Angel Reborn, page 34
Nick squeezed my hand but said nothing, which was good, because I wasn’t done spewing out my internal thoughts yet. Which he probably knew.
“It’s just…mind-blowing. I don’t know how to process it. One second, I’m reeling from the whole my-life-is-a-lie thing, and the next, I feel relieved that maybe this explains why they were such shit parents. At the same time, I feel so sorry for my mother. I cannot imagine how horrendous that whole ordeal must have been. To lose a child, and then to be handed a different child and to have to love that one as your own when you’ve only just lost your own…that’s messed up. That is seriously messed up. No wonder Edie has stayed checked out and numb for my whole life. I really can’t blame her. Tommy, I blame. This changes nothing I feel about him. If anything, I loathe him even more for making her do that. All my life, when my father—when Tommy was mad at me, he’d tell me he never should have let my mother keep me. I always thought he meant he’d rather she had an abortion or gave me up for adoption, but now I know. He regretted making the deal. But you know what? It doesn’t matter what he thinks, because he’s not even my father. So now, I’m back to feeling relieved again.”
I stopped walking and turned to face Nick.
“Who is my father? Edie said my mother was some woman who was in a bad situation, but she never mentioned a father. And unless there’s yet another extraordinarily rare thing about me, I’m pretty sure I have a father.”
“I’d say that’s a safe assumption.”
“And if the woman who gave birth to me was in trouble alone, then he might have been a jerk too.”
“I don’t know if you can jump to that assumption.”
“At this point, based on everything that has happened to me since the ball, I think it’s obvious at least one of them was supernatural.”
“I agree. Another safe assumption.”
“Maybe even both. But why give me up to two humans, and why all the secrecy? What’s so important about my name? Why insist that I keep it if you’re not going to be around? And why was I human for twenty-seven years? I mean, if I hadn’t died on that rooftop, which, let’s face it…I did die…then would I have just stayed human until I aged out or something?”
Nick ran his fingers through his hair, tugging lightly on the ends. “I don’t know. God, I wish I had answers to give you, but I don’t. I am at such a loss for how to help here.”
“I don’t expect you to have the answers, babe.” I turned and started walking again. “But I don’t even know where to begin to get them. I was so convinced that whatever Mom—Edie—had to tell me was going to give us a direction to go in. And I feel like this opened the door to the possibility that my parents were supernatural, where we didn’t think that was possible before. But we still have no direction and no clear way to get answers. You heard her…there was no name given to them. How are we ever going to find a mother who clearly did not want to be found? And do I even want to find her if that’s the case?”
I hated crying. I avoided it at all costs, and I could count on one hand the number of times I’d cried as an adult. But this was too much. Everything that had happened in the past week was too much. Everything that had happened today was too much. It was all overwhelming, and my eyes filled and overflowed before I knew the tears were coming.
Nick wrapped his arms around me, cradling my head to his chest as I let them flow in the safe haven of his embrace.
I was certain the few people peppered along the beach were staring, but there was no way I could stop in that moment. The dam had been opened, and my emotions needed a release.
Unfortunately, tears were not the only release I’d manifested.
“Um, Aria?” Nick whispered against my hair. “It might be time to do some of that box breathing again. I’m not saying you can’t feel everything you’re feeling. I want you to let it out, so you can cry all you want to. But the sand cyclone has to go.”
I jerked my head up and cursed at the sight of the white sugar-like sand swirling around us like a mini tornado had formed on the beach with us in the center of it.
“Am I doing that?” I asked.
“I’m certainly not doing it.”
Closing my eyes, I pictured the iridescent glow extending out from me on all sides, connecting my energy to the energy of the sand so that it rose and swirled to protect me. Then with each breath, I released the sand and pulled the glow inward until it was fully contained inside me again.
“Good job,” Nick said as he rubbed his hand up and down my back.
I opened my eyes, relieved to see only blue skies and a few shocked faces here and there down the beach on either side of us.
A man with leathery skin and a long silver braid was running toward us. “Are y’all hurt?”
“No, we’re fine, thanks,” Nick said.
The man’s blue eyes scanned us from head to toe as though he wasn’t sure he could trust Nick’s assessment. “That came up outta nowhere, didn’t it? I’ve never seen one come up that fast and then just go away. Especially not on a clear day. It ain’t even that windy.”
Nick nodded, shifted his stance to shield me. “Freak weather phenomenon, for sure. We’re all good though. Thanks again for checking.”
A few other concerned—or perhaps nosy—bystanders were coming closer, and Nick raised his hand to wave at them.
“We’re all good. Nothing to see here.”
The man with the leathery skin left us to go and chatter with the bystanders, and they all continued to steal glances in our direction.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to Nick, tugging on his hand as I turned back the way we’d come.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Thirty-Five
Nick
“Are you hungry?” Aria asked after we’d rinsed our feet and gotten back in the car. “Oh, wait. I forgot. You don’t get hungry anymore.”
