Ch 8

Bella reluctantly said goodbye to Taker the next afternoon. She wasn't looking forward to heading home with Hunter and Samantha for the holidays. She busied herself with the last of christmas preparation the moment they got back home trying to keep her mind occupied. She was finishing up wrapping on Christmas eve morning when Hunter came looking for her.

"Hey, do you have some time? I want to show you something," Hunter asked.

"I have to start cooking dinner in a few hours," she answered, looking at the clock.

"It won't take that long, come on," Hunter motioned for her to follow him. He grabbed her coat and handed it to her. "The nanny is still here. She will leave once we get back."

"Where are we going?"

"You want to know the secret Sable and I have. I'm going to show you then I'll explain," he said, opening the car door for her. Bella didn't say anything, just got in the car. She wasn't sure what to expect as they drove through town. When Hunter pulled into the graveyard where Samantha's mother Angela was buried she looked at him with surprise.

"Why are we here?" she asked as he drove down one of the roads coming to a stop.

"Come on, I'll show you," he got out of the car walking towards a line of gravestones. He got to one with a small angel statue on the top. Bella joined him looking at the writing seeing the name Sabrina Helmsley etched with August 3rd 1987 to August 3rd 1987 underneath.

"I don't understand, who is Sabrina?"

"She is the secret Sable and I share. Sable was pregnant and didn't realize till it was too late to stop her destructive ways from killing our baby," Hunter's voice broke as tears came to his eyes. "Her drinking and probably her coke habit caused her to miscarry our daughter. I was so mad at her. Mom and Dad handled everything. We hid Sable's miscarriage from everyone. I didn't even tell Angela. She was under enough stress being pregnant then Sable attacked her and she kept watching her back thinking Sable was going to attack her again. Everyone just thought Sable was in rehab for her alcohol and drug issues. She was getting help for those things but she was also getting counseling to deal with losing the baby. We made an agreement when she got released that we would never talk about Sabrina again but her crazy ass keeps bringing it up now. It was her own damn fault if she would have stopped with the drinking and drugs Sabrina may be alive today."

"How the hell did you hide this? I saw Sable numerous times before she went into rehab. She didn't look pregnant."

"You don't remember her wearing big shirts? You didn't think it was weird she wasn't wearing skimpy outfits anymore?" he asked as Bella thought back remembering Sable did change her outfits once she moved in but Bella always thought that was out of respect for her parents.

"I wish you guys would have just told me."

"Mom and Dad made sure no one knew. Everyone was concentrating on Angela," Hunter said, seeing the anger in Bella's eyes.

"I can't believe you hide that you had another baby three months before Samantha was born. Now I understand why you were such a mess at that time and all the hush hush conversations with our parents. Are there any other secrets I need to know?"

"No, Bella this is it. I'm sorry our parents didn't want you to know. I wish Sable would just drop it and move on. My guilt for not doing more to help her when she was pregnant still haunts me so I keep helping her. I want her to have a good life. I can't bring our daughter back but I can keep trying to help Sable," Hunter ran his fingers over the top of the gravestone. "Please don't tell Samatha about this. I will tell her in my own way when the time is right."

"It's not my place to tell Sami but you should have told me. As far as Sable, I understand now why you keep her in your life and respect your decision. You better not keep any secrets from me again. I tell you everything and I expect the same from you. You and Samantha are the only true family I have left. I care about Uncle Bill and his family but you two are my world. Promise me you will never keep things from me again," Bella stared at him letting him feel every inch of her pain from his betrayal.

"I promise Bella. I'm sorry," Hunter crossed the distance between them. He cautiously reached out, pulling her into a hug. She resisted at first then gave in, hugging him tightly.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Hunter," she whispered.

"It's ok, it's for the best, Sable would have made Sabrina's life a living hell. It took her years to get clean and even now she is an unpredictable mess."

"I guess everything happens for a reason."

"It does Bella and this was for the best," Hunter said, rubbing his tears away. "Come on, let's go make Christmas eve dinner. I have some more wrapping to do too and I got a special box to put Mom's gold chain in for Sami." Bella nodded in agreement following her brother back to the car. They drove back in silence as Bella was still trying to come to grips the Hunter and her parents had hid Sable losing a baby from her.

Bella was lying in her bed listening to Christmas music after helping Hunter put all of Samantha's gifts out under the tree. Her mind was still racing from what Hunter had revealed to her earlier. Her cell phone started to ring, breaking her thoughts.

"Hey darling, Merry Christmas," Mark's voice made her smile as the butterflies started happily dancing in her stomach.

