Page 95 of It Happened on the Lake

“Not if we get married,” she’d argued and eyed the gleaming crystal glassware she’d set out, the bottles of liquor in the cabinet.

She was alone. Even Gram had gone out with friends who’d picked her up for an overnight hotel party in Portland.

A rarity. And an opportunity. She and Chase could have spent the night in her bedroom here in the manor, starting the new year off right.

It would have been perfect. “You wouldn’t have to go if we had a baby. ”

“I know, but that’s got to happen really fast, now, doesn’t it? You have to get pregnant. Immediately. I don’t know why you haven’t yet.”

Like it was all her fault?

“Anyway, I’ve really got to go. I’ve got to figure this out,” he’d said before hanging up.

She had whispered, “I love you,” to the dial tone ringing in her ears and known that he’d lied.

She’d heard noise in the background, music and voices, laughter and the clinking of glasses that he hadn’t been able to muffle with his hand over the receiver.

He wasn’t studying. He was celebrating. Without her.

Her heart had cracked more than a little, but she’d looked out the window and looked across the misty lake to see Levi outside, walking from the boathouse to the back door of the Hunts’ house. Alone on New Year’s Eve.

“Not for long,” she’d whispered to Diablo, Gram’s long-tailed gray cat. She picked up the receiver again, then dialed the number that she knew by heart. The Hunts’ number. She’d have her own private party.

“You invited me over here,” Levi said, abruptly bringing her back to the here and now. “And you got pregnant.”

She nodded.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“Of course I thought about it, but by the time I knew the truth, that you were Dawn’s father, I was already married.”

“To a guy who thought Dawn was Chase’s daughter!” he charged, his anger palpable. “He didn’t think Chase was coming back and he assumed the role, right? And all the time you were living a lie.”

“That’s right, Levi,” she said, her own temper sparking. He wanted the truth and now he was going to insult her with it? No way.

“So, do you want to know my story or would you rather just sit back and hurl insults at me and act as if you had no part of what happened? Because we can do it that way. But you were there, Levi. And as I remember it, an active participant. It didn’t take a whole lot of persuading to get you into bed. ”

He looked about to argue but somehow stopped himself. “Point taken,” he said, more calmly. “Just tell me what happened.”

She took another bracing gulp from her glass, then explained everything she could.

Harper told him that she was going to tell Chase she was pregnant the night he disappeared.

She said that she had assumed he was the father and hadn’t even questioned it until it was evident, several weeks after Dawn’s birth, that her daughter’s eyes were brown.

By then, she explained, she thought there was no point to blurting out the truth and changing the course of their lives.

“You were at school, Oregon State, right? And I was trying to get my life together, get accustomed to being a wife and mother. I had to get my GED and put off college until we could swing it. At that point, Dawn’s paternity didn’t seem important. ”

“Not important to you,” he said sharply and climbed to his feet.

He sighed and rammed stiff fingers through his still-damp hair.

“Well, it sure was important to me. Still is.” He looked at her and she read the shock in his expression.

“Hell, Harper, I just found out I have a kid! And I didn’t know about it for almost twenty damned years?

And you expect me to keep calm, let it go?

Is that it?” He stared at her as if she were some kind of monster.

“So what would you have had me do, Levi?”

“Tell the truth, damn it! Tell her! Tell me. For the love of God, Harper,” he said, advancing on her. “Didn’t you think for one second I would want to know?”

“Okay, fine. Let’s play that out,” she said angrily. “So, when I figured out that Dawn was your kid, I should have blown up my marriage and tracked you down at Oregon State? I think that’s where you went to college, right?”

He didn’t respond, but she plowed on. “So let’s say I find you and I tell you the happy news and you—what?

Drop everything because now you’re a daddy at eighteen?

Is that what you think should have happened?

Chase was still missing and your parents were grief-stricken, still searching frantically for him.

But they did know that you, their remaining son, was safe and off to college.

Now keep in mind that they hated me and that your mom blamed me for her firstborn son vanishing. ”

He seemed about to argue, but she cut him off.

“That’s what she thought. She told Alaina Leonetti, and Beth told me.

