My Future Husband

Chapter 96

“Coffee, darling?” Mama T offers me another latte. Of course it would have to be freezing today, but like hell are any of us moving. Brie needs us here.

We’re being kept behind the yellow tape, but Hannah is right there directing traffic, men in hard hats ripping out the play park and getting ready to dig. The morning frost crunches beneath my boots, Dad wrapping another coat around me as I take the coffee.

“Thanks... have you tried to give one to her?” We all look at Brie standing against a tree on the other side of the field. She’s barely spoken to anyone in days, but none of us have pushed. She needs space to deal with this.

“I’ll try.” Milo scoots in next to me as Jay takes one of the coffees over to my sister.

My eldest brother had a bit of a realisation when we told them what we’d found out, but he’s still trying to get his head around it. He’s always hated Anna, he couldn’t help it. She was the face of his worst childhood memory; the day he caught her with Nigel and he lost his dad.

Except now he realises it was never him or Anna at fault. Nigel didn’t change because Jayce caught him with his mistress, he changed because after years of becoming what he wanted, he was finally putting his plan into action.

It was the day he let Boom out again.

It was never Jayce’s fault. He's been blaming everything that happened after that on him walking into that room, but now... he can let it go.

“Are you okay?” Milo asks gently. He’s coping with this better than the rest of us, as per usual.

“I don’t know. I honestly can’t decide if it’ll be better when they find him, or if they dig it up and find nothing.” If they find him, this is over, but if they don't, she can still have some hope.

“She just needs to know the truth. Whatever it is, everyone is better off knowing the truth.” I knock my coffee cup against his. This boy is always right. “Valerie running Granny’s?”

“Alicia is, but I told her to shut up early. Val is still a bit overwhelmed by all this. Whatever happens today, I see a lot of wine in everyone's evening.” He chuckles, wrapping his arm around me. Josh kisses him before going over to join Jay sitting with Brie. They don’t say anything to her, neither does Leah when she sits too. They just silently support each other, like always. “You do realise we’re still the outsiders.”

“Yeah, but who wants to be one of the cool kids when we can be the rejects. The black sheep get to break the rules.” Here, here.

Brie, Leah, and Josh just have something special. I’m okay being on the outside of that, especially today. The truth is, the person she needs most is-

“My queen.” Oh fuck.

“Steve?” She's crying before she even gets back to her feet, running across the park into his arms. He should absolutely not be here, he needs to be in a hospital bed, but of course he couldn't let her go through this without him. “You’re an idiot! You’re a fucking moron! You heard what the doctor said, why do you have to be so stupid?!”

“I love you too.” She wraps her arms around his neck because she can’t touch his back, but she could rip him apart and he wouldn't try to stop her. I spot Rayna standing at the edge of the park, she's probably risking her job to bring him here.

I still can’t get over all of this. I’m hoping for a different outcome, but deep in my heart I already know. Everyone has always made the joke that each Thompson is born with a bit of killer in them, but now we're finding out that's really true.

Except actually it’s worse.

Killing his best friend wasn’t enough for Nigel, he had to own and destroy everything that was his too. The more time I’ve had to think about it, the worst it gets. It was never an accident he moved to Tara and Jay to Westbrooke, or that of all the housekeepers he hired Granny. He planned it all, worked every single person around him to reach his goals.