Who's the real you?

Chapter Forty-One

Hannah rested her body against the kitchen bench as she looked at her dad, she watched as he took a sip from his coffee mug.

"Does he know about Belle?"

Hannah lowered her gaze.

"Hannah."

"What? It's nothing." Hannah lifted her gaze up at Bill.

"Clearly is if he knows about the kids. So, what are you telling him?"

Hannah stayed silent.

"Hannah."

"Dad, it's fine. It's nothing."

"Nothing? You've talked about Channing a few times. It's not nothing. I saw the two of you on the beach. That wasn't nothing."

Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Hannah."

"Dad, what do you want me to say? That I've found someone."

"Found someone? Your married."

"You don't think I know that? You don't think I know what my husband is doing behind my back."

Bill lowered his gaze down to the mug in his hands "Hannah."

"Dad. I don't know what's happening. With Channing I'm me. He sees me as me. With Alytain, I'm Belle. All I'll ever be is Belle. If it wasn't for you, I'd forget who Hannah is. I've ripped my life apart. I'm trying to find me."

"By using another man?"

"No."

"Mum."

Hannah and Bill shifted their attention to Harley as he stood in the entrance of the kitchen.

"Dad's on skype."

Hannah sighed "Just bring your laptop down to the lounge room, you and Meredith can talk to him."

Harley let uncertainty filled his body as wondered away from the kitchen.

"With Channing, I don't have to lie."

"But you are."

"He knows me as Hannah. He knows about the kids."

"And Alytain?"

Hannah lowered her gaze; she couldn't admit it to her father.

"He doesn't, does he." He wasn't a question; Bill already knew the answer.

"Alytain's my ex." Hannah mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"Alytain's my ex." Hannah said a little louder.

"I can't hear you."

Hannah stared up at Bill "Alytain is my ex. Happy? That's what I told Channing."

"Hannah."

"What? It just slipped out."

"We both know it's not true. Has he not seen the ring on your finger?"

"MUM!" Meredith called out from the lounge room.

"He thinks the divorce is fresh." Hannah sighed.

"MUM!"

"Coming." Hannah responded to her daughter.

Bill shook his head slightly as he watched his daughter walk out into the lounge room.

Belle took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, she squashed down next to her children as she saw her husband's face in the computer screen "Alytain" She faked a smile.

Bill shifted himself towards the entrance of the kitchen, he rested his body against the frame of the wall as he watched his daughter and grandkids interact via the laptop with Alytain. Bill didn't understand what his daughter was doing, and he doubted he could make sense of it, but he most certainly knew that Hannah/Belle would come crashing down in the cruellest way possible, he assumed his daughter wouldn't feel the repercussions as much as those around her would. All Bill knew for certain was he wasn't going to stop his daughter; he was going to allow her to make her own mistakes and all he would do would just be there for his grandkids when the waves drowned his family.