Page 103 of The Hawthorne Legacy
“Biology isn’t everything.”
I knew in that moment that I’d gotten this much right: Toby had sought me out after my mother died. He had been watching me. He had wanted to make sure that I was okay.
“My mom and I had this game,” I told him, trying my best not to cry. “We had lots of games, actually—but this one, her favorite, it was about secrets.”
He stared off into the distance for a moment. “I made her promise never to tell you—about me, about my family. But if it was just a game, if you guessed…” He looked back at me, and his own eyes were shining. “Damn it, Hannah.”
“How the hell was I supposed to guess?” The words burst out of my mouth. I was furious suddenly—at her, at him. “She said that she had a secret about the day I was born.”
Toby said nothing.
“You signed my birth certificate.” I wanted answers. He owed me that at least.
He reached out to lay a hand against my cheek. “There was a storm that night,” he said quietly. “Worst one I’d ever seen—Hawthorne Island included. I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I’d managed to stay away from Hannah for three long years. But something brought me back. I just wanted to see her again, even if I couldn’t let her see me.
“She was pregnant. Forecasts were calling for a hurricane. And she was alone. I was going to stay away. She was never supposed to know that I was there, but then the power went out—and she went into labor.”
With me. I couldn’t say that out loud, couldn’t say anything, couldn’t even tell him that my mother had been capable of making decisions for herself.
“The ambulance didn’t make it in time,” Toby said, his voice growing hoarse. “She needed someone.”
“You.” I managed one word this time—just one.
“I brought you into this world, Avery Kylie Grambs.”
There it was. My mother’s secret. Toby was there the night I was born. He’d delivered me. I wondered what my mom had felt, seeing him again after years. I wondered if he’d called her Hannah, O Hannah, and if she’d tried to make him stay.
“Avery Kylie Grambs.” I repeated the last words Toby had said to me. There was something about the way he’d said my full name. “It’s an anagram.” I swallowed again, and for some reason, whatever force had been holding back my tears gave way. “But you knew that.”
Toby didn’t deny it. “Your mom had a middle name all picked out. Kylie—like Kaylie but minus a letter.”
That hit me hard. I’d never known that I was named after my mother’s sister. I’d never known about Kaylie at all.
“Hannah was set on giving you Ricky’s last name,” Toby continued. “But she didn’t like the first name he’d picked out.”
Natasha. “Ricky wasn’t there.” I blinked back tears and stared at Toby. “You were.”
“Something Kylie Grambs.” Toby smiled and gave a little shrug. “I couldn’t resist.”
He was a Hawthorne. He loved puzzles and riddles and codes. “You chose my name.” I didn’t phrase it as a question. “You suggested Avery.”
“A Very Risky Gamble.” Toby looked down. “What I took that night. What Hannah took when she nursed me back to life, knowing what her family would do to her if they found out.”
A Very Risky Gamble—the reason Tobias Hawthorne had left me his fortune. Had he recognized his son’s fingerprints all over that name? Had he suspected, from the moment he heard it, that I was a link to Toby?
“When the ambulance got there, I disappeared,” Toby continued. “I snuck into the hospital one last time to see you both.”
“You signed the birth certificate,” I said.
“With your father’s name, not mine. It was the least he owed her.”
“And then you left.” I stared at him, trying not to hate him for that.
“I had to.”
Something like fury rose up inside me. “No, you didn’t.” My mom had loved him. She’d spent her entire life loving him, and I’d never even known.
“You have to understand. My father’s resources were unlimited. He never stopped looking for me. I had to stay on the move if I wanted to stay dead.”
