"Because I went about this the wrong way. I pushed Hunter into a situation to suit my needs even though he got something out of it too, and then this happened. I have to admit, I don't know as much as I let on, but I'll tell you what I do know. I'll buy dinner and then return you safe and sound. There's a little cafe right across the street within walking distance."
"Fine." Becca followed him out the door, wondering what kind of things she would uncover.
Once there and settled in a booth, Becca laid into him. "Why did you want to marry me when everyone knows you don't love me?" She'd been wanting to ask this question for so long, it was finally time to get it out in the open.
A dark shadow crossed his face. "You know your grandparents brought me into your life to keep you from Hunter, not that it worked well. I thought I could give you what you wanted."
"You couldn't give me Hunter," she snapped. He couldn't give her real love. He also couldn't give her attention to the things she cared about the most. Her passions were always so trivial to him.
"I know. No matter what I did, you had a mind of your own. I guess when it came down to it, I didn't try hard enough because I knew you weren't suited for me. I have a personal vendetta against the Beckmans because of a trial against my father years ago."
"What?" She sat up straighter. So many twisted, crazy connections and she'd never known them.
"Charles Beckman was the lawyer who sued my father for negligence years ago. Dad lost. He was also a psychiatrist. When a patient died under his care, his family sued. Dad lost everything."
Becca gasped. "So you thought going with my grandparents' plan would somehow make you feel better because Hunter's father was doing his job?" She shook her head. Good grief! If his father lost the case, it obviously meant he'd done something wrong!
"Anger is an ugly thing," Vince admitted. "Even though Hunter's father died, I figured if your grandparents disliked the Beckmans, then I could go along with it. My father raged on about them for years. It just soaked into my bones that I'm supposed to hate the Beckmans and Whitemores."
"My grandparents hate them because they think they helped Dad and Mom steal me." It was more of a statement.
"Yes, but we can't find any concrete proof that's what they did. Still, your grandparents don't like any bad light on the family."
"Was there a fight? Why didn't they ever know about me?"
"During the trial, Charles' wife came down with Anne. They were friends. Anne met your father and they fell in love. Your grandparents never took to Anne, thinking she was nothing but trouble. Your grandparents didn't talk to them much after that. After Rusty and Anne married, they found out Anne was pregnant. Your dad used to send letters to try and talk to his parents. They were never answered. Two years later, they were gone."
"Gone?"
"They moved. Your grandmother looked up their location and found out they had a new baby. But she'd heard rumors that Anne lost a child. The doctors said she couldn't get pregnant again." Vince tapped his fingers on the table.
"What do they know about Rust- Dad's previous marriage?"
"They didn't like Amelia and Sylvia either. Anyone who took your father's attention away pissed them off."
"And Sylvia really was a third survivor? She's real, not just someone with a sick ploy?" Did she get separated from Hunter and her? Becca still couldn't remember her back then.
"She's real. Rusty wrote her a letter before he left after you were born. Guess he felt bad. He had a soft spot for the kid. She never liked that he moved on to a new family. Somehow she must have figured out something about you and went to find Rusty. I don't know how she discovered you weren't his. I don't know what she knows. Years after the crash, she came looking for you. Your grandparents and I convinced her to leave you alone if we paid her off."
So the letter was real. Becca hadn't ruled out the possibility someone wanted to throw her off. She didn't like where this was going. "The settlement."
Sylvia came looking for her? What did that mean?
Vince nodded. "Your grandparents made sure you were 'incompetent' as long as possible so they could get the money. And I..." He frowned. "I had to commit Sylvia in a hospital to keep her quiet. It took months. Once the money came through, we let her go. She had to sign an agreement never to come back or say anything."
"And you took her at her word?" She was fuming. So that's why they never wanted her to succeed. She'd always wondered, but never imagined something as deep and messed up as that. And Vince had much more to do with it than she'd imagined. Becca was afraid of what he would have done to her if she'd been stupid enough to marry him. Good thing she fought it as much as she could.
Their food was brought to the table. Becca couldn't eat, not after this revelation.
"Come on, Becca. Millions of dollars? Who wouldn't?"
Did he really think money would stop someone? Obviously he was mistaken, because Sylvia had come after her this summer!
"It didn't last now, did it? Look what she did to us. So much for looking out for me, huh? How did no one else know? How did you split it three ways and no one else find out about her?" Shouldn't it have come up in the news somewhere? An article? Something!
Vince leveled her with a dark glare in his eyes before he answered. "Joe Whitemore."
Chapter Thirty Two
A week passed. Hunter grew stronger every day. Sitting or lying in a bed most of the time drove him utterly insane. Well, crazier than he already was, anyhow. Becca had been amazing, staying day and night with him even though Todd, Shara, and jackass Vince left days ago.
He still wanted to punch Vince for everything, especially after what Becca told him. And the jerk had some nerve, asking if there was a chance Hunter would still put a word in about his niece.
It felt good to have some answers, but the one person who held the bigger answers still hadn't come to see him. He especially wanted to know why Joe never contacted him after fixing the settlement to keep it under wraps about Sylvia. When that call came in years ago to Hunter about the money, he'd never realized it was Joe's firm. Joe had to have done that on purpose. But why?
