“What happened to him, Cassi?” Kara asked gently.
“Nothing. It is what happened to me. My father found me. He came one night when the baby was only a few days old. Khalil was away, working for a local man on his farm, but he was due home any moment. My father threatened to kill Khalil and the baby. I was terrified, so I left. I left a note for Khalil and told him I didn’t love him, I was leaving, and not to look for me. I prayed that he wouldn’t.”
“And did he?”
“Yes. He came for me, found me while I was alone, and begged me to come home, but I told him again that I didn’t love him. I told him that I had only gone with him because of the baby, and that I didn’t want either of them. I told him there was someone else, and that he was the one I truly loved, not Khalil.”
“He believed you.”
“Yes. He believed me. He left, and I never saw him again.”
“Nor the baby,” Thomas added.
“No, nor the baby.”
“Okay. So, there is the possibility that there are descendants out there that can lay claim to the property then.”
“Yes, but I don’t know who they are, or where they would be by now.”
“I guess we have a lot of work to do to find them then.”
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” Cassi replied.
“Cassi, it was a long time ago. You were young, and you were scared. What you did, you did to protect the man and child you loved.”
“I don’t know. I tell myself that. I’ve told myself that for years, but a part of me fears I did it for selfish reasons. I don’t even know if my child turned into a tiger shifter, a dragon shifter, or some odd hybrid of the two.”
Thomas felt for her, the tone of her voice conveying the pain she had carried for years as she was keeping her secret from everyone. It must have been horrible to not only lose he man she loved, but also her child.
“We need to find them, Cassi. You know that, right?” Thomas told her.
She nodded her head solemnly, tears escaping to roll down her face. Kara squeezed her hand softly and smiled at her before reaching for a napkin and handing it to her to dry her eyes. Cassi dabbed at them and sighed, squaring her shoulders and meeting Thomas’ gaze.
“His name was Khalil Kandahar. We moved to an abandoned stone hut down near what they call Drom nowadays. I never knew how my father tracked me there, but he did. I’ve never been back there since, and I’ve never heard from Khalil after that one attempt to see me.”
“Cassi, I am so sorry to drudge up such a horrible memory for you,” Thomas told her.
“No. You’ve drudged up nothing. It is something I’ve thought about every day since the day I left them behind.”
The pained expression on her face was almost unbearable to watch. Then, it was if it just went away. She seemed to just shut it down, close it out, and steel herself against it. Thomas could only imagine she had been pushing it away for years.
“Okay. Well, obviously, we aren’t going to be able to find much of a record from back then, but maybe if he stayed in the area, we can trace his lineage,” Thomas said, a thought occurring to him, one that he hated that he had to ask for fear of just refreshing her pain. “Your son, what is his name?”
“Advik,” she said, once again looking down at her hands.
“Unique,” Kara said knowingly, causing Cassi to look up at her inquisitively.
“Yes. How did you know that?” Cassi asked.
“I have some relatives in India. One of them is named Advik,” Kara replied.
“What a strange coincidence,” Thomas replied.
“No, not really. For a name that means unique, it is fairly common in India,” she told him.
“Makes sense, I guess,” Thomas replied, dismissing any further thought on the matter.
“What if you can’t find anyone?” Cassi asked forlornly.
“Let me worry about it from here, Cassi. Granted, we don’t have a lot of time, but we’ll get it done.”
“How long?”
“The deadline to lay claim to the property is next Friday. After that, we’ll have to look at raising enough money to get it at auction.”
Cassi’s head dropped. He knew she was agonizing over more than he could possibly understand right now. There wasn’t much he could do about that, but he was going to have to talk to Aaron about putting him on this full time until it was done. Especially, if he was going to track down a living relative that might not even be in this country anymore.
“It will be okay, Cassi. Thomas will find a way,” Kara told her, looking up at Thomas as if to convey the confidence she had in him. He only wished he had as much belief in his abilities.
“I want you to take the next couple of weeks off work, Kara. I’ll still pay you, but I can manage the diner with the other staff I have. Help Thomas with this,” Cassi told her.
“Oh, no. That’s okay, Cassi. Aaron will give me all the help I need to get it done,” Thomas said. “I appreciate it though.”
“Nonsense. Kara has relatives in India. If Khalil took Advik there, she might have contacts that can help you track them down. It’s like you said, you don’t have much time before it becomes a different situation.”
“I’d love to help!” Kara said. “I’ll do whatever you need me to and stay out of the way when I must.”
Thomas contemplated it for a moment. The help would be good, but she would also be a distraction. The effect she had on him was intoxicating, and spending long hours with her, perhaps traveling with her, wasn’t going to put the distance between them that needed to be maintained.
“Alright. Welcome aboard,” he heard himself saying. “I’m going back to headquarters to talk to Aaron, and then I guess I’ll be on my way to the south coast. I’m not going to find records that old on the internet. I’ll meet you here to go with me. Cassi can give you directions to the old cottage as a starting point. Pack a bag, because I don’t know where we’ll be headed when we leave there.”
