The door swings open with quite a violet bump, which stops me and Bay from talking.
We both watch Meadow, my sister, come charging into the room like an angry bull.
I can already see by the look on her face that she is not a happy bunny.
"I notice she isn't here again!!" she snaps as she sits down in the chair opposite me.
"Who? Mel?" I frown at her
"Yes Mel!! After all the trouble she has caused, AGAIN!! I'm not really surprised that she can't show her face!! Now I find out you might be permanently brain damaged!! Mango has just told me about the tests and the memory loss " she is almost yelling now "Wait till I get my hands on her!"
"Meddy stop!!" I snap at her "Just leave Mel alone!! This .... was not her fault, it was me and my stupid phobia, so just back off and but out!! The last thing we need is you two kicking off at each other like you normally do!! It is over and done with ... now deal with it!!"
"You say its not her fault ... I know she is pregnant again for berry's sake ... and isn't that the reason why this has happened to you!! You have had one of your phobia freak outs!!" she snaps angrily "Just when I think I am getting my sane brother back, all the crap with you is going to start all over again!! I am sick of watching you so messed up and on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. It is coming again, and as usual it is her fault!! Mom and Dad are probably turning in their graves right now ... even more Grandchildren they will never know!!"
"Meddy just stop!!" I snap at her angrily "Please tell me you and Mel have not been kicking off while I have been out of it?"
"No, we haven't had a chance to, because Granite and Alpine have broken their necks to keep us apart!!" she snaps "Besides she is hiding down in maternity and I've been banned from going down there. Not that I would waste my time going out of my way to visit her!!"
"You need to grow up!! Yes she is pregnant again, which she couldn't do on her own!!" I laugh "I played my part in it too, just like the others, so it is just as much my fault as hers!!"
"So what has she done ... ACCIDENTALLY on purpose, forgotten to take her pill AGAIN ... she is good at that isn't she!" she snaps sarcastically
"No!! As it goes, it was actually neither of our faults, and it definitely wasn't planned. Her coil moved out of place, so it was purely an unfortunate accident!! An accident of my making, because if I'd had the snip years ago when I should have done, her getting pregnant again wouldn't have been a possibility would it!!"
"Oh that's it, you defend her like you always do ..."
"Med, please ... all this fighting, sniping and arguing has got to stop!! You have been banging on at me for years because you have had to keep away from and have nothing to do with your Neices and Nephews ... and now you can, do you really want to get off on the wrong foot with them ... "
"I haven't got off on the wrong foot with them!" she frowns at me
"Not yet, but trust me it won't take long with your hot head and evil tongue!! They are not going to like you very much if all they can see is you slagging off and fighting with their Mother!!" I roll my eyes at Bay who is just sat next to me laughing quietly "Bay probably can remember you from when he was younger, visiting Gravel. He knows you are a hot headed fiesty piece of work, but the girls don't have a clue who you are!! If you want them to like you so you can become their Aunt properly, then you need to reel that tongue of yours in and engage your head before you speak!! You and Mel need to make friends, for all our sakes."
"Whatever!" she snaps sarcastically
"Seriously Med, you need to let it go!!"
"What is wrong with your memory anyway - it seems fine to me."
"I've lost everything up to when I was 18. I can't remember a thing before the day me and Granite got married ... it's all gone."
"What? All of it?" she frowns at me
"Yeah, I didn't even recognize this." I pull the ring off my little finger and hand it to her
"Oh berry ... Mom's engagement ring." she smiles at me as she takes it off me.
"Exactly, but I didn't know that ... Granite had to tell me."
"I didn't expect to see that again!!" she laughs as she looks at it "I'm glad Granite took care of it and didn't flog it for a fix."
"You should keep it and give it one of girls." I laugh as she tries to give it back to me
"That isn't how it works is it!!" she laughs at me
"What do you mean?" I frown at her
"Leaf family tradition. It always goes to the oldest boy .. which you still are."
"Well it is not like I am ever going to use it again!"
"So you and Mel are not getting married one day?" she frowns at me "Now everything is out in the open and you and Gran are getting a divorce, I thought you would."
