Meant to be

The Messenger

Raphaella D'Silver often felt underestimated by her siblings due to their age differences, with eleven years being the maximum and seven the minimum. But she'd been like the watcher of her siblings as everyone assumed she was too young to remember or to understand, too young to notice their covert operations.

However at five, she watched her eldest brother Don shimmy down the drainpipes as he snuck out despite his grounding. Seen him bring a couple of girls up to his room, sometimes multiple at a time while their parents were occupied downstairs. At seven she observed Carlisle as he smoked weed in the shed with Don and a couple of their friends, that resulted in said shed being burned down. Silently regarded Michel and Mason stealing alcohol from the cellar partaking in underage drinking. She'd had to clamp her mouth shut with her hand desperate not to guffaw when she spied on Leo attempting to joyride Don's car as well as setting off illegal fireworks in the depths of their woods with his best friend Sean. Raphaella was convinced her earliest memory was seeing her siblings misbehaving, specifically Evie pushing Leo out of the treehouse in their prank war at age three. Her childhood, a collection of memories snooping on her adolescent siblings, she'd seen it all. Just like she saw Mason carrying Evie bridal style up the stairs one evening thinking they were home alone, they paused to kiss and Raphaella's mouth was agape. It was a surprise to her but she welcomed it warmly, respecting her sister's secret and approving in her choice of men.

So when her sister came home one warm May evening, lashes thick with tears, her eyes and nose red, looking crestfallen and defeated, she instantly knew something was wrong.

What Raphaella didn't know was that was just the beginning.

She watched her sister announce her engagement later that evening, she would've been happy for her if she could believe Evie was happy.

But she knew Evie wasn't, not with Dominic.

Raphaella couldn't put her finger on it but she didn't trust that guy, there was something off about him. Something that made her uncomfortable when he was around, so much so that she avoided his company at all cost. Even though that meant she withdrew herself from her own sister, without explanation.

As a peace offering and a desire to reconnect with her sister, Evie planned to spend the half term holiday at the D'Silver home. Raphaella had been on board, until she heard Dominic was coming, a week under the same roof as Dominic?

No.

She wasn't going to do that, a month for their Christmas tradition had been unbearable. His piercing eyes always seemed to be on her, a consistently sinister look on his face, it made it worse when he smiled at her, it had her wondering what was on his mind. Any time she tried, or anybody tried to mention anything about Dominic, Evie got defensive, Raphaella knew that telling her sister she found her fiancé creepy wouldn't go down well.

But as her sister she couldn't let her go through with this.

So hours before they were supposed to arrive, Raphaella decided she was sick of nobody in her family addressing the real issue: Evie and Mason. It didn't take a genius to work out something was wrong when Mason's absences became more frequent, in their traditions and on their family holidays. It had everyone wondering what had transpired between them that meant Evie was engaged to Dominic and Mason only appeared when Evie didn't. Everybody wondered the same thing but nobody said anything, especially when Evie's defensive attitude was the only answer they got. Even if they didn't agree, they all agreed to support her decision, trying to include both Dominic and Evie, without severing ties with Mason. Often family meet ups became marred with arguing between Dominic and Evie, while the other members simply avoided getting involved and staying silent. But not Raphaella, not anymore, she was going to do something about it.