Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series)

by Sylvia Hubbard

  "Don't tell me you don't know about all the scrapbooks he keeps of all your pictures and articles in the Real Estate Times. He's attended every award ceremony and workshop you've offered. Hell, he's even sat in on one of your teacher assistant classes," Rochelle shrieked.

  "What pictures? What scrapbook are you talking about?"

  Rochelle suddenly became tight lipped and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest.

  "What pictures. Show me!" Shane commanded.

  Sulking in defeat, Rochelle went into the other double doors that led to a very nice office. Shane could only assume this was where Paul did his business by the look of the office with a large desk similar to the one Andrew had in his office. The room had a library sort of feel without all the books. She saw some on a low bookcase behind the desk, but those concerned real estate issues.

  Rochelle went over a very large cabinet where there were two drawers at the bottom. In the back of the second drawer, the nurse pulled out a white scrapbook that looked very worn. She practically shoved it at Shane.

  Shane opened the front of the book and couldn't believe what she was seeing. There were pictures of her taken at different places. Most pictures were of her when she didn't know anyone was watching her. She was always looking away from the camera.

  "Who took these pictures?" she asked Rochelle.

  "Now that's none of my business, but I can tell you Paul's sat up many a night looking at them for the past year," Rochelle confessed.

  She moved over to the couch to sit down. She would estimate the pictures in this book started to be taken shortly after her mother died. Pictures of her walking alone to school and at school assemblies she participated in where the photographer had gotten close up.

  There were copies of certifications and awards she had received. Also there were her recent articles and papers she had written for magazines about the real estate world. She couldn't believe the detail of the scrapbook. There were even copies of her grades from the university.

  "Hey beautiful," Paul said, coming in the room very thrilled to see her.

  Shane stood up to welcome him, holding up the scrapbook and looking accusingly at him. "Why have you been stalking me half my life, Paul?"

  He stopped short and looked down at the scrapbook grimacing. "How did you find it?"

  "That shouldn't matter. The fact is that you've recorded every moment of my life in here as if you were studying me. Why? Why did you pretend like you didn't know when you first met me?" she demanded to know.

  "I didn't, Shane," he said as honestly as possible. She was about to refute this before he desperately spoke, "I've seen you in those pictures, but I never met you personally and when I did, it was better than expected."

  "You knew I'd be walking that night, didn't you?" Shane asked accusingly.

  Paul nodded. "I'd followed you with an investigator Andrew hired for me."

  A huge migraine decided to flash across her brow and she felt the pain sear through her vision and her temples. Why did she feel deceit just encompassing her all over? "What the hell is going on, Paul?"

  He looked as if he wanted to hold her, but was afraid to touch her. Shane was bristling with anger. "Shane, I can't tell you."

  "You've lied to me, haven't you?" The hurt was evident and she wanted to scream.

  Paul earnestly shook his head. "We have been nothing but honest with you, Shane."

  "Then what is going on?!" she screamed, hurling book on the floor.

  "Why don't you go ahead and tell her Paul?" a familiar said at the doorway.

  Shane had to do a double take, realizing it was Senator Payne at the doorway along with Andrew beside him. "Senator, what are you doing here?" she asked a bit startled.

  "After Andrew told me what you knew, I had to come and meet you myself. There is urgency to the matter."

  "You answered Paul's phone the other day when I called," she said. "I remember your voice."

  He smiled knowingly. "Yes, Shane. That was me."

  "But what Paul and I were discussing has nothing to do with you, sir," she admitted.

  Senator Payne came over to Shane and knelt to pick up the scrapbook. Upon standing, Shane couldn't believe how larger he seemed in person and actually handsome. He tenderly rubbed his hands over the front of the scrapbook and longingly looked at Shane. He spoke slowly, yet firmly. "This has everything to do with me, Shane, I'm your father."

  Chapter 26

  Shane felt the room swirl and she fought to keep consciousness from giving into the darkness that wanted to encompass her. Stepping back from the senator, she couldn't believe what she had just heard, yet she had this deep feeling it was true.

