A Crowe's Song Page 28

  But he didn’t. Instead, he flicked his gaze to the side, met my stare, and asked, “Do you have any idea what this means?”

  I shook my head, not having the faintest idea what he was referring to.

  “Did you not hear what he said in there? He was choking me, and I still heard him. I heard every word.” He paused for a moment, maybe to see if I’d say anything, and when I didn’t, he shifted on the step, angling himself more toward me until our knees touched. “Your grandfather killed mine. He probably took them all out. He’s the reason my family went missing.”

  I began to wonder if I was the one who’d been choked. It was like my mind refused to make sense of anything he said. Everything sounded so farfetched and preposterous. “He’s just an old man, Drew. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He called me Emily, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t make up Emily. She was a real person—someone you apparently look just like. So why would he fabricate everything else? Andrew Crowe was a real person, too, Kenny. Don’t you see? Andrew Crowe was my grandfather. He’s the reason my grandmother opened Black Bird to begin with.”

  I really needed to get a grip before I pissed him off and lost him for good. Questions flashed through my mind so fast I couldn’t get one answered before the next one had my head spinning. The most ridiculous of all was the split second I thought that maybe it meant we had the same grandmother. Luckily, I was able to dismiss that before asking it out loud. “Okay, but I thought you said that the Bennett people were the ones responsible.”

  “They were.” He furrowed his brow and pulled in a deep breath. I could practically see the wheels turning in his eyes as he slowly let it out, working through the unknowns in his head. “What’s your grandfather’s last name?”

  “Tisdale.”

  He blinked a few times. “And that’s always been it? He’s never changed it?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. Which means it couldn’t have been him.”

  “Or we’ve had it wrong this whole time and accused the Bennetts of something they never did. I get that you don’t want to contemplate what it would mean if I’m right, but think about it, Kenny. You’ve said yourself that he was abusive to your grandmother. What makes you think he’s not capable of harming someone else?”

  I clenched my jaw, fighting off the need to defend my family. Truth be told, I didn’t know what my grandfather was or wasn’t capable of, especially more than forty years ago. And history hadn’t painted him in a very good light. Drew might have been right that what Grandpa had said while attacking him had come straight from his memory. I honestly didn’t have anything to dispute the accusation.

  “Are you just going to throw every personal thing I’ve told you back in my face?” Since I couldn’t defend my family, I decided to defend myself. It was not a good feeling to regret sharing personal details of my life with someone, only to have it used against me.

  “I need to go.” He completely ignored my question and pushed off the step.

  “What, now? You can’t drive back at this hour. The sun is about to go down, and the resort is hours away. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, but at least stay the night and head back in the morning after you’ve gotten some sleep.”

  Again, he ignored me and continued to walk to his truck that he’d parked along the curb in front of the house.

  “Drew!” I called after him, practically chasing him down the front yard. “Don’t go.”

  He stopped dead in his tracks and turned on his heel. I halfway expected to see anger in his eyes or catch him glaring my way. But I saw none of that. Instead, the man standing in front of me seemed lost and confused. Uncertain.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pick a fight.”

  Drew shook his head and gently wrapped his long fingers around my biceps, holding me in front of him and forcing me to look him in his eyes. “It’s not that, Kenny. I just have a lot to think about. I came here to confront you about the property, only to find out that there’s so much more to the story than I ever realized. And to top things off, I was attacked by an old man who confessed to killing my grandfather.”

  “I really don’t think he did. Maybe they knew each other, but that’s the extent of it. It couldn’t have been him. And I’m not saying this because I think he’s a great guy or anything. Your grandmother told you that he was caught fighting with the Bennett kid over a girl. My grandfather is not a Bennett. Not to mention, he and my grandmother were together since high school, which would make her the girl in question.” I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince more—him or me.

  I could find doubt until I was blue in the face, but it wouldn’t erase the words I’d read in what I now believed to have been my grandmother’s diary. I’d read her story. A twisted tale of a girl trying to move on from her ex, a relentless fool who refused to give up hope of being with her again. A heartbreaking account of a young woman being stood up by the love of her life on the eve of their forever.

  I’d read her emotional journey of falling in love with a boy she lovingly called AC. Which, coincidentally, were the same initials as Andrew Crowe. Then again, millions of people had those initials. The only thing that kept me from conceding was the name Bennett.

  “And think about it, Drew, what are the odds? If what you’re saying really is true, then damn…let’s go get a lottery ticket. I could see if we were from the same area, but we’re not. Or if I had known about my grandfather’s land, and that’s why I stayed at the resort, but I completely stumbled upon Black Bird. So that’s not the case, either. I get what you’re saying, and I agree; it’s hard to ignore the things he said in there. But nothing explains how we got here.”

  “I can’t answer that,” he said with a sigh. “All I can say is nothing else makes sense.”

