I'm Yours Only, Sophie J Brain [i am malala young readers edition txt] 📗

look out for her. Slowly he walked back to his seat and sat back down “When did this happen?”

“A couple of weeks ago” she sighed “I came home and they were both waiting for me. He said that he didn’t love me anymore and that he was going.”

“The bastard” he snarled “why didn’t you call me?”

She shrugged “I guess the longer I waited to tell someone the longer I could pretend that it wasn’t happening.”

“Ah Chelle” he moved over and hugged her shoulders “I’m here now.”

She nodded and buried her head against his chest “Don’t leave it so long next time.”

He nodded against her head; he had no intention of leaving it so long in future. The thought that she had been on her own for weeks hit him hard. He had never felt like more of a let-down.

She moved away and looked at him “So, what’s the real reason for the unexpected visit?”

Chris grinned “Well, there’s this girl.”

“Start at the beginning.” She ordered.

“It’s a long story.” He warned her but he did start at the beginning and he didn’t leave anything out.

Chapter Fourteen

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

“You need to speak with mum and dad” Chelle replied once he had finished telling her his story.

Chris tried not to scoff at the obvious response, of course he needed to speak with his parents but where would he begin? He didn’t want them to lose faith in him or to think less of him.

He had been raised to live his life with integrity and respect but he hadn’t acted that way with Nicky or Maisy. He had treated them both abominably, how could he explain that to his parents?

The news about Chelle’s husband had shaken him up even more; his guilt had managed to make him push away everyone who mattered to him. His family deserved more from him, it was time for him to step up and be a man. It was time for him to admit to his mistakes and get over them like a proper adult.

He turned to Chelle and smiled “we can go to see them tomorrow evening if you want?”

“What about this evening?” Chelle asked.

Chris thought for a moment, the sooner he spoke to his parents the sooner he could get back to Nicky. It was more than appealing “I suppose you have much to say to them as well.”

She moved in her seat “maybe I should wait for a little before telling them.”

He eyed her closely “Chelle, what’s wrong?”

“My husband just left me” she replied “I feel enough of a failure already without having to tell mum and dad, besides you need to speak with them.”

“You aren’t a failure” he murmured.

She shook her head “I am. I knew I shouldn’t have married him but I did anyway. Oh, Chris, you can’t believe how proud I am that you didn’t make the mistake that I did. I am so happy that you didn’t marry Maisy.”

He blinked, what was she talking about? She had married Paul because loved him, why shouldn’t she have done? “Chelle, it’s just the hormones talking.”

“I was told that I shouldn’t marry him” she answered “by an ex-boyfriend of sorts. He said that it would end this way and I should have listened.” Chris sat aghast for a moment, not knowing what to say or what to do, why hadn’t she told him all of this before? Why had she been warned against marrying him? “You loved Paul.”

She shrugged “I thought I did, but now I don’t know, maybe we were both kidding ourselves. He obviously didn’t think much of me.”

Chris stood and put his arm around her, holding her close to his body. He didn’t know what she was talking about or why she thought that she shouldn’t have married Paul but none of it mattered. She was his sister and she needed comfort and he wouldn’t let her down again.

“We will both to talk to mum and dad together” he whispered “we will support each other.”

She nodded “that sounds good.”

 

Later that evening Chris and Michelle made the short five minute walk to their parents’ house. Over the afternoon he had managed to get some information out of Chelle regarding her marriage.

It seemed that before meeting Paul she had been involved in a love affair which had ended badly and suddenly. She had met Paul a few months later and had thrown all of herself into the relationship. She had fallen for him but before the wedding the ex-partner had come back told her that it would be a mistake as Paul wasn’t who she wanted. Chris had been amazed at the startling similarities between her relationship and the one he had had with Nicky.

She hadn’t given him the full details of the relationship or what had happened exactly but she had seemed very upset over the whole thing.

She hadn’t mentioned if she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend or not but she did feel that her marriage had been doomed from the start.

They arrived at their parents’ a little after five and let themselves in. “Mum” Chelle called “dad.”

Chris’ parents, Miranda and Timothy walked into the hall way to greet them, stopping in motion once they saw him “Hello mum, dad.”

“Christopher!” Timothy greeted reaching out to shake his hand “we weren’t expecting you until Christmas, what a lovely surprise.”

“I came by for an unexpected trip” he replied.

“He needs to speak with you” Chelle added.

