My Secret

Chapter 8

1,623 words minus the author's notes, woo-woo! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.

Brandon's POV

A few days pass and Abby's family and I try and help her regain her memory. It's working little by little and throughout the whole thing, the twins have been good sports about it. Ryder even offered to go find Abby's memory and bring it back home and he was devastated when I told him it didn't work like that. Now it's Wednesday, three days after everything happened with Heather, and I'm downstairs in Abby's old house with the twins as Abby sleeps upstairs, everyone else having gone out to work or run errands. It's around ten now and I'm secretly making the kids French Fries.

"Shhhhh, we can't tell anyone about the fries," Rosie says, putting a finger to her lips.

"But what about Mama?" Ryder asks, playing with his juice cup.

"Don't play with your juice cup or you'll spill it," I say, checking the oven to make sure the fries aren't burning.

The timer goes off a few minutes later and I take the fries out, waiting until they cool off before dumping them into a bowl. I set the bowl down on the table and the twins' hands eagerly reach for them. I laugh to myself as I pour another cup of coffee for myself, thinking about how quiet it is with no one here. I make my coffee exactly the way I want it and I'm heading back to the table when a voice stops me dead in my tracks.

"Ryder Alexander and Rosetta Avery Summers, what did I tell you about eating French Fries for breakfast? Don't you dare move either, Brandon Winters, you know fries are not a breakfast food, or do I need to remind you what happened Sophomore year?" Abby says and I turn around to see her dressed in her nightgown, her black hair a wild mess.

"Mama! You got your memory back!" Ryder exclaims, jumping off his chair and rushing to Abby's side.

"I did, baby. I got my memory back, now let's talk about how you shouldn't eat fries for breakfast," Abby says, turning to pick up Rosetta.

"It was Daddy's idea," Rosie says, pointing a chubby finger at me.

"Was not," I say, crossing my arms.

"Was too," Rosie says, sticking her tongue out at me.

Abby laughs and ruffles Rosie's hair while my daughter squeals with laughter. I smile down at my two girls and feel Ryder pulling at my pant leg. I look down and he's stretching his arms up so I pick him up, his tiny arms wrapping themselves around my neck.

"I missed you, baby girl," I whisper into Abby's ear, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"I was always here, a part of me was just missing," she replies, wrapping her free arm around my waist.

"Never do that again, it scared me."

"Okay, so maybe next time I'll just tell my memory not to leave." Her voice is light, trying to ease the tension in the room.

"I wanted to go after your memory, but Daddy said no," Ryder pipes up and Abby laughs when she notices that he's pouting.

Abby's POV

"How are you feeling?" Brandon asks later that afternoon, the kids sleeping upstairs.

"I have a slight headache but other than that, I feel okay. What happened?" I ask, leaning my head against the soft couch.

"Heather hit you over the head with a baseball bat, don't even ask where she got it from because I don't know, and you fell to the floor while I was walking to the car. You hit the floor and Luke ran out and grabbed Heather so she didn't run off. I called the cops while Ryder and Rosie huddled together on the curb. They took Heather into custody and you were rushed to the hospital and when you woke up, Parker diagnosed you with Retrograde Amnesia. The next couple days we were trying to get your memory back and I'm so glad you have it back now. I feel like it's all my fault, if I would have held the door for you instead, maybe you wouldn't have a bump on your head. I'm so sorry, our first night back together and I couldn't even protect you," Brandon says, his voice trembling and a tear leaking from his eye.