Among the Trees

Chapter 27 - Bittersweet

I didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to forget about it. I wanted to go back to who I was before I met Adam. There was a lot of this I wanted, but talking about how messed up my life was, was not one of them. I'd excused myself and headed out towards the lake.

I sat among the fallen autumn leaves at the edge of the water, the damp mud beneath seeping into the fabric of my jeans. I pulled my knees up to my chin and wrapped my arms around my legs. My stomach made uncomfortable summersaults. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on my knees. Lee was right, what was I thinking? I could barely deal with it myself, how could my brother deal with it any better? I shivered as the cold seeped into my skin. I didn't know how long I'd been sat there, nor did I care.

There was a crunch of leaves behind me but I didn't respond to it. I didn't even lift my  head from my knees. Seconds later something rested on my shoulders.

"Don't abandon me completely Lily." My brother's voice was soft and  humorous. "Come on my little Lillian. You have been so strong for so long, it's okay to be weak for a while."  There was a slight pause. I moved to rest my chin on my knees. "I can't get down there Lil, you're going to have to stand up now." There was a vague laugh in his voice. It made me smile to know that, even through his pain and his frustration, he could still laugh and smile about the situation. He was the same old Mitchell that he'd always been. He'd always able to laugh through the tough times and smile through the heartbreak, but this time it did not give me full comfort. He didn't know what had happened in the last eight and a half months. He had come back just as things were getting better. He saw only the good, he hadn't witnessed the bad.

"Oh Mitch. You really have no idea." I slowly dragged myself from the ground and wrapped my arms round my brother's waist once again and pressed my right ear to his chest, so that I could hear the steady thrum of his heart. "They didn't tell you, did they?"

"Tell me what Lillian?" His question was muffled as he kissed the top of my hair.

"They're in the process of getting a divorce. They're already legally separated." I snivelled and hugged him tighter. "My life has fallen apart, Isobel killed herself after Kieran slept with her and moved on, then I was forced to leave my family and all of this happened. It's just been a living nightmare Mitch." I felt his stomach muscles tighten as he chuckled and rested his cheek on the top of my head.

"You're telling me. I leave and Denise is only two months pregnant. I wake up to find I have nephew who's a month old, and a little sister who's disappeared without a reason." He squeezed me as tightly as he could and the put his hands back on his crutches. "Come on, it's warmer inside."

Turns out I'd been sat out there for an hour. Laura and Mitchell left soon after he and I returned to the house. Laura had hugged Lee tightly and exclaimed how much she'd missed him and Adam and Betty. He'd politely smiled at the mention of Adam's name and let nothing show of how much he hated the mention of his former best friend. The she'd hugged me and told me how wonderful it was to finally meet me, if only briefly, because my brother had told her all about me. Or at least as much as he knew about me. My brother simply winked at me as he left and left Lee with a stern warning that if he did what Kieran had done,  or what the father of my child had, he'd break him. Which in reality would have be, one, hilarious to watch and two, ridiculously impossible. Even if he hadn't been in his current state, there was no way on earth that Mitchell would ever 'break' Lee, physically or mentally. I guess it's the thought that counts really.

"Feel better now?" Lee sounded irritated as the shut the door behind them. 

"Much better actually." I gave him a smug grin as I brought my hands out of my pockets. In each hand I held a phone; one being Mitchell's, the other being Laura's. "The game is only just beginning Lee. And we have the upper hand." I put the phones back into my pockets. Adam might be able to play some nasty games but I could play worse games then he'd believe.