"Merry Christmas, how was your Christmas eve?"

"It was ok. Jessica and I went out for dinner then exchanged gifts. She loved the makeup kit and clothes you guys got her. She spends Christmas with her Mom tomorrow. I'm going to meet up with Kane for dinner. How was yours?"

"I'm glad Jessica liked her gifts. We had a nice dinner. I found out Hunter's secret before dinner," she said knowing she could tell Mark and he wouldn't tell anyone else.

"What was it?"

"Sable and him lost a baby a few months before Samantha was born."

"What the hell? Are you serious? He is just telling you this now," Taker exclaimed, shocked Hunter had kept something like that from Bella.

"He took me to the baby's grave site. Her name was Sabrina."

"Awww Bella, are you ok?" Mark's voice filled with concern.

"I'm fine, I just can't believe he kept this from me."

"That's definitely very messed up. Is he going to tell Sami?"

"He will one day," Bella said wondering how Samantha would handle hearing about her father's past.

"We will be there if Sami needs an ear after he tells her," Taker said, making Bella smile at how he always looked out for Samantha. "I know you're going to be busy tomorrow morning so I was calling to see if you would open your christmas gift from me while I was on the phone with you now."

"I'll open mine if you open yours."

"Fair deal darling," he went into his living room where his Christmas gift from Bella was. She had told him to expect a delivery when he got home but he didn't expect such a big box. "Ok you open your gift first."

"Ok Mark," she grabbed the gift off her dresser, going to sit near the Christmas tree in her bedroom. She opened the card and her heart skipped happily as she read his note saying Thank you for being his best friend and always making his days worlds better. He added he hoped she knew how much she meant to him. She softly sighed as tears came to her eyes.

"Bella, are you ok?"

"Yes, your note was very sweet thank you," she swallowed hard, opening the gift. Her eyes went wide when she saw a heart necklace. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she saw it was an aquamarine heart edged with diamonds. "Oh Mark, I love it. Thank you so much."

"I remembered aquamarine was your birthstone. I wanted you to have something to wear to remind you I'm thinking of you," he softly said, bringing a new rush of tears to her eyes.

"This means so much to me. It's going to be my new good luck charm not going to take it off," she put it on, running her fingers over her heart.

"I'm so happy you like it."

"Open your gift please," Bella said, hoping she had gotten him the right thing. Taker opened her card first reading her sweet message to himself. He couldn't help smiling reading how much she appreciated all he had done for her and how much she needed him in her life. He opened the other envelope inside, finding a gift certificate to his favorite golf course.

"Bella, thank you for the card and the gift certificate. I love what you wrote," he said, ripping the paper on the big box revealing a cardboard box with no markings. He grabbed his pocket knife cutting the tape on it and his mouth fell open. "Bella, this is too much. I can't believe you did this," he stared at the new golf bag and clubs he had been talking about getting for the last year.

"I knew you were just going to keep talking about them and going back and forth about getting them. So with Kane's help I got them. When you have time you can go to the pro shop where I got them and switch out any of the clubs that are not right," she said, listening to him deeply sighing and hearing him pacing around.

"Woman what am I going to do with you?" he exclaimed, not believing she had gone so overboard for his gift.

"Hmmm keep putting up with my pain in the ass ways," she laughed.

"Bella, thank you so much. This is an amazing gift," he sat down still in shock she had gotten him something he had wanted for over a year. "You are going to have to come play golf with me now."

"I haven't played in years but I would love to," she leaned back on the chair wrapping a blanket around herself wishing she could be with him right now and see his handsome face.

"We are going to play soon darling. Maybe next Christmas we can actually spend time together and exchange gifts in person."

"I would love that," she really wished that would come true.

"Are you in a rush to get off the phone?" he asked hoping she wasn't.

"No, I'm done with all the Christmas morning prep just relaxing now."

"Do you want to talk to me till you fall asleep?"

"Maybe you'll fall asleep first," she giggled knowing most of the time they had conversations at night she would fall asleep on the phone.

"Who knows it could happen. Let's keep talking and see what happens," he said, filling her heart with such warmth. They ended up talking for the next few hours about what their holidays were like in the past. They were both enjoying getting to know more about one another's past. They started talking about the new year and what Taker's schedule might be like. Bella didn't mean to but she drifted off to sleep when he was explaining some of the ideas Vince had brought up for the new year. Taker listened to her sleeping, drifting finally off to his own sleep. They both dreamed about one another not realizing the new year was about to bring some new surprises as fate was about to step in and change their lives.