"I expect we will get married, eventually, if it doesn't bother the kids." I mumble as I glance at Bay "However, if I even tried to give Mel that ring, Granites cast offs, she would probably ram it down my throat and make me swallow it!!" This has Bay really laughing
"By right, it is Bays then. He is the oldest and only boy." she hands it to Bay who just stares at it in amusement then laughs at me
"I'm gay, it's not like I'm ever going to have any children!! Its no good to me is it?"
"Your Dad was "playing gay" when he got it ... just take it." she laughs "It will work itself out!"
"Med, he isn't playing gay. Bay is gay!!" I laugh at Meadow.
If she seriously thinks that Bay is going to be anything like me, and there are children in his future, she is sadly mistaken!! Unlike me, Bay is gay.
"Here ..." she starts giggling as she hands me four picture frames that I have just watched her pulling out of a bag.
"What is this now Med?!" I frown at her looking at the four framed photographs of Me, Bay, Fudge and Mint that I recognise. They used to hang on the wall in Mom and Dad's bedroom.
"Open the back of the frames." I frown at her because she keeps laughing.
I turn over the top picture, which happens to be Bays, and start to un clip the back of the frame as I glance up and frown at my Sister, wandering what she is playing at, especially why she keeps laughing. I pull off the back of the frame and there sat behind the photograph is a small blue book ... it looks like a bank savings book. As I lift it out, I spot there is also a small envelope with the book. I lift the envelope out and turn it over and it has Bays name on it. As I stare at the book again - it suddenly hits me.
"Oh Berry ... you have found the kids money!!" I laugh at Meadow who is now smirking at me.
"Yes ... FINALLY!! It was actually Holly that found it, typical after we tore the house apart for a week looking for it and all the time it was hanging on the wall right in front of us!" she starts laughing "I never would have thought to look in those frames, or that the silly old fool would use them as a hiding place." we both start laughing "She asked me if she could have the pictures to put in the album and when she went to take the pictures out, she found the books and letters .... we all have one!!" she laughs "Granite, Gravel, Slate ... Even you." she smiles at me. I open Bay's bank book and nearly choke.
"How much!!" I stare wide eyed at Meadow
"Yeah it kind of floored me too!" she laughs "Your three, my two and Slate all got the same." she grins at me. "You should open your picture ... you, me, Gran and Gravel, all got the same, but not as much as the kids did. What we got still shocked me, and is not to be sneezed at."
I pass Bay's frame, book and letter to Meadow before I start to dismantle my own picture frame. At first I think she is pulling my leg when she said I had the same, because Dad always told me I'd never get a penny. Just like with Bay's, there is a savings book and letter behind my photograph. I stare at the money in my book and again I choke.
"I don't get it ... in his will he said he'd left everything to his five Grandchildren?" I frown at Meadow, "So I just presumed it meant Bay, Fudge, Mint, Holly and Ivy, I wandered why Slate hadn't been included. And he has always said to me that everything I should inherit, he was giving to my kids, because I'd made his and Mom's life hell and I didn't deserve it!! I actually felt bad for you, the only one out of the four of us, that didn't make their lifes hell, didn't get left anything either!!"
"Yeah well, you know what Dad was like, it was probably him having the last laugh, with all four of us." she laughs at me "I did wander why Slate wasn't mentioned in his will, because I have heard Dad saying exactly the same thing to Gravel many times over Slate, just like he used to keep saying it to you over your three .... the BOTH of you did make their lives hell as far as those four kids were concerned!! Both of you are very selfish!!"
"Yes Meadow, I do know thank you, that they hated not being able to have any contact with their Grandchildren ... but it is not like I asked for or even wanted my phobia!! Mom and Dad knew we were ALL doing the best things for my kids, proved now by them not being mentally scared and messed up by me and my phobia!!" I snap at her "You can call me selfish if that's what you want to think, but at least I know they have had a better and good life without me, while I've had to go through hell just watching!! At least I can say I did right by my kids and that's all that matters here!!"
"Okay, keep your hair on!! What's rattled your cage suddenly."
"You, calling me selfish and tarring me with the same brush as that Berry Hole!!" I snap at her "You know damn well what you just said was out of order!! You even made sacrifices for them yourself for berry's sake!! At least I wasn't playing games, unlike Gravel, who has mashed up Slate's head and body for the rest of his life, just for the fun of it to spite Granite!! He jumped on my problem and used it for his own game, it helped him to hide the truth from Slate, for his own gain!!"
