That seemed more likely. Too bad he didn’t know how to reach Emmaline. If he was lucky, Dana kept an address book with important phone numbers inside the house. Keeping that hopeful plea forefront in his mind, he loped up the steps to Dana’s door.
Locked, of course. He quickly shifted his hand into a talon and let himself into the house. Jace followed him to Dana’s studio and a quick rifling through Dana’s desk coughed up the prize they’d been searching for. Aiden located Emmaline’s number and dialed her on his cell phone, his fingers shaking so much he messed up twice and had to reenter the information. Emmaline picked up on the third ring and after apologizing for the earliness of his call, Aiden explained the situation.
“I knew she was upset last night,” Emmaline said, her voice cracking. “This is all my fault. I should have told Dana everything instead of trying to protect the memory of her father all these years.”
“You did what you thought was best.” Aiden stared at the fairy painting Dana had started for Jen Landrey. Heaviness anchored in his chest. If Dana didn’t get the chance to finish the painting, he’d never forgive himself. Refusing to dwell on the possibility, he made Emmaline promise to phone him if she heard anything from Dana. His heart hollow, he went outside to wait for the tire repair guy.
It wasn’t until she sped onto the freeway entrance ramp that Dana knew with crystal-clear accuracy where she was headed. Unfortunately, the revelation came to her the same instant she recalled her untended booth at the fair. She panicked for a few seconds until she remembered Tony. Feeling immense guilt for imposing on him on his day off, she fished her cell from her purse and scrolled to his home line. He picked up right away, his voice gravelly with sleep. Her throat tear clogged, she rambled out her request.
“No problem. I’ll get dressed and head over there now.” A pregnant pause came from Tony. “Is everything okay? You sound kind of upset.”
“I’m fine.” God, what a lie. “I just have a lot on my mind right now.”
“You’re not by yourself, are you? You shouldn’t be alone when you’re this agitated.”
She sniffled. “Don’t worry. I’m not at the wrist-slitting stage. Thanks again for watching my booth. I owe you big time.” She ended the call and focused on the road and the traffic whizzing by. Fat gray clouds hung low on the horizon. Pretty fitting accompaniment to her mood.
Ten miles later she spotted the exit sign she needed and took the off ramp. Another four miles past the city limits she spotted the ornate iron gates bracketing the entrance to Shady Acres cemetery. She turned onto the drive and followed it past the chapel and toward the back section of the rolling property. Finding a parking spot near one of the many stately oaks dotting the landscape, she cut the engine. She glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed another vehicle approaching from behind. Goose bumps pricked her skin and the warnings Aiden and Jace had been hammering into her the past several days came roaring back.
The black sedan continued driving past and the air trapped in her lungs released in a rush. Throwing the door open, she climbed outside. The stingiest of breezes rattled through the leaves overhead, bringing with it the smell of roses withering on the nearby gravesites. Hugging her chest tight, she started the long walk to her father’s plot.
Aiden screeched into Fancies’ parking lot, his heart doing a slow plummet. Dana’s Suburban was nowhere in sight. “So much for that.”
“Told you we should have driven out to the fairgrounds.” Jace held up his hands when Aiden speared him with a sizzling glare. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Do me a favor and stop talking out of your ass.”
Jace bristled. “You think you’re the only one scared shitless right now? Think again, bro.”
Aiden leaned back in his seat, the inevitable confrontation he’d been expecting looming like an enormous chasm between them. “Do you love her?”
A suspicious twitch acted up near the scar above Jace’s right eyebrow, but he kept his expression perfectly bland. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“Do you love her?” Aiden repeated stubbornly.
Jace opened his mouth and the twitching went into spastic mode. He snapped his jaw shut and stared out the windshield for a long moment. “I care about her. A lot. And I could probably grow to love her. But I’m not the one she loves. I’m not her mate.”
“Humans don’t mate.”
Jace glanced at him, his faint grin ironic. “Maybe they just need to meet the right dragon.”
He grunted. “Regardless, Dana doesn’t love me. She probably wishes she’d never met me.”
“Now who’s talking out of their ass? You should see the way she looks at you when she thinks you’re not paying attention. It’s revolting.”
A wellspring of hope filled his heart. He remembered the way Dana responded to his touch, his kiss. Remembered the way she’d held him the other day in the tent, like she’d never wanted to let him go, her eyes shining with…
He gaped at Jace. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what the hell she sees in you either.”
Aiden’s cell phone suddenly buzzed, breaking through his epiphany. He scrambled to grab the device from where he’d stashed it in the center console’s cup holder. “Hello?”
“It’s Emmaline. I think I know where she’s at.”
A crushing wave of relief crashed over him. “Where?”
“I know my niece. How she thinks. She’s moved on from being pissed about having the truth concealed about her father. Which means she’s gotten to the stage where she’s convinced he’s been watching from Heaven, horrified she’s living in sin with the dragons he tried to save her from all these years.” Emmaline must have intuited his wince because she coughed. “Anyways, my guess is she’s gone to visit his grave. I’m on my way there now. Shouldn’t take me more than another fifteen minutes.”
She repeated the address for the cemetery and he had Jace enter it into the GPS. Praying Emmaline knew what she was talking about, Aiden hung up and sped out of the lot.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dana didn’t know how long she stood staring at her father’s headstone. The words tumbling around in her brain felt insignificant for what she wanted to say. “I’m sorry for letting you down, Dad.” There, that pretty much summed it up.
“Lordy, you’re a frustrating child.”
Dana spun and frowned as Emmaline huffed and puffed her way up the small slope to the gravesite.
“I don’t remember it being this hilly. Did they add a few?”
“No, I’m fairly certain it’s the same amount of hills as always.” Dana hurried forward when the heel of her aunt’s pump caught in a gopher hole and threw Emmaline off balance. She caught Emmaline before the woman fell onto her butt. “What are you doing here and why are you wearing heels?”
“It’s respectful, dear.”
Dana rolled her eyes. “Like Dad really cares about your choice of footwear.”
“Hmm, like he cares about you falling in love with a dragon?”
She tried to ignore Emmaline’s wizened expression but her aunt wouldn’t let her off so easily.
“Don’t try to deny that you love Aiden. The sparks that fly off the two of you are enough to start a fire.”
“He claim marked me. I can’t help it that it makes me want to jump his bones.”
“Hon, too much information.”
Dana tossed her arms in the air. “You brought it up.”
“You and I both know what’s really going on here. You’re scared of letting your father go.”
She gaped at Emmaline. “What are you talking about? I had to let him go twelve years ago.”