by T. K. Leigh
“I’m so sorry, Olivia. The baby didn’t make it,” Alexander said, clutching her hands.
Her entire body began to shake and tears fell down her face. “NO!” she cried out. “I never should have left the house. I should have put up more of a fight. I never did like to listen to you, did I?” she joked, smiling a little, lightening the tense atmosphere in the room.
Alexander returned her smile. “No, Olivia. You never did like to listen to me, even when we were kids.”
“Well,” Dr. Hatheway interrupted. “Everything is looking good. I’ll give you two some privacy, but I must strongly insist that Mrs. Burnham get some rest. She’s been through an awful lot and the drugs will knock her back out soon anyway.”
“Yes, doctor. Thank you,” Alexander said. “Really. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, sir.” She smiled, leaving the room.
Alexander returned his gaze to Olivia, caressing her forehead where her scar was.
“Mrs. Burnham?” She looked at him, a smirk on her face.
“It does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
Olivia nodded in agreement as Alexander fed her some water. “How did you know?”
“I know cryptic, love. It wasn’t too hard to figure it all out. Why didn’t you just leave a note or something at your house?”
“I overheard Grant talking about how Marshall was involved. I sent you a text, but it didn’t go through. I realized that right before I had to leave. Once the house was empty, she could have gotten in, so I needed it to look normal, as if I wasn’t sending you a message.”
“Why the beach house? That’s not where all the evidence even was.”
Olivia smiled. “I needed to lead them on a wild goose chase. I needed to be as far away from the evidence, but also close enough so you could get to me quickly if things went wrong. I thought of the first place I could. The beach house…where I fell in the rocks and got the scar. To be honest, that’s where I thought the chest was buried right up until I left my house. As I was sorting through the last box of photos, I remembered something…how my mama asked me to tell her where I buried the box and then how she sewed all those papers inside Mr. Bear. I had to lead them away from the evidence, but lead you to it. It was the only way. Never in a million years did I think I would…” Her chin quivered, the memories of everything she had endured those past several days fresh in her mind.
Alexander gently wrapped his arms around her. “Hey. None of this is your fault.”
Olivia took a few deep breaths as she tried to control her tears. “Like I said, I wasn’t sure what Simon’s game was. He said he wanted to help, but I just didn’t know. I had to make him believe that I would be taking him and Grant to where the documents were buried, but I needed you to figure out where they really were so if anything happened to me, it wouldn’t be for nothing. I just never would have thought my father…”
Alexander gently rubbed Olivia’s arms. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. You get some sleep.”
Olivia yawned, clutching Alexander’s hand in her own. “Please stay…”
Alexander pressed his mouth to hers. “I’ll stay forever.”
A smile spread across her lips as she closed her eyes. “Good, because now that you knocked me up, you need to make an honest woman out of me.”
Alexander laughed. “I’d make an honest woman out of you even if I didn’t knock you up. You better rest up and get healthy so we can get back to practicing making babies.”
“Hey, Alex?” Olivia asked sleepily.
“Yes?”
“What day is it?”
“It’s Saturday.”
She opened her eyes, heavy with exhaustion. “Happy birthday. I’m sorry. I forgot to get you a present.”
“Oh, doll, you’re the best present. Now rest up so you can get better.”
Olivia closed her eyes. “I love you, Alexander Burnham.”
“And I love you, Olivia DeLuca. Always have. Always will.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
COMPLETE
“WHERE IS SHE? I want to see her!” Alexander heard, waking him from his sleep. He looked around the hospital room where Olivia rested, a look of peace finally on her face. He hoped the nightmares were gone once and for all.
“Goddammit! That’s our granddaughter in there!” a muffled voice sounded from down the hallway.
“Shit!” Alexander exclaimed, jumping from his chair and heading out the door to speak to Rose and Donald Harris.
“Alex!” Rose exclaimed. “What is going on? We got a phone call saying that Olivia’s alive. Please say it’s…”
“Yes,” he replied. “It’s true. She’s alive, but she’s in pretty bad shape right now.” He lowered his voice. “Please. Let’s go somewhere we can talk, and then I’ll check with her to make sure she’s strong enough to see you. She’s had a rough go of it lately.”
“Okay,” Donald agreed, sighing, trying to comfort his emotional wife. Alexander led them down the hallway and into the hospital cafeteria. After grabbing a few coffees, he sat down with Olivia’s grandparents and told them everything. How she never died in that crash. How his father changed her identity to protect her, making everyone believe that she actually did die. How Alexander found her in August and realized it was her, but kept her true identity a secret…at first for selfish reasons, and then to protect her. How Olivia’s father led a corruption ring, selling government secrets to known terror organizations. How their daughter died trying to expose him. And how Olivia almost died doing the same thing.
“I just want to meet her,” Rose cried out, clutching her husband’s hand.
