As Renne looked out the window of Swayde's truck, she thought back to the day, almost six years ago now, when she found out the truth about the car accident that killed her parents. As much as she wished she could erase the painful parts of the memory, part of her was glad she hadn't, because it had reminded her how far she has come, and how this life was not one that she was ready to leave behind. It had shown her what it was like to truly forgive those who had hurt her so terribly bad. That still did not make the memory of that day any less painful...

      Renne grinned, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. Sitting down on her knees, she pulled the last cardboard box towards her, reaching for the stack of newspapers she was using to wrap up the picture frames. Today was the day that 21 year-old Swayde moved into his new ranch house on the property he had purchased just months before. This whole week, Swayde and Renne had been busily working on getting Swayde's  fixer-upper house all touched up to begin moving boxes in.

      Today, Swayde had been working diligently to get the walls of the finished basement painted in his house while 19 year old Renne finished packing up the last of the boxes that were being stored in the loft of Mamaw and Papaw's barn, where Swayde had been staying for the past month.

      Humming to her self, Renne picked up a photo frame from the pile to her left, smiling when she saw the picture that her and Swayde had taken together at Christmas last year. Swayde was standing behind Renne, with his arms tightly wrapped around her. The couple both sported "ugly" Christmas sweaters, part of the Walker family Christmas tradition. Huge smiles covered the couple's faces as they posed happily in front of the large, decorated Christmas tree. Renne could have sworn that her heart began to beat faster as she thought about the handsome man standing in that picture with her.

      That smile never falling from her face, Renne grabbed an old newspaper from her right, opening it, carefully setting the picture inside, folding the paper over it. As she did so, the headline on the front page caught her eye. "Couple Killed In Drunk Driving Accident By Local Resident." Immediately, the smile dropped from Renne's face as she saw the date of the paper. It was written 12 years ago...dropping her eyes down to the article, she skimmed the words, tears rising to her eyes the more she read. Immediately, she stopped reading when she saw two familiar names.

       The couple mentioned in the article were none other than Renne's parents. Her eyes lingered over their names for a second longer before she continued reading more of the article. A huge lump rose in her throat when she saw another familiar last name on the old paper. Anger took over the sadness that Renne felt when she reread the sentence. "...the drunk driver of the car that tragically killed Sally and Mark Walker was 19 year old local Troy McAllister, a close friend of the Walker family. Troy was killed on impact, but Sally and Mark were immediately life-lighted to Memorial hospital, dying a short time later..."

     Renne felt her bottom lip quiver as she kept reading. Troy McAllister was Swayde's older brother. He was the one responsible for turning a seven year old into an orphan. With shaky hands, Renne noticed she had begun to crumple the old newspaper that told her more truth about her parent's death, than her own family had told her. Standing up off the floor, she walked out of the door of the barn, newspaper in one hand, and her truck keys in the other.

      Her jaw was set firm, and her teeth were gritted as she pressed her foot down hard on the gas pedal, spitting up gravel and dirt under her tires as she backed out of the parking space in front of the barn. Throwing her truck into drive, Renne sped off to Swayde's new house, her mind fuming with things she wanted to yell at him. Mainly, she wanted to know why on earth Swayde would keep such a huge secret like that from her for years. Just then, another thought popped into her head. Swayde and Renne had been dating for three years, shortly after Renne had began to ask a lot of questions about her parents death. Seeing the newspaper article made Renne question everything, including her relationship with Swayde. Was he with her only because he felt bad about her parent's death? Like he somehow felt responsible for keeping such a secret, or somehow felt guilty for their death? Renne was sure she was just projecting; Swayde truly loved her, but that didn't stop bad thoughts from entering her head as she sped towards his ranch, tears threatening to blur her vision.

        Renne knew that Swayde had lost his older brother, Troy, when Renne's parents died, but the McAllister family had made up a fake story about his death, so this was the first time that she was finding out the truth. The only reason she could assume her own family would betray her trust like they had was because they wanted to "protect" Renne somehow, but instead, they had made things worse, much worse. 