"Forrest you need to calm down, or you will give your brain another bleed!" she mumbles
"You are very funny sis!!" I laugh at her sarcastically "I'm the doctor here remember, and you don't know what you are talking about!!"
Meadow smiles at Bay reminding me that he is sat right next to me. I turn and smile awkwardly at Bay who is just sat quietly listening to the conversation, I had completely forgotten that he was sat there listening, because Meadow had wound me up.
"I'm sorry Bay!!" I mumble as I look at him "My head is still a bit fuzzy and I forgot you was there for a minute ... or I wouldn't have said half of that stuff. I want to sit the three of you and Slate down and explain properly now that I can, about your Grandparents."
"It's okay ..." he mumbles
"No it's not, and I can see by your face!!" I pull a face at him "I'm sorry, your Grandparents, Meadow, your cousins, them not being in your life was just something that we had to do to protect you from me and my phobia." I smile at him "They didn't keep away because they wanted to, they did it because they had to, and it hurt them just as much as it hurt me."
"I'm confused, why do you keep talking about Slate, like they are his Grandparents too?"
"Because technically they are." I smile at him, then frown, because suddenly my mind is struggle to remember everything clearly "Med ... can you explain, because I'm struggling ..."
"Yeah." she frowns at me before she smiles at Bay "Our parents have pretty much been responsible for Granite and Gravel since their Father faded, well fake faded. Granite was 12 and Gravel 8. Raven, their Mother totally went off the rails when Shale left, she was an alcoholic, and she pretty much neglected them both, while she drank herself stupid. So our parents were taking care of them. When she faded three years later, our parents took them in and they fostered Granite and adopted Gravel. To me and your Dad, Gravel especially has always been our brother. Our parents pretty much treated Granite and Gravel as one of their own, and to them Slate, like you three have always been there Grandchildren."
"But they never saw or had anything to do with Slate .. did they?" he frowns at me "Slate does not even think or consider them as being his Grandparents."
"No well he wouldn't, because he was too young to remember anything and they were kept hidden from him ... just like you." I look at him sheepishly "When you two were babies, they had a lot to do with both you and Slate, but when you both became old enough to notice things, they had to walk away to protect you." I smile at him "Cutting themselves off from you and Slate, was one of the hardest things they have ever had to do, it really hurt them, more than you will ever know, so when Fudge and Mint arrived - they didn't even see them other than in photographs, because it cut them up too much having to walk away." I laugh "Meadow, she used to come to Gravels, not to see him or me, it was her way of sneaking time with both you and Slate. Like my reason for spending so much time at Gravels was you and Slate. It really helped me you and Slate being mates." I smile at him, which makes him laugh.
I laugh at Meadow who has put Bay's letter and bank book back inside the photo frame and she nudges me with it. I take it off her and hand it to Bay.
"That is the picture of you that they always had on the wall. Your Mother used to send them your school photo's every year, as well as talk to them on the phone about the three of you, all the time." I smile at him as Bay stares at me wide eyed. "And I think you have already gathered, they have left you something inside the frame."
I watch Bay laughing as he un clips the back of the frame, I'm not sure why Meadow packed it all away again. He tickles me, he doesn't even take out the bank book, he opens the letter first and starts to read it.
"Bro, we need to sort out what we are going to do with Gravels!!" she nudges me as she pulls three more frames out of a bag. Granite, Gravels and Slates. I turn Gravels photo over so I don't have to see his ugly face staring up at me. "It's not like he can spend it in prison is it, what do you think we should do with it? "
"Berry knows? What can we do with it, but give it him." I laugh "If he has any decency, he should sign it over to Clay. Like you said, it's no good to him in prison is it!!"
"Well I'll be damned if I'm going into prison to see him. I am likely to get myself locked up ... you will have to do it."
"Like hell will I!!" I laugh at her "We can give it to his solicitor when the trial begins, then none of us have to have anything to do with him."
I laugh as I watch the door open quietly.
Alpines comes through it and starts creeping up quietly behind Meadow. I'm a little nervous when I see Coal coming in behind him.
"What is so funny?" she asks me but I don't get a chance to answer because Alpine grabs her and lifts her off her seat and carries her away.