  “There are lots of things to explain it. My grandfather owns that land, so maybe he’s heard the stories of the Crowes and how they vanished into thin air. Maybe he used to try to solve the mystery by coming up with different ways to explain their disappearance, causing him to believe that those made-up scenarios really happened. See? It makes more sense that he simply knew of these things because he owns the land that surrounded Chogan, rather than our lives being intricately entwined for the last three generations, fate leading us to this exact moment when secrets that have been buried for decades are dug up. Come on, Drew. You have to admit, that’s the kind of stuff you’d find in a book. Probably one of those lame romance novels. It doesn’t happen in real life.”

  He nodded as reasonable doubt crept into his expression. “Who knows…maybe we’ll never find out the truth. Which isn’t a big deal to me anyway, because I never thought I’d even come this close to finding out what really happened to my family.”

  “Good. So you’ll stay?”

  Drew dropped a brick in my gut when he shook his head. “I can’t, Kenny. I really do need to go. I have so much to think about, and the best way to do that is to drive. The long trip will allow me to sort through everything I’ve heard today.”

  There wasn’t much I could do to stop him. So I had no choice but to stand in my front yard and watch him drive away, uncertain where we stood with one another, or if I’d ever see him again. He was right, though…a lot had happened in the last couple of hours. It would take a lot more than one night to find clarity in any of it.

  I’d heard my mom come in sometime after midnight, but I was in bed and too deep in my own thoughts to get up and find out what the doctors had said. And by the time I got up in the morning, she was already gone again. That worried me, because it meant it was likely something serious.

  Finally, after being gone all day, she walked through the front door just after five in the evening, looking like she’d been hit by a train and then run over by a semi. I’d spoken to her a few times over the phone, but nothing prepared me for this.

  “Is everything all right?” I asked when she dropped into the seat next to me on the couch.

  “I do
n’t even know where to begin, McKenna. Everything is so upside down right now, and I have no idea how to make it right again.” She covered her eyes with her hands, which did nothing to hide the quiver in her bottom lip.

  “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”

  She inhaled deeply and held the breath for a moment before letting it all out in one commanding sigh. Mom had never made a habit of involving me in adult matters, especially when it came to my grandfather and his health. The fact that she’d shared what little I knew about gaining access to the will was huge. So I didn’t expect her to open up now, though I hoped she would.

  The war that raged inside her blazed in her eyes. It was obvious she needed to talk about it, but that would go against her personal boundaries. For once, I just wanted her to forget my age and confide in me. I was eighteen, quite capable of listening. I doubted she wanted my advice, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be a listening ear or a shoulder to lean on.

  To my surprise, she flicked away a lone tear that had rolled down her cheek and held my hand. “Your grandfather passed away this morning. He had suffered another stroke last night amid the chaos—a really bad stroke, actually. And he didn’t come out of it.”

  “Are you okay, Mom?”

  She shrugged, which caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected that to be her reaction to her own father dying. “I don’t know, to be honest with you. I’m sad, sure. I’m technically an orphan—I have no parents. But if I look past that, it’s hard to be broken up about it. He wasn’t a good person.”

  I wanted to let her continue at her own pace, but I had so many questions. Maybe this was why she never told me things. She knew I couldn’t sit back and wait for all the information to unfold. I was too impatient for that. “Yeah, you’re right, he made mistakes in his past, but who hasn’t?”

  “I don’t think many people made the kinds of mistakes he did, though. And if so, then I’m even more worried about the future of mankind than I used to be.”

  “What does that mean, Mom? What kinds of things did he do?” When all she did was shake her head and stare at the ceiling, I said, “You have to admit, though…he changed a lot by the time he came to stay with us.”

  She patted my knee and tossed a forced smile my way. “Sweetheart, there are some mistakes—no, I can’t even call them that. Choices. That’s what they were. He made choices, bad ones. Ones that irreversibly damaged people. He’s ruined a lot of lives. So yeah, I’ll say he changed a lot, but no amount of change could ever repair the things he’d done.”

  “You can’t say things like that and then not tell me. What did he do?”

  With a deep breath, she settled in to explain everything. She told me about his lawyer contacting his family—people she never knew existed. Apparently, my grandfather was not close with his siblings or parents, so they were never involved in my mom’s childhood. To my surprise, there were a lot of relatives still alive whom she’d never met. The attorney was able to get in contact with her grandfather—my grandpa’s dad. While my mom had seen him a few times as a very young child, she admitted to having no recollection of him at all.

  “So he came to the hospital?” I asked, referring to my great-grandfather.

  “Yeah. I won’t lie, it was awkward, but once the initial nerves wore off, it was nice to get a chance to talk to him. He told me things I never expected to hear, and probably could’ve gone my entire life not knowing, but in the end, I guess I needed to know so I can have an honest opinion of the man I called Dad.”

  “I don’t understand.” She needed to stop talking in riddles and just spill the beans.

  “For the last several years, I’ve battled with a lot of guilt concerning my father. I was fifteen when we left, so while I had memories of his drunken benders and his unpredictable anger, I was still a kid. And after so many years, a lot of things become questionable. Maybe I didn’t know the whole story, or maybe my own feelings might’ve added to my memories, making them worse than reality. Like you said, he had changed a lot. It was like he was a completely different person. So I struggled trying to separate the old feelings from the new.”

