Page 108 of Dragon Charmed

“I hope he isn’t…”

“Isn’t what?” Megan said while giving Bella another spoon of food.

She blew out a breath. “Overwhelmed. He’s wanted to remember so badly, and then his memories bring him to his knees.”

“He’s strong. And Eric and Sienna are with him.”

Tessa stirred the soup in front of her. She didn’t want to sit. She needed to do something. “I should go check on Lily again.”

“Evelyn is with her. They’ll be down when they get hungry. I never thought I would have to say this to you, but you need to eat something.” She wiped Bella’s mouth. “I know you want to be with him right now.”

Tessa dipped a piece of bread into the bowl and then stuffed the too-big piece into her mouth so that she didn’t have to respond. She didn’t know what she wanted right now. But this wasn’t about her. It was about Ben.

Of course her friend just stared at her, waiting for her to finish eating.

“He doesn’t need me in the mix right now. You heard Ian. He’s confused and trying to sort through his memories. Like you said, he has Sienna and Eric and Marcus. They’re his family. You and Bella are his family.”

Even though she was a dive-into-the-fray-and-take-no-prisoners type of person, this time she was going to stay back and let him find his bearings again. She might have been his stronghold when he was Ben, but he was shored up now by his family.

And speaking of family—Eric walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face.

“How is he?” Megan asked.

“Adam’s back.”

And Tessa was happy for him, truly.

But at the same time she was also sad that the Ben she knew was gone. Was that wrong of her?

Chapter 41

Adam sat at the end of the bed and stared at the closed curtains as early morning light peeked around the edges. Had it been less than a day since his memories came back with a vengeance? From his worry for Lily, followed by the sledgehammer of memories that almost cracked open his skull.

When Sienna had walked into his room the previous night, he’d gaped at her. His brain had held on to an old memory of her as a teen, not the grown woman in front of him who looked just like their mother.

And when he saw Eric? Anger and betrayal swamped him until his brain caught up with itself, and he realized years had passed since he’d banned him. And what a self-righteous ass he’d been for doing it.

But they held out their hands to him, and he’d grasped them like a lifeline. And Marcus had stood at the end of the bed watching over them as well. He had been more of a father to them than their own father had. He’d wanted to talk to the three of them about so much, but Ian kicked them out of the room after a few minutes and he would have argued if he hadn’t felt like he’d been run over by a dump truck.

He’d finally fallen to sleep, but his night was filled with all sorts of dreams—some memories, some combinations of reality and fiction. Trying to save the clan, to save Lily.

To save Tessa.

She had come back front and center in his thoughts after his lost memories stopped swirling around. He wasn’t sure what to do about those thoughts, feelings. He would need to table them for now.

He walked into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. The beard was a surprise. Not that he didn’t remember growing it while he lived with Walter, but that he’d wanted to grow it in the first place. He’d always shied away from scruff, let alone a beard. He didn’t think it fit with his persona as clan leader and CEO of Simonson Aeronautics.

Now he wasn’t sure who he was anymore. Everything had changed. Had he?

But he didn’t have time for an existential crisis. He'd been begging the Fates to give him his memory back, and he had gotten his wish. He was still sorting through some of his past, but one thing came to him this morning that couldn’t wait.

He’d wondered all along if he held the key to the curse. But now he remembered who truly might hold the answers for them all.

Tessa had spent the night tossing and turning. She finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning, only to have a nightmare about falling from the sky, which morphed into being lost in a cave and calling out for Lily and Ben.

Now she was sitting out on the back deck drinking her body weight in coffee. The only other person up at this hour was Marilyn, who was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She had taken one peek at Tessa and pulled out the largest mug she could find and filled it with coffee before handing it to her. Tessa couldn’t even be insulted. Especially when Marilyn handed her the hazelnut creamer she loved.

She stared out over the valley. It really was otherworldly, which fit the people who lived here, didn’t it? She on the other hand needed to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground. She couldn’t afford to think about what could have been and with whom. She had known that this would not end well. But her heart hadn’t listened. When does the heart ever listen to reason?