      After what felt like an eternity, Renne's truck passed through the old metal gate of Swayde's driveway, her truck bouncing over every large bump and dip along the driveway, but that did not slow her down. Once in front of Swayde's house, Renne shut off her truck, grabbing the newspaper harshly in her hand, the old paper crinkling under her grip.

       Flinging open Swayde's front screen door, Renne didn't care when it slammed back hard against the freshly painted walls of the living room.

      Too angry to call out for her boyfriend, Renne followed the sound of music playing from a radio's speaker. It led her to the stairs of Swayde's basement. Loudly stepping down them, Renne made her presence known, clearing her throat obnoxiously.

     Swayde, with his back to Renne at the moment, turned around, shutting off the radio music, a huge smile rising on his face. "Hey, beautiful." He began climbing down the old wooden ladder that he was using to paint the walls of the newly finished basement. Taking a step towards Renne, the smile on his face quickly faded when she held up an old, yellowed newspaper. She didn't have to tell him which newspaper that was because he already knew.

     "Care to explain?" Renne asked harshly in a tear-filled voice.

     Swayde's whole demeanor dropped, his voice becoming shaky. "Reggie, I'm sorry." He reached out, wanting to hold her so she knew he meant it, but Renne backed up as if he was a threat to her. 

     Swayde's response was not at all what she had expected. Shaking her head, Renne felt tears rising in her eyes all over again. "Don't!" She shouted. "Don't say you're sorry for keeping this from me, and for lying to me for 12 years, Swayde." Her voice was practically a growl.

       "Reagan, please just give me one minute to explain, please." He pleaded.

      "No, you have had twelve whole years to explain the truth, but you haven't. We have been dating for almost three years, and the accident has come up so many times in that time, and no one has ever said anything to me. Don't you think that is a pretty important fact that I should know about?!" Renne's angry yelling was echoing off the empty basement walls.

       "Reagan..."

       "Were you ever goin' to tell me, or just continue to hurt me by not telling me? Do you remember all those days and nights when all I wanted was to call my mom, and how mad I would get, saying that I wanted to find who it was that killed my parents? All this time you knew. You knew who it was, and you still let me be in pain. If you loved me, why would you do that?" She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but it wasn't working. "I don't know how I can be with someone who keeps secrets from me. What else have you not told me, Swayde McAllister?"

        "Reggie, I'm beggin' you, please do not do this. Please, darlin', calm down so we can talk." He tried again to reach his arms out to embrace Renne, but she still wasn't having it.

        Putting one of her hands out straight, Renne shoved Swayde off of her, pushing him back against the wall with a hard shove. "No, I will not calm down. I don't want another lie and lame excuse. I thought we said we would always be 100% honest with each other, but clearly, even that was a lie. All I want is the truth, but clearly, I can't get that from you." She shouted, holding up the newspaper again, drawing Swayde's eyes to it. Bringing it back down, Renne crinkled up the paper that held years of secrets, crumpling it up into a ball and chucking it at Swayde's chest. Taking a step closer to him, Renne glared at Swayde, pointing a finger hard into his well toned chest. "I will never forgive you for this, Swayde. Never!" She screamed, walking away from the only man that she had ever loved, and had ever trusted. Clearly, that was a big mistake according to Swayde, as he reached out for her, doing everything in his power to not let her leave. 

         A hand around Renne's wrist made her spin back around, attempting to jerk her arm free, but Swayde's grasp never loosened. "Let me go, Swayde." She growled at him.

       "No, not until you let me talk for thirty seconds, please, Reagan, I am begging you." He pulled her close to him, knowing that he was about to lose the best thing he ever had. Inside his heart, he knew there was nothing that he would be able to say or do to make her stay. Once Renne made up her mind about something, it was set, there was no changing it, and right now the only thing it seemed that Renne wanted to do was leave, but that didn't stop Swayde from trying. "Please, stop fighting, and just let me hold you." He begged to his girlfriend who was flailing her arms, shouting mean and hurtful things to him in a voice full of hatred; he knew that he deserved every insult she gave him, and every slap and punch and shove that followed. Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath, Swayde tried his best to tune out the shouting and just hold the woman that he was praying would understand and hear him out, but he knew that wouldn't happen.

