Page 85 of Dragon Charmed

Yes, Tessa was someone who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind or protect her friends and family, but when it came to love? She was a wade-into-the-kitty-pool-with-water-wings kind of person. What was it about Ben that made her want to dive into the deep end?

Who was she kidding? Her heart was already plunging below the surface. It was her head that hadn’t taken the plunge yet.

Because this couldn’t end well. How could he know he wanted her in his life if he didn’t know who he was?

And if he did get his memories back, would he change his mind about her?

Chapter 33

Ben studied the office that used to be his. Shelves. Paneling. A monstrosity of a desk. It didn’t feel like his space. Had it ever? From what he’d been told, the office had been decorated by his father, and for the most part Ben had left it the same. Without saying it point-blank, both Eric and Sienna had given him the impression that their father had been an SOB. So why not change it? Because he liked it? Because he didn’t care one way or the other?

Even if he had his memories back, Ben knew he still had a lot of emotional stuff to unpack.

Ben’s family filed into the office. Sienna came in first, followed by Eric and Megan. A minute later Marcus and his son, Jonas, walked in as well.

They sat down and Ben turned to Megan. “Is Tessa coming?”

Megan nodded. “She just got here. She’s raiding Marilyn’s cupboard.”

As if in response to his question, Tessa came into the room with a cookie in each hand. Megan shook her head.

“What? Marilyn wanted me to do some A/B testing.”

“With cookies?” Marcus said.

“Yes. Chocolate chip with or without walnuts. Don’t glare at me that way. You’re just jealous.”

Ben stopped himself from laughing. She brightened his day even with the heavy stuff they needed to discuss.

“Okay, let’s call this meeting to order before the sugar kicks in,” Eric said.

Tessa took another bite and smiled. “By all means.”

“Jonas?” Marcus said.

“Unfortunately I don’t have much to report,” Jonas said. “I have researched the names Evelyn gave me of people that were close to Mia in the past, but I haven’t found any recent connections to her.”

“We knew it was a long shot,” Ben said.

“I asked Carl to look into them as well.”

“Carl?” Ben asked.

“He’s a clan member who is also a deputy sheriff,” Eric said.

Jonas continued. “I’ve also been trying to find out information about Lily’s family. Since we don’t want anyone to know she’s here, I can’t just ask the other clans if they know about her. So I went about this another way. I asked the clans about their genealogy databases. Suggested we should start comparing them so that we can track all the dragons that we are aware of in the five North America clans.”

Marcus patted his son on the arm. “Good idea.”

Jonas gave his dad a small smile. “Thanks. I’ve been searching for birth records for girls in the past five or six years, and no one by the name Lily has been reported. I’ve searched on other names like Lillian and also names where Lily might be her middle name and nothing yet.”

“What about Lily’s parents?” Sienna asked.

“Yeah. Started down that path too. If Lily’s parents are dead, we should assume they would have both died in the past five years. There have been deaths in the clans during that time, but I haven’t seen anyone reporting a young couple. It makes it challenging since we don’t know if they were married or even part of the same clan. Most of the deaths that have been reported are for older dragons, not ones who are at the age to be having children.”

“I know it’s a lot to go through, but keep digging. We might find something that leads us to Lily’s family,” Eric said.

“Can we talk about the note?” Tessa said. “Who told Ben about the painting and also gave him John’s address and phone number? I keep going back to it.”