“I’ll be ready,” Kara told him.
Thomas nodded at the two of them before getting up to head for the door. About halfway across the floor, he stopped and turned back to address Cassi.
“I’ll keep this as quiet as possible, Cassi. No one will know about it that doesn’t have to,” he assured her.
“Thank you,” she said meekly.
“You’re welcome.”
With that, Thomas was out the door, looking up toward the rapidly darkening sky. It was going to storm, and they had a long way to go. It would be quicker to fly, but it would limit them to traveling at night, so they were better off driving. They most likely weren’t going to be able to do anything until morning anyway.
Chapter 5
Two hours later, Thomas was back at the diner to pick up Kara. She met him at the door with a small suitcase and a shopping bag, beaming broadly as usual.
“Here, I’ll get that in the car,” he told her, taking the suitcase and walking back toward the dark Mercedes SUV with it.
“I thought you had a little silver car of some sort,” she remarked, looking puzzled.
“I do. This one belongs to headquarters. Part of their fleet. Aaron insisted we take it since we may be on the road a good bit.”
“Very subtle,” she laughed.
“I know. Nothing screams government like a black SUV, huh? Well, we don’t really consider ourselves government, but I guess we are,” he replied with a shrug.
“I guess you are. Shall we hit the road?” she asked.
“Yep. What’s in the grocery bag, by the way?”
“Cassi packed some snacks for our trip. I’m pretty sure there are the makings of a six-course dinner in this here canvas bag.”
“I can’t say I’m complaining about that. I barely had time to eat a bagel this morning, so I’m more than happy to accept.”
“We’ve got cold cuts, bread, fruit, crisps, sweets, drinks, and assorted tubs of ready-made contents that I haven’t even investigated ye
t. Of course, we also have napkins, paper plates, forks, knives, and condiments,” she rattled off as they got in the vehicle.
“What? No straws?” Thomas joked.
“Don’t underestimate Cassi. I’m willing to bet they are in there somewhere.”
They both laughed as Thomas started the engine and backed out onto the street. He had already plugged their destination into his GPS. It was going to take them well over five hours to get there, and that was if the traffic was good. He could only hope it wouldn’t be a long ride filled with awkward silence or stilted conversation.
“What kind of music do you like?” he asked.
“Anything is fine. Well, except country music. That stuff makes my ears bleed.”
Thomas glanced over at her. She looked completely serious. He chuckled and reached for the radio, tuning into a pop station on the radio. It would do. A Beatles song filled the air as they drove down the main road and out toward the motorway.
“So, what’s the plan then?” she asked.
“It’s going to be too late to do anything much when we get there as far as any public records go, but we don’t have a lot of time to waste. I’m thinking we’ll go on over to the cottage where they stayed, see if it is even still there and what we can learn. We’ll decide what to do next after that.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all planned out,” she teased.
“I know. It sounds like a bit of flying by the seat of our pants, but I’m afraid we’re forced to. With the time we have, we’re just going to have to plan our next move based on what we find out, wherever. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and the family has stayed right there or nearby. Otherwise, we’re going to be a couple of tired dragons.”
“What if they’ve gone to India?”
“Let’s hope not. Then, not only do we have to find them in unfamiliar terrain, but we’ve got to get them back here across borders to sign paperwork and most likely attend to some matters relating to their kinship.”
“What a mess this is,” Kara sighed, looking out the window at the trees that passed by her window.
Thomas couldn’t help but note how relaxed she looked. She had changed from her usual shirt she wore at the diner into a tank top with a pullover that periodically slipped down one arm, exposing her bare shoulder. Her legs were pulled sideways and curled up onto the seat between them. Her long, slender neck looked incredibly inviting.
“Yes, it is,” he said, pulling himself away from the spell she seemed to cast upon him whenever she was near.
“Oh, I love this song!” she squealed, turning up the volume and bobbing her head back and forth as she began to sing along to Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. Come on, sing with me, Thomas!”
“I don’t think so!” Thomas laughed.
“Why not? I bet you have a beautiful voice!”
“You’d definitely lose that bet. Just imagine rocks scraping against tin, and you’d be close.”
“It can’t be that bad!”
“It can be, and it is,” he told her, still chuckling.
“Why do people call you Thomas?”
“What? Um, because it’s my name?”
“No, I mean, why not Tom or Tommy? Why so formal?”
“Our parents were very formal. They always called me Thomas and my brother Joshua. It just stuck with me, though most people call him Josh.”
“I think I’m going to call you Tom.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. You just seem like you need to loosen up a bit. Maybe we can start with your name.”
Thomas looked at her for a moment before turning back toward the road. A smile remained on his lips. She was feisty. It had never occurred to him that anyone might even consider calling him Tom. Yet, with her, it didn’t seem all that unappealing to use a nickname that seemed like something someone more familiar would call him.
“Can I call you KaKa?” he joked.
