Breaking Glass

(21) End of the Beginning

Chapter Twenty-One

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I didn’t have any time to look up before Thomas opened the door.

Lydia stepped in, her face covered by a rag.

“Rose…” she said, her eyes showing concern.

I just looked at her. Not blinking, breathing, anything. It felt as if I was being reborn. I felt like a completely new person.

I knew the old me would have scowled and grumbled when I saw her. But no, the old me did quite the opposite.

I rushed up to her, hugged her, and cried.

She seemed a little shocked at first, hesitant to return my hug. But I felt her look to Thomas, and I assume he nodded, for she put her arms tightly around me and cried as well. Soon we were both crying together, calming at the same time as well.

“Rose, you know?”

I sniffled and nodded. “Yes.”

Lydia opened her mouth and looked at Thomas. “Why?”

“For Christ’ sake Lydia! The girl needed to know. It’s not as if it matters now,” Thomas declared, throwing up his hands. “She does not wish to return to her father.”

Lydia looked down and blinked her eyes rapidly. She took a deep breath and finally met my eyes. “Oh, Rose, I’m so sorry. I had no-“

“Choice?” I guessed, and she nodded in confirmation.”I know, mother, Thomas told me.”

My mother’s face wrinkled in what appeared to be a mixture of both happiness and sadness. “Oh, my dear, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”

I smiled at my mother, and we both mumbled something about “Oh, I’ve missed you,” and “How have you been?”

You know, the usual things mother and daughter say when they are officially meeting each other after about two decades.

Thomas cleared his throat and Lydia and I both looked at him with a short-temper. He must have seen it in our eyes, as he changed his posture and cleared his throat once more. “We have leave. They are going to be here at any minute.”

As if just remembering our situation, my mother clapped her hands. “Why, yes! You are going to live with me, now, Rose.”

“I know, mum,” I said with a laugh.

She put her hand on my back and pulled out a piece of fabric and handed it to me. She pulled out her own and hit Thomas with it. “Now, Thomas, didn’t I tell you that if you ever decided to tell her yourself, you wouldn’t tell her everything?”

“I didn’t,” Thomas said.

My mum turned to me. “Rose, did you know that Thomas, Miriam, and I were siblings?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Did you know that we were adopted because both of our parents died-“

“In a fire?” I asked. “Yes.”

Lydia threw a mean look at Thomas. “Did you know that Arabella knows that you are not her full sister?”

I knitted my brows together in confusion. “No?”

“That is why she hated you, you know,” Lydia said.

“What? Why would she hate me because we had different mothers?” I asked, mouth dropped. This was news to me.