        "No, Swayde. Let me go." Finally, Renne broke free, shoving Swayde with every word. "I never want to see you again. This is all your fault!" Tears rolled down her face, her voice lowering slightly. "I hate you. I will never forgive you. We are over."

       Now it was Swayde's turn to get choked up. "Reggie, please you don't mean that." He shouted as he followed her to the stairs that she ran up, sprinting outside.

       Jumping in her truck, Renne took off before Swayde could so much as make it up the basement stairs.

      There was only one person in the world who could comfort Renne right now and that person was her grandma. Wiping a hand over her eyes, Renne tried her best to clear her vision so she could clearly see the road in front of her as she drove down it much faster than she should. Never in her life did she think that her and Swayde would break up, but then again, never did she think that he would keep such a secret from her. There was absolutely no reason why he should have done such a thing, except for the fact that he wanted to hurt her by not saying anything, at least that is what Renne told herself. Granted, part of it was her own stupidity for not putting two and two together. In twelve years, she should have been able to figure things out for herself, but Swayde had always spent more time with Renne's family than his own, so when they mourned the loss of Renne's parents, it was Swayde who mourned with them, rather than his own family, who also suffered a loss on that tragic night.

      Renne kept her truck accelerating towards Mamaw and Papaw's house, her mind racing. She was unable to think properly. As she tried to process what all happened, it began to hit her that she had just broken up with the love of her life, only making the tears fall harder.

      Barely slowing down to pull into her driveway, Renne blinked quickly, trying to clear her eyes. Pulling up right in front of the house, instead of her usual spot by the barn, Renne ran inside the house, calling for her grandma.

      "I'm in the kitchen, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Mamaw came out, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked towards Renne.

      "I broke up with Swayde..." Renne could hardly muster to get out, falling against her grandma in a hug. She wished that the news she had just shared was not true. 

      "Oh no, sweetheart, what happened?" Mamaw knew better than anyone else how perfect for each other Swayde and Renne were, sure, every couple had their share of fights, but there had been very few since the couple was remarkably good at talking things through. There was no such thing as a perfect couple, but Swayde and Renne were certainly the closest thing to it.

      "He lied to me and kept a huge s-secret from me for over ten years about mom and dad." Renne sobbed, soiling her grandmother's shirt. She felt her Mamaw take in a deep breath before her body turned tense.

       Pulling back from the hug, Mamaw gave Renne the most sympathetic look she could muster. Already, she was sure she knew the answer, but she still asked, regardless. "What about your parents?"

       "It was Swayde's brother who drove drunk and hit my parent's car head on. He was the one who killed them. And he was underage, so he shouldn't have been drinkin' regardless. And Swayde had so many perfect opportunities to tell me the truth, but he never did. He's known all this time, but he never once brought it to my attention. Never. And there is no way that I can be with a liar and a secret keeper. Our entire relationship has always been built on trust and honesty, but this whole time, Swayde never once said anything, or even hinted to the truth about what happened that night." Renne was beginning to stumble over her words because she was speaking so fast. "I mean, do you know how many nights I had cried and sobbed because I missed my mom and always wanted to find out who it was that killed them? And Swayde was always the one who held me tight and told me that one day, we would find the person. The whole time, it was his brother. He has known who it was, but he never told me. He let me be in this much pain and suffer this much, constantly wondering who the irresponsible person was that made me an orphan, and this entire time, it was my boyfriend's brother!"

       "Reagan...I think we should sit down." Mamaw spoke softly, and cautiously, looking across the room at her very worried looking husband. With one hand on Renne's back, Mamaw pointed to the living room, leading the way.