"Are you okay now Leafy?" Alpine frowns at me
"Yeah I'm fine!" I smile at him.
I laugh at Bay who is watching them and laughing quite loudly. Even though I am not too happy with what they are doing, I have to laugh with him.
"I am taking Alpine home for a bit while the girls are round at Cottons." she grins at me
"Meddy please!!" I mumble at her "I can guess exactly why you might be taking him home!!" I laugh sarcastically "You need to slow it down, you are seriously are going to mess his head up!!"
"Shut up Forrest ... we have a plan." she smirks at me "There is no reason why we should slow it down. We are back together and me and the girls are moving to Berry Shores with you."
"Seriously?" I frown at her
"Yes seriously." she giggles "And before you say anything ... yes I know exactly what I am letting myself in for. If Mel can put up with your wacky head all these years, then I'm sure I can put up with Alpines."
I smile at Coal who is sat nervously in front of me.
"He is having a good day isn't he?" I frown at Coal
"Yeah, he was a bit rocky yesterday, but he has been fine today." he laughs quietly
I watch Meadow and Alpine almost run out of the room giggling.
"Mel, needs to speak to you. She is trying to sort out a drama." Coal cringes as he hands me his phone.
"What's the drama?" I mumble into the phone when she answers it
"Are you awake now?" she asks stupidly
"Babe, I wouldn't be talking to you if I wasn't awake would I!!" I start laughing
"Are you okay, that's what I meant?"
"Yeah I'm fine!!" I laugh at her "Coal says you are dealing with a drama?"
"Is Bay with you?" she asks "He is not answering his phone, and I tried calling him on your phone, but then I remembered, you left it in the living room on the table when you was talking to the kids."
"Yeah Bay is here why?"
"I've had to tell the girls about Coal." she huffs "I'm going to swing for Granite!! Him and Mace were talking in private, and T overheard them talking about Coal coming out to Sandy Shores. So T went round to ours kicking off at Coal for being with me, and for keeping him in the dark and the girls heard." she is rambling "He's just been here to start on me, but Mango, Tapestry and Granite have dragged him off."
"I'm going to kill him!!" I snap "Are the girls okay?"
"No, they are upset ... more for the fact that I haven't told them. T made it worse, by some of the things he was saying to Coal, it confused them. They even thought me and T have been at it behind your back!!" she laughs quietly "They seem to be taking Coal worse than you." she tuts
"Probably because of the way they found out, it won't be him personally, and it is too soon for them, I told you they needed to deal with one thing at a time!! Now they have had me, the babies and that thrown at them all at the same time!!" I snap "And you can't blame Gran, if he and Mace were talking in private then T shouldn't have been listening or reacted the way he did!! He has always been a twat!!"
"Seriously, I don't know what to say to them to calm them down."
"Stop flapping, and don't say anything, you will just make it worse!" I laugh "Send them up here to see me, I'll try talking to them."
"You will have to tell Bay."
"Babe, seriously ..."
"What choice do we have, the minute he sees the girls they are going to tell him."
Mint and Fudge walk into the room, I can see neither of them look happy. They both stare at Coal, who smiles at them awkwardly. Coal stares at me and I can see how nervous he is.
"I need you two not to say anything, until I have explained to Bay. Then you two can have your say." I smile at them "If I know your Mother, she has been flapping and hasn't explained properly ... hopefully when you have heard it explained properly. you might feel better about it."
"What's going on?" Bay frowns at me
"If you remember your Mom had something else that you needed to be told, and I stopped her saying it was too soon ... well your sisters have just found out by accident and its upset them a little." I smile at him "We were going to tell you, we was going to give you a few days to get over the shock of me, but I went and messed that up, by throwing a wobble."
"Tell us what?"
"When your Mother was thirteen years old, she got her first boyfriend and they did something really stupid together ... she got pregnant."
"At thirteen!!" Bay starts to have hysterics for a moment then stops suddenly.
"Yes she had the baby. Her parents were furious, and because she was so young, they made all the decisions and left her with no choice in what happened. They took your Mother out of school and kept her at home, she was not allowed to see the babies Dad again, her parents even took out an injunction to keep him away from her, and them apart. As soon as the baby was born, they took it away from her and sent your Mother to the boarding school - to keep her away from the babies Father and baby. Your Mom didn't even know if the baby was a boy or girl, her parents didn't let her see the baby or even hold him when he was born. She didn't even have a photograph of him."
