Unbreak My Heart (36 page)

"Did you ask your mom about that?"

"Yeah. She yelled at me. Told me to stay out of her stuff. That's when I decided I had to come here and find out for myself."

"Just like that." Stephen said. "Lie to your mother. Scare her half to death. Travel hundreds of miles by yourself."

"I had to find out," Casey smiled slyly. "And my mom... She'll forgive me. Moms always do."

He looked inordinately pleased with himself, and Stephen couldn't help but think what he'd do if a child of his ever put him through this kind of misery.

"So," Casey said. "Do you think my mom is Megan?"

"We'll know soon enough. Her plane's supposed to land in Lexington in about fifteen minutes," Stephen said, then frowned at the boy. "You're not planning on running off again, are you?"

"Nah, I'm busted. I just wanted to know about my father. I figure with all the trouble I've gone to to find out, she'll tell me now."

"That's it? That's all you have to say for yourself? After all you've put your mother through and all the risks you've taken, that's the bottom line. It's okay, because you'll probably get what you want. Casey, I think you're in deep shit. I think your mother's going to have a whole lot to say to you, and not just about your father."

"She'll be mad, but she'll get over it," he said smugly. "It's just the two of us, and we have to stick up for each other."

"It may not be just the two of you anymore," Stephen said.

"I hope not. I like it here. I like Allie. She's cool." Casey grinned. "You like her, too, don't you?"

"Yes, I like Allie," he said.

"So, are you guys gonna get married and stuff?"

"I don't know if she'd have me," he admitted. "If she would, that would make me your uncle, which would give me the right to kick your sorry butt if you ever do anything like this again."

Casey frowned. Stephen saw the irony—him becoming Casey's uncle through marriage when he'd bet money he already
was
Casey's uncle, by blood.

"I didn't think you liked me very much," Casey said.

"All I knew then was that you were this little punk scaring Allie, and as you said, I like Allie," Stephen explained, then decided the kid needed some reassurance. "If you want me to like you, Casey, you're going to have to show me there's something inside of you for me to like. You can't nm away from your mother this way. You can't scare her like this. You can't take these kinds of chances."

"I had to find out."

"You're going to be a man soon. A man takes responsibility for his actions. He thinks things through, and he doesn't just think of himself and what he wants. He's careful and considerate of the feelings of the people he loves," Stephen said, thinking he'd failed by that test in a number of ways. He'd done what he had to do, but he was most definitely going to hurt Allie badly.

"Are you gonna tell my mom all that stuff? About me scaring Allie?"

"I think when I finally see your mother, I'm going to have some other things on my mind, Casey. I think we all will."

"Maybe she'll be so excited seeing you and Allie again, she'll forget about punishing me."

"No way," Stephen said. "Come on. Let's go talk to Allie. We need to figure out how to tell her about this. We can't have your mother just walk in the door out of the blue."

* * *

When Stephen and Casey came downstairs, Allie studied Casey's face, looking desperately for something of herself, something of Megan, wondering if she saw it now simply because she wanted so desperately for it to be true. She wanted one last piece of her family back.

A minute later Stephen had chased Casey off into the kitchen, though he'd been reluctant to go, and Allie told Stephen what she'd learned.

"Tucker knew all about the scene with Megan and my parents. My mother told him. And he said the oddest thing. He wondered if Casey might be Megan's son. He thinks he sees a family resemblance."

"Allie, come in here and sit down."

"I know it's crazy," she said. "Wanting to believe it, just because he thinks he sees a resemblance. But Megan
was
pregnant when she left here fifteen years ago. If her child survived, he would be thirteen now."

"Allie, listen to me." Stephen sat down beside her and took both of her hands in his. "I don't know who Casey's mother is, but she's on her way here. Right now."

"He said she was dead."

"I know. He lied," Stephen said.

"Is it... Are you trying to tell me my sister's alive, and she's coming here?"

"The woman who raised him is coming. But I don't know if she's the woman who gave birth to him, and I don't know if she's Megan."

"But it could be? She could have survived?"

"Allie, I don't want you to get your heart broken again. I told you—the kid lies. He's lied to us about so many things."

"Okay. He's lied. But... you think it's possible? You think my sister might be alive?"

"Yes," he said.

"Oh, my God." Allie started to cry. She started smiling and crying and laughing. "I never even imagined that."

"I know."

"Tell me," she said. "Tell me everything."

"The detective you hired told you Megan was with a group of runaways in Macon that winter, and that one of them was pregnant."

"Yes, he did."

"This morning I talked to the man I hired. The other runaway girl was named Margaret Addison."

"Addison?" she whispered. "Casey's mother?"

Stephen nodded. "My guy had also gone back to the trooper and asked some more questions. The trooper said when he got to the scene, four people were there—the doctor, two boys in their twenties, and the girl. A pregnant girl."

"A pregnant girl?" Allie couldn't breathe. "Megan."

"The trooper didn't hear anything about a second girl being in the car. He thought she showed up after the accident and was nothing but a witness. In fact, he hardly talked to her or even saw her. The doctor had her in his car, all wrapped up in a blanket. They were all soaked from being out in the rain, and the doctor said the girl was too upset to talk. But we found people in town who think they saw the two runaway girls together that day. The accident happened on the road between the town and the place they were staying. I think they were both in the car, and only one of them survived. The pregnant one."

"And she wanted to stay dead, so she took her friend's name."

