Chapter 0022


    Alden narrows his eyes at me and looks back at Kent. I’m a little shocked, I admit, that he hasn’t


    addressed me yet. I stand awkwardly in front of him and Daniel quietly takes my hand, giving it a


    squeeze of support.


    “Is this for real, Lippert?” Alden asks, a threat behind his re.


    Kent nods slowly. “We did a test. It’s a 99% gic match for paternity. I can show you the paperwork


    upstairs, and you can have it verified by your own doctors. But, with that kind of proof at hand, Alden.”


    He spread his hands out, hoping Alden takes him at his word. “Why would I lie?”


    Alden nods and returns his gaze to me, staring for a moment. Then, he shocks me again by breathing


    out a huge breath of air and rubbing a hand down his face. “Damnit, but you look like your mother,” he


    mutters.


    My mouth falls open when I see the glimmer of tears in his eyes. My heart goes out to him, then. He’s a


    solid rock of a man, but I can see that deep feelings run beneath.


    “Where is she?” he demands.


    Surprised, I blurt out the first thing thates to mind. “She died,” I say, grimacing inwardly at my


    bluntness. Alden’s face falls minutely. Surely, after all these years, he knew it would be unlikely that she


    would be alive, but still – he’s upset by the news.


    Alden works hard to arrange his face in the impassive mask he had when he entered the room. I bite


    my lip, knowing that the news has hurt him.


    “When?” he asks.


    “Years ago,” I whisper, sorry to be the one to tell him. “I was young – I had just turned six.”


    I feel horrible – I had no idea that he cared for her as much as he clearly does. I had assumed she was


    – what had Fiona called herself? – a goomah. His mistress, or his girlfriend, not someone he really I


    cared about.


    “How?” He asks, crossing his arms over his barrel chest.


    “A car ident,” I say, my voice hardly more than a whisper now. “They said…they said she went fast.


    No pain.”


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    He nods sharply and then turns his head away, gathering himself together. "And where has she been


    "In a small cemetery by our home – in the churchyard. I can take you there, if you like," Isay, my voice


    gentle.


    He’s angry then, instantly, his emotions snapping from sadness to anger at the flip of a switch. He turns


    his burning eyes to me. “In a churchyard?” He shakes his head. “He didn’t respect her, then, the man


    she left me for,” he growls. “To bury her in a churchyard, when she deserves toy in state, in a


    mausoleum.”


    I find my own emotions turning, then, from pity to anger. How dare he suggest that David was anything


    but an angel in our lives?


    “My dad was wonderful to my mother,” I say, not considering my actions as I take a step forward.


    Daniel holds my hand tighter, in a warning thates toote –


    “He was nothing,” Alden growls.


    “He raised me –“


    “He KEPT you from me,” the words rip from Alden’s mouth.


    Realizing my mistake, I cower back, my eyes going wide. Alden takes a heavy step towards me,


    intimidation in every muscle of his body.


    “Tell me the truth, girl,” he says, taking another step. “Did he know about your parentage? Did he know


    where she came from, who your real father was?”


    Unable to deny it, I stay silent, keeping my face still.


    “I thought so,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me. “He kept you from me, my daughter, not his! And he


    should die for it.”


    I realize, suddenly, that I’m afraid of this man. That if this is what he’s like the first time meeting his


    daughter, then I can’t imagine the kind of things my mother must have gone through. She must have


    experienced moods that made her decide to pack up and leave him, to give up everything she’d ever


    known to keep me away.