“Isn’t that slang for poop?” she laughed.
“I suppose that’s correct. How about just one Ka then?”
“Is that your way of telling me you don’t want me to call you Tom?”
“No. I’m just teasing. If you want to call me Tom, go ahead.”
“Okay, Tom.”
“Okay, Ka.”
“Funny. I didn’t think you made any jokes.”
“Then you have a lot to learn about me. I’m incredibly funny.”
“And charming.”
“Of course, immensely charming.”
“Charming Tom. Maybe this trip won’t be so long, after all.”
“You were afraid it would be?”
It hadn’t really occurred to him that he might come across as a bit droll to someone who was so lively, but he could see how he would. For what could be the first time in his life, he found himself wanting to change. It wasn’t that he was a horrible person or even a dull person, really, but he did tend to be all business at times. Only those that knew him well were usually privy to the underlying sense of humor he possessed. He found himself wanting Kara to see that side of him.
“Perhaps. My mistake,” she said with a smile in his direction before returning to singing along with the music on the radio.
They drove along like that for a while, with her singing bits and pieces of songs she knew and him concentrating on the road ahead. He wanted to start up more of a conversation, but he found that he wasn’t sure of what he should say. Instead, his mind ran rampant with thoughts about how much he was already beginning to like her.
“How did you come to work for Cassi?” he asked finally.
“Gosh, I feel like I grew up in that diner. My family has always gone there, for as long as it has been open. I went away to college, and when I came back, she gave me a job.”
“I would think a college education would set you up for something other than waiting tables,” Thomas replied.
“It does. I’m working on opening up an accounting firm in the village. Cassi is helping me with that by investing in it. There is a lot of work to be done to get it up and going. In the meantime, I do her books and wait tables.”
“I had no idea!” he said, impressed.
“It’s a quiet thing. You’d be surprised at just how generous Cassi is to many people in our community. She doesn’t talk about it, but I see it on her books. Sometimes, I have to ask her about missing cash because she just hands it to people who need it.”
“How in the world does she keep the restaurant afloat like that?”
“Well, it’s a thriving business, much more than what you see sitting at tables. Most people tend to take their food away rather than eating in. Plus, she’s had years to accumulate cash. Don’t let her fool you. She’s well-off.”
Thomas considered this for a moment. If she was so wealthy, why not just outbid the land baron for the property? Perhaps this was about much more than money. She was well beyond her years, even for a dragon. Had she decided it was her opportunity to seek out the son she lost so long ago? If he shared her genes, it was possible that he was still alive, but how would he feel about a mother that had abandoned him?
“What do you think about what she did?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, leaving her child like that.”
“I don’t know. It must have been a hard situation for her to leave the man she loved and her child. I know that looking at it from the outside, you’d say there must have been another way, but when you are young and afraid, sometimes you aren’t able to work that out in your head.”
“Why do you think she never went back for them? I mean, once she was older and her father was no longer a concern. Do you think she looked for them?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think she did. I believe her when she said she thought about them all the time. Maybe she was just afraid they would reject her and she couldn’t bear losing them again. I think she paid for it in heartache and remorse.”
“Yes. I suppose she did and still does.”
“What if we find them? I mean, not just a descendant, but actually them? What if they are still alive?”
“I don’t know, Kara. I think we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Just flying by the seat of our pants,” she laughed.
“Yep. All the way to India, if need be.”
“How long would it take us to fly there?”
“I’m not sure. I’d have to check the flight schedule.”
She looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was kidding or not from the way her eyes were scrunched up at him and her lips were pursed.
“We can’t fly to India ourselves, Kara. We are fast, but not that fast. It would be tiring. It would take days that we don’t have. If we must go to India, we’ll have to book flights.”
“Oh, of course. How silly of me,” she replied.
Thomas noted the red flush that spread up her cheeks like wildfire. He could tell she was embarrassed at the thought that she might have seriously considered they could shift and fly out to another country so far away. Thomas glanced at his watch. They were more than halfway there, and he was starving.
“How about we pull over and stretch our legs, maybe dig into that bag of goodies Cassi gave you?”
“That sounds fantastic!”
Pulling off the motorway, Thomas wound his way around to a small park he had once visited. It overlooked nearby Cahir Castle. They parked and took the bag with them to a park bench.
“Have you been here before?” he asked Kara.
“No. It’s incredible! I wish we had time to go through it.”
“I do, too. I’ve seen it, but haven’t had a chance to go inside myself.”
“That’s a shame,” she said, the disappointment obvious in her voice.
“Yes, I agree. I’ll tell you what. If we have some time on our way back, we’ll come back through. If not, we’ll fly down early one morning and have a nice breakfast, while we wait for tours to open up.”
“Really? That almost sounds like you’re asking me on a date,” she said, smiling broadly.
“Oh, no. I didn’t mean…” he stammered, clumsily setting the shopping bag on the bench.
Touched by a Dragon Page 3