"What did they do with the baby?"
"They removed the baby and put him straight into care and up for adoption, while they packed her off to the boarding school. They themselves moved out of Orange Falls, so that they could forget all about what your Mother had done. Your Mother has never known where her baby was, she only knows he went into care and was put up for adoption. Her parents lied to her, saying that the babies Father's family didn't want the baby either and they were just as angry with the situation as her own parents were. They told her he had been adopted by an unknown family and they would never see the baby again."
"That is bad!!" Fudge snaps
"Yeah, it is, and I think you Fudge at least might be able to understand what your Mother had to go through ... imagine if they had taken Willow away from you when he was born, like they did her baby." Fudge chokes "I tried to help your Mom, we made enquiries and we tried to find the baby when she moved to this town ..."
"What ... you tried?" Bay frowns at me
"Yeah, I was her doctor and friend, so she confided in me, she was getting very upset about it, and I guess that is how we eventually ended up together. Your parents weren't getting on very well, and Cinnamon just brought all the hurt back, having him she couldn't stop thinking about her other baby and it hurt her. Emotionally she was a mess and she leaned on me, because I was the only other person that knew besides your Dad. She cried on me until I was wet sometimes, quite often she cried herself to sleep and ended up spending the night on my couch." I laugh a little
"So you never found the baby?"
"No, she had no rights, even though it was her baby, because he was put up for adoption. Because your Mother was only thirteen and a minor in the eyes of the law, her parents acted on her behalf, and they signed the baby away. Social services turned us away, because she had not rights,. Legally there was nothing that she could do, not even about her parents signing her baby away without her agreement. They wouldn't tell her anything, not even what sex the baby was. She thought there was never any chance of ever getting him back, not knowing the babies name or sex made it virtually impossible for us to find him, so she has just had to sit, wait and hope one day that he would come and try to find her."
"Why do you keeps saying he? Are you just presuming the baby was a boy."
"No we now know the baby was a boy. She found out two years ago, by accident, what actually happened to the baby, who he was and where he is." I smile at him "It turned out that her parents lied to her. The babies Dad's parents took the baby out of care and they adopted him - so he has been brought up by his Grandparents." I roll my eyes "Your Mother didn't know that because of the lies she was told. If she had known that his parents had the baby, she would have been there like a shot, after she she left the boarding school. Thinking he was placed in the care system, she didn't expect them to have him - especially because her parents lied to her and told her they didn't have him."
"How did she find out?" I laugh for a moment
"When Turmeric landed in town. He told her what had happened to the baby, his name, and everything about him and his life."
"How does T know?"
"T is the babies Dad." I pause for a moment as I watch Bay's mouth drop open "Shale Rock is the babies Granddad, and he is the one who adopted and brought the baby up."
"What?!" Bay automatically turns to stare at Coal.
"Yeah ... Coal is your half brother."
"Stop shitting me!!"
"Seriously, look at him, he has your Mother's slanty eyes just like you do, and her hair like Mint. He is skinny thin like Fudge and he looks a lot like Cinn. It was pretty obvious to both me and Alpine, that he is your Mother's son, the first time we saw him." I mumble as Bay stares wide eyed at Coal who is just smiling at him "Coal is your half brother and the baby your Mother had when she was thirteen." I laugh at the expression on his face
"If she's known for two years, why didn't she tell us?"
"She was too scared to tell you, for the same reasons as she was scared to tell you about me." I roll my eyes "She only saw him for the first time herself about three weeks ago."
"Why when she's known for two years?"
"T had given her the impression that Coal didn't want to know her for abandoning him, and at the time he didn't. I think you know yourself what T and Coals relationship is like - they basically hate each other, she was scared that he would be the same way with her, and she would not have coped with it. She would never have coped if he had reject her and she was also scared about how you four would take it. She has already been to hell and back because of that baby, and she couldn't face any bad fall out that might come from it all. You know what your Mother is like, she hoards stuff, especially problems or anything she can't face." I chuckly quietly "However, I think she would have dealt with it before now, if Cinnamon hadn't faded,. She did start to cry a lot over Coal, a few months before Cinnamon faded, and we were on the verge of sorting it out, when Gravel went phyco, which stopped her from doing anything about it, obviously she has needed time to get over grieving Cinnamon before she could emotionally deal with Coal."
