“It’s just so stressful not knowing what’s going on,” Liz said. “Our futures are so uncertain right now.”
“It sucks,” replied Wyatt. Liz was the only person in the world who could empathize with what he was going through. Their connection was so special, yet so fragile. They had barely talked since Wyatt left town. It had only been a week and a half, but the text messages they shared didn’t seem like nearly enough. He had had to call her and he was glad he did. Her voice calmed him and reassured him that this would all be worth it.
Wyatt had his laptop open on the coffee table; the tabs in his browser were filled with tabloid articles tearing Liz down. “Hey, I’m sorry about how the media’s treating you,” he said. “I didn’t set it up that way. I just told my guys to get word out that we had broken up. You know how these writers are nowadays though, they just want to frame everything as black and white, good and bad.”
To Wyatt’s surprise, Liz giggled. “Yeah, I stopped reading those on like day two,” she confessed. “The articles aren’t even the meanest part, it’s the comments that people leave that can be the most hurtful.”
“I hate it.” Wyatt knew all too well what she was talking about. “It makes me so angry. I thought I’d finally gotten used to it, you know, after all these years in the spotlight, but now that they’re going after you, I can hardly take it.”
“Just ignore them, like me,” Liz laughed. “Ignorance is bliss.”
“Yeah,” Wyatt chuckled. “I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault they’re saying all these horrible things about you though. It was sort of my idea, after all...”
“Hey. It’s alright. I’ll be okay if we end up okay,” Liz assured him.
Wyatt shook his head. “You’re right, babe.” He leaned over his coffee table and closed the toxic tabs. They disappeared one by one, until there was only one left. He didn’t close that last tab though, because it wasn’t an article—instead, it was one of Liz’s old social media pages. He had nearly forgotten about his own little investigation.
There was a mystery he was trying to solve, and he had been meaning to ask her about it.
“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Wyatt asked, maybe a little more soberly than he had intended.
Liz hesitated on the other end of the line. Soft white noise crackled on the receiver. Wyatt opened up a few old pictures on Liz’s account.
“Yeah,” she finally eked out.
“Did you ever send any old pictures of the two of us to my hockey team?” he asked, wistfully gazing at a picture of the two of them as teenagers. They were standing outside the rink where Wyatt had grown up playing. He had a gold medal around his neck. He was biting into it and looking up at the camera. Liz was to his right; she was looking up at him.
The memory sent warm shivers through his limbs.
“What do you mean?” Liz asked, confused.
“Well, the night I got hurt, the team had shown a montage of my life on the big screen in celebration of my 500th career goal. The video included highlights from when I was a little kid, all the way up to the junior Olympics—I know where they got those videos. My parents sent in all the homemade ones the day after I was drafted. The league requested them and we were more than happy to oblige... I also know where the organization got some of the pictures they used in the montage—I’d posted most of them to my own social media accounts in the past. But I haven’t been able to figure out where they got a few of the other pictures, including the one of you and me outside Hodgson’s Arena, after I won gold with the junior team. I looked around and I could only find that photo in one place: on an old account of yours. It was way in the back of one of your ancient private albums—you know, one of those ones that only friends are allowed to view. Did my team ask you for them? Did you send them in?”
Liz didn’t hesitate. “No. Not at all. That’s super weird. I actually know the exact picture you’re talking about. I only have like 50 friends on that account and they’re all from way before you made it to the league. Didn’t you ask your team how they got them?”
Wyatt furrowed his brow. The mystery grew. “I did ask. They said someone just sent them in, they don’t know who though.”
“And you’re sure you hadn’t provided it to them before?” Liz asked, growing involved in the mystery.
“Positive. I would have never sent them that picture, it was too painful.”
“Ouch,” Liz said, only half-playfully.
Wyatt tried to laugh it off. “You were my first real break-up,” he told her.
“Yeah, I guess so. You were such a brat,” Liz teased.
“Takes one to know one,” Wyatt shot back.
“My God, we were so young back then,” Liz chuckled. “I just brought the picture up on my laptop; we look like babies! And to think, we thought we were so grown up.” Wyatt could hear Liz’s smile in her voice.
“It’s crazy to think how long ago that was now,” he answered.
“Shh, you’re making me feel old!” The two laughed together, feeling just as close as if they weren’t separated by a border. “So many great pictures,” Liz started again, she was clearly going on a trip down memory lane. “Oh, hey, maybe I should check my friends list. That way, we might be able to narrow down the list of ‘suspects’, since they’re the only people who would have ever seen it.”
“That’s a good idea!” Wyatt encouraged her.
“Why do you want to find out who sent the picture so badly anyway?” she asked.
Wyatt hesitated. He hadn’t told anyone about his lapse during the game that night. Liz wasn’t just anyone though. “Well, honestly, it may have contributed to me getting injured,” he confessed. “When I saw that picture of the two of us, I just got so distracted. It didn’t help that they showed one of me with my parents just before that. I could hardly think straight when the game started again. I was in a daze of repressed memories or something. I didn’t even see the guy coming. Everything just went black.”
