You Belong to Me (Stevens Book 6)

Chapter 16

It seemed the Stevens family gathered in Texas for the holidays, so Alice had some down time to work on her dissertation. She re-read all of Steven Douglas's books again, and then dove right into Rainer's interview, but there was something that was disturbing her. She couldn't put her finger on it, so she decided to re-read her paper from the beginning, but she found no clues there.

She spent a few days away from it, doing a deep cleaning of her apartment, and she was in the middle of scrubbing her wood floors when she had a thought.  It was something that Rainer had written for the ghost towns articles. He had been describing the way an old abandoned building had looked and felt, comparing it to what it must have been when it was new.

She jumped up and pulled out one of Douglas's books. There was a similar part in the latest one where he compared a main character's active past to the hollowness of his present.

Alice dropped the book. It couldn't be.

She raced to her laptop and started to hunt for everything she could on Rainer.

She spent the next two days reading all she could, researching his life and reading his news articles.  It was all there.  Grace, Cassie, Bryce, Mason. She saw a picture of his sister Lizzy, she had been the one in the restaurant, and she was married to Brian Alexander.  Then there was his brother, Davis, who was a well know photographer, and he was married to a beautiful model Laura Wren. But it all started with his parents, Elizabeth, a famous actress, and Douglas Stevens, a British Earl, after whom Rainer Douglas Stevens was named.

Her first thought was that Grace was a Lady and no one was better suited for it, and her second was that Rainer was Steven Douglas.

The memories from their first meeting came flooding back, his insistence that Steven Douglas wouldn't give an interview. He must have thought for a brief minute that she had found out who he was when she said she wanted to interview the famous author. He really took a chance giving her his notes. Even if he didn't admit it to himself, he had to have known deep down that there was a chance she would solve the mystery. Suddenly, it made sense to her.  She loved Steven Douglas's work and she loved Rainer.  She had loved him before she'd even met him. The thought made her a bit giddy.

She now knew what must be his deepest secret, and she held that thought close because it made her feel close to him. She felt as if she was the only one that knew all of his secrets, she knew about Yvonne, about his books, and about his scars.

Just then the phone rang, startling her.

"You sound weird Alice. Is everything O.K.?" Grace asked from the other end.

"No, I just found out you're a Lady." Among other things, Alice thought silently.

"Oh is that all." Grace laughed. "Well, now I will expect you to curtsy next time you see me."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Alice warned her jokingly.

"I was calling to invite you to our New Year's Eve party.  We have it every year.  The whole family comes, and I want you to meet everyone."

Alice hesitated, she wanted to go and meet the rest of Rainer's family, to be near them would be like being near him, but she had promised that she wouldn't give their relationship away, and to go would do that because I f the whole family was going to be there that meant Caleb, Quinn, and Dana as well, and they had met her in Texas.

"No, I couldn't, I would feel like I was intruding."

"It's a party, how can you intrude?" Grace wouldn't take no for an answer. "We start around nine, but get here whenever. Do you have something that you can take down the address with?"