Page 22 of Dragon Daddy’s Second Chance (Mysteries of Dragon’s Island #5)
CHAPTER 21
***BLAKE***
B lake climbed up the steps to the front door of his parent’s cabin and lifted his hand to knock, but the door was thrown open before he could. “Oh, Blake,” his father said. “I was just going to come look for you.”
“I was hoping to talk to you too,” he said, looking over his father’s shoulder. “Is she here?”
His father shook his head. “She took off dressed for a hike a few minutes ago. She’s been especially difficult the last few days,” he said, shaking his head and opening the door wider. “Come in. I think we should talk.”
“No thanks,” he said. “I just wanted to come by and tell you both to stay away from the wedding. Mother is not going to ruin this for me. I love Wren, and I’m going to marry her.”
His father let out a long sigh. “It wasn’t my idea to come here; I told your mother to just leave it alone, but she insisted, and I didn’t think I should let her come alone,” his father said. “Blake, for what it’s worth, I didn’t know what your mother did six years ago until she told me. I would never have let it happen if I’d known. ”
Blake studied his father for a second. “Why do you put up with it?” he finally asked. “Why do you let her behave this way? She almost ruined my life with her scheming and interfering. This isn’t the first time she’s done something like this, and I’m not going to put up with anymore.”
A look of sadness appeared on his father’s face. “Son, I know it might be hard for you to believe, but your mother didn’t used to be like this,” he said, shaking his head. “I never would have fallen in love with her if she had been. Something happened to her over the years. Money and status became more important to her than people. You have to understand that she came from nothing, her family was very poor, and they didn’t have much. I shouldn’t have let it get this bad, I should have put a stop to all of it years ago, but it seems so harmless, and it made your mother so happy.”
He studied his father for a second. “If you’re trying to make me feel sorry for her, it’s not going to work,” he finally said. “If you want to put up with her, that’s your choice, but I’m not going to.”
“It’s not really a choice,” his father said. “Your mother is part of me. I can’t imagine my life without her, even as awful as she is. Son, I hope you know what you’re doing with Wren. I’ve seen you two together, you’ve bonded. It’s hard to miss if you know what to look for.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing. Wren isn’t mother,” he said, surprised to hear his father talking about anything that had to do with being a shifter. “She knows what I am. She’s seen my dragon, isn’t embarrassed or scared of me, and hasn’t asked me to hide that part of myself. The bond between us is pure, and the love we share only strengthens that bond. We’ve been apart for six years, Dad, and it hasn’t dulled any of our feelings for each other. We belong together, and nothing is going to keep us apart.”
His father nodded. “Good, that’s all I wanted to hear,” he said, then hesitated. “I hear that I have a grandson. I would love to meet him.”
“I guess Mother told you,” he said. “His name is Theo.”
“Your mother mentioned that during her little fit when she got back from the village, she ranted and raved for ten minutes about how embarrassing it was, then another ten about how young she was to be a grandmother, then…well, you don’t want to hear the rest,” his father said, shaking his head. “There was nothing I could say to shut her down. She finally got mad at me and locked herself in the bedroom. After a lot of banging and yelling, she finally came out of the bedroom and went for a hike.”
Something in his brain clicked when he heard the word hike again, and he looked over at his father, the feeling that something wasn’t right slowly building inside him. “Since when does mother hike?” he asked. “She won’t even walk down to the mailbox at home.”
“Honestly, it surprised me too. I thought she was packing when she went into the bedroom, but after she left, I went in there, and everything looked fine,” his father said, shrugging, then hesitated. “There’s a map of the island on the desk. Maybe that’s what gave her the idea. She was mumbling a lot when she left, it seemed best just to let her go. She can’t get into too much trouble, the island isn’t that big.”
“What was she muttering, Dad?” he asked, the feeling in the pit of his stomach getting worse. “I don’t trust her. She’s already tried to get between Wren and me, and she’s going to try to do it again.”
“It was nothing new, just the same old stuff about how no one listens to her, she has to do everything, no one appreciates her,” his father said. “She might have said something about ending things for once and all. She talks like that all the time now, every time she doesn’t get her way.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I need to see that map,” he finally said. “She’s planning something, Mom doesn’t hike, and she isn’t going to hurt herself.”
“Son, your mother would never…” his dad tried to argue, but stepped back. “Maybe we should take a look, she did look a bit desperate when she left here.”
After giving his dad an unbelieving look, he walked into the cabin, then back to the bedroom and grabbed the map, his heart sinking when he saw a circle drawn on the map in red lipstick. His father stepped up behind him, looked over his shoulder at the map, then let out a little gasp of surprise before stepping back, his face slowly turning white.
“Why would she hike up to a cliff?” his father asked, then looked over at him. “You don’t think…I mean, she’s always threatening to kill herself…no, she would never do that…she must have another reason…”
“Wren and Theo,” he said, narrowing his eyes at his father, panic beginning to well up inside him. “How long has she been gone?”
