Liam's Perfect Woman (Home to Harbor Town 2) - Page 66

Liam’s eyes blazed as he looked at Malone. They cooled a few degrees when he glanced back at the man in the wheelchair. DuBois’ eyelids were drooping and his mouth was falling open slowly.

“Is he all right?” Liam asked, his expression masklike.

Malone nodded. “He usually falls asleep about this time in the afternoon. He tires easily. I’ll call his nurse. But first…” He waved toward the door significantly.

They had no choice but to stand and leave the man in the wheelchair to his dreams.

Liam wouldn’t let her drive. He was quiet when they got in the car, but calm.

“DuBois obviously has some s

ort of dementia,” Natalie said a few minutes later as they wound their way down the private, wooded drive.

“Yeah,” Liam said.

She studied his profile nervously. He’d sounded thoughtful just now, but he appeared nowhere near as shocked as she felt.

“Liam, I’m sure what he said upset you, but there’s no call for accepting it as truth. You saw how confused he got at times.”

“DuBois may have dementia, but his long-term memory is fine.”

“You mean…you actually believe what he said about your mother and New Year’s Eve and all that other stuff? But those were just some delusional beliefs coming from a man who could never have the woman he loved,” Natalie exclaimed.

“I’ve seen it before in police investigations,” Liam said levelly. “The memory for more recent events usually goes first. Sometimes DuBois remembered the name Kavanaugh, and sometimes he didn’t. Long-term memory often remains quite good, though. He’s never forgotten Brigit Darien.”

“But—”

“This was it,” he said, interrupting her.

“What was it?”

“The missing puzzle piece.” Liam glanced over at her, his expression impossible for her to read. “I’ve got a pretty good idea now about what was happening with my father before he caused that car crash. Do you want to hear about it?”

A shiver went down her spine at his hollow tone.

“No,” she whispered. The vague outline of the truth was becoming clearer and clearer now, despite the fact that she didn’t want to see it…didn’t want to even consider the fact that she’d been the one to force Liam to see it.

“Clearly it all started well before that day. Early on in their marriage, my dad must have been unfaithful to my mother. She must have found out, and fled to Tahoe in her distress…to her old friend Lincoln DuBois.”

Natalie hated the flat quality to his voice, as though he spoke of strangers, not his own family.

“DuBois and my mother obviously had a brief affair, but my mother went back to Chicago and reunited with my father. Maybe since she’d been unfaithful, as well, she decided they’d both erred, and she could forgive him for what he’d done. Who knows? But they decided to commit again to their marriage, and if my observations mean anything, they were successful. They’d certainly seemed happy and devoted during my entire childhood. They moved on. Everything must have been fine until Deidre was in a boating accident and had to go into the hospital, some eighteen years after my parents’ had both faltered in their marriage.”

Natalie’s eyes burned with unshed tears. Dread filled her chest, but her damned curiosity made her ask the question anyway.

“What has Deidre being in an accident got to do with anything?”

“The accident happened the week before my dad died. She got a cut on her leg and it severed a vein. She had to stay in the hospital for a night or two. They gave her a blood transfusion, patched her up and she was good to go. She was home before the crash ever occurred, getting up from bed against doctor’s orders when my mother wasn’t looking. Nobody could keep Deidre down for long,” he murmured. His hands tightened on the wheel.

“Liam, pull the car over,” she pleaded hoarsely, the alarm in her head starting to wail out a warning.

But he continued as if he hadn’t heard her, as if he felt compelled to tell a story that had remained untold for half their lifetimes. “Somehow, my father must have become aware of something in Deidre’s medical information while he was visiting her in the hospital. I don’t know what, exactly, something to do with her genetics—that’s why he needed to see his friend Dr. Mulonovic, the pediatric geneticist. Whatever Mulonovic told him must have confirmed his suspicions. I’m assuming my dad discovered Deidre’s blood type while there in the hospital, although I can’t be a hundred percent certain about that. Deidre had required a blood transfusion, so her blood type easily could have been mentioned to my dad. Blood type can’t confirm paternity, but it can rule it out.

“I don’t know if my father confronted my mother that weekend, or if he recovered our birth records and then presented them to Dr. Mulonovic. I’m thinking that’s what he did. He might not have been certain about the facts, and didn’t want to be wrong when he confronted my mother.”

Natalie opened her eyes. Tears spilled down her cheeks.

“It must have been hell for Dad, surviving that weekend without knowing for sure, but starting to guess the truth. He and Deidre were always so close. They had such a special relationship.”

Tags: Beth Kery Home to Harbor Town Billionaire Romance
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