Past, Present and Future - The Devereaux Case Files Book 6

Chapter 6

Ayah forced Dicken and Clare to sit with her at the dinner table until Reed and Reyes returned. She wanted to keep her eye on them at all times, but she also wanted to talk with Faith about their lack of punishment over the years, and their actions of late. They were getting out of hand and she needed to do something before they were old enough to leave home and get themselves into the kind of trouble they couldn't deal with. For eighteen, Dicken had already proven that he was incapable of going out into the world and leading a sensible life, and for sixteen, Clare was fast following in his footsteps.

"Faith, you really need to discipline them better. It should have been done years ago. Do you realize the trouble Clare could get herself into? She could get pregnant by some stranger, be abused or used or forced into God knows what. She's in a country she's never been in before, and planning to sleep with an older man at sixteen - after one day of knowing him." Ayah couldn't hold water any longer. She needed to say it and she needed Faith to hear it. She needed her to understand the plain truth and for once, do something about it that wasn't just sitting by pretending everything was shiny and bright.

"She's just wild. She likes to shock people." Faith maintained with a smile at her daughter. But it only made Ayah even angrier. It was nonsense and it was dangerous nonsense at that.

"Clare could have been attacked, killed, kidnapped or sold into some sick sex trade for all anyone knew. All because she agreed to meet a total stranger for sex, in a foreign country. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't planning on telling anyone where she was going. And she didn't know where she would end up." Ayah tried to interject some logic. How many times had young innocent girls been plucked out of foreign countries when traveling and been forced into a prostitution ring? Girls that hadn't even been as stupid as Clare was being at the moment.

"You're too dramatic auntie Ayah, all he wanted was sex." Clare claimed loftily, examining her nails as if nothing was wrong. But Ayah couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand sitting there, with Magnus and Elyse playing in the corner, with Caleb and Mason while Olivia finished her homework in the hallway, knowing that she was the only one being realistic. Though she did get some hope from the disgusted look Dicken sent his sister. Ayah knew fine well that he had confessed to Reed that he hadn't given up his virginity yet, because he planned on it meaning something. He knew what Ayah and Reed shared, that their relationship had a solid foundation and he wanted that too. He was at least sensible.

"Don't you dare. Do you have any idea what men will do for sex...do you?" Ayah asked desperately, furious that no-one was listening to her. No-one seemed to care what was really going on, what people were doing to themselves or the consequences of their actions. It was infuriating.

"Please don't." Faith asked her suddenly. But Ayah couldn't give in and do as she asked. They had kept too many secrets from Dicken and Clare. It was pushing Reyes away and it was destroying their family.

"No. I'm sorry Faith. I don't care anymore. She needs to know...they both do." Ayah decided she wasn't being party to the secret keeping anymore. She was fed up of the weight being on her shoulders and that guilty look Faith kept giving her whenever she told off her own kids. It was like Faith hated her for being a good mother. She didn't think her sister was a bad mother, but she knew Faith believed it of herself and it had to stop.

"Your father, Reggie only married your mother for her money and a son so he could take over his father's company. She was already pregnant with you, Dicken, when they got married because he wasn't willing to marry anyone without proof that they could deliver the son he wanted." She explained in anger, wanting them to know the truth now that they were old enough to handle it. And although they both frowned at her and looked furious at what she was saying, if they thought they could handle the things they had been doing that holiday, then they could handle the truth.