  His smile. That was it. The smile had warmed her and felt so familiar.

  "How long have they've known?" she asked in a clutched whisper.

  The senator looked from Paul to Andrew, and then answered her. "A very long time, Shane. Paul has always known the secret. He's the only one I've entrusted this scrap book to, and Andrew recently found out about several months ago, when Paul decided to keep these scrapbooks here."

  "You've been watching me all this time?" she asked, still not believing everything.

  "Yes, Shane. I told myself repeatedly that sooner or later I would tell you, but time went by and life seemed to get in the way. I'm not trying to apologize for my absence in your life, Shane..."

  She cut him off simply by putting her hand up needing a moment to gather her thoughts. This would explain the secrecy in her trust. "Aldridge knew too?"

  "No. He only runs the trust. There were others at the law firm that knew, but couldn't tell," he explained.

  Looking at Andrew, Shane asked, "Is that the only reason you hired me?"

  Andrew shook his head. "The work you've done, your excellent grades and the papers you've done. I've also known the professor for a long time. I don't hire people for who they know, Shane; I hire them for what they can benefit with. You could know the damn president and I wouldn't hire you unless you were good at what I need you to do. Paul approached me with considering you for an internship. Professor Henderson let me know the personal difficulty you were having with keeping an internship and the provisions I provided were only because Paul insisted that we must help you. I really didn't know you were one and the same until after I had met you."

  She should have known even through this crisis, Andrew would stay true to form. Looking over at Paul, she asked, "But Paul said you had an investigator on it."

  Andrew shrugged. "The senator asked me to hire Lethal Heart's Investigation agency to follow you consistently. I did so under the guise of helping him out, but I never looked at the pictures or read any of his reports. Why would I honestly care about a bastard? I was doing a favor for a friend."

  Her eyes narrowed in anger. "Just like you're doing a favor for a brother?"

  Paul interjected seeing that Andrew had clearly riled her anger. "Blame Andrew's deceit on me, Shane. Like I told you before, I had seen the pictures and knew you were the one clearly before I met you."

  "The one for what?" The senator asked suspiciously.

  Shane gasped, realizing the senator didn't know. "You didn't tell him, Paul?"

  Paul flushed. "We haven't told anyone, Shane. I was going to make the announcement soon to everyone."

  "What announcement? What is going on?" the senator demanded to know.

  Sarcastically, Shane said, "You mean you forgot to tell the senator about our illicit affair and how you have seduced me into a-"

  Paul covered her mouth and tsked his tongue. "He doesn't have to know all the details beautiful," he said, shaking his head with a warning look in his deep blue eyes. Shane pushed Paul's hand away furiously.

  Andrew decided to interject. "Paul wanted to wait until the Christmas party to formally ask Ms. Keaton properly."

  "Anything that has to do with Shane, I should know about," Sean protested.

  "Of course," Paul wholeheartedly agreed. "I should confess Senator when you ga
ve me the album, I immediately became infatuated by this wonderful young lady, but I thought it may be inappropriate to voice my crush to you, her or my brother because there might be a conflict.”

  Shane heard sincerity in Paul’s voice, but she wasn’t sure if she should believe him because she was so mad.

  “You’ve been looking for a wife for a long time, Paul,” the senator said skeptically. “Are you sure this isn’t your desire just to be married?”

  “I’ll admit I have been looking but all for the wrong reasons and when I finally …” He paused in his speech and flushed, “… I finally stalked her and pretended I was lost just to meet her, I knew my search was over and that she was even more beautiful than I had imagined.”

  He looked at Shane with genuineness in his eyes and took her hand. “I mean it Shane. If you knew how times I stared at the album looking at your pictures and how I dreamed of spending these moments with you, you would think I was crazy.” Turning to the senator, he apologize, “I shouldn’t have gone behind your back to meet her, but I knew your circumstances of being away from her and I wasn’t sure whether or not she would accept me.” He looked back at Shane still holding her hand tightly. “And I should have asked you for your daughter's hand in marriage, if she will still have me."