Alexander looked up. “Rose, you already have. That girl you ran into in the bathroom back in October the night before the Newport Marathon…”
A quiet sob left Rose’s mouth. “That was…?”
“That’s Olivia.”
“Oh!” Rose cried out, burying her face in her husband's chest. “She looks so much like her mother.”
“Yes,” Alexander said, a twinkle in his eye. “She certainly does.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“CAM? IS THAT YOU?” Olivia sobbed out later that day when detectives wanted to begin questioning her about what had happened at the beach house.
“Hey, Libby,” he said softly, rushing to her side and wrapping his arms around her. Alexander nodded and retreated from her recovery room, giving them some privacy.
“I just don’t understand,” she cried into his chest.
“Hush. It’s all okay. You’re going to be okay. You’re stronger than this. I’m going to stay by your side as long as you need me to. I'll explain everything, and make you understand that nothing you could have done would have stopped what happened, okay?”
Olivia pulled her head out of Cam’s chest and looked into his brilliant silver eyes that were full of compassion. Wiping her tears, she nodded, thankful that he was there for her.
He stayed by her side throughout the week, helping her understand exactly how her father could do what he did and feel no remorse for his actions. It was difficult to process but, in the end, Olivia was grateful he was there. She didn’t know how she would have dealt with everything had Cam not been there to shed light on her father’s mentality.
Once Cam deemed her strong enough toward the end of the week, a detective arrived, wanting her statement. Glancing around the hospital room, she was thankful to have Carol and Alexander there alongside Cam to help her answer all the questions the police were asking.
“So, let’s go back to Simon,” the detective asked after hours of questioning regarding what she knew about her father. “What was his involvement?”
“Leave Simon out of it,” Olivia vehemently replied. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be dead right now. He tried to help me escape, as much as he could.”
“I understand. You’ve said that over and over again, but he was involved. He’s admitted as much. He has been extremely valuable to our investigation and told us abo
ut everyone who was involved that he was aware of, but he is going to have to do some prison time. We’re just trying to understand everything that happened.”
Olivia sighed. “He’s a good man, a changed man. And that’s all you need to know about Simon. Like I said, he’s probably the only reason that I’m alive right now. I’m done talking about him so you can move on to something else, or you can leave.” She glared at the detective. Carol chuckled a little bit, glad to see the old strong-willed Olivia returning.
“Okay. I’ll move on from Simon.” He glanced around the room. “I apologize, but I need to ask about Grant.”
Her chin quivered from the memory and Alexander clutched her hand in his, giving her a reassuring nod.
“I’m sorry, Miss Adler, but it’s imperative to the investigation that we know exactly what happened.”
She took a deep, steadying breath, looking for the inner strength to relay everything that Grant did to her at the beach house. She broke down several times and Alexander didn’t do much better. He wanted to kill Grant all over again. He wanted him alive so he could torture him just as he tortured his Olivia. Thinking about it made him wild with rage, but he tried to control his emotions and remain calm.
“We’ll stop here for today,” the detective said as the sun began to set after several hours of questioning about Grant. “Thank you for all your help, Miss Adler. It’s been very useful.”
She nodded, watching as he began to retreat from the room. “Did they catch everyone?” she asked. “And not just everyone incriminated in the documents. Did they catch everyone that was involved?”
He nodded. “Yes. Everyone that was named in the documents and who was involved in the plot has been apprehended, except for Mark Kiddish.”
Olivia perked up. “Does that include Adele Peters?”
“Yes. She is currently in police custody as they try to determine the extent of her involvement.”
Olivia grinned, trying to hide her delight at the thought of Adele being led away in handcuffs for her role in everything, wishing she could have been there to witness it. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” The detective left the room, Carol close on his heels.
“Libby,” Cam said, looking down at her. “I need to get back to Florida, but I can stay if you need me to. Are you going to be okay?”
She glanced at the two men at her side and she smiled, squeezing both his and Alexander’s hands. “For the first time in my life, I know that I will be. Thanks for being here.”
“Anything for you.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “The next time I see you, you better be out of this hospital bed, okay?”
She nodded, watching as Cam left her room.
“Olivia, love,” Alexander said once they were finally alone. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. I want you to know that no one is pressuring you to do anything that you’re not ready for yet. Do you understand?”
“What is it, Alexander?”
He took a deep breath. “Olivia, darling, your grandparents are here. They've been here every day this week but we wanted to wait until you were ready. They would really like to see you, but they understand if you need more time to process everything.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “I can’t believe that I finally have a family!” she cried out, a tear escaping from her eye.
“Oh, love,” he said, cradling her in his arms. “You always had a family.”
“I used to think I was all alone in this world,” she explained through her tears.
“You were never alone. I always knew you were out there.” He planted a kiss on her head.
She turned and looked into Alexander's eyes. “Can I see them?”
“Of course. When do you want to see them?”
“Now?”
