Tears filled Kylie's eyes as the truth swirled around her heart, making her dizzy. Heidi Summers was Daniel's birth mother. She was Kylie's grandmother. And Malcolm Summers, her real grandfather, and her grandmother's sister had posed as Daniel's adoptive parents. Why? Why not just tell her? More questions.
"He's going to find our boy. And they'll be a family, the way we should have been."
The pain of everything her grandmother had endured suddenly swamped her. Knowing she would have to tell Heidi that Daniel was dead cut like a knife.
But she had to tell her, didn't she?
"He won't find him," Kylie said.
"How do you know?"
Kylie wiped the tears from her eyes. "He's not in Ireland."
"Why else would Malcolm have gone to Ireland?"
"He went to find the Brightens."
Heidi sank back on the bed, as if trying to absorb what Kylie said. "Yes, that was their name. They adopted my boy."
Kylie nodded. "But your son isn't with them."
"Where is he?" She jumped off the bed. "Take me to him. I want to see him."
Kylie's breath caught. "He died a long time ago."
"No!" she yelled. "He lived. I went to see him right before they forced Malcolm and me to go to that place for tests. It was a few months after I had given birth. My son was fine. So healthy."
"He didn't die when he was a baby," Kylie said. "He grew up, met a woman whom he fell in love with, and then he joined the army. He died when he was twenty-one while on a mission, trying to save a woman. He was a hero. You should be proud."
Heidi dropped back on the bed. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Another wave of tears filled Kylie's eyes. "I'll bet he's waiting to meet you on the other side, too."
She looked up as if she could see heaven. "Did you know him?"
Kylie nodded. "Only his spirit." She felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks. "He's my father."
Heidi's eyes rounded. "That would mean that you..." She reached out and touched Kylie's cheek. "I should have known. You look like Malcolm. Blond hair instead of red, but those eyes..." A tear slipped from her cheek. "I think ... a part of me did know."
Kylie blinked. "I have so many questions to ask you, so many things I want to know. First, what are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"We're supernatural, right?"
She hesitated, as if she had to think. "Yes. That was why they took us in to do those terrible tests."
"So, what are we?" Kylie held her breath, waiting, hoping for her answer.
Heidi frowned as if trying to think again. "I ... can't remember. I'm sorry. But..." She pointed to the picture. "Malcolm will remember. The man never forgets anything."
Heidi stood up. "I have to go to my son now. I need to tell him that I love him. That's why I stayed here. To tell him how sorry I am that I gave him away."
"Why did you do it?" Kylie asked, hoping something would jog her memory. "Why did you give him away?"
She tilted her head as if to think again. "Because they wanted the little ones more than they wanted us."
"Who?" Kylie asked. "The FRU?"
"Yes," she said. "It was the only way to keep him safe. If I'd run with him, they'd have found me. So I gave him away. I told Malcolm I lost the baby. I had to do it. He trusted them. He said they wouldn't hurt our baby and they would just study him for a little while. But I didn't believe them. So I gave the baby away, I lied to Malcolm, and then I came back because I loved him so much."
"Why did they want to study the baby?" Kylie asked.
"I don't remember ... Wait, it was because we were different and they didn't like it."
"How were we different?"
She shook her head. Her brow wrinkled. "Everything is still so messed up. I remember some things and not others. Malcolm will know."
She leaned down and pressed a hand to Kylie's cheek. "I'm going to see my boy. But you, Kylie Galen, are everything I would have wanted in a granddaughter. I must go now."
Kylie wanted to scream no and beg Heidi to stay, that she had more questions. But it was too late. Heidi had already disappeared.
Fifteen minutes later, Kylie sat silently in the Mustang as Burnett pulled up to the camp. She'd told Burnett everything. About how Jane Doe was really her grandmother, and she'd given Kylie's father away for adoption because the FRU were taking children like them to study. He put the car in park and looked at her. "So you think he went to find the Brightens?"
Kylie nodded.
"I'll see if I can find Malcolm Summers in Ireland. But there's a good chance you might have to wait until he gets back."
Kylie nodded, not liking being this close and still so far away. She reached for the door handle and then looked back at Burnett. "You're not coming in?"
He frowned. "No."
She hesitated to ask but then went for it. "Are you ever coming back?"
He gripped the wheel. "I don't know."
"Why?"
He stared straight ahead. "It's what she wants. She doesn't trust me anymore."
Kylie swallowed. "Neither did I."
He arched a brow at her.
"When you were driving me to the house, I was afraid that you were taking me to be tested."
He frowned. Hurt lingered in his eyes.
"But that's because I saw what the FRU did to my grandmother. I lived bits and pieces of it through her, and when someone lives through something bad, it's hard to trust. I don't know exactly what happened to Holiday with that other vampire, she won't even talk to me about it, but it must have been bad. It scared her and now she's scared to love again. But if you just hang in there..."
"I have hung in there. I'm done."
They sat there staring at each other for several long seconds. "I should go," he said finally.
Kylie got out. As she watched Burnett pull away, the emotions playing in her heart were the same as the ones she'd felt the day she watched Tom Galen drive away with his suitcases.
Shadow Falls was her family. They'd already lost Ellie. They didn't need to lose Burnett, too. But for the life of her, she didn't know how she could change this.