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“Because, love, you’re not my daughter. Hers either, for that matter.” Harlin walked into the room and kissed Merce on the cheek. “I told Peter to look into that when he told me what he was doing for you. I didn’t know it until much later after Bethany was gone, that she’d lost the child we created. But that didn’t stop her from bringing one home. I think the hospital thought a child might steady her. It didn’t.”
“No, it certainly didn’t.” Merce asked him what he meant. Peter wished he’d not said anything then. “She tried to kill you after you and her were brought home. When the police arrived after receiving a call from one of the staff at the time, you were found in the oven with potatoes and carrots all around you, like you were a pot roast. Harley and Brock were tied to the chairs with their place settings in front of them.”
“Christ.” Peter felt sorry for Merce. This was coming out of nowhere for her. He couldn’t imagine what his brother was thinking right now. When he spoke again, Peter was proud of him for not calling off the wedding. “What about the baby? Merce’s parents? Didn’t anyone say anything about a missing child?”
“They were dead.” Merce asked her dad if Bethany had killed them. “No. There had been a car accident that had taken both their lives. I promised I would care for you if they let me take you home. The doctors at the time thought if she didn’t have a child to care for, all the good that had come from her pregnancy would have been worse. None of us thought she would go as far as she did. That’s something else I need to tell you. Harley and Brock have blocked that out of their minds—the time before you were born. Brock was nearly murdered by his mother just months before we found out she was going to have you. When I told her she was going to have a baby, she lit up like she was back with us. I swear to you, had I known what she would end up doing, I would have left you at the hospital for someone sane to raise.”
“Then I might not have met Del. No, you did the right thing, Dad. I swear to you, I will never think of you as anything but my dear dad.” He hugged her then, and when Merce looked at Del, he was watching his brother. “I’m not who I thought I was. Does this make a difference to you?”
“Do you still love me?” She nodded and said with all her heart. “Then it makes no difference to me who birthed you so long as you love me. It does take your worry of having a mentally challenged child out of the picture. I know you were worried about that.”
“I was. Very much so.” Del asked her to come to him. “Yes, hold me. I’d love that, every day forever. Our children too. Dad, will you treat my children I have with Del any differently? Now that I know what I do?”
“Never. Never in a million years.” Peter said he might. He’d never been an uncle before where he could be around the kids. “Well, son, I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I’m looking forward to being a grandda.”
Peter had been looking into some information about his cousins/stepsister and stepbrother. He didn’t know why, but Mom seemed to be excited about it. That was all he needed to be all
right with digging up the past with them. He’d not known how much they’d hurt their mother. As far as he was concerned, they could have gone to hell, and he’d have not lost one bit of sleep over it. But with Mom happy to find out about them, he would watch them so they’d not hurt her again. That was for damn sure. Peter was sure the rest of them felt the same way.
The rest of the evening, the four of them spoke of the things he’d been able to unearth. Merce took it very well, considering for her entire life, she thought she’d been the daughter of Bethany and Harlin. It was when Sherman joined them that things really started to fill in. He’d been helping Peter with all kinds of things, such as finding who her real parents were and seeing if there was anyone alive she could talk to should she want to.
“This is going to hit the papers badly when it comes out. Your grandparents on your mother’s side have been looking for you since the accident. I haven’t any idea why the police didn’t come forward with the information they had, but since they didn’t, I’m sure heads will roll from it.” Merce asked Sherman why they’d been looking for her. “Your parents weren’t married when you were born. Your mother was seventeen when she ran off with your father. His name was…let me look here. Your mother’s name was Rachel Judson. Your father…here it is. His name was Chad Overlook. They were both killed when a semi full of logs from a logging company turned over onto their car when they were sitting at a light. There was nothing that could have been done to save them. Someone there delivered you from your mother’s body before the ambulance arrived. There is some speculation that she was in labor when they were killed. The only way they could have found out about the baby was if someone told them. It wasn’t in the newspaper. Not then, anyway.”
“Where are they from? My parents, I mean.” Sherman had that information, so he watched Harlin. He was happy, it seemed to him, that this was coming out. However, he didn’t think the older man knew about the parents and their wanting their grandchild. “So they lived out west in Vegas and were here to get away from their parents. Is there any way you can tell if they were justified in leaving home?”
“No. Your parents were just teenagers. Your grandparents were doting on Rachel, but they didn’t allow her to run around. It seems she met your father at a party, and the two of them hit it off. From all accounts, they were in love.” Sherman handed a sheet of paper to Merce, who handed it off to Del. “Your father had a good job while they were living out here. Your mother had finished school and then went on to college. She wasn’t far from being an LPN when she was killed. Something that you should know. There is a huge reward from the logging company for your return. Of course, they paid out the ass for the accident too. Neither the money nor the insurance has ever been cashed out. It seems someone was waiting for you to find them and come home.”
“I’m not sure that would be a good idea.” Del asked Merce why. “I don’t know. It’s been at least twenty-four years since I was born. I can’t imagine they’d be thrilled to find out that not only am I alive, but I’ve been right here in Ohio all this time.”