Stephen nodded. "I looked at the reports. The girl who died had been in the water for three days before they found her, and three days in the water... They didn't have DNA tests in those days. They would have relied on generalities. Height, weight, age, hair color, and the things they found in the car. Megan's things. A learner's permit, a school ID card, some photographs. A necklace. Your father went there to make the ID, but maybe he was convinced it was Megan before he ever looked at the body."

"The girl we buried wasn't pregnant. She hadn't given birth recently. Greg checked," Allie said, a big, broad smile spreading across her face. Her sister was alive. "Tell me about her. About Casey's mother."

"Casey said she claimed his father died before Casey was born, that they had no other living relatives. But Casey didn't believe that. She had old newspaper clippings about your mother and father and Megan, things she kept locked away, and when he saw Megan's picture, he thought that was his mother, which meant he had grandparents here and he hoped, a father."

"Oh, God. He's your nephew, too."

Stephen nodded.

"I can't believe it." She'd stopped asking for miracles a long time ago. She'd stopped believing, and she'd gotten used to the idea that she had no one but herself. But now... "Oh, Stephen. Tell me everything you know about her."

"Casey says everybody calls her Meggie."

"My mother called her that sometimes."

"I know," Stephen said. "She's supposed to be thirty-three years old."

"Megan would be thirty-one."

"She's a freelance graphic artist, supposedly born in Arizona, no family. She went to Ole Miss, working her way through a four-year program in a little over six years, because she had Casey. Left an established firm two years ago to go out on her own. She's won several awards. Casey's never really been in trouble before now. He's very intelligent. He goes to an expensive prep school in town, and he was supposed to be on a class trip for the past two weeks."

Stephen told her all about it. Allie decided she liked Casey even more.

"I want to believe it. That Megan's alive, and she's coming here," Allie said. "But really good things never seem to happen to me."

"Maybe your luck's starting to change," he said. "Maybe it's all going to be good from here on out."

"I don't think anyone leads a truly charmed life."

"No, but people do find happiness. Sure, there are going to be disappointments along the way. But life can be good, too, Allie." He stared down at her. "It can be so good."

Chapter 18

Allie had never known time to drag by so slowly.

She climbed the steps to her sister's room, and Casey, who was just as nervous as she was, went with her. They picked through Megan's old things, and she told Casey the bits and pieces of their childhood she remembered. He apologized solemnly for breaking into the house and for scaring her. Allie gave him a long hug and promised him, no matter what they found out after his mother arrived, that she would help him. She made him promise that he'd never run away again.

"I think I'd like it if you were my aunt, Allie."

"I'd like it, too."

"My mom's probably gonna yell a lot when she gets there, and she'll threaten to ground me and do all sorts of stuff. But she's really pretty nice most of the time."

"I'm sure she is." Sighing, Allie looked at her watch one last time, then looked back at Casey. "I can't believe you came all this way by yourself."

"It wasn't so bad," he insisted. "It didn't work out exactly the way I planned, but I got my mom to come back here. She's gonna tell me I was wrong to lie to her and take off by myself, but I'm still glad I did it. 'Cause she'll tell me about my father now." He stopped to think for a minute. "I'm not gonna tell her the part about being glad I came here."

"I wouldn't if I were you," Allie said, thinking it must be hell to raise a teenager.

Allie grew more nervous with every passing moment. Finally, she heard a car coming down the road. Casey looked scared once again.

"Want to go down together?" she asked.

They went. Halfway down, the front door opened.

"Allie?"

Stephen stood in the doorway, his arm around a woman with long, dark hair and a hesitant smile that took her back fifteen years.

Casey yelled, "Mom!" and started running.

Allie moved more slowly, hanging onto the banister for support.

The woman enveloped Casey in a bear hug. He started to speak, but she interrupted him. "Casey, if you're half as smart as your SAT scores claim, you won't say a word right now." -Then she just held him, the look on her face one of sheer relief.

Allie waited until the embrace wasn't so fierce, until she sensed that the woman's equilibrium had been somewhat restored by the feel of her son, safe and whole, in her arms once again.

The hesitant smile reappeared, familiar smiling eyes with faint lines at the corners now and hair that had been tamed over the years. She was close enough to touch, and so different from the girl Allie had seen sitting at the piano, playing out her sorrows with the bruises on her arms.

Finally Allie said, "Megan?"

"Oh, Allie." The woman smiled broadly and held out her arms. Allie fell into them, felt them close tightly around her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

And then neither one of them could do anything but cry and hang onto each other.

* * *

"I never meant to do it," Megan said later. "I never thought anyone would think it was me in the car. But once it happened, it seemed smarter to let everyone believe I was dead."

Allie and her sister sat on the floor of Megan's old bedroom, a place where they'd had many long, serious talks in previous years. Stephen had promised to keep Casey downstairs to give the two women some privacy.

Allie told Megan she knew about the argument Megan had with their parents, about the fact that John Bennett wasn't Megan's biological father. She knew Stephen helped Megan out of town that day and that Megan ended up living with a group of runaways in a barn in Macon, Georgia.

"Tell me the rest," Allie said.

"Casey was due any day, and I was getting scared about how I was going to take care of him. I thought I owed it to him to try to go back home. A friend of mine, one of the kids I met on the streets, a boy named Mitch—"

"Mitch Wilson is here," Allie said. "He lives in Lexington."

"You're kidding?"

"No. He came here after you died. Looking for answers. Looking to punish someone, maybe."

"Mitch." She sighed. "I thought he'd forget all about me."

"I don't think he ever did," Allie said, thinking by the look of things, her sister hadn't forgotten much about Mitch Wilson, either. "He looks wonderful, by the way. Just in case you might be wondering..."