        Taking a seat next to her granddaughter on the couch, Mamaw took in a deep breath, saying a quick prayer for guidance before continuing. "How did you find out it was Troy responsible?"

       "I found a stack of old newspapers in the barn, and while I was wrapping up some of Swayde's photos, I found an article that explained it all." The words she had read were still engraved in her head, the picture of the mangled, unrecognizable cars forever burned into her memory.

       "We wanted to tell you, Reagan..." Papaw spoke up for the first time since Renne came home.

       Sniffling, Renne looked up from her lap where she had been aggressively twisting a tissue. "Wait, you knew?" Of course they knew. It was their daughter and her husband in the crash. They were the ones who stacked the newspapers in the barn, hoping Renne wouldn't find them. Shooting up from her chair, Renne found her voice again. Looking between her grandparents, the two people who had raised her for the last twelve years, the people she had gone to about everything, the people who had always been there for her, now seemed more like strangers than anything else. Shooting bullets of a glare at her grandparents, Renne shouted, "All this time, y'all knew too, and no one told me?!"

       "Reagan, we wanted so badly to tell you, but at the time, you were too young to really understand, and as you got older, we just figured you would have find it out on your own." Mamaw tried to alleviate the tension.

       "We had planned to tell you, but we just...never found the right time." Papaw added.

       "The right time? The right time? In twelve years, there has not been a 'right time?!'" Renne fumed. This was purely unbelievable. Everything she had ever been taught about honesty and openness was a lie. Her mind raced with questions. "Does...does Mallory know?" The thought popped into her head of her sister. Even though they were not speaking at the moment because of some poor decisions that Mallory had made, she was still holding out hope that at least one person in her family was not a liar. 

         Both Mamaw and Papaw's head nodded in unison, tears rising to her grandmother's eyes. 

        "Reagan, please just let us explain." Mamaw pleaded, standing up beside Renne. "We love you so much, sweetheart. We just wanted what was best for you."

       "No, I am done with people trying to explain things to me. If y'all really loved me, you would have sat me down and told me about all of this much much sooner. And what's best for me would have been telling me the truth about the death of my parents. But, I guess I really don't know y'all at all." With that, Renne turned, running up to her room. Once inside, she wasn't sure what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to get away from her so called "family," and she had to get away as quickly as she could.

       Grabbing her suitcase out of her closet, Renne began frantically opening dresser drawers and grabbing random articles of clothing, not minding to see what she was grabbing, let alone taking the time to fold them.

        Once her suitcase was bulging full, Renne zipped it up, not wasting any time to grab only the essential toiletries from the bathroom. Grabbing her bag of essentials, Renne was about to walk out of her room when her grandma's stout figure appeared in the doorway.

         Mamaw's eyes drifted from Renne's, down to her hands, then back up at her tear stricken face. "Reagan, sweetheart, what are you doin'?"

        In the background, the landline phone rang loudly, but was picked up by Papaw very quickly, however.

        "I'm leavin'." Renne answered plainly, stomping past her grandmother.

       Once she was downstairs, Renne could hear her Papaw still on the phone with someone. She didn't stop her mission to her truck to say goodbye, however. Literally throwing her bags in the passenger side seat of her truck, Renne started the ignition, peeling out of her spot, speeding down the driveway, long before anyone could stop her.

        Renne was sure she was over reacting about the entire situation, but she also knew she had to leave town, just for a couple nights, or else things would get even more ugly very quickly. Once she was out on the road, Renne's eyes drew downward to her dashboard where she saw the picture of her and Swayde that she kept in her truck to remind her to drive safe. Seeing it now, it was just a reminder of what he put her through, and what he kept from her. Ripping it free from the dash, Renne tore it into pieces before crumpling it into a ball and tossing it to her floorboard of the passenger seat.

     She didn't know where she was going, or really what she was doing, but the thoughts kept flooding her mind. The further she drove away from Alpine Ridge, the more upset she became. Banging her hands against the steering wheel, Renne didn't even try to stop the tears from falling.