“I have their contact information for you, Merce. And if it means anything to you, Mom was in the office when I was searching for information to give to you. She said she could be on her deathbed and want to know if a child of hers was still out there and doing well.” Sherman looked at Peter, then back at Merce. “Chad’s parents are still alive as well. Like your biological parents, they’ve been waiting on some kind of word that you’re alive. I think if you speak to them, you shouldn’t mention anything too personal right away. I’d leave that for when they decide if they want to be a part of your life or not. They, as you said, might not want anything to do with you after all this time.”
“I would very much like to meet them. To tell them what a wonderful daughter you were to me.” She hugged her dad after he sat down next to her. Harlin looked at Peter. “I know there are legal things that are going to be like a land mind for all this. What do we have to do if Merce should decide to contact them?”
“You don’t tell them anything other than when she went to get her marriage license to get married, that was how you found out. The doctors that were there that night are all dead. Even the nurses who might have known about it are in nursing homes. The police for sure wouldn’t have kept a record of it. So far as anyone knows, you came home with your wife and child, and that is all.” Harlin asked him if it was legal. “More than likely not if I looked into it much deeper. I’ve not, in the event someone wants to know more than they do about what we tell them. Is it wrong? I don’t think so. It’s not hurting anyone for her to just show up as their grandchild. In fact, some might say it’s best to leave sleeping dogs lie. Talking to them would entirely be up to you two. However, I’d never tell anyone, Harley or Brock especially. No one outside of this family needs to know shit about it.”
“I agree with that one. They’re causing enough trouble as it is.” Harlin spoke to him about other things he’d been able to find out. Things that weren’t good. Things that made his stomach turn a little when he thought about the other two’s lives growing up with Bethany as their mother.
Merce still hadn’t decided to call anyone by the time Peter was packing up his paperwork. Sherman hadn’t given her the numbers he said he had, but Peter thought she’d do it if for no other reason than to give them peace. He knew it would bother her to leave the two couples not knowing about their children. Their only children, as it turned out.
Peter gave Sherman a ride home since he’d walked to Merce and Del’s home tonight. Almost as soon as they were in the car, his brother started telling him how much fun he’d had researching the information on her parents. He asked him if he thought there could be a job in his firm for him.
“It’s funny you should ask, Sherman. I’ve been thinking the same thing. How nice it would be to be able to find long lost people. This one is turning out to be all right. No one is dead yet that it would matter to. However, I have no doubt that someday it won’t be so easy.” Sherman said he’d gotten help from both Robert and William on this. “Did they like it as much as you seemed to?”
“I think Robert was just thrilled not being an attorney anymore. He was glad too when, like you said, it turned out well. I’m not sure about William. He helped a great deal with it, but he…. The other day I heard that he applied for a job at the local cinema. I’m not upset about it as much as I thought I’d be, them throwing away good careers. But I’m doing the same thing, so I can’t say too much.” Peter asked why they’d gone to college to be an attorney in the first place. “Mostly, it was because you did it. I think Mom being so proud of you for doing it didn’t help. Not that I’m blaming her, I’m just saying that had a little to do with it. The other two? I don’t know. I think perhaps, like us, it was a good way to make money and to make Mom proud of us. Grandda too. I was so jealous of Del when he seemed to go his own way. Even Darrel being a doctor didn’t bother me like Del did. I felt a little like he’d betrayed us. Then I thought about how much he seemed to be enjoying his work. I hadn’t felt like that since I was first in the office. I’m looking for that spark he has.”
After dropping Sherman off at his home, Peter made his way to his own. They all, with the exception of Del, had lived away from home when Mom took that fall when she did. They’d all wanted to move home and care for her, but since Del had said he worked right in town and didn’t have a home yet, it was perfect for him, as he had nothing to hold him back from staying with Mom. Every day, Peter wished he’d been able to go home too. Just to hang out with his baby brother and his mom without anyone else around.
He was getting that now, he realized. All the time he wanted to spend with all of them. Being an attorney was what he wanted, but the perk of being his own boss and being able to see his family without any trouble made it doubly wonderful.
Once he was home, he decided to hire himself a staff. His house needed a good once over and some updates.
Yes, Peter thought. He needed to get his ass in gear and start inviting his family to visit him once in a while.
~*~
Brock read over the paperwork three times before realizing he didn’t know how he’d gotten it. Looking around the room, he saw his grandfather there with Merce, as well as his dad and that man again. Del. Clearing his throat, they all turned to him, and he asked them what this was supposed to mean.
“I’m not your sister. Not even stepsister. There was a mix-up at the hospital, a horrific accident the night I was born, and the babies were switched. In a couple of days, I’m going to go and meet my biological grandparents on both sides of my family.” Brock asked what the other paperwork was. “Oh, that’s me suing you for treating me like you have for the last twenty-four years. Mostly it’s from the time I turned eighteen, but there is a lot there that we’ve been able to find that you and Harley did. Like having someone spying on me all the time. Did you know that’s against the law?”