The ankle injury wasn't as bad as initially thought. They gave him a splint, then a boot, but advised him not to overdo it right away.
The doctors informed him today it wouldn't be much longer before he could leave. He couldn't wait for the moment. He was more than ready to get out of Rhode Island and get back to normal at home with Becca. A psychiatrist had been visiting every day to talk about the disassociation episode. Hunter didn't like him nearly as much as he did Dr Ryan. Still, he cooperated with everything in order to get out of here faster.
"How's your pain level today?" Beth asked Hunter after the three had come back from a short walk. Even though he had a lot of injuries, they still wanted him to get up and move every once in a while. Worked just fine for him.
Hunter grinned. "Depends. Are you talking about how much pain I'm in, or how much of a pain I am?"
"Keep that up, and we'll almost miss you when you leave." Beth winked.
"You'll all shed tears when we go." Hunter eased to his feet, taking the few steps to the bed to show he was doing this just fine on his own. Becca stood nearby and he knew she'd be there if he fell.
"Maybe, but only because of your girl here." She nudged Becca. "You're funny, but I like her better."
They laughed. Hunter loved that he could laugh without so much pain. He missed laughing with Becca.
Beth gripped the handles of the wheelchair. "A few more days and you'll be a free man. At least, free of this place. Hit the button if you need anything." She waved and pushed the wheelchair out of the room.
"Did you have a nightmare last night? You were tossing again," Becca asked, sitting beside him. She took his hand as she waited for an answer.
"I'm not sure. I don't remember one. I think the heavy pain meds are keeping the nightmares at bay." He had a series of appointments lined up with Dr. Ryan when he got home, to help understa
nd disassociation even more. He never wanted to go through that again. A few days ago, the guy that pushed him came by to apologize, along with the person in the car who'd hit him. The driver was a teenager and she was completely shaken up. He'd reassured her the whole time she came to visit. Poor kid.
Apparently Hunter's story was floating around. He couldn't wait to get away and not be the guy dubbed as the 'proposal gone wrong dude'. Those words exactly! He'd been warned they'd have to treat his symptoms with more aggression.
It freaked him out that he lost hours of his life with no memory of what he did. Walking barefoot for hours and not remembering the details? Yeah, he felt like a science experiment or something.
Hunter reached for Becca's hand. "Have you thought more about confronting your grandparents on what you know? You did tell Vince they'd never know he gave you the information. We can say Jed got it. I feel like giving them a piece of my mind for sure. What they did ... Damn them, Bec. The least they could do is provide you with absolute proof by a DNA test that you aren't Rusty's child. We don't know the reasons for the false birth certificate."
She lowered her head and puffed out a deep, long sigh. "I'm debating. I still need time to decide how to handle things. I wanted to punch Vince that night. I knew he didn't love me, but-" Her voice cracked. "Speaking of him, what are you doing about his niece?"
"I want to at least have her go through the tests. No matter that she's related to the bastard, he got me with something close to my heart." He smoothed her hair back. "I'd want someone to give you a chance. I have to do that for her. It's not the girl's fault she has an ass for an uncle."
Her eyes were moist when she looked at him again. "I'm glad you found a little piece of your past, too."
She must mean Joe, but Hunter had doubts he'd ever see him again unless he pursued him once more. "Yeah."
"You don't sound so sure."
"I'm not. I don't know if he'll ever come back. I don't think he wants to see me again. Or maybe he does, but because of the secrets and lies, he can't handle it. For hours, I got a piece of history I'd forgotten about and it felt amazing. Then in a split second," he snapped his fingers, "it's gone."
They both held each other silently, each one in their own thoughts. The next few months were going to be tough, tackling the demons and the ghosts that began to surface and threatened to unravel it all. He thought back to the ring box and realized he never talked to Becca about it. She had to know, considering the story circulating. "Bec?"
She peered at him from beneath her eyelashes. "Hmm?"
"About that ring. I want you to know I was saving it for the right time. I bought it the day I bought the snowglobe and necklace. Not that I ever doubted your love for me, but I wanted to ask you when things weren't so rough. We still have a long road ahead of us, and there's no telling how long until I can get these symptoms under control. This summer wasn't what I expected-"
She leaned over and kissed his lips. "You don't have to explain why you had it and didn't ask yet. But just so you know, I would have said yes any time you asked."
"Any time?" Why did he find that so hard to believe?
Becca nodded. "I know I was afraid of you. Really I was afraid of everything, but I never ever doubted your love. My biggest worry was the monsters in our heads battling it out to destroy ourselves and each other. I think we beat the odds again. Long hard road or not, with you is where I always want to be."
He cupped her face, running his fingers over her soft, beautiful skin. "You don't know how glad I am to hear it. Sometimes I let the demons get the better of me and I have to remember you don't have to be protected from me. I love you so much."
"I love you too," she whispered, kissing him again.
"You would have loved the ring," he blurted. The moment he saw it, Hunter knew it was the one he wanted for Becca.
Becca pulled back with a smile. "I know. It's beautiful. You picked out the perfect one."