  Shane was looking into Paul's eyes when he spoke and she understood everything. Of course Paul couldn't tell her about who really owned the scrapbooks. He wasn't trying to deceive her, but was merely protecting the truth of a secret he had vowed to keep. "So you are sick?" she asked to be sure.

  "Yes, Shane," Paul answered amused. "I'll gladly go show you my medical records I'm required to take wherever I go."

  Shane felt terrible. "Everything you've told me is the God's honest truth?"

  Paul nodded sincerely.

  She welcomed him into her arms feeling horrible about her doubts in him previously. He whispered assurance in her ear and lightly kissed her cheek several times compassionately.

  Andrew watched the tender scene straining himself not speak. Paul could be rather over indulgent with emotions, yet the more attention his brother bestowed upon Shane, the more vulnerable she became.

  He knew the moment his brother gained back Shane's trust and acquiesce.

  "Do you want to marry him, Shane?" Senator Payne questioned quietly.

  "Yes," Shane said, kissing Paul acceptingly.

  "And everything else, Shane? Will you accept it?" Paul asked worriedly.

  Shane glanced over at Andrew who had a nondescript look on his face. When she looked back at Paul, she could immediately tell it really mattered to him that she agreed to everything. With a look like that on his face, there was no way Shane could refuse him. "Yes Paul. Everything!"

  Paul hugged her so fiercely Shane was sure he had almost cracked a spine as he placed kisses all over her face.

  Senator Payne cleared his throat, still looking disapprovingly at Paul. The trio knew without the senator's permission, he could make it very difficult for Paul to receive his final wish. Especially since no one could be sure if Shane was pregnant yet.

  Shane turned to her father and stared into eyes very similar to her own. "My mom use to say I had eyes like my father. Now I know she was telling the truth."

  He hesitantly reached up and caressed her cheek. She didn't move away and even leaned into the touch.

  "Leaving Lillian alone to raise you was very difficult," he admitted quietly in an almost whisper. There was so much intensity and emotion in his voice as he spoke. “She understood and always believed that she didn't deserve me, but it was I that didn't deserve her. She refused any assistance I tried to give her and threatened if I tried to help she’d reveal your identity to the media” He took deep breaths and Shane could tell he still held a lot of emotions for Lillian. “I came to the hospital when she was dying when you weren’t around and she agreed to allow me to set up the trust fund, but I was not allowed to have any contact with you ever.”

  “Why’d you wait so long to defy her?” she questioned.

  “Your life could be in jeopardy. All sense and respect for the dead goes out the window when I know I could lose you,” he said obviously. “I've watched you grow and become so beautiful and smart, Shane.” His brown eyes tinkled in pride. “I've wanted to give you so much. I curse myself for being so limited and absent in your life."

  "Be apart of it now, sir," she insisted. "Give Paul your approval. Let me make him happy."

  "Are you sure, Shane? Do you know what this will mean?" her father asked her to be sure.

  She assumed he was referring to Paul's sickness. "Paul and I have already discussed it and I understand everything."

  “Shane,” Paul said blushing. “Your father means about our skin color.”

  “Why should that be a problem?” she asked innocently.

  Paul and Senator Payne chuckled, but Andrew just looked stoic.

  "Then I give my approval to you, Paul,” Senator Payne said favorably. “But you take good care of her."

  Excitement raced through her, she forgot herself and hugged the senator, but remembered who he was at the last moment and started to draw away. Senator Payne moved his beefy arms around her and embraced her.

  Shane fought the urge to cry, but didn't. The front door opened and Shane abruptly drew away. Paul took her hand to reassure her everything was fine.

  Rochelle was coming in carrying a box of medical supplies refusing Andrew's assistance. She politely excused her interruption.

  "It's fine, Rochelle. Could you fix something light for us on the enclosed roof?" Paul requested.

