Uncovering You 11: The Lost Chapter (3 page)

The blades kick up sand and blows my dress against my legs. I shield my eyes and look away as my hair goes flying.

The chopper touches down. The blades slow as the engine is turned off. The noise dies down.

The cabin door opens, and Fey steps out.

My eyes nearly pop from my head. Before they get the chance, Robin swings down and joins Fey on the ground.

I’m flabbergasted. Fey and Robin…I thought I’d lost them.

“Surprise,” Jeremy whispers behind me. I feel his hands come around my waist. “I hope you like it.”

I stare at them, almost in a daze. Fey looks around, sees me, gives a little wave. She looks nervous, but it’s not anywhere close to how I feel.

They’re not the only ones on the helicopter. Robin turns back and helps someone else down. My breath catches. It’s my mom. Followed by Dr. Telfair, and Charles.

Of course, I’d seen my mother in the hospital when I awoke. She stayed for about a month, but then went back home. She and Conner had actually fallen in love and were living together, though not married. It didn’t matter that he was Jeremy’s mole or not. That’s how they met, but it didn’t preclude true feelings from developing.

“Lilly!” my mom calls out. Her voice breaks me from my trance. I unhook Jeremy’s arms and run toward the gathering.

She meets me first, swallowing me whole in an enormous hug. She frames my face and beams at me. “You look so much better,” she gushes. “So much better!”

I smile back, then see Fey from over her shoulder.

Tears fill my eyes as I approach her. She squares herself to me and smiles, putting on a strong front. But I can feel her uneasiness. Robin stands beside her, his arm over his wife’s shoulders. His smile is genuine, and he looks back past me, at Jeremy, and nods.

“H—how?” I manage. “How did you get here? How is this possible?”

Fey looks at me. She bites her lip.

And then she springs forward, the iciness vanquished, and holds me tight.

“Robin
did it,” she says. She starts to cry against my shoulder. “I never stopped thinking about you, Lilly. Not once! Your mother—she told us everything that’s happened. I couldn’t believe it. But look at you! You’re here, you’re alive.” She holds me by the arms. “You’re
alive
, Lilly, and I forgive you for everything that happened, and I’m sorry for everything I said, all the horrible things I told you, and, and, and…”

She starts blubbering. “Fey, it’s okay,” I say. “It’s okay, and you’re here, I can’t believe it!” I glance back at Jeremy, who’s smiling at me from the distance, both hands in his pockets, and giving us space. “You don’t need to apologize. I don’t—I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!”

I start to cry too, but they’re happy tears, tears of disbelief. This is all astounding.

I let go of Fey. Robin comes over and holds his hand out. He looks much older than when I last saw him. Not in a bad way. Before, he always seemed like a boy. Now, he gives the impression of a man.

“Lilly,” he says.

I forego his outstretched hand and simply grab onto his neck to hold him close. “I never forgot your note,” I whisper, for his ear alone. “I never forgot that you said I could come to you if I needed help.”

He smiles at me. I greet Charles, who I saw last two months ago, and then Dr. Telfair, who inquires about my progress. I tell him it’s been great.

Jeremy comes to us then. He slides a hand around my lower back. “What do you think?” he asks, smiling.

“Jeremy, this is amazing,” I effuse. “I can’t believe you did it. This is what you’ve been working on? How? How is it that Robin and Fey are here?”

“It all began with the man over there,” Jeremy says acknowledging Robin with an approving glance. “He authored an editorial piece that made the cover of Forbes last month. It detailed my sudden disappearance. He didn’t believe the story of my death. And his research was quite extensive. It impressed me—as did his intimate knowledge of Stonehart Industries. It was almost like,” he adds, with a wink directly at me, “he had a vested interest in the company.”

I look at Robin. Before, such praise would have made him blush. Now, he stands tall and proud.

“I reached out to him,” Jeremy continues. “We spoke on the phone. I explained some things, we talked business, and I decided to invite him here.” He smiles at the circle of people around us. “I thought it would be good for your friends to see you, Lilly. To give you a chance to reconnect now that you’ve been granted a second lease on life.”

“Thank you, Jeremy.” I murmur. I look at everyone around us with tears in my eyes. “And…everyone else? Why did you invite everyone else?”

“Because,” Jeremy says, “I wanted all the people important to us to be present when I do this.”

He goes down to one knee. My breath catches.

He reaches in to his back pocket and pulls out a small black box. He holds it in front of him, to me. “Lilly Ryder,” he says. He clears his throat, glances around, and then his eyes focus exclusively on me. He
sees
only me. “I know I proposed to you once before. And we agreed to hold off the wedding until you fully recovered. Not that you can very well marry a dead man,” he smirks, “but Robin and I are working on my resurrection.”

My eyes go to Robin, who gives an affirming nod. I look back at Jeremy.

“But this time,” Jeremy continues, taking my hand, “this time, I’m proposing to you here, in view of our family and our friends, because it signals the start of a new life.” He opens the box.

Fey and my mother give audible gasps when they see the ring. It’s
my ring
: the large emerald cut diamond set on a thin platinum band
.

I feel woozy, and it has nothing to do with my vertigo.

“So. Lilly Ryder. Will you take my hand in marriage and do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Lilly Stonehart? For the second time?”

I look at Jeremy through watery eyes. My words come in a thin, frail breath.

“Of course,” I whisper.

He kisses me.

***

Later that night, after everyone’s settled in, I find myself walking arm-in-arm with Fey along the beach. The sky is clear, the air warm and humid.

A full moon illuminates our path, and the stars in the sky are like hundreds of sparkling diamonds.