Chris glowered at her as they followed his parents into the lounge. The walls were scattered with pictures of him and Michelle from throughout the years. He noticed that there weren’t many new picture of him since he had broken up with Maisy. He had never felt more determined to make change.

“I have met someone” he finally murmured.

Miranda clasped her hand together “that’s wonderful news, where did you meet her?”

“Well I met her at work” Chris replied “she’s from Crowmarsh.”

“Ah well” his dad replied “we won’t hold that against her.”

Chris grinned at the joke, both his parents had been born and raised in Didcot and always joked about people from the surrounding villages, all in jest of course.

“So, is she a teacher?” his mother asked.

“Well no” Chris admitted “she is a former student.”

Silence descended onto the room as his parents looked from him to Michelle and back again. Chris tried to read what they were thinking but he came up blank.

“I see” his father finally replied “how long have you known her?”

“About four years” he replied “but we have only just got back into contact.” He told his parents the story of him and Nicky. He gave details of their relationship four years earlier and explained what happened when Maisy had come to visit him. He told them why he hadn’t been able to marry Maisy then relayed the story of his reunion with Nicky.

“That’s all there is to know” he finished.

“Well, she sounds lovely” Miranda replied “why didn’t you mention her before?”

“I was ashamed” Chris admitted “for the way I had behaved towards them both.”

“Bah, everyone makes mistakes my boy” his father smiled “we would love to meet her.”

Chris let out a relieved breath. That had gone better than he had expected. “I will keep you updated, and I’m going to visit more as well.”

“See that you do boy” his father murmured “it’s not like we’re far away.”

Chris nodded and put his hand in Michelle’s. All he needed was the love and support of his family, with that he could do anything. He looked around the lounge once again; maybe it would be worth moving back to Didcot. It would be nice to live near family and he did miss the place. His family had lived in Didcot for generations, on his mother’s side at least, and it would be nice to go back to his routes. He looked at Michelle and smiled encouragingly, giving her hand a squeeze.

She coughed and turned to her parents “actually, I have something I need to say too.”

 

Nicky sighed and hugged her arms to her chest. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sat at Kevin’s grave but the sky had started to darken. She glanced at the graves next to her and caught sight of her great, great grandparents’ shared grave.

She stood and walked over to it. The grave had long since been forgotten about by most of the family but she always tried to visit when she could.

She ran her hand along the inscription, which, being over a century old was only just visible.

 

Here lies Major Raymond Alexander Mannering

Born: 11th October 1845

Died 16th November 1929

And also his wife Mrs Frances Maria Mannering

Born 27th March 1851

Died 29th April 1884

 

She wondered what her relatives had been like; according to her grandfather they had enjoyed playing practical jokes on each other. One story that her grandfather had told her was how his grandfather, Major Mannering, and all of his sons had clubbed together to trick his daughter.

From what she remembered of the story, the sister in question had had a secret fiancé and the father found out and introduced to her an unflattering suitor to try and make her admit the truth.

Nicky chuckled at the story, it sounded like something that would happen between her and her siblings. They too had been practical jokers when growing up. That had been before Anthony had got married and Penny had moved out, though if Nicky was honest, she had stopped pulling pranks four years earlier, after Kevin’s attack.

She shivered as the trees next to her rustled in the wind, almost reminding her of what her actual agenda was that afternoon. She stood and kissed the top of the grave before walking back to Kevin.

She sat back down and looked at his gravestone; it was brightly decorated and had, until the recent attack on it, been looked after quite well in the two years since his death.

Nicky let out a small breath “Kevin, I bet you didn’t expect me to visit you.” She let out an involuntary laugh, was she really talking to a slab of stone? She wasn’t even sure she believed in the afterlife, but she had to get her words out, she had kept them bottled up for too long.

“I don’t know why you did what you did” she murmured softly “and I don’t know why you choose me as a target.”

She picked up a broken flower and placed it near the gravestone “you made me change how I saw myself. Every day I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t got away, who I would have been if you had got your way.

“The person I had been, before your attack, wasn’t who I was after. I only just realised that myself. I had always been so confident but you took some of that from me. I would be scared to go to your house; I would avoid seeing my own family and friends for fear of running into you.”

Nicky ran her hand along the upturned mud “I’m not sure why I’m saying any of this, it’s not like you can do anything now you’re dead.” She let out a nervous laugh “I need to say it, after four years I need to let it out, you hurt me Kevin. You were like an uncle to me, I