My Spy 6: Private Eye

NutJob

Three hours later, I am standing with my back against my front door with my arms wrapped around Martha Stewart's to-do list binder. Our house has almost a completely open floor plan, with only one wall blocking me from view. I can hear Ryan in the kitchen and I know once he spots me, he's going to ask how it went and I don't even know how to answer that question. 

After my mother dropped her bombshell, I forced her to talk to me. And after a lot of yelling and hysterics, she finally dropped onto her vanity stool and told me everything. I know I am going to be tasked with filling Austin in, so a part of me wanted to call him on the way back and have him come home with Ryan, while the other part of me wanted to digest it first and then bring Austin in. 

Ryan unexpectedly rounds the corner and catches me at the door, "Whatcha doin'?" I drop the binder from my chest as I reply, "Digesting."

"Did you have bad chicken salad again?" He asks and this gets a laugh out of me. I shake my head and push off the door. I start toward the kitchen and he follows behind me, "I need wine." I cross into the back of our house where the kitchen island sits, but bypass the stools and head straight for glassware.

"Is our wedding planned?" He asks and I hand him the binder, "Nope. Well, not any more than it was this morning."

"You were gone all afternoon," he states as he flips through the binder and I continue to march over to the cupboard to grab a wine glass. 

"I was, but it wasn't because I was wedding planning." I slide him a bottle of red for him to uncork and he gives me a questioning stare. "She finally spilled the beans on Diane." He stops tugging the cork out and says, "Oh shit." 

"Yeah, oh shit is right."

"Do I need to make popcorn for this or am I grabbing whiskey?" He asks me while he slides the bottle back. 

I laugh, "A bit of both."

"You want to tell me right?" 

I nod, "Oh yeah, I can't keep all this to myself." After pouring myself a hefty portion, I nod toward the back patio and he follows me to the swing he set up to the right of the door. We face the wide treeline and it's finally cooled off to where it's comfortable to be outside at this hour. I tuck myself into him and his cotton tee and wonder where to start. He lets me stay in my head a moment, putting together a timeline, and then I finally pull away from his warmth and say, "I'm gonna try and nutshell this. So...I guess my father and Diane were high school sweethearts. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

I nod, "Yeah, and apparently, that car you found is my father's and he used to drive it around in high school. Drive him and Diane around that is."

"Is only one woman allowed per vehicle? Am I going to have to trade in my truck?" I swat at him as I reply, "I'm getting to the point of the car, listen." He nods and I continue, "Well apparently Diane was considered riff-raff to the Sweeneys. She was the Annabeth of their day, trying to put her talons into one of the rich guys in Hollis."

"Okay..."

"Well, the rumor was that my father had gotten her pregnant their senior year. He wanted to marry her, but my grandparents thought Diane was lying or it was a rouse to trap him. They told my father if he was going to be with Diane, they were going to cut him off completely. Well, like Dash said, word got 'round that she was pregnant and then suddenly she was off to Texas to start fresh, without my father. According to my mother, she thinks the Sweeneys either paid her to take care of it, or she was lying and she ran off with a massive check."

"Oh shit, no one ever found out if she was?" 

"I guess my father found out she had a miscarriage after she ran off with the check, but no proof it was his though. They ran into each other in Dallas, years later, after he married my mother. Now, I knew my grandparents put that marriage together, I just didn't realize it was to save face. Pageant queen and Hollis Belle, Delilah Liddle is exactly what the Sweeneys wanted to put ol' Diane LeProwse in the rearview."