Chapter Eighteen

Skeet

 

I was completely shocked by everything Celeste had said. She left me damn near speechless. How could she put herself in danger to raise someone else’s child... My daughter. She loved my little girl as her own. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her even more...and I wanted to be able to tell Martina how sorry I was for what I had done to her.

I took away her innocence. Part of me felt like a monster.

Celeste had nothing to apologize about and I told her as I stood up on the dock and helped her up. I was the one that had to apologize to everyone. At that moment, I just wanted to hold her in my arms. I wanted to thank her for being brave. I wanted to make up for so many things and my heart nearly broke at her words that made me feel like she still didn’t trust me or believe how much I loved her.

“I was afraid to tell you about Veeta...besides the dangers. I love her and I was afraid you’d be angry and take her away from me... She only knows—”

I immediately cut her off. “You’re her mother. I would never do that to her or you. Celeste, I meant it every time I said I loved you.” I held her closer, tighter.

I never wanted to let her go or leave her side again.

“Hey, you two! Give it a rest! And get up to the house! Clancy’s friend Mercer’s up at the house along with our family lawyers.” Conrad was shouting at us from the end of the dock with his hands on his hips—very fatherly, as usual.

“We better go.” She released her arms from around me and I, reluctantly, pulled back. “Can you grab Veeta’s mermaid rod?” She was gathering up her own stuff.

I was reminded of the little girl calling me Mister and I was trying to keep my wits about me. She had just told me so many shocking things and I didn’t have time to tell her my feelings even though I wasn’t sure what they were. It was probably best to focus on my daughter and her future...her happiness.

“You know you have a very unhappy little lady wanting to fish?” Celeste laughed as I told her how she begged me to tell her mommy that she wanted to fish too.

As we walked along, she told me things about Veeta, including her love of fishing with the mermaid pole I held in my hand and how smart she was—too smart.

I couldn’t wait to get to know her.

It was as if Celeste was reading my mind. “We need to figure out how to tell Veeta once we hear what they found out... We could ease her into getting to know you, but... I don’t want her to think I was keeping things from her. Maybe we pull off the bandage fast and see what she says...” 

I let Celeste rattle off a few different scenarios and decided that she knew her child better than anyone and would come up with the right thing to do. I was just happy to have both of them in my life and hoped that they liked...loved the plan I had come up with. I, also, hoped that I hadn’t jumped the gun, making plans without asking her... I could always find a way out if it didn’t work out, but I didn’t think about it negatively either.

First, we had to know what was on the microchip.

Depositing the fishing gear in a room of the barn, I grabbed Celeste with both of my hands on her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. I needed so much more. I had missed her so much when I had been traveling and meeting with the Beauclaires. I was back to tell her what I had put into motion and hoping that she loved my proposal. What had unfolded was the last thing I ever imagined.

I just wanted to pretend...to get lost in that space in time where no one else existed or mattered. I wanted to wash away everything that surrounded us. Once we walked into the house and heard the news, we would be changed forever...more than we already were after Celeste’s big reveal.

I found myself shaking my head and breaking our kiss too soon and uttering the words “we’ll make this work” against her lips before we pulled apart.

I wasn’t sure I liked how Celeste changed the subject. “We better get up to the house or Conrad will be looking for us again.” I hoped that it was nothing more than fear of what was facing us.

Holding hands, we walked into the house and found everyone parked at the dining room table: Cordelia, Henry, Conrad, Clancy, two well-groomed men wearing suits I didn’t know, and a biker dude with short hair and a full beard I recognized from my pop’s shop—who I learned was Mercer.

“This is Skeet Remington...” Celeste introduced me and I shook hands with the three men before we grabbed two empty chairs side by side.

“Good that you’re here,” Mercer said directly to me as he began to tell us about what was found on the micro-chip.

The following information was detailed on it: A birth certificate for Veeta Corday Remington that listed Celeste Corday Archer as her mother and Skeet Remington as her father. Then there were a few other documents mixed with several newspaper articles confirming arrests and deaths of two prominent families suspected of organized wrong doings. Along with everything, there were two words Coast Clear.

By the end of the meeting, I would say that we were all overwhelmed. It was almost unbelievable to hear about everything the two families were involved in—like a mafia movie. It had me wondering where the information had come from or who. The lawyers assured all of us that the documentation had come from people working in the legal field. Most likely things had been set up ahead of time since Martina had left a handwritten note for Celeste to find if anything happened to her. My main concern was that everyone—especially Celeste and Veeta—was safe and that we all could breathe freely.

“Oh. One last thing,” Mercer turned to Celeste as he was heading for the front door. “Here’s the locket for Veeta.” She reached out and took the gold chain with the dangling heart from his extended hand.

Clancy chimed in with a smile on her face. “Open it. I think you’re going to like what you see.”

With all eyes on Celeste, she opened it and tears immediately began to fall down her slightly sunburnt cheeks. After hearing her sister’s comment, I had to assume that they were happy tears flowing freely.

“It’s me holding Veeta right after she was born and... And a picture of Skeet and me when we first met.” She looked up in my direction and turned the locket to show me. “On the old green tractor your pop fixed all of the time.”

I remembered taking that picture well. It was the beginning of us. The other photo was the beginning of her time with Veeta. I looked forward to taking photos of us together... And yet, I was feeling so many emotions that I couldn’t quite process.

Sorrow. Anger. Remorse.