A New Cullen Sister

Chapter 63

"Are you feeling a little better, Sixty Five?" queried Simon mildly. Evening had fallen. Amelia was feeling better after her lengthy physiotherapy. She was presently digging into a chicken burger at the dining area that the hotel housed. She glanced up, blushed and swallowed quickly.

"Yes thanks, Simon," she replied.

"I fainted at a concert once," Ariané said thoughtfully, recalling how she had been playing one minute, and waking up to find herself in Simon's office the next. Amelia gave a small smile.

"That was so funny," chipped in Peter, "she literally fell over during a performance. We had to stop playing, take her off the stage and continue playing like nothing had happened."

"So casual, like 'nah, nothing to worry about, this happens all the time'," snorted Ariané, "I hit my head on my music stand and gave myself a concussion."

"You're lucky you didn't get one, Mia" stated Simon, "you took a real tumble."

"She is very fortunate to have avoided one but we reckon she will be very stiff in the morning. Tell me Peter, what made you decide to play the double bass?" interjected Carlisle, steering the conversation away from Amelia. Amelia shot him a grateful look and continued to play around with her fries. Her appetite had diminished. She pushed back her plate and sighed softly.

"Full already?" asked Esme, concerned about how much food still remained on Amelia's plate.

"Yeah. No appetite I guess," she stated.

"Mia was always a grazer as a child. She was never one for eating big meals," said Ariané quietly. She had also finished her meal. Everyone actually had, but Amelia was the slowest eater.

"Shall we go upstairs?" asked Carlisle. Almost half a dozen nods came his way. He settled the bill and before long, the six of them were back in the suite. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper had left for the evening, stating they needed to spend time with Blythe before she left. In reality, the five of them were busy trying to find Jemima, Amelia's beloved puppy. Well, she wasn't a puppy anymore. They were also meeting with the Theodore family's lawyer to find out details of the estate that Amelia had never been privy to. A visit with Mr Jenks was also on the cards. In short, the Cullen children and Blythe were trying to surprise Amelia.

Amelia made some tea for herself, and coffee for Peter, Simon and Ariané. She brought it to the sitting area and sat down next to Ariané.

"Amelia, we would like to have a word with you about a few things," began Simon carefully. Amelia glanced up in confusion.

"Is everything alright?" she queried, uncertain, "If you don't want me to perform at the concert then I don't mind."

"No, sweetheart. We would love it if you performed. I told your dad earlier that even if you didn't come out in the top three, we still wanted you to perform with us next week Saturday. I think it's something you'd like to do."

"Next Saturday?" she queried, the date sinking in. She shook her head as she tried to dispel the memories that surfaced. Simon had been the one to break the news to her that her mother had been killed on impact on that fatal night. Her father perished from his injuries two days later. She had spent the night sitting outside her father's ICU room, refusing to leave. The ICU nurses left her to it, she was already admitted in their paediatric section of the wing so she wasn't violating any rules by being there. She had asked to see her mother one last time. Simon and Peter had insisted that she be allowed to. At the time, she couldn't comprehend it all, her mother looked like she was sleeping. But the coldness that she felt told her another story. When it became apparent that Christopher Theodore would never make it, Peter signed off the paperwork that enabled life support to be withdrawn. Christopher had died with his daughter lying next to him, her head on his chest, crying as she heard his heart stop beating and it registered that she was all alone.