Chapter Twenty-Nine

 

“You saw her spike his drink and you didn’t tell him? Why the bloody hell would you do that?”

Swain was sure that if she hadn’t held tight to her hand, Lillie would have leapt over Bonner’s desk and strangled him. Startled by Lillie’s unexpected ferocity and Bonner’s reflexive flinch, she didn’t have time to react with her own anger. She tugged Lillie back to her chair.

“Let him finish.” She spoke to Lillie, but her eyes were on Bonner.

Bonner stalled, wiping his face with a white handkerchief and straightening his necktie.

“I loved Abigail. I’ve always loved her. I would do anything for her. But she loved Jim. He was the only man that existed in her eyes.” He wiped his face again. “Jim loved Abigail just as much. He was my best friend, but he didn’t deserve her. He was beginning to show signs of his father’s alcoholism and it tore her up. She begged him to get help, but he was too proud.”

Bonner seemed to gain strength as he unloaded the weight he had carried for years. “I had just found out that my wife had been carrying on an affair while I was in Columbia, serving in the legislature. When I saw that girl spike Jim’s drink, I knew what she was doing. I thought it might finally break the bond between him and Abigail, and I hoped she would turn to me.” His eyes implored them to understand. “I loved her, loved her beyond reason.”

“This girl, she was my mother?” Swain couldn’t think about Bonner’s treachery right now. She had no sympathy for him and too many questions still to ask.

Bonner shook his head at the disgust in Swain’s voice. “Don’t judge her until you hear the whole story.” He took a sip from a cup of cold coffee on his desk. “When the girl told her father she was pregnant, all hell broke loose. He, however, took for granted that Eric was responsible because they had been dating. He wanted to be paid off for being stuck with a daughter he said was damaged goods.”

“So my granddad let my dad take the blame?” Swain could feel Lillie shaking with anger.

“It was complicated. I had thought the girl was older. She had a fake ID. But she was only sixteen and Jim was forty-one. Consensual or not, his age made it statutory rape in the eyes of the law. Jim could have gone to jail. So, we let her father think it was Eric. He was young enough, less than five years older, that the law didn’t apply to him.”

Lillie persisted. “I don’t understand. If she was already dating my dad, why didn’t she just have a baby with him?”

“Because he was young, Eric thought he was in love with her. She was afraid he would want to marry her. She didn’t feel the same way about him and just wanted the money so she could get away from her father with no strings attached.”

If the rest of the story was like this, Swain didn’t know if she wanted to hear it. “So, my mother was a conniving slut, my father was a criminal, and I’m the bastard result.”

Bonner shook his head. “I’m not sure Jim was even conscious. A man doesn’t have to be aware to ejaculate when physically stimulated. He always swore he didn’t remember anything until he woke up the next morning in bed with this naked girl. He insisted that we tell Abigail. He hated himself, thinking that he had been drunk and violated their marriage. He begged her forgiveness. I thought she’d turn away from him, but she didn’t. She laid out two conditions. The girl’s father had to sign a contract agreeing to never contact them again in exchange for an arranged abortion and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Second, Jim had to check into a rehab, dry out, and never touch a drop of alcohol again. As the family attorney, I made all the arrangements while Jim went to rehab.”

“Obviously, Abigail didn’t get everything she wanted, because I’m sitting right here,” Swain said, her voice cold.

“When the girl didn’t show up for her appointment with the doctor, I was notified. She took most of the money I had given her father and ran off. He didn’t seem to care enough to look for her, so I did some checking. One of the girl’s friends told my investigator that the father had been sexually abusing her since she was a child. The friend had helped her set up her bedroom to video one of his nighttime visits. She used that evidence to keep him from trying to find her.” Bonner’s gaze held Swain’s. “Yes, she trapped Jim. But she was desperate to get away from her father. She could have kept the appointment for the abortion, but she didn’t. She carried twins full term all alone, with no friends or family to help her.”

“What was her name?” Swain asked. Her complaints about her own bleak childhood now seemed insignificant compared to what her mother must have endured. Lillie raised Swain’s hand and brushed it with her lips in sympathy. “What was my mother’s real name?” she repeated.

Bonner opened a drawer and extracted a thick file. He shoved it across the desk to Swain. “Becca. Her name was Rebecca Louise Johnston. After she ran away, she bought a new identity—Karla Jane Butler. Everything I know is in that file. It’s yours now.”

Swain released Lillie’s hand and took it, laying it in her lap. She stared without opening it.