Liz went quiet. “I’m sorry,” she finally offered. “Not for the picture, obviously, but for making you feel that way about me. I know, in the past, I’ve made you feel like you had to choose between me and hockey. That was immature; I should have known how much the game really meant to you. I could never take that away from you. I feel bad that just a memory of me could cause you so much pain.”
“Nonsense,” Wyatt quickly replied. “None of that is your fault. I had my own issues to deal with and I was too immature to handle it all properly. I could have been so much stronger about the whole thing. I let the both of us down.”
“Tsk-tsk,” Liz responded. “Wyatt Sounder, always taking credit for everything.”
Wyatt smiled. A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders by reconnecting with Liz. She was truly his one-and-only; his key for a happily-ever-after; the love of his life. He only wished he had been mature enough to see it with a clear head from day one... they had wasted so much time by hiding away from their true feelings.
Wyatt barely even thought it through, his next words just flew out of him. “I love you,” he said.
The silence on the other end of the line almost made him think the connection had died. He pulled his phone from his ear and checked the screen, but there were no abnormalities.
“I love you too,” Liz finally replied. Her voice was soft but strong. Wyatt knew she meant it.
“Been a while since we said that to each other,” he smiled.
“Too long.”
He reveled in the content silence between them.
“I’ve got my friends list up,” Liz finally said. “Here, let me check.”
“Good job, Watson,” he joked.
“Hey, why do you get to be Sherlock!?” she laughed back.
“Because this is my mystery!” Wyatt declared.
“Sherlock didn’t solve his own mysteries, Wyatt,” Liz scoffed. “He solved them for other...”
Suddenly, a gasp filled Wyatt’s speaker. He flinched at the soun
d. Then, he panicked. “Liz. Liz! Are you okay!?”
It took a second, but Liz finally responded. “Yeah,” she said. Wyatt could tell she was shaking her head.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I think I might know who sent that picture of us to your team....”
“Who?” Wyatt prodded impatiently. “How?”
“There’s a name on my friends list that I didn’t expect to see. This really is an old account. I must have abandoned it long before the accident... otherwise, I would have never kept him as a friend.”
A chill went down Wyatt’s spine as he made the connection.
No, he thought. His pulse quickened; a cold sweat formed on his skin.
“Lizzy...” he started.
She finished for him.
“It was Alec.”
Chapter 19
Elizabeth
Security was ramped up tenfold after their little discovery.
It had become clear that Alec had been planning something from the moment he got out of prison, and Liz was in the crosshairs. It was possible he had been stalking her all this time as well.
Wyatt wanted to come home immediately, but after a brief talk with his head of security, he was assured that it would be safest if Liz and Bindi came to him.
The news had shaken Liz up, but her motherly instincts had quickly kicked in and she was immediately ready to fight.
Let him come for me, she thought, thinking about how she would do anything to protect her daughter.
Wyatt had quickly talked to the organization he played for and secured use of the team’s private jet. He had assured Liz that there was no way he was going to give Alec a single chance to get anywhere near them. He didn’t care about the expense; he’d buy the airports if he had to.
In the whirlwind that followed, Liz had completely forgotten about how much she wanted to tell Wyatt her big secret.
That could wait, she told herself. But the sudden scare of finding out just how involved she was in the danger of this whole situation made her resolve to finally actually tell him. You only live once; she didn’t want to keep Wyatt at arm’s length anymore. They had to share everything.
She had packed up a big bag of luggage for Bindi and then one for herself. She tried her best to put on a happy face and make it seem like they were going on an adventure. To sweeten the pot, she told her daughter that someone special was waiting for them on the other end of the plane ride. That got the little girl’s attention. She was gung-ho for the trip and ready to help in whatever way she could.
It made things easier to have a willing daughter, but Liz was still constantly on edge. She wasn’t even supposed to contact her parents to let them know where she was going.
“Are they in danger?” she had asked Wyatt’s head of security.
He’d shaken his head. “We’ll have a 24-hour security detail around them at all times. No one will know we’re there, but if anyone tries anything funny, we’ll be on them like a rat on cheese.”
Liz wasn’t sure if that was enough reassurance or not. She couldn’t deal with the thought of leaving her parents behind, but Wyatt assured her it would be okay. “These guys are the best in the business,” he said. “And since we’ll both be over the border, we can spare extra bodies for them.”
But when Liz hesitated even at that, Wyatt came up with another solution. “They’ll get something in the mail telling them they’ve won a free week’s stay at Gold River Ranch’s most luxurious new cabin—all inclusive,” he told Liz over the phone as she and Bindi boarded the private jet. “Think they’d refuse that?”
Liz’s parents were notorious penny pinchers. They’d take the bait, and, hopefully, they’d be safer for it.
She’d finally agreed. The plane’s engine roared and her and Bindi took off to Canada and Wyatt.
