“And your father stayed married to her.” She couldn’t believe it.
“He did.” He nodded.
Amelia felt so sad for both him and Vienna, having to grow up and grow a thick skin when they should have been able to make their own mistakes and have their father be there for them the way hers had for her.
“Thank you for telling me. I just thought it was contradictory. Vienna said you don’t celebrate, but when she told me the date, I thought it must have been the reason for your golf weekend last year.”
“No.” He shook his head. “That was a mental health break that happened to fall on my birthday. But that’souranniversary,” he realized. “We can celebrate that. We’ll go for dinner. Or would you rather make a weekend of it? Visit the Okanagan?”
“Actually...” She folded her arms in front of the plate she had yet to finish. “It’s also the anniversary of Jasper going missing. I’d rather spend it with Dad, if you don’t mind. He’s heading back to Goderich this week.”
Hunter swore and sat back. “Of course. I didn’t even think. I need to spend a few weeks in Toronto anyway. We’ll visit him from there. Let me know if he has any trouble with paparazzi once he’s home. The security system was installed, but that will only protect his privacy while he’s inside the house.”
“Thanks. I will.” He was doing so much for her father. For all of them. She hated to ask for more, but, “Since we’re on the topic... Have you heard anything from your friend? About Jasper?” There had been a few brief news pieces that had coincided with the coverage of their marriage.
Amelia Lindor, sister of Jasper Lindor, who went missing in South America last year and is presumed deceased...
She was glad his disappearance was being noted again, but it didn’t seem to be pushing anyone to investigate further.
“To be clear, I golfed with Orlin at a charity tournament once. That’s as well as I know him. He sent their internal investigation to my PA, but it doesn’t say anything more than what you’ve already told me. They do mention a life insurance policy,” he said in a very neutral tone.
“And that I’ve pushed them to pay it out? I know how that looks.” She picked up her fork, but had lost her appetite.
She could feel the weight of Hunter’s suspicion in his gaze.
“Think about it,” she rushed on with subdued fury. “They say we have to wait seven years for that money because there’s no proof he’s dead, yet they want us to believe there’s no reason to investigate further. They know I’ll use that money to hire someone to go there and look for him so they refuse to pay it.”
He blinked, but not before she saw the shadows of pity behind his eyes.
“I know I’m grasping at straws,” she muttered, dropping her fork with a clank. “But you don’t know what it’s like to come up against someone like you! All the power is weighted on your side. All the money and information and...” She picked up her napkin and pressed it to her stinging eyes, lungs seized by injustice.
“You want someone to blame. I understand that, but I have nothing to do with this, Amelia.”
“I know that.” Her mouth still quivered with futile anger. With frustrated loss. Her heart was cracked in two and there was a part of her that felt as though marrying him was consorting with the enemy. “But if Jasper suddenly reappeared, he would find me living like this. He would think I had completely forgotten about him. What if he’s hurt, Hunter? What if he can’t get home and I’m not even trying to help him?”
She was going to fall apart.
“I have to check on Peyton.” She rose abruptly and threw her napkin over her half-eaten meal.
“Amelia.” She had the sense his hand came out behind her, but she hurried away.
Hunter’s first reaction when he had read that Amelia was pressing for the insurance pay out had been a cynical one. Money fueled all things, all people. That’s what he’d been taught, and it was borne out by his lived reality nearly every day.
Nearly.
Amelia wasn’t motivated by financial gain. He had known that when she’d thrown his money back in his face as she walked out of his room last year. Amelia ran on love, especially where her brother was concerned.
Hunter didn’t take it personally that she had flared up at him. He understood. Grief had its own cycles, and he still became moody in April, which was the time of year when his mother had passed.
Also, he might not be at fault for Jasper’s disappearance, but he felt some guilt as he brooded on it. Hewasthe type of Goliath she and her father were up against. More pertinently, he could have done more for her that morning when the disappearance happened. He hadn’t wanted to involve himself in someone else’s drama, having enough in his own life.
Her anguish ate at him. He asked her to send him her file of correspondence and spent several days going through it.
It was a relentless and heart-wrenching effort on her part, shaking every tree she could find without success. His own grim conclusion was that Jasper was gone. Her brother had been sent to Chile to survey specific terrain. Against instructions, he had gone a different direction. This was the source of their “walked away from the job site” claim. A month or so into his disappearance, there had been a landslide. His interpreter had been among those found in the rubble.
Amelia’s argument was that Jasper understood the dangers of the mountains. He had worked in avalanche control for several winters. He would recognize dangerous conditions.
Hunter was skeptical that anyone could have such a heightened sixth sense, but he couldn’t shake the contradiction she had pointed out. Why wouldn’t REM-ex pay out the insurance if they were so confident her brother was dead?