if we saved him for that.”
Paul nearly dragged Bryson to the couch. Blaze laughed; it was pretty the way it sounded. Holding her hand, hoping that this wasn’t a dream, her and Paul spoke at the same time, asking them about their lives. Reba noticed that Paul was holding onto Bryson’s hand as well.
“We’ve only been married for a short time. Less than a month.” Reba was so saddened that she’d not been invited, then laughed at her silliness. Bryson told them that he’d never been happier than he was at this moment. “The minute that I met Blaze, I knew that she was the perfect person for me. We’ve been having so much fun getting to know one another.”
“Oh, pictures. I have some pictures for you.” She jumped up, but Blaze said that she’d get them for her. Pointing out where they were, the pretty young woman brought the two albums to the couch with her. “These are the ones from before our Rosemarie met that terrible man. Please tell me that he didn’t beat you or tie you up.”
“I wish that I could, but I survived him, and that’s all you should think about. And that I’m here. I had a sister while I was there. Like me, she just found out that she wasn’t related to the Williams either. I can tell you that there will be justice served, but I’m not supposed to tell you any more than that.” Reba understood, but she wanted to know if Curt was going to jail. Instead of asking him, she asked them if they were hungry. “We are, thanks. Blaze and I would like to have dinner with the two of you if you don’t mind, Grandma.”
Her heart, broken in pieces for all these years, healed up with that simple name. Grandma. No one had ever called her that before. Getting all weepy, she made her way to the bathroom so that she could clean up.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Reba could see something she’d not seen in decades. The spark. The same spark that she’d had the day that her daughter had handed little Bryson to her the first time. It, like her broken heart, had been weighing heavily on her since that day, four months later, that Bryson had disappeared and her daughter, her beloved little girl, was taken from her.
Even though Rosemarie had killed herself, she would forever blame it on Brian. The things that he’d done, even before Bryson had been born, were too numerous and too heinous to name. The things that Rosy—what her father had called her from birth—had to endure had made her want to hunt Brian down daily and beat some sense into him. But some people, she had come to realize, were just too stupid to understand that they needed help. Gambling had taken her daughter and grandson away from her entirely too soon.
Dinner was a lavish affair. Reba never would have believed that she’d be doing this, having such a fine meal with her grandson and granddaughter. Blaze was so wonderful, and Reba could almost touch the love that the two of them had for each other. As they talked about all the things they were doing, the charity work and other works of kindness, Reba was ever so happy that Bryson was not like his father, but just like Rosy was when she’d been younger. Generous to a fault.
Paul talked to Bryson and Reba asked Blaze what she did for a living. The smile that she gave her made Reba smile right back at her. It was another thing that she’d never thought to have. To—
“I’m dwelling too much on the things that I thought I’d never get to do without Bryson around. I need to stop that thinking right now.” Blaze told her that she was so happy that they’d found each other. “I am as well. I was losing hope, you know. After so long, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever see him before we died. And now he’s here. You both are.”
“Yes. Mrs. Shepardson, I wanted to—” Reba asked if she’d mind calling her Grandma. “I’d love that. Thank you. But I wanted to tell you something. I’m not human.”
“I didn’t think you were, my dear. I don’t know why, but you are just too elegant to have only been around for thirty some odd years. You have a way about you that makes me think you’re even older than we are.” Blaze told her that she was. Nodding, Reba spoke again. “Did you think it was going to make a difference as to how we’d feel about you? I can tell you right now that I don’t give a fig what you are. So long as you continue to keep looking at Bryson the way you do tonight. He might have been out of our lives for nearly forty years, my dear, but I love him like he’s been here all along.”
“I’ve taken it upon myself to heal you.” Reba looked at her husband, then back at Blaze. “Him as well. Now that Bryson has found you, I’d hate for his time with you to be cut short because you have cancer and Paul will die with you. He will, you know. Die of a broken heart, the same as I would if anything happened to Bryson. He’s my life. Bryson owns my heart as well. I could no more go on without him than you or Paul could without the other.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Blaze put her hand over hers that were tightly grasped on the table. “You’re an immortal. You made Bryson one as well, haven’t you?”