"This is messed up!!" Bay frowns at Coal "So how long have you known, my Mom is your Mom?"
"Only about three weeks." he mumbles
"Your Mom phoned Shale while we were in Sandy Shores. Shale sat Coal down and explained your Mothers side of the story and Coal came out there looking for her. So they have sorted everything out that they needed to." I smile at the girls who seemed to look a bit happier "Please don't take this out on Coal or your Mother!! None of this is Coal's fault, you have to remember he has had to live his life up to now, not having his mother or knowing he had brothers and sisters, and your Mother has been through hell never knowing where her baby was She would never have given him up if she had been given the choice. She has never told you about that baby, because it's existence and the not knowing who and where the baby was, would have just eaten you up like it did her." I smile at them "I know it wasn't the best way for you two to find out, but T shouldn't have kicked off like he did at Coal or your Mother and we would have told you as soon as we were both out of our hospital beds."
"Why has T kicked off at Coal and Mom?" Bay frowns at me
"Without talking to him I don't know for sure, but I can guess ..." me and Coal laugh at each other for a moment.
"T was excluded when I went out to Sandy Shores - even Shale agreed that we should be on our own and we didn't need T interfering. So for the past three weeks T has been pretty much kept in the dark about me knowing Caramel is my Mother. We haven't told him that I know because you three had to be told about Forrest first, and T would have just caused trouble and probably blown the secret, hurting you three in the process."
"So you knew Forrest was our Dad."
"Only for the past three week." he mumbles "They told me when we were in Sandy Shores."
"So how did T find out about you knowing who Mom is?"
"He overheard Granite and Mace talking, about me being in Sandy Shores with Forrest and Mom, and he didn't like that we have hidden it from him, when he has nerve, he could have told me the truth about Mom two years ago!! He's a twat, he has been kicking off at Granite and Mace over Forrest and Mel. Granite, Mango and Tap, has had to drag him off now to stop him coming in here and laying into Forrest."
"WHY?!" Bay snaps
"The twat thinks he has been in love with our Mother since he was thirteen. So he has never liked Alpine and is angry with Forrest. He went tits up when he found out Forrest and Mel have secretly been together for the past twenty years and about you three being his children and not Alpines. He has been mates with Forrest for two years, he's very miffed he kept that secret to himself."
"Oh fudge!" Bay starts laughing
"Why do you call him T when he is your Dad?" Mint asks him
"He has never been my Dad. Shale is my Dad. T didn't want to know me from the moment I was born, he took off completely when I was five so he didn't have to have anything to do with me. I was lucky if I saw him once a year, and most of the time Dad had to force him to see me. He had the chance to be my Dad but he chose not to."
"So are you angry with Mom?"
"No, not now. I have been in the past, because Dad never really knew Mom's side of the story, they all just thought she had turned her back on me, like T had, by never going back to Orange Falls to look for me. Now I know they took me away from her and lied to her, I can't be angry with her can I." he raises his eyebrows at the girls "So are you still angry with me?"
"It wasn't you that we were angry with exactly." Mint laughs "It was the shock of what we were listening too, we were angry at Mom for not telling us."
The door opens and Granite comes in with Tapestry.
"Its done, you can relax, they know everything." I smile at Tapestry who laughs a me.
"Tell me Tap knew about Coal?" Bay grumbles
"Sorry Bay .... you wouldn't have thanked me for spilling that secret either." Tap laughs at Bay who just laughs back at him.
"Where is T?" I frown at Granite who suddenly starts laughing
"Don't worry about T." he laughs "El has him under house arrest ... he's handcuffed to Prelude who has strict instruction to bang him out if he so much as mentions yours or Mels name." he starts howling
"You haven't!" I laugh at him
"Oh I have." he laughs "Mace is with El and Dad, so I took T round there - it was Dad's idea to handcuff him to something till he calmed down." he smirks at me "Prelude was perfect for the job!!" he sniggers "That will teach him for earwigging on mine and Mace's private conversations!! Don't be surprised if he has a black eye the next time you see him!"
This cracks us all up.
However I am not looking forward to what he has to say to me, when I do see him next.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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