“Blake, your mother would never…she’s not that kind of woman…I’m sure they’re fine,” his father stammered. “She was upset when she left, but she would never…”
Blake didn’t wait for his father to finish. Something in his gut was telling him to find his family, and he was going to listen. “Blake, wait…” his father called when he turned and started for the door. “I’ll go with you, no matter what your mother is doing. She’s my responsibility. I should have stood up to her a long time ago.”
***Wren***
Wren lay back in her beach chair, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh. “A nap sure would be nice right now,” she said. I haven’t gotten much sleep lately, and everything has been so crazy. I need this afternoon off to rest. ”
Susan groaned, “Hey, don’t rub it in, some of us are still single over here,” she said. “I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for you.”
She laughed, “Fair enough, I won’t complain anymore,” she said, picking up her head to check on Theo. “But I’m still not moving from this chair for the entire afternoon.”
“That sounds good to me,” Susan said, laying back and closing her eyes. “I’ve got a million things to do to get ready for the wedding. I’ve got so many ideas, and it’s going to be perfect, you’ll see.”
“Susan, this is supposed to be a small, simple wedding. You don’t have to go all crazy; I don’t want you working too hard,” she said, looking over at her friend. “Not that I don’t appreciate everything that you’re doing. I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got help. Keith and Stella volunteered,” Susan said, sitting up a little and looking over at her, a little smile on her face. “They’re really nice. I wonder if the rest of Max’s friends are like them, or if any of them are single.”
“Well, there are eight of them, so one of them is bound to still be single, I suppose,” she said, shaking her head. “Wait, Max is single.”
Susan wrinkled up her nose. “No, thank you, he’s a bit of a lady’s man, if you know what I mean,” she said, flopping back down and closing her eyes again. “Max is the kind of man who will stay single the rest of his life.”
“Well, there goes that plan,” she said, closing her eyes with a sigh. “We’ll just have to look for someone else for you to set your sights on. I think Bruce Collingsworth is still looking for a wife.”
“Gross, I’m not that desperate,” Susan said. “I’ll never be that desperate.”
Wren had been lying in the shade fighting sleep for a while before she realized that she hadn’t checked on Theo in a while and picked up her head to make sure he was still playing in the sand. When she didn’t spot him right away, she sat all the way up and began to scan the beach, which had become crowded since they’d gotten there, not terribly concerned at first. That quickly changed when she didn’t see Theo anywhere, and she jumped up, jamming her feet into her sandals, unsure if she should be mad or scared.
“Susan, I don’t see Theo, I think he might have wandered off,” she said, trying to stay calm. “Will you help me look for him?”
Susan was instantly on her feet. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Theo would never wander off. He knows better than that.”
“Well, he’s not here,” she said, gesturing around them. “We have to go look for him. You go one way, and I’ll go the other.”
Susan took off down the beach, calling Theo’s name, and she went the opposite direction, doing the same, but only made it a few yards before a young man came running up to her. “An old lady dragging a kid behind her gave me five bucks to give you this,” he said, shoving a note at her. “She said you’d give me another five when I delivered it.”
Hands shaking, ignoring the young man, she opened the note, then felt her legs beginning to tremble as she read the short message. “How long ago did she give you this?” Wren asked, grabbing his arm. “Which way did they go?”
The young man shook his head, “I’m not telling you anything until I get my five bucks,” he said, pulling out of her grip and crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not saying a word until I get my money.”
She could only stare at him for a second. “That woman kidnapped my child,” she finally said. “Tell me what I want to know. ”
“Not until I get my money,” the kid said. “No money, no information.”
Just then, Susan came running up. “I couldn’t find him anywhere,” she said, then saw the young man. “What’s going on?”
“I need some cash,” she said. “Please tell me you have five bucks.”
Susan dug in her shorts pocket. “Sorry, all I have is a ten,” she said, a confused look on her face. “What about Theo?”
She grabbed the money and shoved it at the kid. “Here, take this,” she said. “Now tell me where they went.”
“She said they were going up there,” the young man said, pointing to the mountain that dominated the center of the island. “Devil’s Drop is the only thing up there. You can see the whole island from the cliff, but it’s like a mile drop down to the jungle, and it sure would mess someone up if they fell.”
“Oh my God,” she said. “She’s going to throw Theo off the cliff.”
Susan grabbed her and turned her around. “Wren, what are you talking about?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
She shoved the note at Susan, then looked around, feeling helpless. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, panicking now wouldn’t help anyone. “Go find Blake. I thought he was going to talk to his parents this afternoon,” she said. Tell him what’s happened; he’ll know what to do. Make sure he knows where his mother is taking Theo. He might be the only one who can save him.”
“What are you going to do?” Susan asked. “We should find Max.”
“There’s not time. I’m going after them. It’s what she wanted anyway,” she said, then looked over at the young man. “And you’re going to show me where the trail is.”