Page 70 of Destiny
“Exactly,” Ruby says. “Those were only thefirstsperm banks, when it wasn’t common.” She shakes her head. “I’ll be fucking damned.”
“At least my uncle lives on,” Dad says. “Through you, Jack.”
“Why would my grandmother use your uncle’s sperm to fertilize my mother?” Jack shakes his head. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me either,” Ruby says. “There’s something I’m not seeing here.”
“I’m just glad you’re here, son,” Dad says to Jack. “I mean, I guess you’re my cousin, not my nephew. But with you being the same age as Brendan here, well, it feels like I got part of my uncle back in a new nephew.”
“Why are you so interested in what happened to your uncle?” Ruby says. “You must’ve been just a kid when he died.”
“I was,” Dad says. “But I was named after him, and he and I had a kind of special relationship.”
Ruby simply nods. “I don’t know that there’s any point in searching anymore. I doubt that your grandmother has a cryogenic facility hidden somewhere in this house. Which means…”
“Shewantedus to find this,” I say. “It’s a plant.”
“Bingo,” Ruby says. “And we need to figure outwhy.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ava
“Do you think I could be right?” I ask Dad. “Why would she make up a half brother?”
“I wish I could tell you why my mother does what she does,” Dad says. “But I can’t, and I’m damned glad of that. If my mind worked the way hers did, I’d be pretty worried.”
“And that’s why you’re worried about me.”
Dad nods. “Ava, she’s not a good person. If there is such a thing as pure evil in the world, my mother personifies it. I understand that you want to know why she reached out to you. But I’m concerned. You tend to see the good in everything, Ava. That’s something wonderful about you. But don’t try to find the good in your grandmother. It doesn’t exist.”
I swallow. “I’m hearing you. I know you think that I’m not, but Iamhearing you, Dad.”
He pulls me into a hug. “I’m glad. Because Ava, you and your sister mean everything to your mother and me. Don’t let her into your head. I get it. It’s difficult. She can be very…persuasive. Very charismatic.”
“Until she admits some of the horrific acts she’s done.”
“Exactly.” Dad kisses the top of my head and then lets me go. “I don’t know about you, but I need a break from Wendy.”
“Sure. You want me to make you some lunch?”
“Michaela can make our lunch. It will just be you and me today.”
“Where’s Mom?”
“She said she had some errands to run.”
I nod. “Where’s her head in all of this?”
“The same as mine. It brings back a lot of sour history for us, but she’s okay. Your mother is the strongest woman I know.”
“Yeah, she is strong.” I cross my arms. “She’s so different from me.”
Dad cups my cheek. “Never doubt your strength, Ava. Youareas strong as your mother, just in a different way. No one expected you and your sister to be carbon copies of your mother or of me.”
“I know that.” I regard my father’s handsome face, his dark hair, his milk-chocolate brown eyes. “But Gina looks exactly like you. And I always thought I had Mom’s eyes, until…”
“They are a lot like Wendy’s,” he says. “That doesn’t have to mean anything.”