“I could eat,” I said, not wanting to discourage her if she was willing to eat. I’d been worried that she wasn’t getting enough nutrition for the past few days. She hadn’t been eating enough or sleeping enough, even for a supernatural who needed less than a human. “Are you hungry?”
Scrunching her nose and rubbing a hand over her belly, she looked over at me. “I think I am. It’s kind of hard to tell because my stomach has been so finicky with all the anxiety, but yeah. I think I want something to eat.”
“Great,” I said, thrilled to hear it. If she was ready to eat, she had to be feeling at least a little better. “You know the area better than I do. Where do you wanna go?”
“I want a shrimp po’boy from Flounders Chowder House. I’ve only been there once, and that was years ago when Aunt Pearl came to visit for my thirteenth birthday. I’ve never forgotten that shrimp po’boy, and I always swore I’d go back there and get another one someday.”
“Then today’s the day. Just tell me where to go.”
“It’s not far. It’s right by that traffic light we came through earlier. They have this drink called the Bushwacker, or at least they did back then. I’m sure they still do, because it’s like this signature drink that pretty much every bar on Pensacola Beach serves some version of. It’s like a chocolate milk shake, basically, but with alcohol. Aunt Pearl let me take a sip of hers, and I remember thinking that it was yummy. That was prior to me having any personal experience with alcohol, so I felt like such a grown-up being allowed to take a sip.” She stared out the window and then a hint of a smile played at the corner of her mouth. “That was a great night. My dad was working out of town, and it was just me, Edie, and Pearl. Aunt Pearl took me shopping for my birthday and bought me a gold necklace with a sand dollar charm, and then we went to Flounder’s. My mom was in such a good mood that night. She was always happier when he wasn’t around. She took less pills when he wasn’t home.”
The smile had faded, and I reached to take her hand in mine. I squeezed, and she squeezed back, and then she turned and looked at me.
“She wasn’t always a bad mom, you know? I have some good memories of her, too. I think…knowing what I know now…about her…and about being a mom myself…I think she was probably just doing the best she could.”
“Maybe so.”
I knew it would be better for Aria if she could find forgiveness for her mother and her father. Bitterness, anger, and hurt all have a way of leaving darkness on a soul. But I would never forgive either of them for the scars they’d put upon her and the tears they’d made her cry.
The restaurant was on the waterfront of the Santa Rosa Sound, on the opposite side of the island from the gulf. It had a large outdoor seating area right along the shoreline, and we sat there in the sand under a large blue umbrella with palm trees swaying overhead.
Aria got her shrimp po’boy sandwich and her frozen Bushwacker drink, and I opted for a piece of blackened yellowfin tuna. As we ate, she shared more memories from her childhood—some happy and some sad—and I could see the tension beginning to ease from her shoulders the more she talked and the more she drank.
She’d never been one to consume much alcohol at all, and the thought crossed my mind that getting tipsy when her emotions and her powers were still so unpredictable was probably unwise. But she seemed to be calming down instead of riling up, so I let her do what she needed to do. It wasn’t like she was pounding down hard liquor, and there’s only so much someone can chug of a drink that’s practically a milkshake along with an entree before they’re too full to take in anymore.
“I’m gonna go to the ladies’ room before we head out,” Aria said once the waitress cleared our plates.
“Are you okay to go by yourself?” I asked as she stood.
“Yeah, of course. I’m not drunk, babe.” She held up her finger and her thumb in a gesture of measurement. “Just a tiny little buzz.”
Zeck had texted midway through the meal for me to call when I had time, and I had waited, not wanting to interrupt Aria when it seemed important for her to purge whatever was on her mind.
Pulling cash from my pocket, I laid enough for the bill and a tip on the table and dialed his number as I walked toward the ladies’ room to wait for her.
“How’s the trip going?” he asked once we’d said hello.
“It’s been interesting. I’ll spare you the details, but it turns out Aria’s adopted.”
“No shit. Wow. How’d she take the news?”
“It depends on what angle she’s looking at it from, which changes sometimes minute to minute, but I think she’ll be fine once she gets past the initial shock.”
“Any insight on who her natural parents are or whether they’re descendants?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious they are, but no. Evidently, it was a closed adoption, so they never got any info on the birth parents.”
The wind picked up in a huge gust, lifting sand into the air and blowing anything without much weight off the outdoor tables. The blue umbrellas shook, their canopies flapping, and the palm trees all began swaying toward the water.
The skies were still a brilliant, clear blue, though, without a cloud in sight.
“I think I might need to check the weather,” I said as I walked out from under the overhang by the restrooms to take a better look at the sky. “It feels like the temperature’s dropping a bit. We might be in for a storm.”
“Have you spoken with the pilot? Anything coming in on radar?”
