“No. I’m okay. Please go on.”
“I didn’t know we were related at all. I grew up in Scotland, as you know. Your grandfather was supposedly the last dragon, and St. George was credited with killing the last dragon in Libya. The few dragons left ran and hid. My mother fled all the way to the Scottish Highlands. She was pregnant with twins at the time. She gave birth to a boy and girl in a cave, and shortly after that, another dragon heard the babies’ cries and sought her out. The cave was high on a rocky face that wouldn’t have been passable by a human. The new male dragon was your grandfather, my father.”
Amy could see the wheels turning in Kristine’s mind. She was putting two and two together, and it looked like she was coming up with four.
“So my father must’ve been one of the twins. You and my father happened to have the same mother but not the same father. Is that right? Did you know?”
Amy shook her head. “That’s correct, and Ididn’tknow. I didn’t grow up with the twins. They were both sent to a relative in Canada. Nova Scotia, also known as New Scotland.”
“But why?”
“It wasn’t uncommon to send children to relatives that had better circumstances at that time. The twins were troublesome teenagers, and he said they had to go. He sent the other two to an aunt in Canada shortly after I was born. He wanted to raise his own child—me—in relative peace.”
“That was hundreds of years ago, right?” Kristine asked. “I thought only indigenous people lived in North America then.”
“Yes and no. A few dragons made it to Canada after St. Patrick’s purge and St. George’s supposed victory over the last dragon. The dragons stayed largely hidden. We mature normally and then age slowly. Once we hit our prime, time really slows down.”
“When people think we’re sisters, you can’t help gloating.” Kristine gave her a sly grin.
Amy laughed. It broke the tension, and she was grateful for that. “You know me well. So, do you have any questions about what I’ve told you so far?”
“Yes. How did you both wind up in New York?”
Amy smiled. “New York is the city of dreams. We both had dreams…very different ones, apparently. But they were dreams nonetheless. I wanted to act, and your father wanted to be rich.”
Kristine fidgeted. “I guess he didn’t care how he got rich as long as it happened. What caused him to be like that? There had to be a reason.”
Amy sighed again. “Dragons have traditionally been very fond of hoarding treasures. Our parents were no different. Of course, when he was sent away, your father lost all claim on the treasure in the hollowed-out mountain where your grandparents amassed quite a bit of gold, relics, and rare gems.”
Kristine rested her elbow on the back of the couch and cupped the side of her head “Okay. I get that. So, was his twin sister the same way?”
“No. Not at all. She found someone special, and they stayed in Canada.”
“Was he a dragon too?”
“I’m sure he must have been. By that time rumors of remaining dragons had begun in Scotland. Your grandparents and I had to flee. In order to hide their treasure, they caved in the side of the mountain. Later on, I found out that your father had gone back there briefly. He knew about the valuables and tried to uncover their keep without success. He never told me the details of his participation in that whole debacle. He may have been thinking of going back again someday and may not have wanted anyone else to beat him to the spoils.”
Kristine looked uncomfortable. “Mom, can we give him a name? I know you don’t want me to know who he was, but is there a way we can talk about him without always saying ‘your father’?”
Amy realized now that Kristine might not like the idea of claiming this man as her father, and giving him a name would allow them to talk about him without constantly pointing out the relation. “I don’t feel comfortable giving you his real name or even his alias. So let’s make up a name for him.”
Kristine surprised her by giggling.
“That’s what Jayce and I did for your abductor. The guy had the upper hand and let us know it whenever he called, so we named him something that would take his power away. We called him Donkey Pizzle.”
Amy laughed. “Very apropos. The right-hand man was a donkey way back when I lived there. Now he thinks he owns the place. It was actually left in a trust.” Amy had one more bombshell to deliver, and she didn’t know how Kristine was going to take it. But her daughter deserved to know the truth—all of it.
“I imagine you want to know who the trust fund’s beneficiary is.”
Kristine shrugged. “If you want to tell me.”
Amy didn’t want to tell her daughter that she had struggled for years when she could have laid claim to dirty money. A lot of dirty money. “He put it in my name, Kristine. But I didn’t want it. I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
To her surprise, Kristine sat up straight and leaned forward with her hands on her knees. “Good for you, Mom. I wouldn’t want any of that money either. I’m proud of you for that.”
Amy would have been surprised, except that she knew her daughter. She had raised a highly principled, wonderful girl. She couldn’t be prouder. “I’m so glad you feel that way, honey. I didn’t know if you’d be mad at me for refusing to make our lives a lot easier. We could have coastedifI could have lived with myself. I wrestled with the decision, believe me.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t easy. But you made the right decision. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
