Uncovering You 11: The Lost Chapter Read Free Page A

It’s something I haven’t told Jeremy, but that has been perpetually bothering me:
    Paul’s innocence.
    Jeremy and I don’t speak of what happened when I was kidnapped by Hugh. It’s all in the past, it’s all forgotten. None of those demons can touch us. And I don’t want to hearken back to it, and yet…
    And yet I still feel uncomfortable with Jeremy believing that my father was responsible for his mother’s death.
    Does it really matter? I wish I could say “no”… but I feel a very real need to clear my father’s name.
    The reason I haven’t yet, so far? Jeremy’s guilt. I don’t want to add to it. He did all those awful things to me, when he was still Stonehart, because he thought my father was responsible. If I reveal to him now that he wasn’t…well, I doubt it would make Jeremy feel any better about our past.
    Besides. The skeletons are buried. Those things shouldn’t matter.
    Except to me, they do. And I can’t feel fully at peace until my father’s memory has justice done.
    Jeremy looks up at me from behind his laptop screen. “You’re awfully quiet,” he says. “What are you thinking about?”
    “Nothing,” I lie. I smile at him and take his hand. “Let’s go for a swim. The water’s wonderful.
    ***
    I’ve been working on the same painting for the last month. It’s coming together better than I could have expected. Still, I haven’t shown Jeremy.
    He leaves me be when I hit one of my trances. I can paint for hours without noticing time go by.
    I feel stronger and stronger with each passing day. I still have some lapses of sudden weakness, but their frequency is decreasing.
    I can make love to Jeremy more than twice a day now.
    ***
    Almost two months into our stay, Jeremy makes an announcement.
    “I have a surprise coming at the end of the week, Lilly,” he tells me. “I’m quite sure you’re going to love it.”
    I press him on what it is, but he won’t say. He just smiles, his eyes sparkling, and kisses my insistence away.
    ***
    Days pass as I await my surprise. A mix of excitement and trepidation fills me. Excitement because surprises mean something new… trepidation because “something new” leads to uncertainty.
    The one thing I’ve come to depend on most throughout my recovery is certainty.
    Still, Jeremy is infuriatingly mum on what it’ll be.
    One evening, as we’re having another spectacular dinner prepared by Manuela, I hear an odd rumbling in the distance. I don’t pay much attention to it at first, but as it grows louder, I start to get alarmed.
    “Jeremy?” I ask. “Do you hear that? What is it?”
    He dabs his lips with a napkin and smiles. “I do. But I’m not going to say what it is until…” he leans back in his seat and casually points to the sky. “Look there.”
    I twist in my seat, and discover a helicopter throttling toward the island.
    My nerves kick in. Last time I was in a helicopter, I’d been rescued by Jeremy from Esteban and Hugh. I fight the instinctive urge to be afraid.
    “Who is that?” I ask. A bit of panic seeps into my voice. “Why are they coming?”
    “They’re coming at my invitation, of course,” Jeremy says. He stands up and holds out his elbow. “We should go greet them.”
    “Who’s on the helicopter, Jeremy?” I ask him, the urgency in my voice increasing. “Tell me! I thought it was just supposed to be me and you.”
    “Tell you, and ruin the surprise?” Jeremy chuckles. “I think not. Come, Lilly. There’s nothing to be frightened of.”
    I push myself up, eyeing him warily. He just smiles and nods to his arm.
    I take it. He leads me out to a clearing along the beach. The helicopter hovers overhead. Jeremy gives the signal, and slowly, it descends.
    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