29. Chapter 29
Chapter 29
What. Just. Happened? Tessa’s heart was playing in a mariachi band. She would think she was hallucinating right now since she’d already had some amazing fantasies about the lumbersnack, but her very real friend was gawking at her from across the deck.
“Close your mouth, Megs.”
Her friend obeyed and then made a beeline for her. Maybe Tessa should have also added, Don’t interrogate me.
“Sorry I interrupted.”
Tessa sighed. “You already said that.”
Megan smiled. “I know, but I mean it, kind of. I mean, I’m sorry that I stopped whatever was happening, but woo-ee I am happy for you.”
“ Woo-ee ? And don’t get too excited.” She needed to stop her friend from reading too much into this.
“Why not?”
That was a good question, but she couldn’t go down that path. “Because it’s not serious. It was just a kiss.”
Megan pursed her lips and stared at her. “That didn’t look like a simple peck-on-the-lips kiss. That looked like an examining-your-tonsils kiss.”
So much for controlling the situation. “What are you, twelve?”
Megan crossed her arms. “Oh no, Tessa Stuart, you are not deflecting my questions. Unless you accidentally fell into his arms and your lips happened to meld into that hot-as-hades kiss, get to spilling.”
She might as well give her something or she wouldn’t let it be. “We were talking about Lily, and then he was asking me about, well…me.”
Megan put her hand on her heart. “Wait, a man wanted to get to know you? Will wonders never cease.”
“You know, I’m not liking this switching of roles. I’m the smart-mouth, remember?” And apparently Ben really liked that.
Megan stared at her for a moment. “Why did you just blush?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her soon-to-be ex-BFF laughed. “You better tell me now. I will wear you down.”
“He told me he liked my smart mouth.” Her face heated even more.
“And?”
“And my heart and brains.”
Megan blinked at her. “Well, well, well. I think you might have found your match.”
“I don’t think so,” Tessa said quickly. She couldn’t let herself think that.
“How can you say that? The electricity between you two is amazing, and he sees you , Tessa.”
Tessa turned to face the valley, and her friend stood next to her. “Megs, right now his life consists of fifteen months’ worth of memories. And most of those he was living secluded in the woods. Think about it. I’m the first woman he’s been around. When his memories come back, he will be a different person. There is no way he won’t be. His past shaped him. What he feels for me will change.”
Megan grabbed Tessa’s hand. “You’re right. We don’t know what will happen in the future. Ben might never get his memories back at all. It’s a possibility that we are all tiptoeing around, but that could be the case. Or he could get his memories back and become Adam again. Either way, I think you could still be a part of his life. Don’t sell yourself short or play the what-if game right now. You have an amazing man who likes you. Just go for it.”
Tessa smiled at her enthusiasm. “You’ve changed, my friend.”
“I have you to thank for it. You pushed me out of my comfort zone and, albeit reluctantly, told me that Eric was the right person for me. And I won’t do anything less for you.”
Tessa nodded.
“Let’s go spend some time with Lily and Bella. I left Bella in her playpen and Lily was coloring, but I don’t want to leave them alone too long.”
They headed hand in hand inside and into the large living room before jerking to a stop. Bella was laughing and clapping in the middle of her playpen while Lily was flying around the room, holding on to her stuffed dragon.
“Cheese and crackers!”
Megan frowned at her. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”
She was thinking every expletive a drunken sailor and a pissed-off trucker might say to each other during a fight, so she was proud of herself for her restraint. “It’s a good thing the ceilings are vaulted?”
Before Megan could respond—and from the expression on her face it wouldn’t have been pretty—Tessa walked into the room. “Lily, sweetheart, it’s time to come down now.”
Lily’s lip stuck out a little bit in the prettiest of pouts, and Tessa was actually proud of her for being a kid for a few minutes instead of carrying the weight of her visions on her shoulders, but she didn’t want her to get hurt. “Come on now.”
Lily landed perfectly in the middle of the room and then furled her wings. Tessa walked over and sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her. Megan had scooped up Bella from her playpen and walked over to sit in the chair next to them.
Tessa took a moment to figure out what she was going to say, which was a first for her. “That was a good job letting your dragon out. Did you want to show Bella how you could fly?”
Lily smiled and nodded.
“I know that you are so happy now that you and your dragon are friends, but you have to be careful. We need to talk about some rules, okay?”
Lily tilted her head slightly and Tessa waited for her to protest, but she signed yes .
“Okay. First, you can’t fly inside the house. You could get hurt or you could accidentally hurt someone else like Bella.” Tessa waited for any sort of protest, but when she didn’t get one, she continued. “Second, you should ask an adult before you let your dragon out. You always want someone else with you outside if you go flying. Do you understand?”
Lily nodded again and Tessa hugged her, wanting to protect her from harm after everything this little girl had been through.
