Page 52 of The Black Dragon
Her father had returnedfrom Seattle, and like Parker, he kept nagging her to set a weddingdate.
A week after Justin’s departure, Ariel felt lost, unable to leave the house. Leo cut his trip short by a week to come home and try to convince her to cheerup.
Nothingworked.
Today over breakfast, he talked cheerfully, insisting on making her pancakes, her favorite. Shewatched with dull eyes as he bustled around the kitchen, pretending to make mistakes, tossing flour into the air and calling out, “Voila!”
She knew what he was doing. He did this every time this day arrived. It was Leo’s way of coping with the pain of theirloss.
Today she had no interest in celebrating her mother’s life. Too many questions swirled in hermind.
“Father, whatreally happened toMama?”
Her query made him pause in flipping the pancakes at the grill. “Why do you asknow?”
Ariel glanced at the calendar. “Seemed like it was time. Today is a goodday.”
Father turned the heat down from under the pancakes and joined her at the table. He reached for her hand, his gaze filled with sorrow. “It’s a special day, honey. I thought we could havea day together, as we’ve always had in the past. Just the two of us. No badmemories.’
Any memory of her mother couldn’t be a bad one, except of her last day on earth. “What happened in the accident? I have nomemory.”
Leo’s jaw tightened. For the first time, she noticed the lines of strain bracketing his mouth, the new gray silvering his hair. Her father hadaged.
“I erasedyour memory with a potion, Ariel. I could not bear your grief. Mine… was enough for both ofus.”
She sucked down a startled breath. “You had noright.”
“I am your father. I did what was best for you. You were only achild.”
“Now I’m not, so tell me whathappened!”
Leo turned away. “Do you really want toknow?”
“I must. Was it truly an accident?” Emotions balledtight in her chest. Ariel pulled her hand away. “Did… was it myfault?”
He threw her a quick, startled look. “Of coursenot!”
“Then whathappened?”
A small sigh. “You were fourteen and going to a birthday party that afternoon. You kept clamoring for a new dress to wear to show up your best friend. It was a dress you’d seen while at the mall with Bethany. I was busy with work.So Marian took you in the car to themall.”
A memory flickered. The excitement of shopping with her mother and the smugness she felt at having a dress her friendcoveted.
“The white dress with little blue cornflowers and a blue sash,” she mused. “I remember now. But Mama was a careful driver, especially when I was in the car. How could she have driven into a tree and made it fallon thecar?”
Their old Lincoln had been built like a tank. Leo always joked Mama drove it so slow it was a miracle she gotanywhere.
Leo went to the stove and picked up the spatula, turning it over in his hands. “It was a black dragon, honey. A black dragon caused theaccident.”
If he had slapped her suddenly, she couldn’t have felt more shocked. “Are you sure? Why would adragon want to hurt her? She was kind and gentle and wouldn’t hurtanyone!”
“Because dragons are dangerous!” Now Leo shouted, banging his fist against the bowl filled with batter, tipping it. Yellow liquid oozed out and dripped onto thefloor.
The sound jerked her back to the past. Drip, drip… the sound of her mother’s blood splashing against theconsole.
Mama!
“Blackdragons, like Justin,” she whispered. “Is that why you captured and torturedhim?”
