WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

(34)

The three of us walked in a strained silence. I wanted to be the one to lighten up the mood but I felt sicker and sicker with each new step I took.

Bryan must have been waiting for us in the kitchen because after walking down the long corridor we headed to the main building.

I wiped my clammy hands on my trousers and took a deep breath, hoping it would help me relax a bit but it was to no avail. Not even when Tyler kissed the top of my head did I feel any less apprehensive.

"Poppy..." If I was anxious, Bryan looked about to be sick himself and for some reason, it kind of reassured me. He was clearly not here to announce some bad news. By bad I meant anything that would drive Nate and I away from the three Van Houten brothers again because right now Tyler and his brothers were the only people that mattered. Well, Landon and Keira, too, of course.

So Bryan could tell us we'd never get to see our mother or our sibling for all I cared, I didn't give two monkeys. Well, that might be a lie. Deep down, I was still wishing for our family – strangely, I didn't include our father when I thought about the word family – to be reunited and to live happily ever after.

You're truly pathetic, Poppy... I thought when flashes of my Mom shouting at me and hitting me came back to me. She went as far as drugging you to get rid of you, I then reminded myself.

I sighed but Bryan's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Sit down, sit down." He was more fidgety than a four-year-old and his skin looked so green that I was half expecting him to throw up in front of us, that's how bad he looked.

I could see Nathan getting more and more nervous by the second.

We sat on either side of Tyler as if he was our anchor and I was relieved when a glass of iced tea appeared in front of us. It was Magda's way to tell us that she was here for us as well and I felt a lot better knowing that she was by our side too.

"As you can see, your mother and I have decided it was high time to come back here." He started uneasily but he'd clearly rehearsed his speech before calling for us because there was no pause or hesitation in his voice. "After she sent you to England, your mother fell into a deep depression." He went on. "Now that the truth has finally come out that you hadn't begged for her to send you as far away as possible from her and us, she's made huge progress with her psychiatrist who's agreed to come and live here with us until the birth of your brother in a couple of months...." He paused and sent us furtive glances as if to make sure we were ok. "I know it won't change anything but I had no idea of what she'd done..." He added quickly but I could tell he was being honest. "I stupidly believed her story..." He paused again. "Especially since you never answered your phone..." He mumbled, clearly still angry at himself for falling for her lie. "She never even told me where you were..." He raked his hand through his brown hair nervously. "In fact, she was feeling so low that she hardly ever spoke to anybody and lay in bed all day..." His hurt expression showed just how painful the whole experience had been for this man who'd already been doubting the sanity of his girlfriend before that but had yet chosen to remain by her side to save his couple and his son.

Bryan was a good man. I really didn't know what I'd have done in his shoes. Would I have walked away from the unstable woman I'd been madly in love with for years and who was carrying my child? I doubted I would have, especially if it was my unfaithfulness that had caused the tragedy that had followed.

Let's not forget the witch! I thought bitterly, glad I'd never met such a vile person, that grandmother who'd not only ruined our mother's life but who'd also hurt Tyler by trying to force him into an arranged marriage.

I wondered what she'd say if she ever knew the two of us were together. Would she see it as a sign of fate and simply enjoy the fact that our two families were finally united, the way she'd always dreamt, or would Nate and I, the children of a wedding she'd disapproved to the extent of banishing her own daughter from her family, still remain invisible to her?