Page 48 of Sweet Little Thing

He slipped them into his pocket. “No, Beulah. You aren’t fine. You’re a danger to not only yourself but others on the road. You need to calm down.” He opened the passenger door. “I’ll drive you up there. But you should wait until your face isn’t red and splotchy from crying before seeing your sister. I imagine that would upset her.”

I agreed with him. It was why I had pulled over to begin with. Although, I didn’t want to agree with him about anything ever. Just like I didn’t want him here. Even if for a moment it meant I wasn’t alone. It was Stone. When had he ever wanted to do anything to help me? He hadn’t and he wasn’t about to start now. His sudden appearance made no sense unless- Jasper had sent him.

“He sent you to find me, didn’t he?” I asked him as I sat unmoving in the driver’s seat.

Stone waited a moment, saying nothing. I thought he was going to ignore my question keeping his focus straight ahead not looking back at me. “No,” was his response before he climbed out. I sat and watched him walking around the front of the car with his powerful frame that was even more intimidating than normal. He was tense with a fierceness in his expression. He had come to find me, and I knew the only reason was because Jasper had sent him. He’d have never come looking for me on his own will nor would he have known to. He hadn’t been there when everything blew up. He was lying about Jasper not being why he was here.

Stone stood outside my door looking at me with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t going to let me drive. Arguing with him would do no good and since he had my keys I had no choice.

I sighed and climbed out to face him. “If he didn’t send you tofind me then why are you here.”

Stone’s expression remained the same. As if it verged on anger. But who was he angry at?

“I’ve not seen or spoken to Jasper since earlier today in his office.”

That seemed unlikely. He’d tracked me down. Why else would he have done that? He had to be lying. But why?

“What are you doing here then?”

Stone lifted his chin, looking slightly annoyed as he stared at something over my shoulder. “Understand something, Beulah. I’ve never disliked you. It was the lies I hated that would eventually come out. They had to. And when they did, I knew you’d be hurt. I knew you both would be. I was trying to protect Jasper.” He paused and moved his steely gaze back to me. “And I was trying to protect you.”

I shook my head. That must have been a mistake. He couldn’t mean that he knew about Heidi’s birth, or that Jasper was my cousin. If he had known that…no. He was talking about something else. He had to be.

“What lies did you know?” Were there more secrets I didn’t know? I wasn’t sure I could handle more, but I also knew I had to face the truth. Whatever it was.

“Jasper has a good heart. But his life has been easy. It’s been one with little destruction. He has never faced truly dark shit. I have. I see more than I want. I hear more than others want me to hear. When you arrived, I knew there was more to your sudden appearance. Not trusting Portia, I did my own investigating and found the truth easily enough.”

He knew and never said anything? He just let Jasper and me fall in love, knowing our relationship was impossible. “You knew and didn’t tell us? Why not tell Jasper? You want to protect him so badly, yet you let him…you let us go too far.”

He let out a deep chuckle that exuded no warmth or realhumor. “Beulah, he would never have believed me. The moment he laid eyes on you, he was done. It was over. I saw it and knew I couldn’t stop what would happen.”

My hands clenched at my sides. “You could have tried!” I spat out.

Stone appeared to be studying the woods behind me with a dark frown on his face. He didn’t respond immediately. I wished he would give me my keys and let me go. He wasn’t a comfort. He was only making this worse. More lies. More people who had kept things from us.

“I didn’t have all the facts until a few days ago. There were things I had to be sure of first. And I tried like hell to keep him from crossing the line,” Stone said as he shifted his gaze back to me. “But he crossed it. And I knew I had to get solid evidence before I showed him. He wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t.”

My teeth ached from the tight clench of my jaw. “Well, you’re too late aren’t you. We know now. Portia gave away her first child to my mother. There is no more evidence we need to see. The birth certificate was enough.”

His eyebrows drew together. “What did Portia tell you?”

I wasn’t rehashing that. Not here. Not now. And not with him. He could talk to Jasper about it. I just wanted him to leave me alone. Go away.

“Ask Jasper,” I retorted bitterness in my tone.

He tilted his head slightly to the side and studied me as if he could read my mind and didn’t need me to tell him anything.

“Then let me tell you what I know. Because I don’t think you have the complete truth,” he began. “In the hospital records, it states that Heidi was born to Portia Van Allan four and a half years after Jasper’s birth.” He looked at me then. “There are also photos in the attic of the Van Allan house that I went looking for specifically. Wanting further proof to the story. The photos are of Portia pregnant in a white gown, with Jasper standing besideher.”

I shook my head not sure I understood this. The timeline being so different than what Portia said and the birth certificate she had shown us verified. “But…she said she was raped? Before she was married to Jasper’s dad. She had Heidi’s birth certificate.”

Stone reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. As he unfolded it, I recognized yet again another birth certificate. When he lifted his eyes to meet mine, he held it out for me to take. “I don’t know what Portia showed you, but this came from the state’s vital records office.”

My hand was trembling as I reached out and took it. The paper felt thicker, there was a stamp on it that the other one hadn’t had. An authenticity to the certificate I hadn’t realized was missing from the one Portia had shown me. The birthdate on this one wasn’t the day we always celebrated our birthday. The date I stared down at was six months and five days after the day I was born. Another twist in my chest at the proof that Heidi wasn’t my twin or even my sister.

“Heidi is a Van Allan. Meaning, half of the Van Allan inheritance belongs to her. She has a right to it. If anyone knew the truth, that the Van Allans had a child and gave her away, there could be lawsuits filed on Heidi’s behalf,” he paused and looked at me directly. “By you.”

I didn’t understand. You couldn’t just give a kid away. People had to know she had another baby. That she had been pregnant. If there were photos with Jasper in the attic they hadn’t been keeping the pregnancy a secret. “She couldn’t have just had a baby, and everyone forgot it existed.” I pointed out.

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