Page 163 of Mistaken Intention

“What did you do when you got to England?” Mac asks.

“We settled in a tiny village in Cornwall. Braydon opened a private practice in the nearest town, and we did our best to be happy… which was hard for me, without the three of you.”

“Did you have any more children? The two of you… together?” Ella asks, blinking hard against her tears.

“No.” Mom’s answer is blank, her voice monotone, and Braydon steps a little closer to her.

“I said earlier that there was nothing wrong with your mother, other than the harm your father had done… but you need to remember he’d done some considerable damage. Physically, there was no reason your mother couldn’t have had more children, which was a miracle in itself, considering what your father had done to her. But I think to have had another child, while the three of you were absent from her life, would have destroyed her.”

“Did our father divorce you?” Ella asks, still looking at Mom and still clearly desperate for information. She reminds me of myself, wanting all the blanks filled at once.

“No,” Braydon says, answering for our mother, who looks exhausted now and seems to need a little time to recover. “I believe he’d have divorced her, if he could. I think it’s one of the reasons he treated her so badly… because he wanted his freedom and couldn’t have it. She knew what he’d done, you see? She knew he was a rapist, that she’d been underage when they’d first had sex together. I imagine he either knew, or found out, that there’s no statute of limitations on statutory rape, and if your mom had her freedom, she’d be able to tell anyone and everyone what kind of man he really was. Maybe he was also worried about what might come out during the divorce proceedings. Either way, he needed to feel he could exert controlover Lindsay and everything she said. Staying married to her, but preventing her from having any contact with the three of you, was the best way of doing that, even if it meant he wasn’t free to do what he wanted with his life.”

“I remember now…” Hunter says, shaking his head. “Doreen told me our father had always maintained he couldn’t leave you,” Hunter says, turning to Mom. “It made little sense at the time, but it does now. His behavior bound him to you.”

Mom nods her head. “And me to him, unfortunately. He still held that fear over me, even if I hadn’t heard from him or spoken to him for over twenty years. I didn’t even realize he was dead until I got back here.”

“Seriously?” Hunter’s surprise is obvious. “He died nearly three years ago.”

“I know, but he’s not a household name in Cornwall, and I wasn’t a beneficiary in his will, so there was no reason for anyone to contact me.” She stops talking and looks around at us. “To be honest, I wasn’t completely sure he’d have left the three of you anything in his will, either. Part of me fully expected him to leave it all to Doreen.”

“He left her a very specific eight figure sum,” Hunter says. “But most of it came to us.”

“At least he got that right,” she whispers.

“Don’t give him too much credit,” Hunter says, letting out a sigh. “I’ve often wondered why he left us so much.”

“So have I,” I say and he turns to me, nodding his head.

“I know, and in talking to my lawyer about something else last week, I’ve realized one important factor that none of us had ever taken into consideration before.”

“Oh?” Ella and I both turn to look at him, although it’s me that speaks.

“Yeah. The date of his will. It was before he got sick… before he took the company public. When he wrote and signed thatwill, his cash value was significantly less than it was when he died. He left us the house, and whatever remained of his estate, after Doreen had been paid her legacy. That was how it was worded, and if things had stayed how they were, we’d have had to sell the house, and probably our shares in TBA to pay her.”

“You’re kidding,” Ella says.

“No.” He shakes his head. “When you come to think about it, it makes more sense than him suddenly developing a conscience.”

It does. But there’s one thing I still don’t understand. “You’ve always maintained he knew he was dying, so why didn’t he change his will?”

“I’m guessing he ran out of time. His cancer developed more quickly than anyone thought it would. Who knows? Either way, I don’t think he intended to make us millionaires.”

“It sounds more like he intended to bankrupt you,” Mom says and we all let out a collective sigh.

“He probably did,” Hunter says. “But changing the subject slightly, if you weren’t aware of Dad’s death, then you won’t have heard than Ken Bevan died in a car accident.”

Mom shakes her head. “No, I hadn’t,” she says, glancing over at Julianne. “When did that happen?”

“Just after Christmas,” Julianne says. “I can’t say it was a great loss to humanity.”

Mom smiles. “No. Probably not.” She shakes her head. “I only came back because I read about Drew’s accident… which was a complete fluke.” She turns, looking at me. “It was on the Internet. Someone had posted something about the young lady who was driving the car. She was a model, I believe?”

“Yes.” I nod my head, although now doesn’t feel like the time to go into details about Lexi and everything that happened between us.

“I can’t remember most of the article I read, but your name popped out at me, and I saw you’d been injured. I—I had to come back. Braydon couldn’t come with me then, because he had work commitments at his practice.” She turns back, facing Hunter again. “When I came to see you, I wanted to tell you everything, but I couldn’t… not by myself. I should have realized that would be a problem.”

Braydon kisses her cheek, and she stops talking. “Your mom still struggles with what your father did to her. She was nervous about coming back, even though she had to, to make sure Drew was okay. When she discovered your father was dead, she called me and we agreed, there and then, over the phone, to move back here. She wanted to be close to you all, to see if she could rebuild her relationship with you. I stayed behind in England for a while, to sell the house and wind up my practice, and we’ve bought a house in Providence. I’m going to start another practice there, if I can… and…” He looks around at Ella, me, and Hunter. “And if you’re all in agreement, we’d like to get married.”

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