  That wasn’t breaking news. It didn’t take a private detective to uncover that tidbit. She wore her guilt like a gaudy necklace. And I didn’t need her to explain why she felt that way, because it was obvious. Again, a genius was not needed to come to these conclusions.

  But then she divulged new information.

  And I couldn’t believe what I heard.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Emily

  Pain-filled whimpers replaced the high-pitched ringing in my ears. For a moment, I was disoriented, unsure of where I was or how I’d gotten there. But as soon as I blinked my eyes open and found my daughter next to me, it all came back.

  I reached out and grabbed Rebekah’s hand. She was in labor with my first grandchild, so it was imperative that I got her to the hospital. Due to the severity of the storm, emergency personnel were tied up with numerous car accidents and other severe emergencies, which meant the baby would’ve been born at home if I hadn’t taken her to the hospital myself. But now, as we sat pinned between a tree and what appeared in the rapid flashes of light to be a massive boulder, I immediately regretted that decision. Just as long as Rebekah and the baby were fine, that was all that mattered.

  It was too difficult to assess our injuries in the darkened car, but I instinctively knew mine were bad. I had to fight hard to keep from slipping into the abyss disguised as slumber. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been there or how much time it’d take for someone to spot us and call for help. All I knew was that I didn’t think I could hold on much longer.

  Luckily, an angel heard my prayers. Red and white flashing lights suddenly filled the interior of the car. Grinding metal, shattering glass, moans and cries of pain filled the night sky, all accompanied by the pounding of rain against the asphalt and thunder hammering its heavy fist into the earth over and over.

  Help had come.

  By the time my daughter and I were wheeled into the hospital, I was so cold I could feel it deep in my bones. They had many blankets covering me, but I couldn't get warm no matter how many they laid on top of my body. Also, I couldn’t move. The low temperature somehow left me feeling paralyzed.

  I could hear Rebekah’s frightened voice next to me, but I couldn’t open my eyes or turn my head to comfort her. Someone applied gel to my skin and then attached me to wires as if I were a marionette. Voices came and went, and every now and then, a glow of light seeped into the darkness.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, I began to warm up. A welcoming heat radiated from the center of my chest, thawing me from the inside out. The pain in my legs also lessened. I assumed they must’ve given me drugs to make me comfortable, because that was how I felt. Comfortable.

  Slowly, the chaos around me became softer and softer, as if I had cotton in my ears. However, I didn’t care. I wasn’t bothered by anything. My soul smiled, something I hadn’t felt since Andy. That sense of complete peace. An unwavering belief that everything was as it was meant to be.

  Then everything went black.

  I came to a few seconds before blinking my eyes open. I seemed to be stuck in the confusion-laden space that comes immediately after waking up—those few moments when nothing makes sense, and you can’t tell the difference between your dream and real life. But as soon as I saw the sun in the sky, I realized the source of the heat that coursed through my body.

  I sat up, not understanding why I would’ve taken a nap in the grass. But before I had a chance to contemplate that, I caught movement in the distance. The rush of running water filled my ears, and as I moved closer to the sound, I found what I was looking for.

  What I’d been looking for my entire life.

  “You made it.” His lips split into the most infectious smile. Something more than absolute happiness consumed me. And when he reached out and twirled my long blond hair around his fingers, just like he always had, I fell against h
im, wrapping my arms around his trim waist. He nestled my head against his chest, beneath his chin, and hummed contentment.

  “You came.” I almost sounded shocked, though that wasn’t how I felt. Grateful and elated would be more like it. “I didn’t think you would.”

  He pulled away and placed his finger on the dimple in my chin before directing my attention to his face. “Why wouldn’t I? Trust me, Emily McKinney, death is the only thing that would’ve kept me from getting to you—and even that I’d fight until the bitter end.”

  This was the happiest I’d ever been, and nothing could ruin it.

  “Are you ready to start the rest of our lives together?”

  His smile grew impossibly wider. “I’ve been ready, my love.” He squeezed me tighter, pressing my ear firmly against his hard chest, which caused his words to reverberate into me rather than be heard. “I’ve just been waiting on you.”

  “Have you been waiting long?”

  “It felt like a lifetime.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. As far as I knew, I wasn’t late. However, I couldn’t seem to remember how I got here or where I came from. I had no idea of the time or even what day of the week it was. But none of that mattered because we were together once again. Just like we planned a year ago in this very spot.

  It was time for our forever to begin.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Kenny

  My stomach was in my throat as I made my way from the dirt-covered parking lot to the main office. It’d been more than two weeks since Drew left me standing in my front yard. And since then, there’d been nothing but radio silence from him. My texts went unanswered, calls left unreturned. I couldn’t fathom why he’d treat me as if I had done something wrong. So I decided to ask him that very question myself.