We’re catching up, laughing and reminiscing about old times and adventures we’ve had while apart. Fey’s story isn’t anywhere near as complex as mine, but I still find it fascinating. She graduated and got married and found a passion for photography, of all things. With Robin earning a good salary, she’s been able to freelance without worry if her work sells, and without needing to rely on her parents for money.

I ask if she’s considering graduate school any time soon. She giggles and confides that she and Robin have been thinking about children instead. She’d stay home, of course…

The thought fills me with a bit of sadness. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have children with Jeremy. The things my body’s been put through…any pregnancy would be high-risk.

But that only steals my attention for a second. I’m just overjoyed to have my best friend at my side again.

“Jeremy mentioned something about working with Robin?” I ask. “Do you know what that’s about?”

“A little,” she admits. “Robin’s feature piece on Jeremy got a lot of coverage. It
was
strange that the man whose name is behind one of the most influential companies in the world would simply disappear, with news of his death only coming out long after the fact. A lot of people appreciated Robin’s theories on how that wasn’t the whole truth. When Jeremy contacted him—you should have seen how excited he was, Lilly. I’ve heard snippets. I think Jeremy wants Robin to be the publicist for his return. Or at least to write a slam-dunk article detailing how all his theories proved true.”

“Wow,” I mutter. “That’d be the story of the year.”

“It’s be the story of a lifetime,” Fey answers.

I smile. I love the idea of our men working together.

I love the idea of Jeremy returning to the public eye even more.

***

We get married the next day, right on the beach in view of the people most important to us. Manuela’s husband serves the role of Justice of the Peace. Her children precede me as flower girls and ring bearers .

I kiss Jeremy, and he puts the ring on my finger, and then I kiss him again. It’s a ridiculous sappy, impromptu affair. But I love every single moment of it. Doing this way, so simply, knowing of Jeremy’s vast wealth…somehow makes it very, very special.

At night, when we’re all celebrating and drinking from Jeremy’s private vintage, I decide it’s finally time to confide in Jeremy that one small thing that’s been bothering me.

I take him aside from the festivities. “I have to tell you something,” I say.

“Yes?” He asks, peering down at me.

“It’s about my father.”

Jeremy’s face turns sad. “Oh, Lilly…”

“No,” I say. “It’s nothing bad. But it’s something you have to know. Something I was told while in captivity.”

Jeremy’s expression hardens.

I take a deep breath, and say it all in a rush. “Hugh told me that he knew your mother was cheating on him. He told me that he orchestrated the fire that took her life. It wasn’t Paul—Paul’s innocent. Hugh gave him drugs, early versions of the one he fed me, ruining his mind, so that you would never find out the truth. But it was Hugh who killed your mother. Not Paul. Not my father. It was yours.”

Jeremy looks at me in silence for a long, scary moment. For a second, I’m afraid I spoke too soon, revealed the secret too early—spoken too rashly. I can see his mind working, fitting in this information with his view of me, and the world…

Finally, he stirs, “You waited this long to tell me. Why?”

“I didn’t want you to blame yourself for what you did to me if you found out it was without cause. I wanted to protect you. All you’ve done, with me in the collar, I’ve forgiven. Because of love.”

“Love is what we have,” Jeremy agrees. “And our bond is strengthened by your honesty.” He squeezes my hand. “Thank you, for telling me.”

“You’re not mad?”

He laughs. It’s a rich deep laugh. “No, Lilly I’m not. I love you.” He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Anything outside of that is just noise.”

I beam at him, elated. He kisses me once more.

***

That night, for the first time ever, we make love as husband and wife.

Many hours later, I’m lying against Jeremy’s chest, staring off into nothing as he slumbers beneath me. Jeremy is a heavy sleeper when he’s fully satiated.

My husband’s a heavy sleeper when he’s satiated
, I correct, then drift away on that thought…

Until Jeremy starts to stir. He begins mumbling words I cannot understand. His body starts to jerk beneath me, back and forth, back and forth. “No,” he gasps. “No, Lilly, no, don’t look away, no, I’m coming for you, Lilly, Lilly, LILLY!”

Immediately I’m up and alert. I shake him by the shoulders. “Jeremy. Jeremy, wake up!”

“No, no,” he keeps gasping. “Don’t look away…”

“Jeremy!” I scream. I slap him across the face. His eyes pop open. He jolts up in bed, nearly knocking me over in the process. He’s breathing hard, his nostrils flare, and every muscle fiber of his upper body is straining, flexing…

Then he sees me. The sight makes him relax. His shoulders slump down.

He reaches up and touches my face. “Lilly…” he whispers. “Lilly Stonehart. I had a dream. I almost lost you. You wouldn’t look at me.”

“Never,” I tell him. I turn my lips into his hand and kiss his palm. “I’ll never look away. It was a nightmare, Jeremy. Nothing more. I’m here. I’m yours. For life.”

“For life,” he mutters. The words seem to give him strength. “Yes. Yes. I like that.”

“You know I’d never leave you, right?” I ask.

“Of course,” he whispers. But the nightmare is still fresh in his mind, and it fills his voice with doubt.

I take his hand. “Come with me,” I say. “I want to show you something.”

I lead Jeremy out of bed, through the quiet hall, and into the private room I’d converted into my painting studio. Jeremy’s not once been in here since I made my claim. He’s given me the privacy I need.

But now, finally, I feel ready to share with him the painting I’m most proud of. It’s the same one I’ve worked on for weeks.

I walk him to the easel. A dark cloth covers the canvas. “Stay here,” I say, as I turn away to increase the dimmer. A soft yellow light fills the room.

I come back to Jeremy, who’s watching me curiously. “I want to show you what I’ve been painting all this time,” I murmur faintly. “I wasn’t ready before, but now…I am.”

I reach for the cloth and pull it away.

Jeremy’s breath catches.