A fractured fairytale

78

The house was unusually quiet for a Saturday morning.

I found mom and dad in the kitchen, the two of them huddled side by side at the kitchen islands, sipping coffees and whispering to each other like a couple of teenagers. Usually, it made me nauseous to see the two of them like this but now, it made me think of Rose.

I hoped we were like this in twenty years.

Mom spotted me first. "Hey sweetie."

I smiled and headed straight for the coffee. I needed the energy after last night. Even thinking about it made me smile. It was a massive step, especially for Rose, and I was so damn happy. She'd been more open with me than ever and the way she'd looked at me, like she trusted me entirely, it made me feel like a giddy teenage girl crushing on a member of a boy band.

I'm not sure when it hit me that I was completely and utterly in love with the woman, but it had been so difficult not to say those words to her last night. I'd wanted her to know that she was it for me. That I didn't take what she was doing lightly. She was trusting me, after everyone in her life had let her down. I knew how much that meant. And I desperately wanted to tell her she was right to trust me because I loved her and I'd never, ever let her get hurt.

But she deserved better than that. This would be the first time telling her I loved her. I didn't want it to be in bed. I didn't want her thinking for a single second that I was only saying it because I wanted to fuck her.

"You and Rose rushed off pretty early this morning," dad commented. I caught sight of his amused smirk from the corner of my eye and my mom elbowed him.

I twisted to face them and he raised a brow. "She needed to get home."

He nodded. "She didn't say goodbye."

"Did she need to?"

He shrugged a shoulder, obviously trying to bait me. He was a dick like that. "Just surprised, she usually hangs around long enough to say goodbye but this morning she ran out of here like the place was on fire."

The amusement shone in his eyes as I glared back at him. "Shut the fuck up," I grunted.

He laughed and mom rolled her eyes at the both of us. For a moment, we all silently drank our coffee's but once my dad's laughter died down, he levelled me with a gaze. "I don't need to have 'the talk' with you, do I?" he asked, making quotations with his fingers. "You're being careful?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes now. No matter how old you got, there was nothing more uncomfortable and humiliating that discussing sex with your family. "Jesus Christ," I grumbled, taking a long gulp of my coffee. "I'm good, thanks."

Dad laughed again, holding his hands in the air. "Just want to make sure," he said, "that poor girl doesn't need you knocking her up."

My glare intensified. "Can we talk about something else?" I requested. "Where is everyone?"

It was nearing ten o'clock and it was rare that anyone had a lie in around here because when one person was up, they woke everyone else. "The boys are in the garden playing football and the girls are both still in bed as far as we know."

It wasn't rare for Vi to hide away in her bedroom until she was hungry but Em would usually be outside with the guys playing football. She'd been withdrawing more and more recently and it was worrying me. "Em okay?" I asked, fixing my gaze on dad. He was closest to her.

He sighed, ran a hand down his face, and then shook his head. "I don't know what to do. Whenever I try and talk to her, she tells me she wants to be alone." He lifted a shoulder. "I can't force those girls to be nice to her... well, I could but your mom won't let me," he grumbled, nudging her in the side. "I don't know how to fix it."