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This man…this sweet and amazing man. Tears blur my eyes and I can’t put words to my thoughts. So I kiss him. Deeply. Showing him that what he did, the tattoo…how much it means to me. How much he means to me.
Hoots and cheers break out from Grams’s table. For us? I don’t know. And I don’t care. I just want to keep kissing Lucas.
Lucas and I have talked about our options when it comes to having a family. For now, we’re leaving things open, enjoying being newlyweds. We’ve also started seeing someone to help us manage the grief. While the accident might have occurred ten years ago, the grief Lucas is experiencing over the loss of his daughter is very real and very fresh. So we’re taking things step-by-step for now.
And that includes going to Portland this weekend and visiting Lily’s grave.
I finally admitted the truth to Grams. It was hard at first, but she hugged me a lot, cried, and hugged me some more. I know deep down she still hurts that I waited so long to tell her the truth, but she also understands.
Lucas has also been talking to someone about the flashbacks and the occasional nightmares he’s had over the past few months, to make sure they’re kept under control like they were until recently.
“So?” Garrett says once we come up for air, reminding me that everyone is here, waiting to hear how Lucas’s meeting went. “Are you going to tell us what happened?”
Lucas releases me, but his hand remains on the small of my back. “The drug charges have been dropped,” he tells us. “Drew confessed to arranging for the narcotics to be found in my house.”
“Why would he do that?” I ask. “I thought he was your friend.”
“I thought so, too. When my flashbacks started up again a few months ago, I emailed him. He got scared I was coming close to figuring out what really happened that day in Afghanistan. He thought that if I was locked away, maybe it would prevent the truth from surfacing. He also said that Aiden never tried to kill himself. It was an accident.”
Surprise hitches my heart and my voice, and I’m not sure how I feel about the news. “An accident? Why did he think it was an accident?”
The muscle in Lucas’s jaw jumps, the pain and sorrow and heartbreak on his face real. Real for the man he once considered a friend. “A few weeks before it happened, Ashley was diagnosed with leukemia. Drew couldn’t afford to have the evidence revealed and end up losing everything. His medical coverage. His time with his daughter. He’d been thinking about Ashley and nothing else when the argument broke out with Aiden.
“He hadn’t planned for Aiden to die. He swears it was an accident, but he didn’t think anyone else would see it that way. So he left Aiden at the base of the cliff, and did everything he could to cover up that they had been together that day. He knew about Aiden’s previous struggle with PTSD and hoped his death would be ruled a suicide.”
A frigid numbness seeps into my body, pumps through my veins. How could he…how could he have killed my brother and left him like that? For Aiden’s body to be found by a hiker.
How could he steal…?
I swallow, knowing exactly how he could do any of those things.
Love.
I saw how much Drew loves his daughter. She’s his world, his everything.
My mind spins at what Lucas is telling me. “But how did he manage to do any of that if he’s in a wheelchair?”
“Drew wasn’t a paraplegic back then. That happened eleven months later when Ashley was in remission. His car lost control on an icy patch. The accident was bad, and he sank into depression. That’s when I started spending time with Ashley, making sure she didn’t get forgotten with everything going on.”
That explains a lot. Explains why she thinks of Lucas as an uncle.
“What will happen to Ashley?” Despite everything that has happened, my heart aches for what she and her family are going through. And it will only get worse now that the truth is out.
The little girl who I watched play hopscotch with Lucas will never be the same.
“I don’t know, but I still want to be there for her.”
His words don’t surprise me.
“Me, too.” I hug him, doing what I can to absorb his pain.
“If Drew is in a wheelchair,” Kellan says, “how did he manage to plant the drugs in your house?”
“That’s where the man who attacked Simone comes in,” Lucas explains. “Drew hired him. Turns out the man makes a career out of fixing people’s mistakes. His link to Kincaid Timber is currently under investigation. The police will have their hands full for a while with multiple investigations, including Sebastian’s death. I don’t know if they have a suspect yet for his murder.”
“Wow,” Emily says. “That’s a lot to take in.”
I lean into Lucas. “Poor Crystal and Walter. I hope it doesn’t take too long before the police lay charges. So they have some closure. They’ve already lost so much.”