"Wait, how do you know?" He stared at her in awe. When did she see it?
Without a word, she stood and walked across the room to get her purse. She pulled something out of it. "Your one and only personal effect. They gave it to me. I found out later from Todd he thinks you brought it so you could use it as a grounding technique in case you had a flashback." She made her way back to the bed and handed him the small box he thought he'd lost forever.
"Little good it did me," he muttered.
"I think your mind was in overload. I read up on what you were experiencing. All I know is I'm glad you weren't hurt even more. You were lucky."
He really was. Being hit by a car sucked, but he was alive, he still had the woman he loved the most, and soon got to go home and be with his daughter and the family he'd made. If nothing else, he had the best people in his life that he knew deep down weren't going anywhere.
That beat everything else. They didn't know where Sylvia was or if she'd ever strike again, but he could try to live with not knowing if it meant waking up every day next to a woman he planned on making his bride one day.
One thing he knew was they both learned that they'd deal with the cards handed to them.
Hunter leaned over to kiss Becca again, until a knock on the door put a stop to that. He stared in shock at the hunched figure at the door. The face of a person he thought he wouldn't see. "Joe." His voice came out hoarse.
"I hear you're quite the popular one in here." Joe moved slowly toward the bed. Becca jumped up and pulled the chair she'd been sitting on earlier out in order for Joe to get comfortable. He stopped in front of her and studied her. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby. What a beautiful woman you grew up to be."
A blush crept up Becca's cheeks and she took a step back. Hunter reached as far as he could without hurting himself for her hand to have her close again. Still keeping an eye on Joe, she backed up and sat beside Hunter.
"How's your heart?" Hunter finally found the courage and the right words to speak. "I didn't think I'd see you again."
Joe nodded. "Fair assumption. I've been struggling for days with what to do. I don't want the past to come out in the open, but I wasn't about to leave a boy hanging who was like family to me. You deserve better than that, no matter what becomes of me now." He struggled, but managed to lower himself on the chair. Hunter almost got up to help but wasn't fast enough. "You asked me if I helped steal Becca for the Langes. That's not what happened. Becca wasn't stolen."
Clasping hands, Hunter and Becca waited with baited breath for Joe to continue.
"I don't know as much as I wish I did. Hunter, your father came to me one day with a baby in his arms and told me a scared little boy brought her to him. The boy said his mother asked him to bring her somewhere safe, no matter what it took. She had a feeling her husband was going to do something terrible and she wanted all of her children out of there. The boy never told us his name or anything. He had a letter, but only shared it with Charles."
"Why not go to the police?" Hunter asked, watching Becca carefully. She covered her mouth with her hand. If this story was true, it explained why nothing ever came up about a stolen baby.
"The boy begged him not to. He said if his father found out that the mother kept the baby, they'd all be sorry." Joe shrugged. "I don't know why, but for some reason, your father didn't. One night he told me your mother had a friend who had just lost a baby."
Shit, he didn't like this story. Hunter kept his mouth shut and listened. Becca had a tight grip on his fingers.
Oh angel.
He dared to look her way, but Becca's attention was on Joe.
"So let me guess. You created a plan to for Becca to become the child they lost." Did he really have to say it like that? Not that there was a better way to say it. He felt Becca tense up.
"That's correct. The baby Anne lost was stillbirth. She was early."
"How did getting a new child go unnoticed? I mean isn't there records showing a death? What about a burial?" Becca ground out. Hunter pulled her closer to him
. Geez, this was not easy to hear for him. He couldn't imagine how she felt.
"Savannah took the baby and stayed with the Langes until Charles and I came up with a plan. The best thing at that point was to get her out of Maryland and figure out what to do. Anne was pregnant during the time Savannah was there. Anne had her baby early, but she was stillborn. They were devastated, but the plan formed to keep Becca. It was the only way to keep her safe from harm." Joe's voice wavered as he continued. "I went down there to take care of the details. That's when I created Becca's birth certificate."
Hunter didn't even want to know what else. He had a few guesses as to why there was no record of a death and where the baby was buried. His stomach clenched. Becca stiffened beside him.
"You created a fake identity for a baby who already had one? For all you know, that little boy could have been lying!" Hunter yelled. Pain shot up his torso like a searing hot knife.
"I trusted Charles' judgment. He said Savannah knew the kid and some of his family troubles," Joe whispered. "If he felt there was a reason to protect the baby, I went with it. Sometimes, you just do things without ever thinking them through."
Becca choked back a cry.
Hunter didn't have any memories of Maryland. Then again, he'd been so young and his memories obviously were scattered before the crash. Baby Becca had been in his house.
"You know nothing about my family?" Her voice had a hard edge to it.
Hunter could tell she carried a small ounce of hope.
Joe shook his head sadly. "The Beckmans knew a little, but they didn't tell me a thing."
Becca shot to her feet and paced the room. "I'll probably never know."
Hunter tried to get up. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her. Becca whirled around and faced him, her mouth open in horror.
"Don't get up," she pleaded. "I just need to move a little."
The least he could do was give her that. With a sinking heart, he sat back down.
A Masterpiece Unraveled (The Masterpiece Trilogy Book 2) Page 31