Page 111 of Truthfinder’s Promise

“None. But I’m not the person you need to be asking. I love her. I helped raise her. But legally, she’s Jensen’s.”

Then I’ll go talk to him.

She didn’t have to look far to find him. He was leaned back against the wall opposite the door when she walked out, his arms crossed and a question on his face.

“Let’s go for a drive,” she said.

Jensen watched the miles pass by out the passenger window. He’d spoken once, but Meredith had just shaken her head at him and said, “Not yet.”

So he waited. He figured out where she was going once she drove into Fayetteville, so he wasn’t surprised when she pulled into the hotel he’d stayed at when he’d been looking for Nat. He knew she’d wanted to be away from the house to discuss whatever she and Rebekah had talked about, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d brought him back here, where they’d had their beginning, to end things.

He hadn’t known where they stood the past few days. That first night he’d had Natalie back, he’d been so exhausted he’d passed out on her floor and never made it up to Meredith’s room. The next day, Meredith had gone on about how she understood he had responsibilities, and must want to spend time with his family, and how he didn’t need to worry about her. She’d made the room up next to Natalie’s for him if he wanted.

She’d said it all without ever looking him in the eye, and he’d gotten the message just fine. She didn’t want him in her bed, and she wanted space. So he’d given it to her. With Natalie back, she must have realized he came with more baggage than she’d anticipated. Seeing where things went was all fun and games until you realized that where things were going involved high levels of political bullshit and your potential boyfriend’s traumatized teenage ward.

He followed Meredith as she bypassed the front desk, leading them straight to room 413. The same room that had been his home the month he’d spent here looking for Natalie. Meredith pulled a keycard from her purse.

“I think they disable those when you don’t turn them in at checkout,” he pointed out.

She slid the card in. The door light turned green and the locking mechanism clicked open. She gave him a half smile. “I rented it a week or so after you disappeared. It was a good place to think.”

She’d rented it, as in, she’d had it since he disappeared? He followed her inside. She dropped her purse and keys on the little table just inside the door, like she always had when she’d come back with him. Little touches of her were everywhere. Her cosmetics on the bathroom vanity. Her robe on the door hanger. A stack of books by the bed. One of those scent-warmer things that made the room smell like baked apple pie.

How often had she come here?

She strode to the far end of the room and twitched the window curtains closed, no doubt remembering Julian’s comment about watching the two of them. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say it.”

Here it comes. For the love of God, just don’t say, It’s not you, it’s me.

“Natalie’s only half Shifter. The other half is Aspect.” She let the window curtain fall back and looked at him. “She has wind Aspect.”

Jensen hadn’t expected that. He replayed Natalie and Meredith’s conversation, trying to figure out where she’d gotten the idea. “If this is because of what Nat said about making a dust devil in the yard, she didn’t actually do that.”

“She did. Your grandmother confirmed it.”

That…couldn’t be right.

“Your mother—she brought Natalie to your grandmother first. She told her that Natalie’s father was an Aspecter. She thought Rebekah could protect Natalie.”

He shook his head. “Rebekah’s the last person she would have gone to if the father was an Aspecter.”

“The last person she should have gone to. Which is why Rebekah told her no. And waited for her to go to you.”

Jensen’s entire world tilted sideways and slid off its axis. He’d been scared out of his mind when his mother dropped Natalie with him. He’d been eighteen, he hadn’t had a clue what to do with a baby. So he’d taken Natalie to his neighbor, Eileen, because she had a baby and he figured she could tell him what to do with one.

Eileen had offered to keep Natalie until Grams came home. He still didn’t know why he hadn’t taken her up on it. Except that his mother had given her to him, had told him to take care of her, and Grams had called that morning to tell him she’d be gone for the next month and unreachable by phone. If he’d let Eileen take Natalie, then by the time Grams got home, Eileen would have had legal guardianship rights, if she wanted them.

He knew what it was like to be dropped off by their mother like an unwanted package. He’d looked into Natalie’s eyes and known he didn’t want to explain to her, when she was old enough, how their mother had dumped her on him and he’d turned around and dumped her on someone else.

So he’d kept her. And now he knew Grams had orchestrated all of it.

“Fuck.” He dropped down on the bed and ran his hand over his face. “Fuck.”

He understood why. He even understood why she hadn’t told him Natalie’s father was Aspect. Because if it had come to light before this alliance had been signed, and the Shifters learned he’d known about it…that wouldn’t have been pretty.

Meredith sat down next to him.

“I yelled at her. Natalie,” he whispered hoarsely. “I was twenty-three and working twelve hour days in construction, so Grams watched her during the day. I came to pick her up and Grams came out all pissed off. Told me Natalie was too old to be making shit like wind powers up, and if I couldn’t get her to stop maybe I shouldn’t have her.