Your Father Was The Odd One Out

The Bushemp's didn't stay any longer after that. When they had their confirmation that there was no way I would be on their side they left. It was a relief to have them gone. The heavy atmosphere disappeared.

"Kaydence, I'm sorry you seem to be in the middle of the feud between the two families." Martin's softer tone had now returned.

"It's not your fault. Maybe if they were actually genuine things would be different." I responded.

"I don't think Meredith knows the definition of genuine." Damon scoffed.

"It's just hard to believe my father came from a family like that. He was just so different compared to them." I still was trying to wrap my head around my father being apart of them but I just couldn't.

"That's because your father was a different man. I did business with the Bushemp's right around the time Damon left but I've known them for a long time." Martin explained. "I knew your father, it was dumb of me to not see the truth. You have features similar to his. When you were first brought over by Justin I knew there was something familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it until now."

"Oh." I was slightly taken aback by Martin's words.

"He was always a little different from the rest of his family. He knew right from wrong and rarely crossed the line unless he needed to. Meredith was livid when she found out he met someone while on a business trip." Martin had my full attention as he told me more about my father. "She had arranged a marriage for him. It was embarrassing for her to have to go and tell the other family it couldn't happen anymore."

"That was when he met my mother I assume." I spoke.

"Most likely. I never met your mother before as I was busy with my own things going on so I never really visited with them at that time. I heard things around though as the business world holds a lot of gossip." Martin responded.

"What things? What did you hear?" I asked.

"Good things about your father and some not so nice things about his family. Everyone talked about how lucky that woman was that he was willing to leave his life of wealth to go and be with her. Your father's family was never really liked as they had a reputation for being messy and being liars. I should've known better when I signed them on." Martin explained further. "Your father was the odd one out though. Everyone loved Samuel, it was just a shame on who his mother was."

"I can see why. She's certainly scummy." I didn't care that by blood Meredith was my grandmother. She seemed to get more awful each time I saw her. I didn't want to expose my little family to someone so bad. This must've been the feeling my father had when he made his decision to keep us away.

"Your father certainly did his best to keep her from you. When I looked into your background I never realized that Sam Bush was the same person. There were no photos and both the first and last name are common so I never thought anything of it." he continued talking about my father. "I suspect he had you well hidden until he passed away. The records were kept hidden tightly until he was no longer around to give the orders for their security. I think that's how Meredith found you."

"I feel like I'm hearing about a new person when this part of his life is talked about." I felt like the man I knew had only been a fraction of who my father really was.

Martin gave a small nod. "I understand that it probably does feel that way. I saw him again before he died Kaydence. You were a little girl at the time and he was wanting to leave piloting behind after a couple close calls. We met together as I considered taking him on at Tipton Enterprises."

"What?" My mind was trying to process what he had just shared.

"He wanted to leave so he could make sure he was with his family at all times. He gushed about you and your mother. He seemed so much happier than I had ever seen him with the Bushemp's." Martin elaborated to give me more information. "The man you remember is definitely the man who he was. Before you and your mother his personality seemed more hidden, like he would be reprimanded for being himself."

"I guess he never made it to your company though because he isn't here." I let out a small sigh.

"He was going to do one more run for the company he worked for. Unfortunately that is the same run that his plane went down on. The news made it a bigger deal than it needed to be but never released his name. Back then I only knew him as a Bushemp so nothing ever pulled up about what happened to him when I looked on the internet." Martin looked down but then back to me. "It wasn't until recently that I learned your father was the same man. It was dumb for me to not see such a simple name change."

"No it's not." Damon chimed in and captured our attention. "He was hiding in plain sight. He had to have known people would expect a big elaborate name change. Besides, have you ever tried looking up Sam Bush on the internet? You get like thousands of results."

"That does make sense." I nodded. "He wasn't exactly stupid."

"Thank you both for coming tonight. I figured it would go as it did and I'm again sorry you seemed to be in the middle of it Kaydence." Martin apologized once more to me.

"It's fine." I gave him a slight smile. "You're not the one who should be apologizing. I know who my real family is and I know it's not them. That's okay. It's hard to be sad over people you never knew."

"Very well. You should probably get home so you can properly relax from this mess." Martin suggested.

I gave him a hug goodbye and then Damon and I left for the car. We got inside and he began to drive home. It was silent and I could tell Damon was focusing on something other than the road. "What's on your mind?" I asked.

"I'm just thinking." he answered.

"About what?" I looked at him curiously.

"This whole mess that just took place." He responded once more.

"Do you think they're gone for good? Or do you think this is something like they'll leave until they feel things have calmed down enough to come back?" I wanted his opinion. He knew these people better than I did.

"They'll definitely be back." He glanced over at me. "And when they do come back they'll find out that my words are never an empty threat."