Chapter 15 #2
Fawn didn’t mind looking through her mother’s writings, because doing so made her feel as if her mother was actually in the room chatting to her.
But she doubted the three men were as enamored of her mother’s comments on the social or political situation of the time, which seemed to be the main subject of the writings.
Fawn heaved a silent sigh of relief when her own journal revealed her mother as being pregnant with her and later giving birth to her and naming her Fawn.
It had been a worry at the back of Fawn’s mind that she might not be the daughter of Andrew Meadows and Lisa Brooks. She was very relieved to know that she was.
They all tensed when, half an hour into reading the journals, River drew in a sharp and hissing breath.
He looked up, his face pale. “Found it.”
Fawn crossed the room so that she could sit on the arm of his chair in a silent offer of support.
River swallowed. “Here, you read it.” He handed her the journal.
Fawn began to read the passage he had indicated aloud.
“Andrew is so angry with me. When he and Fawn returned from picking apples for a local farmer, and he saw the little boy I had rescued, he told me I had to take him back. But how could I do that, so many hours after the accident? How could I explain to the local police that I had seen the car as I was walking back from the local shop? The car was on its roof, and I could hear a child crying inside the wreckage. I ran to it and pulled open the driver’s door.
There was blood and glass from the broken windscreen everywhere.
The man behind the wheel was obviously dead, and so was the woman sitting next to him.
The little boy was in the back, hanging upside down because he was strapped tightly into a child seat.
It was pure instinct for me to unfasten the seat belt and catch him before he could fall and hurt himself.
He looks to be about four, not a baby, and I didn’t want him to see all that blood, or that his mother and father were dead.
He stopped crying as I carried him away from the car.
I talked to him all the time, soothing him, reassuring him he was safe now.
I don’t remember what happened next. One minute, I was walking away from the accident, and the next, I was standing on the towpath next to our canal boat, with that gorgeous little boy still in my arms. I think I fell in love with him the moment I held him for the first time.
I can’t give him back. I just can’t. His mother and father are dead, which means he'll probably be put in an orphanage or with family that didn’t really want him if I give him back.
I want him. Andrew argued against it, but I’m adamant.
He’s my little boy now. I’m going to call him River. ”
Fawn looked up, thankfully having come to the end of that damning passage, because the tears swimming in her eyes and falling in a constant hot stream down her cheeks prevented her from seeing any more of the written words.
“She did it. She took Connall and renamed him River,” Fawn choked. “I am so sorry, Declan. So very, very sorry for the heartache you’ve suffered all these years, not knowing where your son was or even if he was still alive, because of my mother.”
Declan’s face was ashen, but his eyes burned with a fierce emotion as he stared at River. “Was Connall loved?”
“Very much.”
He nodded. “Was he happy?”
“I believe so.”
He turned to River. “Were you?”
River released a shaky breath before speaking. “I loved Andrew and Lisa, and yes, I was very loved and happy.”
“Then that’s all that matters,” Declan said shakily.
“Our upbringing was a little…unorthodox, but filled with love, always,” River reassured. “And Fawn has been, still is, the best big sister anyone could ever wish for.”
“Thank you,” she accepted huskily.
He reached out to grasp and then squeeze her hand.
“But if I’m being truly honest, inside me I always knew something—some one was missing.
There was this hollow space inside me where someone I had known and who loved me with all their heart should have been.
I realize now that was you, Da.” Tears glistened in his eyes as he released Fawn’s hand to cross the room and stand in front of where Declan sat.
“I might not remember everything about the past, but I do know that I’ve missed you, Da. ”
Declan’s control snapped as he surged to his feet and pulled the younger man into his arms.
He and River/Connall hugged for long, emotional minutes, holding each other tightly, as if they were afraid the other one might somehow disappear again. Tears streamed down both their faces. Happy tears.
Finally, Declan pulled back enough to reach up and cradle his son’s face as he stared at him intently.
“I might not have been there, but I have loved you all your life. Every second of it,” he stated firmly.
“The sooner we get you a kidney transplant and I start being a fusspot, a brother-in-law, and your da, the better,” he added lightly.
“Maybe you can throw being a father-in-law in there whenever River says yes,” Danny put in softly.
River grinned at him. “You’ll need to ask me first.” He turned to Declan. “You’re already a fusspot and my da. I’m sure you’ll be my brother-in-law soon too.”
Declan glanced across at Fawn. “As soon as it can be arranged.”
That arranging took a little longer than Declan might have hoped.
First, there were tests for Declan and River on the day after the journal had revealed that Fawn’s mother had rescued River from a car crash and never given him back.
Those tests revealed that Declan was a suitable kidney donor for River.
A DNA test at the same time confirmed what they all already knew: River was Declan’s son.
The two men had discussed the matter of River’s name, and both had agreed that this was a fresh start for them and that River should choose his name. River, if that’s what he was comfortable with. It was.
From those same tests, Mark Reynolds was also able to reassure them that River’s kidney disease wasn’t inherited from his grandmother, but rather one of those anomalies that often occur in life.
Fawn had been a mess the day the kidney transplant took place, pacing the halls of the hospital for the whole of the time River and Declan were in surgery. Danny had kept her company, as worried as Fawn was that he might lose the man he loved if something went wrong with the operation.
It didn’t.
The transplant was a complete success, and within weeks, it was as if River had never been chronically ill.
He and Danny moved into an apartment together, given to them by Declan, and a couple of floors below the penthouse apartment.
River was also due to resume his university course the following September.
Declan’s recovery was just as miraculous.
So much so that he was able to walk Thea down the aisle at her wedding, as promised, just two weeks after the operation, much to Fergus Wynter’s delight.
Fawn and Declan’s wedding took place two weeks after that one. River proudly walked Fawn down the aisle and placed her hand in Declan’s before just as proudly moving to stand at his da’s side in his role as his best man.
River would forever be both Fawn’s brother and Declan’s son.
Fawn and Declan spent their honeymoon aboard the eight-berth yacht Declan had purchased and named for her.
And later that night, as the two of them lay in bed together in the main bedroom, Fawn told him of the wedding present she had for him.
He would have to wait another seven and a half months to receive it, but from the way Declan’s face lit up with fierce happiness, Fawn didn’t think he was going to mind the wait.