         As she drove past the sign that told her she was leaving Alpine Ridge, Renne glanced back down at her dash, checking to see how much gas was left in her tank. Just under the full line, Renne pressed her foot down harder onto the gas pedal. She didn't plan on stopping until her truck ran empty.

                                                      ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

         Swayde slammed his truck into park, turning it off. Keeping the key in the ignition, Swayde jumped out, forgetting to close his door. Running into Mamaw and Papaw's house, Swayde began to frantically look for Renne in every room, calling out her name.

         From the living room, Papaw emerged, tears in his eyes, stopping Swayde dead in his tracks. The only other time Swayde had ever seen Papaw cry was at his daughter's funeral.

         "Where's Reagan?" Swayde asked, looking behind Papaw, praying he wasn't too late.

        "She left about five minutes ago, son. She made a right out of the driveway." Stepping forward, Papaw put a comforting hand on Swayde's shoulder. "I'm sorry, son." 

        Swayde was already halfway to the door, but stopped when Papaw called his name.

       "Drive safe, and please try to find her." Papaw's voice pleaded.

        Swayde, jogging to his truck, pulled his cell phone from his pocket, immediately dialing Renne's number, praying she would answer. Every time it rang, it felt like an eternity to Swayde. But just like that, the call went to voicemail. Renne wasn't answering.

         As he got into his truck, Swayde tried over and over again to get a hold of Renne, not ready for everything to be over with them. Turning right of the driveway, per Papaw's observation, Swayde sped down the dirt roads, trying to look for tire marks that would lead him to his girl.

            After the eight time trying to call Renne, but it just ringing to voicemail, Swayde was beginning to lose hope of her picking up. The tire tracks he had been following were becoming more and more faint as well.

         "Please, God, help her to pick up." Swayde prayed as he tried just one last time to call Renne. Biting his lip, he lifted his shaky hand up to his ear, pressing the phone hard against his ear.

         After five rings, a familiar voice answered. "What, Swayde?" Renne asked, harshly. Her accelerating truck could be heard loudly in the background.

          "Oh, thank God. It's so good to hear your voice, Reggie. Thank you for pickin' up. I was getting so worried. Please tell me where you are? I am drivin' around, trying to follow your tracks, but the wind is blowing them away."

          "Swayde, I need you to stop calling me." Renne said in a stern voice, but her heart broke when she said it. She didn't want their relationship to be over, but it had to be. There was no way that she could allow herself to be with someone who doesn't tell her the truth, and someone who keeps such large details from her.

         "Reg, please. Please just tell me where you are. Or, if you don't want to see me, can you please just pull over so we can talk? I'm only askin' for five minutes of your time."

         "No. Swayde, I need you to leave me alone, and never call me again, please." With that, Renne hung up her phone.

         Swayde frantically pulled his cell phone away from his ear, dialing her number yet again. He needed to tell her he loves her, and beg, just one more time, that she gives him just five minutes of his time to explain. However, this time, when he tried calling her, it didn't even ring; it went straight to voicemail. Renne had turned off her phone.

        Tears rose to Swayde's eyes as he banged a hand hard against the steering wheel. He just lost the love of his life all because of a secret he kept from her. He was torn, because he had made a promise years ago that he wouldn't tell Renne what happened until he had permission, but she was right, he should have told her. However, he was not one to break promises. He was torn, and lost, unsure if he did the right thing or not. There was no telling; he only wished he could tell Renne the truth so she would come back to him. Little did he know it would be almost six years until Renne came back.

                                                                    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

           "Reagan," Swayde called out for the second time, his hand on Renne's leg. When she turned and looked at him, a faraway and sad look in her eyes, he asked, "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah. Yeah, just thinkin' about things. That's all." She forced a smile, resting her hand on top of Swayde's, giving it a gentle squeeze. As she looked out the window of his truck, she felt Swayde's thumb softly rubbing circles against her skin, and she questioned how on earth she could have ever left this man in the first place, despite the turmoil he had put her heart through.