Lost and Found [Harvest Moon: A New Beginning]

Answers

"You what?" Neil shouted, jumping to his feet, shocked by Rio's announcement.

"Wh-wh-what did you say?" Vaughn stammered, his face draining to white. He scrambled up and back from the table, getting tangled up in his chair and falling to the floor in the process. Sitting in a jumbled heap, he stared up at her, stunned and speechless.

"The morning you left," she resumed, looking calmly down at Vaughn, "I took a test. I was late, you see, but I wasn't sure—so I hadn't said anything to you. I didn't want to upset you with a false alarm. When the test came up positive, I took off and ran for the boat, trying to get there in time to catch you... but I didn't get there in time.

Neil sat back down again, watching Rio with a peculiar expression. He wasn't sure how he felt about this new revelation—and he wondered why she hadn't said anything to him. He didn't have much experience with women and relationships, but wasn't having a kid the sort of thing you'd mention to your boyfriend? Still, he'd give her a chance to finish telling her story. He wanted to be fair, to not rush to the wrong conclusion. She must have had her reasons.

Meanwhile, Vaughn extricated himself from the chair, righted it, and once again sat down. His hand was shaking slightly as he reached for his iced tea, and from the look on his face, he was almost certainly wishing he had something a lot more potent in his glass right then.

Rio picked up a half of her sandwich from her plate. She didn't take a bite, though, just picked a little at it, tearing off little bits of lettuce that stuck out, poking tomato slices back in, breaking off a tiny crumb of cheese. She set it back down on the plate and just sat silently, her hands on her lap, staring blankly at the table.

After a few minutes, Vaughn coughed slightly, then asked, "Well, so... what happened after that? You, uh, you found out you were pregnant, discovered I'd been messing around, fixed to hand your property over to Mark, said your goodbyes to everyone else, packed up, and left. What then? Where did you go? What... what happened to the, uh... to our baby?"

She didn't answer right away, just speared a chunk of peach with her fork and popped it into her mouth, slowly chewing as she stared at nothing with a far-away look in her eyes. Then she snapped back to the present.

 "I had some money saved, you know. Before I left, I bought a bunch of feed for Mark, since I knew he wouldn't be able to afford much for a while—not until the crops were ready to harvest, anyway—and I wanted to be sure he'd be able to care for the animals in the meantime. But even after that, I had enough to pay my medical bills and living expenses, at least until after the baby was due. So when I got off the boat there on the mainland, I just went to the inn across the street from the dock. I decided to stay there until the baby was born, then make up my mind what to do next."

Vaughn gaped at her. "You mean... all that time, you were right there within sight of the boat?"

Rio gave him a wry look. "Yep. I saw you several times, coming and going, you know. So I know you didn't set off looking for me right away. And if you'd just looked up, instead of staring at the ground like you usually do, you might even have caught a glimpse of me at my window."

"I didn't look for you right away because I didn't know where to look!" he exclaimed, defensively. "It took me a while to figure out your note. I guessed it was a quote, but I didn't recognize it. Not my kind of music, I guess. But wherever I went, I'd show it to people, asking if they recognized it. Finally, almost a year after you'd left, I ran into someone on the mainland who knew it. She was even able to tell me the rest of the lyrics. But there was still no real hint where you might have gone. So that's when I decided I had to just knuckle down and start looking, hoping I'd catch up to you one day."