” Harper’s voice was rising, her pulse ticking rapidly as she nailed him with the truth.

“So—let’s go back to our little pretend fantasy scenario—let’s say I did show up—still married to Joel, mind you—and I informed you that you were the father of my baby.

How do you think that would have gone down? ”

Before he could say a word, she added, “I’ll tell you what would have happened.

It probably would have started with a paternity test. Right?

No one, including you,” she said, jabbing a finger in his direction, “would have believed me to start with, and just because Dawn’s eyes are brown, no one would be convinced.

God knows your mother thought I slept around anyway, that I was a slut.

She would have come to the quick conclusion that I was trying to trap you, her precious baby boy. ”

“You don’t know—”

“Oh, but I do.” She arched an eyebrow, daring him to defy her.

“I do know. And I did then. So don’t come on all holier-than-thou, Levi.

Just don’t. You have no idea what I went through.

That’s what you don’t know.” She moved even nearer to him, angling her face upward, pushing her nose so close it nearly touched his.

“And how would you have felt? Huh, Levi? Would you have felt good about it? Knowing that I’d been sleeping with your brother all along?

Or would you have felt bad? Or maybe even trapped?

” She was livid now, replaying the scene in her mind, remembering all of her own doubts at the time, all the guilt, all the fear.

“Is that what I should have done?” she demanded. “Is that what you would have expected?”

“I didn’t expect any of it!”

“But you were there, too, weren’t you? That night when we got together?

” she pointed out, though she didn’t admit that when they got together that New Year’s Eve a lifetime ago, she’d wondered if she might get pregnant.

A little part of her had hoped so. Though she was loath to believe she was that manipulative, she surely hadn’t done anything to stop making love with Levi from happening.

Nor had he.

Her motives had been different, of course, but she didn’t want to examine them too deeply.

That night, they’d both had too much to drink and thrown caution to the wind.

He carelessly. She, though, with some degree of calculation.

What had started out as a tentative kiss on his part had ignited fast. Hard.

Soon he was kissing her feverishly and she kissing him back, feeling his hands on her body.

She’d felt as if she were floating as he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom on the second floor, and there they’d made love.

Not once. Not twice. But three times that she could remember.

Hot.

Wild.

Unbridled.

Even now, she felt a blush stain her cheeks.

So, this is where they’d ended up. Squaring off in Gram’s house. Facing the consequences of what she’d kept secret for two damned decades. She finished her drink, then asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell her the truth.”

“Dawn? You want me to tell Dawn that you’re really her dad? Just like that?” She snapped her fingers. “Don’t you think it might come as kind of a shock?”

“We’ll deal with it,” he said, then clarified. “ I’ll deal with it.”

“Oh no, no, no!” she countered. “You can’t leave me out of it. Uh-uh. Besides, Dawn’s just the beginning. We’ll have to tell Joel. He thinks Dawn’s father is completely out of the picture.”

“He’s your ex!”

“And Dawn is still his daughter. For all his faults, Joel is a good dad.”

“He’ll adjust. We all will. Now call her back,” Levi said. “She’s got a pager. Call her. Leave a message and get her back here.” He finally picked up his drink and took a long sip from the glass. “I’ll wait.”

Harper saw her entire world colliding. Right here. Right now. It was happening whether she liked it or not. “Look, let’s be sane about this,” she said and heard him scoff. “We’ve waited almost twenty years. Another day or two won’t make any difference.”

“To you, maybe. But ‘almost twenty years’ is enough. Too many,” he said. “It’s been all of her life. When I think of the things I’ve missed.” His jaw slid to one side, and he gripped his glass so tightly his knuckles showed white.

Oh, give me a break , she thought. Sure, he was having trouble dealing with the fact that he was actually a father.

And he blamed her. Okay. Fine. She didn’t fault him for that.

But she sure as hell wasn’t about to wallow in what-could-have-beens.

Nor was she going to let him bully her into doing anything she didn’t want to do.

“You might consider all of the things you didn’t miss,” she pointed out, thinking of dirty diapers, sleepless nights, bullies in preschool and first grade, and finally the rebellion in Dawn’s teens. “It hasn’t always been a bed of roses. There were tough times with Dawn.”

