Page 31 of Kindred Lies
Chapter 17
Amethyst’s eyelids fluttered open and she saw three sets of eyes completely focused on her. She turned and met each gaze individually. Cooper’s was full of love and concern. Her mother’s was a mixture of anxiety and affection, and her father’s… Amethyst swallowed hard. Nick believed he was her father. That didn’t mean he actually was. Something about it struck her as true though. Her mother never told Amethyst his name and had only said he’d died. She never wanted to talk about the man who’d help create her. If Nick really was that man… She swallowed hard and studied him. He’d been so difficult with her when they first met. The man had a suspicious nature and questioned everything. It wasn’t unlike her outlook and way of living her life. She stopped being innocent years ago.
When Nick looked at her his gaze held so many things in it. There was everything that was in Cooper’s and her mother’s gaze; as well as, so many more emotions. Sure he was concerned and he seemed to hold some sort of affection for her. If he believed she was his daughter that made a strange kind of sense. Amongst those emotions was all a little bit of unease, sadness, loss, and anger. The anger probably wasn’t directed at her, but at what they’d lost in not knowing each other from the start. All the years they had lost. Those cerulean eyes held so much in them and made him almost…naked before her. There were no secrets in them and it helped Amethyst understand the man a little better. She couldn’t keep looking at him anymore. It hurt too much. She turned her attention back to her mother. “Is it true?”
Her mother backed away and stood. She wouldn’t look at Amethyst and she seemed to ignore her question. Amethyst pushed away from the floor and brushed past Cooper and Nick. Her mother owed her the truth and Amethyst would see that she gave it to her. She was tired of the lies.
Amethyst headed toward her mother with a purpose. She ignored Nick and Cooper. They could wait until after she was done with her mother. She loved Lyoness. Would always love her mother. How could she not? But that didn’t mean she would be a doormat for her mother to stomp all over. She was done being the meek little girl striving for approval. Part of the reason she was so lost was because of the decisions her mother made. It was time for Amethyst to take control of her life. She placed her hand on her mother’s shoulder. Lyoness turned toward her but still wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Tell me,” Amethyst demanded. “Is Nicholas Drake my father.” She kept her tone even and firm. She didn’t want to give her mother any leeway. Lyoness Keane would give her the answers she sought.
When her mother started to speak her tone was devoid of all emotion. “There is so much I haven’t told you,” Lyoness said. “I thought I was protecting you. Still believe that.” Lyoness lifted her gaze to meet Amethyst’s “My family…” She cleared her throat. “We’re cursed. The women have always been cursed to love and loss.” Her mother swallowed hard. “I didn’t believe not really, not until…” She glanced over at Nick. “…he died.”
She didn’t answer Amethyst’s question but rambled on with things Amethyst hadn’t particularly cared about. That wasn’t what she needed to know. What she craved more than anything. She’d always wanted a father. Wondered what her life would be like if he hadn’t died. What did she care about family curses? That was as nonsensical as Marianne’s ramblings in her journal. She snapped her head upward and latched on to her mother’s arm. “Mom,” she said harshly. “There is no such things as curses.” Amethyst didn’t want her mother to turn into the broken soul Marianne had. She could still have more from her life than flitting from man to man trying to find some sort of affection.
Her mother shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “You’re wrong. I’m cursed. My mother was cursed and my grandmother… It goes back so many generations.”
“That can’t be true.” Amethyst had to find a way to make her see reason.
Lyoness ignored her and stared at Nick. Both males had remained quiet while Amethyst talked to her mother. She didn’t know why. Perhaps they wanted to understand as much as Amethyst did. Either way she was grateful for it. Now Lyoness couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off of Nick. There was…love there. “I didn’t believe either,” she said. “How could I? Surely, my grandmother was wrong. She’d went on and on and on when I was a kid about not falling in love.” Lyoness sighed. “I thought it was the bitterness of a lonely old woman.”
“Why have you never told me any of this?” Lyoness didn’t share anything about her family with Amethyst. It had always irritated her. Her mother would just dismiss her questions and say it was nothing for her to concern herself with. She grated her teeth together. “Tell me everything now.”
“My grandmother raised me,” she began. “Her first husband died under some mysterious circumstances. I never did learn how and it was one of the few things she refused to talk about.” She waved her hand. “But that was only the beginning or rather the death of her son was. Her husband died while she was pregnant with my mother.” She walked over to the lounge area and sat on one of the overstuffed sofas. Lyoness dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. “I never knew my mother. Perhaps that is why I’ve always been so dismissive of it all.”
“I don’t understand,” Amethyst said. How could she really when she didn’t know any of what her mother was speaking of. Someone placed a hand on her shoulder and she glanced up to meet Nick’s gaze.
“Let me,” he said. “I do know some of this…”
She nodded at him reluctantly.
He went over to sit beside her mother on the sofa. “Ly,” he said softly. “Can you continue?”
She turned and met his gaze. A tear slipped from her eyes. He lifted his hand and wiped it away gently. “I still can’t believe you’re here…”
“I am Ly,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere ever again.”
She nodded at him and took a deep breath, then continued her story. “My grandmother came by her bitterness naturally. Life had dealt her so many bad blows. Even her second husband was taken from her. She married Daniel Keane before he was shipped off to the Vietnam War. He, from all accounts, adored her and my mother, Elizabeth. He even adopted my mother…”
She paused and turned to Amethyst. “I had hoped to find a man willing to do that for you as well. I know I haven’t always been the best mother.” Her voice wobbled as she spoke. “I wanted so much for you. I thought by not telling you any of this I would protect you from the curse.”
“There is no…”
“Don’t tell me that,” her mother demanded. “You don’t know it all yet.”
“Then finish it,” Amethyst told her.
“My mother fell in love with a soldier. Grandmother told her it was a bad idea. She’d lost Daniel to war and she didn’t want her daughter to lose the man she loved to the very same war. The Vietnam war spanned so many years…” Her mother sniffled. “They were supposed to get married after he came home. He died before the war ended. My mother was pregnant with me, and well, she died during the birth.”
Amethyst felt sick. Some of the reasons her mother acted as she did was starting to make so much sense. She purposely chose people she couldn’t see herself becoming attached to. When she discovered she was pregnant she must have been terrified and then she’d believed Nick had died… “So that is why your grandmother raised you?”
“I’ve always found it a little ironic that we’re all living with the last name Keane when none of us are actually blood relatives to them…” She sighed. “My grandfather’s name is Easton Hill.” She turned toward Cooper and said. “He used to own this inn. When Amethyst told me where she was I feared she’d discovered my secrets and that is the reason I insisted on coming.” Her voice broke as she glanced over at Amethyst. “I’m so sorry I kept all of this from you.”
Marianne and Easton Hill were her great-grandparents? How? That was almost too much to take in. What were the chances that she’d latch on to a story about her very own family? Was that why the ghost of Easton Hill had visited her in the cave? Did he want her to read the journals to uncover the truth? Amethyst had so many questions… “What made you believe in the curse?”
She stared at the fireplace and stayed silent for several minutes. When she started to speak again her voice was almost devoid of emotion. “I met Nick at a New Year’s Eve party. We had some mutual friends, but that doesn’t really matter does it.” Lyoness shook her head.
“I’ve always thought it was serendipity,” he said softly. He turned toward Amethyst. “I fell in love with her instantly. She was breathtaking, vibrant, and beautiful inside and out. Who wouldn’t love her?” He caressed her hair. “But her grandmother fell ill and she went to visit her. I offered to go with her.”
“You met Marianne?” Amethyst asked.