Ben sat back from the paperwork he and Sienna were reviewing when Eric came back into the office. He’d gone to check on everyone when they heard a bit of a commotion.
“Is everything okay?” Sienna asked.
“Yep. I caught the tail end of things. Apparently Lily was flying around the living room.”
Ben sat up straighter. “What! Is she okay?”
Eric held up his hands. “She’s fine. When I got there, Tessa was explaining to her that she shouldn’t fly in the house.” He grinned. “I can’t remember how many times Mom yelled at us for flying in the house, especially in the foyer. We used to race from the entry to the second-floor ceiling.”
Sienna shook her head. “You two were bad.”
Eric sat across from them. “And of course, you were perfect.”
Sienna laid down her pen. “Oh no. I was far from perfect. I just made sure not to get caught.”
Ben wished he could share in the memories. A little voice inside his head kept saying he might not ever remember. But he couldn’t listen to that voice. “I take it we got in trouble a lot?”
Eric chuckled. “Oh yeah. We were outside more than not, flying across the valley. Getting into all kinds of things we shouldn’t have.”
Sienna leaned forward. “You two were inseparable until…” The smile fell from her face.
He glanced between his two siblings. “Until?”
Eric blew out a breath. “Until Father died and you took over the clan. I disagreed about how you were running things.”
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask, but he needed to know. “And?”
“And you banned me from the clan.”
Ben flinched. “What? I…could do that?” Why would he banish his own brother?
“Oh, you could and you did.” Eric held up his hand. “But looking back on it, I understand why you did it.”
Ben didn’t understand. “How long did it take before we…reconciled?”
Eric and Sienna exchanged looks, which meant he wasn’t going to like what Eric was going to say.
“I was still banned when you went missing last year.”
Ben jerked to his feet as his stomach threatened to revolt. “How could I do that to you? Am I some sort of dictator?”
Eric circled the desk. “You did what was right for the clan at the time. I wasn’t listening to you. The clan was in turmoil after Father died. You were trying to keep it together and run the business, but I was too busy talking about changing things and breaking the curse.”
So he had banned Eric for something that ended up being true. “And I didn’t believe in it?”
“No. You thought it was a myth. But something changed last year. You reached out to me and wanted to reconcile, but before we could talk, you flew in front of me and took the brunt of the memory spell and then disappeared.”
“I’m sorry,” Ben said, his thoughts spinning out of control. “That might sound strange since I don’t remember, but I’m sorry I banned you.”
Eric blinked. “I know.”
They wrapped their arms around each other, and Ben looked over Eric’s shoulder at Sienna, who was smiling even with tears running down her cheeks.
They finally stepped back from each other, and Ben gave Sienna a hug as well before they sat back down. Ben reached for the leather-bound handwritten storybook he’d been reading earlier. “So that clarifies some of what I am reading in the story. Megan had mentioned that it somewhat mirrored the three of us, but I didn’t understand what was happening to the two boys in the story when they split up and went on separate journeys.”
“Yeah. It’s eerily similar, right?” Eric said.
Ben turned to Sienna. “There isn’t much in the story about you. The little girl stayed in the village to help the people.”
“Yes. Mom used to tell me the story about two brothers and a younger sister, but it would be about me and taking care of things in the village. And I learned the songs of the village and did a lot of singing apparently.”
“Except the story doesn’t end in this book.”
“No,” Eric said. “Like Megan mentioned, we think there might have been another volume that continued the rest of the story, but we scoured the house and the historical archives and haven’t found it.”
“Well, something made me change my mind and start believing the curse existed.” He tapped his head. “And it’s locked in here.” He clenched his fists. “We need to figure out how to release my memories.”
“It’s not like we have a witch we can ask,” Eric said.
“No,” Ben agreed. “But Tessa suggested a witch-dragon we can talk to.”
Eric frowned and Ben plowed on. “I know you don’t like the guy. But there is no one else who knows this curse better than he does, right? And if he is part witch, maybe he has an idea of how to help me.” Ben couldn’t sit around any longer and wait for something to happen. “It’s time to talk to John. Can we set up a meeting?”
Eric blew out a breath. “Yeah. I’ll have Megan talk to him. He listens to her most of the time. He might fight about you coming to his house. He barely tolerates me being there.”
“I don’t think Eric is the one we need to worry about.” Sienna smirked. “John isn’t going to want Tessa there, and she is definitely going to want to go. They can’t get along on the phone. I don’t know what would happen if they met face-to-face.”
“She’s right,” Eric said. “I’ll talk to Megan to see if she can convince John to let you come see him, and then if she can push for Tessa, she will. Let’s not say anything to Tessa until we know what he agrees to.”
“Fine.” Although it was far from it. As much as he hated keeping her out of the loop, if meeting John could bring back his memories, then he would bear her wrath later.
Not a good follow-up to the kiss. But hopefully she would understand if he was successful at unearthing his past.