  Rochelle nodded obediently, but there was a lot of curiosity in her eyes and she was cutting her eyes suspiciously at Shane.

  "You still use the roof in the middle of winter, Paul?" the senator questioned.

  "Yes, I've enclosed it with a thick glass roof that can be opened during the summer and the floor can be warmed. It has its own heating system as well." He nudged Shane playfully. "Tell them, Shane, it's very enjoyable when you're just lounging around."

  Shane blushed profusely remembering the time Paul had first brought her up to the roof.

  Paul led the way through a door, which led to an enclosed glass stairway on the side of his home straight up to the roof.

  Her father and Andrew followed as Shane observed the new entrance to the roof she had not noticed. They came in on an entrance located almost behind the Jacuzzi.

  There was a table set up, but Rochelle was paged in the kitchen to bring up two extra settings. Shane knew Paul must have made plans for a private lunch or dinner.

  Along with the extra setting, Rochelle used a dummy waiter to bring up a tray of coffee and tea.

  While seated between her father and Paul, Shane was asked many questions from her father about growing up.

  "After you turned eighteen, why didn't you accept the apartments Aldridge offered and move out?" the senator questioned.

  Shane shrugged. "I felt if I left, I would be surrendering the house to the Meadows and that was something I just couldn't do despite the fact they made me completely miserable, hurt me physically and mentally, and ruined a lot of good opportunities because they didn't want me to succeed. That house meant a lot to my mother and she would not have wanted it in anyone's hands accept mine."

  He nodded knowingly. "Lillian worked hard to get that home. She didn't want me to assist her with anything actually. I had to fight with her about the trust for you on her death bed."

  "Do you think she wanted you apart of Shane's life?" Andrew questioned.

  "It was as if becoming pregnant completely changed Lillian and she truly felt the sins of the single mother would be suffered through the child. She also wanted to prove herself to me and the world that she didn't need a man to get by." A look of hurt washed over her father's face. "I tried to help her all I could. When I found out she was dying, I took care of all her bills and I paid off the mortgage on the house." He leaned forward and placed his hand on Shane's.
"I make no excuse for my absence, Shane, in your life. Nor do I believe in replacing my absence with money. I truly wanted to be there for you after you turned eighteen, but my career as a politician was very important and I wasn't really sure if you shared your mother's opinion on not having me in your life. Plus, upon the advice of the kind of people your mother left you in, the knowledge of my being your father would not be a good decision."

  “So Bethany doesn’t know who you are? Because I really thought she did and was just holding the knowledge against me.”

  Senator Payne shook his head assuredly. “Trust me, if your aunt knew who your father was, she wouldn’t have been at Aldridge’s office all the time. She would have been at mine instead.”

  Almost inclined to let him know exactly what Bethany had been doing, Shane lost her courage and bit her tongue.

  Shane had no remorse about not having a father there to nurture and guide her throughout her life, because she had turned out a pretty good person despite the hardships she had suffered. "I'm quite aware of that, sir, now that I know who you are, and no I don't share my mother's sentiments."

  "I should let you know I married five years before meeting your mother - right out of high school. I know we were young, but when you think its love, you go where you think your heart wants you to be. Not to mention, my parents were well to do and they pushed for a union with another family whom they were close to. I found out after the marriage, my wife just wanted to be a mother and I did my part for her, producing a daughter and son whom I'm sure you've met at Andrew's office."

  Andrew and Paul shifted uncomfortably.

  Shane frowned a little perplexed, but it suddenly dawned on her whom her father referred to. "Troy and Rachel are my siblings, but Rachel's white!"

  "She's half white, but able to look like her mother, who is white," he said.

  Would this explain the animosity and deceit by her siblings? "Do they know who I am?" Shane questioned.

  "Troy does," Paul answered as he considerately fixed her tea while they spoke. "Rachel's only aware she has an illegitimate sister, but she doesn't know it's you. She doesn't like you because she knows you have garnered Andrew's rare attention."