“Are you all right, love?”

Swain shook her head, still staring at the folder. “Did my father know the abortion never happened?”

“He was in rehab and, once he got out, he was struggling to stay sober. I told Abigail, but she never told Jim.”

Bile rose in Swain’s throat, as sour as her emotions. “I’m sure she wouldn’t want his bastards running around the house.”

“Abigail had only been able to give Jim one child. There were complications with Eric’s birth and she couldn’t have any other children. She realized that if Jim knew that another child anywhere in the world was his, he couldn’t turn his back on his own blood. But that child would constantly remind both of them of his betrayal and they would never be able to rebuild their relationship.”

“Don’t you think things would have been different if they’d known the girl drugged him,” Lillie said fiercely.

“Maybe. Yes. But if I told them, I’d lose my best friend and the woman I adored.” Bonner looked at Swain, his eyes watery. “Saying that I’m profoundly sorry, thoroughly ashamed, isn’t enough, I know. In the end, Abigail loved you. She hated herself for leaving you in an orphanage and letting you pay for her and Jim’s mistake.”

Swain stood and paced the office. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. She wanted to be angry, but with who? Two people who were already dead and buried? An old man who’d spent a lifetime with his guilt? Her anger couldn’t change anything. Ironically, she was relieved to finally know, to never again lie in bed at night and wonder. And if she accepted this, she was suddenly the very wealthy owner of a premier polo stable.

“I…I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do,” Swain said. She looked to Lillie for help.

“Swain, Grandmum wanted you to have the ponies,” Lillie said. “She didn’t have the power to turn back the years and make things different. And she understood that money couldn’t substitute for growing up without a family. But she must have felt her ponies belonged to you. We both should sign the paperwork, then go celebrate finally putting this behind us.”

“There’s more,” Bonner said.

“More?” Swain and Lillie spoke simultaneously.

“Someone’s challenged Lillie’s inheritance.”

“Who would do that?” Swain asked, suddenly protective.

“Your brother.”

Swain leaned forward. “Do you know where he is? Wait, why wasn’t he included in the will? Didn’t Abigail know there were two of us?”

“Trey also had Eric’s name on his birth certificate. He turned up here only a year after the two of you left the children’s home. He was angry and demanded money. He threatened to physically harm Abigail.”

“I didn’t see him much when we were kids, but I heard he got in trouble a lot.” Swain knew her brother’s attitude wouldn’t have gotten him far with Abigail. She wasn’t the type to let anyone push her around.

“Well, he was just a lot of big talk. When he threatened Abigail with physical harm, she grabbed a riding crop and chased him out the front door. Later that day, I heard he was in a bar downtown, drunk and caterwauling about being Eric’s bastard. So, I had a couple of men who worked for me pick him up. They gave him a certified check for a hundred thousand dollars from me, put him on a plane to California, and told him that if he came back, they would feed him to the alligators in the low country. I did have an investigator keep tabs on him and we thought he had gotten himself killed in a Texas barroom brawl.” Bonner pushed another document across his desk. “Then he had a lawyer file this injunction against the probate of Abigail’s will.”

“He’s here?” Lillie asked weakly. She certainly didn’t need the money, but an uneasy feeling was scratching at the back of her mind.

 

I can help you with that. I can give Granny a Wetherington baby.

 

Maybe he wasn’t referring to her being a Wetherington. No, it couldn’t be.

“I don’t exactly know where Trey is. His attorney works out of Columbia. His challenge has to be heard, but there’s no question that Abigail knew about him and deliberately chose not to provide for him in her will.”

“He doesn’t need to do this,” Swain said. “Tell his lawyer I’ll give him half of what Abigail left me if he drops this action against Lillie. He’s my brother, so that should be my responsibility.”

“Technically, I’m representing Abigail as the executor of her will, so I can’t represent you. But if you want to do that, I can recommend someone to handle it for you. You need to know, however, that he’s not after your money. He specifically wants Lillie’s inheritance because she’s not a blood relation.”

Swain laugh was sharp. “We don’t know for sure that he and I are either, do we?”

“He will soon enough. He’s submitted a DNA sample for proof. He’s not challenging Swain’s inheritance, but confirming her DNA will prove that Abigail knew about the twins and deliberately chose to cut Trey out of her will.” He handed Swain a business card. “That’s the address of the lab. It doesn’t take long. Just show your ID and they’ll swab the inside of your mouth. The sooner you go, the quicker we can schedule a hearing to clear this up for Lillie.”