“And I should’ve been a part of it.”

“But you weren’t, were you? You got to live your life the way you wanted to, with zero responsibility.”

“Not my choice.” He finished his drink and left his glass on the table near the telescope to stare through the window to the gray day beyond.

Dusk was falling rapidly, the clouds dark and moody as they scudded across the sky.

Two boats were cutting across the water, their running lights visible, wakes trailing after them as they raced eastward toward the town where, she saw, the first streetlights were winking on.

She knew he wasn’t watching the boats. No, she decided, he was a million miles away, rolling back the years in his mind to their senior year when he’d not only lost a brother but also impregnated that brother’s girlfriend.

“We were stupid,” he finally said.

“Just kids.”

He snorted, still had his back to her, his hands buried deep in his jacket pockets. “Stupid kids doing things with major, life-altering consequences.”

She couldn’t argue with that as she turned on several table lamps to chase away the gloom of the coming night. “Isn’t that what all teenagers do? Take chances?”

He didn’t respond.

“Look, Levi, we’ll figure this out,” she said and touched him at the crook of his arm.

He drew away sharply. As if her touch had burned him.

When he turned around, his face was set.

“Just let her know you want to see her. We can go to Eugene together, or she can come back here.” Then as if the matter was settled, he changed the subject.

“You called my office. Said you had some things for me?”

She didn’t think their discussion about Dawn was over. Far from it. But for now, it was time to set it aside, for each of them to cool off.

“Right. I do. Just a sec.” With their argument still echoing in her ears, she hurried up the stairs to the bedroom she’d claimed and found the box that she’d packed with the items belonging to Chase.

She took several deep breaths. At least the truth was out.

That, she told herself, was the first step. And it was massive.

Just handle this. You can do it.

By the time she returned to the parlor, Levi had poured himself another drink and was downing it. He didn’t appear as tense, as if he, too, had cooled off a bit.

She handed him the box. “This is the stuff I found that I thought you might want. It’s things Chase gave me. I’d forgotten about them, and they all got left here and locked up when Dad and Marcia and I went to California. We left in a hurry.”

“Like thieves sneaking into the night,” Marcia had complained as they’d loaded both cars before driving south to California.

“I remember.” Levi set the box on a side table and opened the flaps to peer inside. The first item he retrieved was the necklace. He held the chain suspended by one finger, the diamond dangling and winking in the lamplight. “He gave this to you?”

“Yes.” She remembered that hot summer night all too clearly. The thrill of Chase’s vows of love, the pain of Evan’s death.

Levi was frowning. “It belonged to my grandmother, and it went missing. Mom went out of her mind looking for it.” His eyebrows slammed together as he thought.

“I remember her and Dad fighting about it and tearing the house apart. He accused her of being careless and losing it. She insisted it had been stolen.” He bit his lip.

“I’m pretty sure they made an insurance claim for it.

” He fingered the diamond. “And Chase had it all the time?”

She shrugged. “I guess. It was kind of like a pre-engagement thing. He gave it to me in the summer before our senior year.”

“He stole it.” Levi was shaking his head. “That son of a bitch stole it and let Mom freak out. What a shit.”

She remembered Chase had cautioned her not to wear it except when they were alone together. At the time she thought it was romantic, but now, belatedly, she realized he was just covering his tracks. Another disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and it wasn’t just about the necklace. The doorbell chimed before she could say anything else. “To be continued,” she said as she headed to the front door.

Her nerves were raw and she didn’t want any company.

She had enough to deal with as it was, and she figured only two people would be showing up on her doorstep unannounced, the first being Beth who had called several times, pushing Harper to fix the place up and sell.

The second was Rhonda Simms who had left several messages on the phone insisting that Harper would want to add her “unique perspective” to the next installment of her series about Lake Twilight.

But Harper was wrong.

Neither woman was waiting for her on the other side of the door.

Instead she found Rand Watkins.

Detective Rand Watkins.

His expression was grim, lips flat in a beard-shadowed jaw, troubled eyes meeting hers in the window.

It was obvious he hadn’t come bearing good news.