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Chapter Twenty

"Daughter?" Ned questioned confused, not believing what he'd just heard Jeremy say, that he'd been behaving so mysteriously because he was secretly visiting a child, his child.

"He's lying pa!" Clay interjected angrily determined not to let his father fall for Jeremy's duplicitous act.

"Clay enough!" Ned said firmly. His son grudgingly obeyed the warning, recognizing his father's serious stance. "Am I to understand…" Ned continued, again addressing Jeremy "That you have a daughter?"

Silence.

"Jeremy?" Ned pushed as he studied the boy who was now avoiding his eyes.

Jeremy hesitated a moment then answered…

"Yes…"

Clay sighed heavily, aphonically announcing his disdain, while his father sat back in his chair trying to soak up what he'd just heard. Jeremy Bradford, his 17 year old adopted son, a father, impossible he thought disbelievingly, but felt deep down that the boy was telling the truth.

"How did this…why…please explain this?" Ned finally finished not knowing what to ask or how to ask it.

Jeremy had no desire to relive what had been haunting him for the past year, but he had to, it was the only chance he had to salvage the plans he'd laid to get his daughter.

"Jer …"

"Alright!" the boy said, interrupting Ned's urging. "I'll tell you… I'll explain everything…" Jeremy hesitated again. Then quietly began to speak…

"It all started 2 years ago. That was when the Donovans decided to foster a kid - me. When I first learned that I was being sent to a family that wanted a kid my age…I was excited, I mean it was no secret that being fostered at 15 was rare …so when the Donovans requested an older boy and when I learned that they were wealthy, I thought it was a dream come true…but once I arrived at their home, I found that my dream couldn't be further from the truth…"

"Go on." Ned urged

"Like you both know" Jeremy resumed "The Donovans are extremely rich, but they failed to share any of their…wealth with me…"

"Hmprh" Clay scoffed

"Though I was supposedly apart of their family" the boy continued ignoring Clay's jeer. "Being as I was their new adopted 'son.' I wasn't treated that way…I was given a room in the servant's quarters and I was never allowed to eat with the family unless they had guests. I was forced to work, not doing chores like I do here, but hard labor, like the servants…I was treated like the help…which was okay I guess, considering that's how it had been in every other home I'd lived in, but I was just hoping that it would be different with the Donovans…and I guess you could say in the long run it was, after… I met Anna…"

"I'm sure it was…" Clay retorted disdainfully

"Who's Anna?" Ned questioned after passing Clay a scornful look.

Jeremy didn't answer. For he was fighting to keep his composure, he'd never talked openly to anyone about what he and Anna shared or the tragedy their union had caused. He'd been holding what had happened so close for so long that he didn't think he could let go. He didn't think he could speak freely about what had went on.

"Jeremy" Ned asserted, interrupting the boy's thoughts "Who's Anna?"

"Come on pa!" Clay exclaimed angrily "Can't you see that he's lying?! He knows that if he tells you the truth, that he used Anna to get to her family's fortune you would…"

"Shut up Clay!" Jeremy exploded "You don't know what you're talking about! I never used Anna!"

"Yeah rig…"

"Clay!" Ned interjected furiously as he stood from his chair. "I want you out of here right now!"

"But pa I…"

"I mean it Cl…"

"Anna wasn't some girl I used to run a scam!" Jeremy yelled fiercely, painfully, causing Ned and Clay to cease their sparring. "She was never just 'some' girl…Anna Donovan was my wife!"

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"This isn't what it looks like" Vivian said quickly as she stepped away from Pete to greet her father "I was just thanking…"

"Not a word Vivian!" Her father retorted "I can't believe you'd disgrace yourself this way, and with a stranger…"

"He's not a stranger!" Vivian interjected "I've known Mr. Dixon for months. He's…a friend."

"What!" Asa erupted, giving Pete a look of fury and contempt. He wanted to throttle him right then, but had to keep himself in check. For he didn't want to give Vivian any indication that he and Pete knew each other.

"I don't want to hear another word about this here!" He said angrily "I want you to go!"

"No!" Vivian defied "I won't leave and allow you to treat Mr. Dixon to your fury and disrespect!"

"Vivian you will do as I say. Right now!" Asa roared, now more enraged by his daughter's attempt to protect Pete and her apparent respect for the man.

"But father…"

"No!" Asa yelled "You will go home and wait for me there!"

Vivian wanted to protest more, but she feared her father's temper and didn't want to cause a bigger scene than what had already been made. So she chose to say nothing, only giving Pete a look of worry and sorrow before she scurried off to her awaiting carriage.

Once Vivian was out of ear shot, safely in her carriage and heading home, Asa turned his fury fully upon Pete. Forcing the man into the nearby building and into the first vacant office they came upon.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell you were doing with my daughter?" Asa asked fiercely, once they were behind closed doors.

"I…"

"And don't even bother to conjure up one of your ridiculous lies. Vivian just said you've known each other for months." He interjected angrily. "What the hell are you up to? Where you going to try and use my daughter against me in my plot to destroy Logan?" he finished hotly

"No." Pete said tightly, with a hint of fear "My relationship with Vivia…"

"Your relationship!" Asa interjected with disgust. "You better start explaining yourself or you'll wish you'd never set foot in Lexington."

"Well that would be a mistake" Pete said with renewed confidence. "Because if you hurt me in anyway, you will never know the dirty little secret Sean Logan's been hiding from his family and from the town of Lexington."

Asa's stance quickly changed, the anger he'd just displayed quickly melded into curiosity, and an intense eagerness that spun a look of vengeance in his eyes.

"What secret?!" He now asked with frightening composure. "What do you have on Logan?"

Pete wished there was another way to save himself from Asa's wraith, but knew that nothing besides the truth he'd learned about Sean would deter the man from any acts of retaliation against him. And at the end of the day that's all that mattered he reasoned, saving himself. Though Pete didn't want to see Vivian hurt or Sean wrecked by Asa's vengeful quest, it had to be. For Pete rather it be them destroyed than he.

"I'll give you everything you need to destroy Sean Logan." Pete stated squarely "But only if you nix the threats…otherwise you'll have a reason to fear my…acquaintance with your daughter."

Asa was livid, piqued that Pete had indeed been forging a relationship with his daughter so that he could use her against him. But the man maintained his composure. For now he had to give Pete what he wanted. Then later he'd deal with him accordingly.

"Alright!" Asa finally answered "Whatever you want, now tell me Logan's secret."

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Sean slowly rode his horse towards the small house before him, taking note of the expansive land around it, the beautiful trees whose leaves had transformed into the colors induced by Autumn's embrace. Isaac was right he thought, Cholena was a beautiful town. Now close upon the house, Sean noticed a carriage parked in front of the porch, she had company he thought. But he didn't care. Nothing was going to stop him from what he'd come there to do. After he'd read Marita's letter, he could hardly wait for the train's next stop, and when it came, he departed his trip home and caught the next train north, to Michigan. He knew that it was a risk, committing such an impulsive act, but it didn't matter. He had to see her. He had to tell her exactly what was in his heart. Spotting a tree near the side of the house, Sean stopped his horse there, then carefully descended the steed, tying it's reigns to the tree's steady trunk. He then turned towards the house, again observing it's quaintness, it's beauty. Then inhaling slowly, deeply, he decisively moved forward.