“I texted him about an hour ago and let him know we’d likely be flying back later today like we’d originally planned. But I told him I’d touch base once we were done eating. I should go so I can call him.” Another gust of wind whipped through the outdoor space, and a couple of servers began lowering the umbrellas as some people stood and moved into the indoor portion of the restaurant. “Was there a specific reason you asked me to call you, or were you just checking in?”
“I wanted to update you. We got into the billing system for the PIs that were following Sage and Aria.”
“Was it Mike? Was Mike who hired them?”
“His name is listed as the client but get this. The billing info? Liliandra Conti. Now why in the hell would she paying for private investigators for Aria’s ex?”
I was already worried about Aria and pissed about the way she’d been treated, so learning Lily had gone even farther than we’d thought made me downright furious.
“You’ve got to find her, Zeck. I don’t care what it costs, and I don’t care what you have to do. You find Lily, and you bring her to me. And you let the Conti family know that if they harbor her, I will take them down one by one.”
“If you’re sure about that.”
“I’m sure. She tried to have my wife killed and to have my daughter taken away from me to be handed over to an unemployed drug addict who needs to beat up women to feel like a man. She has crossed lines here that cannot be uncrossed, and she will not get away with it.”
The wind was almost constant now, and it occurred to me that Aria was taking an awfully long time in the bathroom.
“I’ve gotta go, Zeck. Thanks for the updates and keep me posted. Let me know as soon as you find her.”
“Will do, brother. Smooth travels!”
“Aria,” I called out as I ended the call and knocked on the ladies’ room door. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she called back, and then she swung the door open. “Come here.”
There were three stalls in the restroom, and though I didn’t see any feet to indicate they were occupied, I didn’t care to go inside if she didn’t need my help.
“C’mon, we gotta go,” I told her as I held the door open.
“Okay, okay, but first, come here. Just for a second.”
Looking over my shoulder and seeing no one headed my way, I stepped inside the restroom and let the door shut behind me. Then I bent to confirm that the stalls were indeed empty.
“How are you feeling?” I asked. “Is it possible you’re creating some heavy winds right now?”
Her eyes widened as she stared at me. “I don’t think I am.”
“Have you got things under control? Your vibrations are pretty high.”
“Yeah, I know. Come look.”
Taking my hand, she pulled me to the mirror, and then she stood looking at her reflection with a huge smile. “Do you see them?”
I peered into the mirror but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “What am I looking for?”
“My wings!” Her bottom lip pouted in disappointment. “I can’t believe you can’t see them. They’re so bright. Much brighter than before. And the sun’s not even shining in here. I think it has to do with my energy. The last time I could see them, I was calming down, so my energy was getting lower. But right now, I feel like the glow inside me is lit up and buzzing all over. Like it’s all charged up or something. I looked in the mirror while I was washing my hands, and there they were! I still can’t believe I have wings. I wish you could see them. They’re amazing, Nick!”
“I’m sure they are, Angel, but I think it’s possible that buzzing energy you’re feeling is causing the wind to go nuts outside.”
She’d been shifting her feet to turn left and right as she gazed at her reflection, but she stopped moving and her eyes met mine as my words sank in.
“You seriously think I’m making it windy outside?”
“I think so, yeah. There’s not a cloud in the sky, but all the sudden, the wind picked up and started whipping things around. I’m gonna need you to do whatever you need to do with the breathing and try to calm everything down, okay?”
“I can try.” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, but then the door swung open, and a lady walked in.
“Oh. I must be in the wrong—” The lady stared back and forth from me to Aria, and I flashed her what I hoped was a charming smile.
“Sorry. My wife needed to show me something. We’re just leaving.”
Taking Aria’s elbow in my hand with a gentle nudge, I led her outside the bathroom.
“Holy cow,” Aria exclaimed as she took in the wind, which had kicked up even stronger than before.
But now as I looked up, there was a dark cloud beginning to cover the sky overhead.
“I’m doing this?” Aria asked. “Are you sure? I’ve never been able to control the wind before.”
Turning, I led her through the covered breezeway toward the front of the restaurant and the gulf side of the island. As soon as I reached the entrance on the other side, I knew there was no way this was Aria.
The entire sky in front of and above me was an angry and ominous dark gray. It spread to the horizon and as far as I could see to the left and to the right. Thunder rumbled in the distance as bright flashes of lightning lit up the storm’s clouds.
“This is definitely not me,” Aria said by my side.
“No, definitely not. And we’re definitely not taking off any time soon. C’mon, let’s get to the car before it starts raining.”
We made our way to the rental car, and once we were inside, she asked, “Where are we gonna go?”
“I had my assistant book a hotel just in case you decided you wanted to spend the night. It’s only about five minutes from here according to what I was looking at on the map earlier. I say we try to make it there before all hell breaks loose. We can check in and wait out the storm and then head to the airport once it passes. Or spend the night. It’s up to you.”
“Well, that’s fortuitous! Yeah, let’s check in and see how long this lasts. I’ll call Angie and let her know we’re gonna be delayed a little longer and see how Sage is doing.”
Thirty-Six