Alexander smiled. “Okay.” He got up to go find Rose and Donald Harris. When he approached the doorway, he glanced back. “Hey, Olibia?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Her heart swelled. The green-eyed boy loved her, and she had a family. She finally felt complete. “I love you, too.”
CHAPTER FORTY
A NEW BEGINNING
“ARE YOU SURE ABOUT this, Olivia?” Alexander asked as he drove down the familiar streets of Mystic, the barren trees beginning to bud.
“Yes. I need to see it,” she responded firmly.
“Okay,” he exhaled, steering through the gates of the cemetery. Helping her out of the car, he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re a strong girl, you know that?”
Olivia blushed.
“And that’s why I love you so fucking much. Now, come.” He held her hand and led her to the three gravestones he had become so accustomed to seeing once a year for the past twenty-two years. They trekked through the dew on the grass on an early March morning and stopped in front of the three marble headstones.
“Wow,” she said under her breath almost in disbelief at the sight in front of her. A tear escaped.
Alexander squeezed her hand. “We can leave if it’s too much.”
She shook her head. “No. I need to do this so that I can move on with my life.” She turned to stare into the green eyes that she had loved since the day she was born, even if she didn’t know it. “My life with you.”
Alexander smiled. “Okay. But the minute it becomes too much, you let me know and we’ll go.”
Olivia nodded before breaking away from him. Clutching the stuffed animal that held all the answers in her hand, she walked over to her mother’s grave. She gently ran her hand across the headstone and set Mr. Bear in front of it. “Thank you, Mama. I did what you said. I held on to Mr. Bear. All those people are finally behind bars. At least, now, your death wasn’t for nothing.” She looked up and saw several butterflies flutter from behind the grave. She was caught by surprise and immediately thought of her mother’s words about how she would know when she was in love.
“Tomorrow’s my wedding day. Alexander and I are finally getting married…a real wedding this time, instead of one of our make-believe ones.” She smiled at the memory of all the games she used to make Alexander play with her. “He found me even after I was taken away from everyone when you died. He never gave up hope that I was still alive. He never forgot about me. All those years, I thought that I had no family, but I did…one that was searching for me. One that is about to celebrate the biggest day of my life with me tomorrow. I wish you could be here for it.” Her chin quivered as she looked at the vibrant red roses lying in front of her mother’s grave. “I love you, Mama. Thank you for loving me.” She pressed her lips to her hand before leaving a kiss on her mother’s headstone.
Taking a deep breath and trying to find the inner strength to get through what she needed to, she walked to where her father had supposedly been buried for all those years…his fake grave. Memories of that night back in August flashed through her mind. Her knees gave out and she sank to the ground, unable to hold back the tears.
“Olivia!” Alexander exclaimed, rushing to her side and wrapping his arms around her. “Come on, let’s go. You don’t have to do this.” He brought her head into his chest, soothing her sobs. “This is too much. I’ll have that fucking gravestone removed. You shouldn’t have to be reminded…”
Olivia vehemently shook her head. “No! It stays. The man I knew as my father did die that day. The man I met last summer was not my father. I need it to stay, as a reminder.”
He sighed. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
She nodded, bringing her head out of his chest, and looked at her father’s gravestone. “Can I just have a minute, please?”
“Of course.” Alexander planted a soft kiss on her forehead before leaving her.
She turned her head, staring at the grave belonging to the man that, at one point, ruined her life. But the more she thought about it, the less that seemed true. He didn’t ruin her life. If one thing differed, she may not be where she was at that moment. If she wasn’t ripped from her friends and
family, she may have grown apart from them eventually, Alexander included. She didn’t even want to think about not being with him. He was her life. He was her world so, for that, she held no grudges.
“Hi, Daddy,” Olivia said. “I know you’re not buried here, but the memories of the man I knew and loved are. I just wanted to say that I forgive you. I need to forgive you so I can move on. You will never be able to ruin my life again. For the longest time after I got out of the hospital this past August, that’s what I thought. I was so angry at you for ripping me away from my friends and family. But that anger won’t change anything. For me to move on, I need to bury that anger. And the only way I know how is to forgive you for what you did to me…this past August and that August all those years ago. You don’t deserve my forgiveness, but I need to be the bigger person. So I forgive you. After today, I’ll never have to think about you again…at least not the man you turned into.” She slowly stood up. “Good-bye, Daddy.” She gently caressed the headstone. “Your Livvy will always love you, but Olivia will not.” She turned away, tears streaming down her face.
“Olivia, angel. We can come back later…” Alexander pulled her body into his, hating to see how upset she was.
“No. I need to see it. I’m stronger than this.”
“I know you are, but it’s okay if you want to go.”
Olivia shook her head. “No. I only need one more minute. I just want to see it.” She turned away and walked to a smaller headstone, yellow sunflowers lying in front. She glanced over her shoulder, grinning. “Been here recently, Mr. Burnham?”
He shrugged. “It’s a standing order. You always loved sunflowers. You called them…”
