The Gift- Complete

4

Lydia pov

I ran upstairs to try and find Mason. I barged into our room and saw him quickly jump and hide something behind his back

"Didn't mean to scare you. What's that?" I asked gesturing to whatevers behind his back

"It's nothing darling. Is something wrong?" He asked, his accent thick. He had always had a thick texan accent whereas mine for some reason was a little posher. But I was always told its the words I use

"Oh right. Me and Arthur are going for a walk. Would you like to join us?" I asked him

"Anything for you" he answered making me smile widely. I left the room and ran down the stairs to go and see the dogs

Mason pov

I hated nature. And walks. It just bored me. But Lydia loved them so i was used to it. I would never let her walk alone so I was often forced to go for my own morals. And now, I didn't feel comfortable having Lydia walking around open fields in an area she doesn't know, with a man we have known for a mere few days who wears a blade in his cap. I still didn't trust the man so I wasn't gonna leave her alone with him

I walked sluggishly down the stairs to see lyd fussing over some dogs. There were 3 of them sitting down infront of her as Arthur smile down at the interaction. I cleared my throat and they noticed me. Without a word, we walked outside and into the field next to the house

"Isn't it all so gorgeous and open" Lydia exclaimed marvelling at every detail

"It's something" I muttered through gritted teeth

"Oh cheer up Mase. Look over there, all the birds sitting in the tree. I bet they feel so free, do whatever they like and go wherever they please" she said envious of the birds freedom. She giggled to herself over a thought and then we kept walking.

Lydia ran with her arms open wide and her hair flowing in the wind, over hills in the fields. She would then proceed to roll down at the other end. It took everything in me not to join her. It did look fun

"What are those cows doing?" She asked pointing to the field across. I followed her gaze to see two cows, well ontop of eachother. It was an interesting sight. Lydia was yet to learn about that kind of thing and I wasn't gonna explain it now

"Nothing darling" I told her.

"Oh OK" she said shrugging and accepting that I didn't want to explain it. Lydia was good like that. If she saw someone was uncomfortable talking about something, she would simply drop it and not force them unless absolutely necessary.

After a 3 hour walk, we were finally back and I was starving. It was time for dinner thank god. I know Lydia enjoyed the walk alot. Arthur seemed to aswell. I found it an experience...that I unfortunately won't forget. Its not that I don't like spending time with my sister. But this is what it was like

I don't like nature
We were surrounded by it
I don't enjoy walking
It was 2 hours of non stop
I don't trust Arthur
He was there
I worry for Lydia's safety
She was climbing every tree she saw

So overall, I was just anxious and uncomfortable the entire time. My feet hurt and all I wanted was to go home and rest. Not Arthur's house. Home. America, Texas where I spent my entire life. Back to the time when mama was still alive and dad loved us. When I didn't have to pretend to read letters sent by our father to Lydia when in reality it was an advert or a card from years ago. When the only problems I had, were that of playing spin the bottle on the school playground and worrying that my friends would end up kissing the girl who I had a childhood crush on.

But I knew that was impossible. So we ended up at Arthur's house, sat on the sofa eating sandwiches

"Later tonight, my aunt is having us all over for tea. The whole family. Does that sound alright?" Arthur asked after an uncomfortable silence. I wanted to scream at him. Tell him

"No. Its not ok. I hardly know these people and yet I'm expected to sit and make conversation for hours without saying something to accidently offend them. And I'm exhausted and fed up, all I want to do is sit at home, eat crap and then go to sleep"

But instead I heard myself saying

"Sounds good" Why? Why did i say that? Now I actually have to pretend to enjoy the whole thing. Even when we had a family, family tea was horrible. My grandparents would yell. My aunts and uncles would also yell. Mama and dad would end up throwing things at one another during a heated argument. And I would sit in the other room with lyd playing music loud enough so she didn't know anything was wrong

"Oh that's sounds magical. A family tea! It's been so long since we ever went to a family tea. We would always sit in our rooms and dance to music on the record player at full blast whilst our family spoke of adult matters. I miss it" Lydia said beaming at the thought of another family event. Arthur looked at me and I looked down. But I saw the slight frown on his lips. He knew what had really happened. I could tell from his face that he felt bad for Lydia so he must know.

We went upstairs to go and wash up ready for the family tea which we were going to at 4. I couldn't wait. Ahem. Sarcasm

Arthur pov

As I listened to Lydia exclaim how much she missed family tea, I also noticed Mason look down like he was hiding something. He would do anything to protect his sister. And I was well aware that the music wasn't there for dancing. It was there to cover the sound of family yelling. Like many families do, only this was different. Lydia thought she had this amazing life before her mother died and yet by what I've gathered, it was worse than in the orphanage.

I just have to give her a family dinner to remember. But that would be easy. It was Mason I wanted to please. I just wanted the boy to let himself be happy once in a while. He needs to realise that I love him and will protect him. And I'm not here to hurt him or Lydia. The boy thinks his sister is his responsibility so he never got to be a boy. Not for long anyway