If she hadn’t been so stressed, she might have been able to appreciate the luxury of it all. The jet they were on was made for professional athlete, so it was big and spacious and filled with amenities you would never expect on a plane. There were beds and a bar and even a few massive, flat-screen TVs. Bindi was in heaven. The little girl was quickly lost in the awe of seeing her favourite cartoons on such a big screen, and Liz was left to worry about their uncertain future alone.
This was it. She had to tell Wyatt the truth... but could she?
Everything was so tense; if she was unsure if she could handle just telling him, how could she expect him to take it all in stride? There was so much on his plate right now: Alec, retirement, Liz and Bindi. Liz was overwhelmed just thinking about being in his shoes. Still, she resolved to tell him... at least, she would if he asked.
If it wasn’t brought up, she’d wait until after Alec was caught and after Wyatt had made a final decision on his retirement. If he got to make all those choices by himself—without the pressure of knowing he’d already missed out on over five years of his daughter’s life—he might be less upset.
Liz hoped it would be enough. They just had to make it through this rough patch...
She was nearly breaking into tears as their plane landed in the big northern city. She was so overwhelmed. Wyatt had already suffered so much. He was never going to get his parents back, and he was never going to get the last five years back. Liz felt evil. Maybe all those tabloids had picked up on something she hadn’t had the guts to...
A sleek black private car picked them up from the airport. They were accompanied by a subtle motorcade of security. Liz could see people staring through the backseat’s tinted windows. She just wanted to shrink away from the world.
Exhaustion finally set in on the ride to Wyatt’s building. Bindi rested against her lap and Liz dozed off when they turned onto the highway.
“I’m sorry I don’t have more space for the two of you,” Wyatt offered as he showed Liz the bedroom he had prepared for her and Bindi. Wyatt’s condo was big and beautiful, but it was clearly a bachelor pad, and not meant for more than one overnight visitor. Liz didn’t mind. In fact, she preferred being close to her daughter. She had slept so peacefully at Sweet Prairie Manner...
Things were different now though; there was so much more at stake.
“I’ve been looking for a house in the city,” Wyatt continued, fidgeting with the sheets, “but it’s almost impossible right now. The market here is crazy. I might just have to buy a plot of land and build something up for us myself.”
“A house!?” Liz blurted out. “How long do you think we’ll be here for?”
Wyatt sighed and stepped towards her. He wrapped Liz up in his big strong arms and she melted into him. She could almost hear his heartbeat pounding in his chest.
“It’s going to be alright,” he whispered into her ear.
All of a sudden, an excited Bindi raced into the room. She had been running around the magnificent condo, completely enthralled with everything.
“Mommy! Mommy! Did you see the TV!? It’s even bigger than the ones on the plane!”
The mood instantly brightened.
The little girl had been tired when they’d finally pulled up to Wyatt’s condo, but the second she saw that he was the mystery person they were going to meet, she exploded with joy.
Liz had seen how much the little girl’s affection meant to Wyatt; it made her heart ache—how was he going to react to the truth? How would Bindi?
That first night was restless and filled with nightmares. Liz’s frayed mind ran through every worst-case scenario while she tried to sleep. Even Bindi’s soft breaths didn’t calm her this time. By the time the sun rose, she felt like she had been awake for a week straight.
Bindi was not so similarly affected, and neither was Wyatt. The burly hockey playing cowboy seemed completely energized by their presence.
“What should we do today?” he asked over breakfast.
Bindi’s finger rose to her lip as she thought intensely. “Horse riding!” she finally declared.
Wyatt chuckled. “There are no horses here! But there
is an aquarium and a building as tall as the clouds.” He got up from his chair and pointed out the living room window. Bindi left her cereal bowl at the counter and followed his finger.
Liz watched her daughter through heavy eyelids. Bindi’s eyes went wide with awe as she noticed the tall thin building not too far off in the distance. “Wow...” her daughter whispered.
“And just below it there’s a big aquarium filled with all different kinds of sea creatures!” Wyatt added.
“I want to go!” Bindi screamed with excitement. “Mommy!?”
Liz smiled, but the stress was still broiling inside of her. “Of course, honey.” She wanted to enjoy this time away, but the closer she saw Wyatt and Bindi getting, the harder it became to think of anything other than what she had to do. They were perfect fits, and she had deprived them of so much time together.
“We’ll go after breakfast,” Wyatt announced. He gave Liz a concerned look. Bindi might not be able to tell, but Wyatt was making it clear to Liz that he knew there was something heavy on her mind.
Liz sucked in a deep breath and willed herself to be strong. It was her duty to keep her daughter happy, after all, and if she was moping around the whole time they were in Toronto, Bindi might eventually catch on. The moment the little girl wanted to go home, and Liz was forced to tell her that they couldn’t, this whole mess would get a whole lot messier. For now, they were on a vacation; Liz had to act the part.
Chapter 20
Wyatt
There was something wrong.
Liz had been putting on a brave face all day, but Wyatt knew better. He had watched her like a hawk, from the top of the CN tower to the aquarium below. Bindi was having the time of her life, but Liz was troubled. She was lost in her thoughts and unable to enjoy this precious time they were spending together.
A Cowboy's Secret Baby Page 11
