“The missing puzzle piece.” Liam glanced over at her, his expression impossible for her to read. “I’ve got a pretty good idea now about what was happening with my father before he caused that car crash. Do you want to hear about it?”
A shiver went down her spine at his hollow tone.
“No,” she whispered. The vague outline of the truth was becoming clearer and clearer now, despite the fact that she didn’t want to see it…didn’t want to even consider the fact that she’d been the one to force Liam to see it.
“Clearly it all started well before that day. Early on in their marriage, my dad must have been unfaithful to my mother. She must have found out, and fled to Tahoe in her distress…to her old friend Lincoln DuBois.”
Natalie hated the flat quality to his voice, as though he spoke of s
trangers, not his own family.
“DuBois and my mother obviously had a brief affair, but my mother went back to Chicago and reunited with my father. Maybe since she’d been unfaithful, as well, she decided they’d both erred, and she could forgive him for what he’d done. Who knows? But they decided to commit again to their marriage, and if my observations mean anything, they were successful. They’d certainly seemed happy and devoted during my entire childhood. They moved on. Everything must have been fine until Deidre was in a boating accident and had to go into the hospital, some eighteen years after my parents’ had both faltered in their marriage.”
Natalie’s eyes burned with unshed tears. Dread filled her chest, but her damned curiosity made her ask the question anyway.
“What has Deidre being in an accident got to do with anything?”
“The accident happened the week before my dad died. She got a cut on her leg and it severed a vein. She had to stay in the hospital for a night or two. They gave her a blood transfusion, patched her up and she was good to go. She was home before the crash ever occurred, getting up from bed against doctor’s orders when my mother wasn’t looking. Nobody could keep Deidre down for long,” he murmured. His hands tightened on the wheel.
“Liam, pull the car over,” she pleaded hoarsely, the alarm in her head starting to wail out a warning.
But he continued as if he hadn’t heard her, as if he felt compelled to tell a story that had remained untold for half their lifetimes. “Somehow, my father must have become aware of something in Deidre’s medical information while he was visiting her in the hospital. I don’t know what, exactly, something to do with her genetics—that’s why he needed to see his friend Dr. Mulonovic, the pediatric geneticist. Whatever Mulonovic told him must have confirmed his suspicions. I’m assuming my dad discovered Deidre’s blood type while there in the hospital, although I can’t be a hundred percent certain about that. Deidre had required a blood transfusion, so her blood type easily could have been mentioned to my dad. Blood type can’t confirm paternity, but it can rule it out.
“I don’t know if my father confronted my mother that weekend, or if he recovered our birth records and then presented them to Dr. Mulonovic. I’m thinking that’s what he did. He might not have been certain about the facts, and didn’t want to be wrong when he confronted my mother.”
Natalie opened her eyes. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“It must have been hell for Dad, surviving that weekend without knowing for sure, but starting to guess the truth. He and Deidre were always so close. They had such a special relationship.”
His voice broke at the last.
“Liam, pull over. Please,” Natalie said in a strangled voice.
He glanced over at her. When he saw the tears on her cheeks, he did what she asked, pulling into a gas station parking lot about a half a mile down the road. When he turned off the engine, he just sat there, his hands remaining on the steering wheel, staring out the window.
“She knew,” he said quietly.
“Who knew?”
“My sister. Deidre. That’s why she left Harbor Town. That’s why she never came back. That’s why her and Mom’s relationship was severed after the crash. It wasn’t because she blamed Mom for hiding Dad’s drinking—or at least it wasn’t just that. Deidre found out she wasn’t Dad’s biological daughter.”
“Oh, Liam…” Natalie murmured miserably.
“Deidre was in the house with Mom when Dad came back to Harbor Town unexpectedly on that Tuesday,” Liam continued in a hoarse whisper, his eyes vacant. “I was at the beach. Marc was out with Mari. Colleen was at cheerleader camp. But Deidre was there. She was supposed to stay in bed, but my mom couldn’t keep her down. I’ll bet she got up with her crutches when she heard Dad’s voice. She must have overheard something…my dad confronting my mom…God…poor Deidre…how that must have hit her,” he said brokenly, as if the truth had finally penetrated and he’d seen the horror of it.
Natalie put her hand on his forearm. He looked at her. A spasm of emotion went through his face. A shaky moan escaped her throat and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, wild to comfort him…desperate in the knowledge that she’d inflicted the wound.
Chapter Fourteen
When they returned to Harbor Town, everything seemed different to Natalie. The woman who had dared less than a month ago to hire Liam Kavanaugh to investigate the crash seemed like a stranger to her now. How could she have been so bold?
How could she have been so stupid?
Liam dropped her off at her town house. They’d talked a great deal on their return journey, and both of them had agreed that Liam would talk to his mother about what they’d learned. There were still some pieces missing to the puzzle that only Brigit Kavanaugh could provide.
Natalie didn’t envy Liam his decision to confront Brigit.
He did so on the same day they returned to Harbor Town. It was a gray September afternoon with a hint of autumn in the air. Her heart ached for Liam as she watched him drive away. He looked exhausted from their journey and the stress of what they’d learned in Tahoe.