Page 49 of Sweet Little Thing

He gave a short nod of agreement. “That’s what I thought too. Then,” he stopped and took a long, deep breath. I could tell by his posture and the look on his face that I didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to tell me either it seemed. The pained shadow in his eyes surprised me as much as it scared me.

“There was a small, closed casket funeral for Heidi Clarisse Van Allan, who died at birth.”

What? What! I shook my head in disbelief. “No,” was all I could say. My throat was thick. My chest felt as if a ton of bricks had been dumped on it. How could two humans be so heartless? To claim their child was dead and get rid of it because it’s not what they wanted. My beautiful, sweet sister was the most special person on earth. A burning inside me began to flare up and I realized it was hate. A deeper form of it than I had ever experienced.

“With the Van Allan money, they could pay off anyone to keep the truth about Heidi a secret. They never spoke of her again. The people in their world are so consumed with themselves they don’t care about others. The death of a baby—they sent their condolences, and in time everything was forgotten.” The look on Stone’s face was pure disgust as he described how this could go away so easily.

“They just gave her away. They dropped money and a child on my mother. Then, not another word. There was nothing from them. Heidi is the most perfect human I know. But they didn’t care.” I said the words aloud, trying to comprehend it. I never would, though. They were both monsters—terrible, horrible people with dark souls. I was thankful Heidi never knew them. That she had my mother to love her. Our mother.

“Portia already relies solely on Jasper to keep up her lifestyle. She never wanted him to know about this. But then he fell in love with his cousin. Her sister’s child. She had to do something. Tell you both enough that it would end your relationship but keep Heidi from inheriting fifty percent of the Van Allan empire. The rape was her way of adding an excuse and attempting to get sympathy or at least understanding. She doesn’t want Jasper to know the truth. He will hate her more than he already does. He won’t be able to forgive this, and he will want Heidi to have herportion. She knows that.”

My chest felt like it was going to completely shatter. “How do I face Heidi without breaking apart? I won’t be able to hold her and not weep.”

His gaze shifted up the hill toward the beautiful home that was Heidi’s safe place. “You’re strong. I’ve watched you. You can do this. Do what you always do when you visit her. Play some kickball. Let her do whatever she wants to do today. Enjoy her. When you’re ready to leave, your car will be waiting for you.”

So many thoughts were hammering through my head. An ache had settled there to go with the agony of the horrible truths. “I need to talk to the office. I don’t know if Jasper paid them already. If he didn’t, I need to figure out my next move. If he did, then…then I don’t know…do I just let him pay for her to stay here.”

Stone shifted his eyes back to me. “Heidi is a Van Allan. A Van Allan who lived in poverty in a trailer park while her parents traveled the world and lived in luxury. That money is as much hers as it is Jasper’s.”

His words sunk in. Slowly. I’d seen the birth certificate, and I knew it was real. But I finally let my mind go there, truly accepting that Jasper was Heidi’s sister by blood. The pain only intensified.

“She will always be your sister,” he added as if he had read my thoughts. “Your connection can’t be broken by something as simple as who gave her life. The bond you have goes beyond that.”

He was right. Heidi and I were connected. That would never be taken from me. “I can’t see him or talk to him,” I whispered. “Not yet. Maybe not for a very long time. If you’re going to tell him the truth, he will want to talk to me, and I just can’t. Not yet.”

“It’s best you don’t. I can handle things. For now, get in the car and let me take you to visit your sister. It will put your mind atrest to see she is fine and oblivious to all of this.”

I did as I was told. After walking around the car, I climbed into the passenger side. It was odd how easy it was to obey Stone. The authority in his voice should annoy me, even anger me, and at first it had. But I found solace in his assertive words. His commanding presence was calming. Having someone tell me what to do was easier. I didn’t have answers. Stone made me feel less lost.

He drove us back onto the road in silence. From there, it was a short distance up the hill to the facility. The home that had been a godsend for Heidi after losing our mom. Heidi had adored our mother. She’d always felt equal because Momma made sure she did. If I did something, she made sure Heidi did it, too, even if it took a lot of help from both of us. This place gave her that again.

After Stone parked the car, I sat there staring straight ahead. “I never want Heidi to know the truth. Our mother, she wasourmother. Heidi loved her and misses her just as fiercely as I do. Momma was Heidi’s world. This isn’t something Heidi will understand.”

I don’t know why I was telling Stone. It wasn’t as if he was going to walk inside and tell Heidi the horrid truth. But I needed to tell someone, and right now, he was all I had.

“She doesn’t need to know. She has you. That’s all she needs.”

I believed that too but hearing someone else say it helped. The realization that Jasper could want to know her hit me and the brief moment of calm I had started to feel vanished.

“What if…if Jasper throws Portia out…What if Portia tries to use Heidi to get the Van Allan money?”

That woman wasn’t someone I wanted near my sister. She was evil- selfish and cold. Heidi was nothing like her. She wouldn’t understand her.

“She won’t,” he said. “There’s too much at stake. More at stake than her being broke. What she did wasn’t just cruel, it wasillegal.”

I paused and thought about it for moment. Could he be right? Was that another reason she kept the truth from us? “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’ve verified her actions were and still are illegal,” he assured me.

I turned my head and looked at him. “But she may decide to face her lies.”

Stone leaned closer to me—closer than he’d ever been. His gaze was intense and invited no argument. Where Jasper was kind and warm, Stone wasn’t. Yet right now he was the only thing I had to hold onto. His words.

“The first thing you’ll have to learn is to trust me, Beulah. Because I don’t lie, and I swear to you that Portia will not come near Heidi.”

He didn’t add that he wouldn’t let her. But his expression was so determined that I didn’t question it. There was something in that penetrating gaze that told me he would make sure of it.

“Okay,” I whispered.

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