THE LAST SECRET KEEPER Secret Keeper series books 1-4

CHAPTER 10

Lanecea stood frozen where she stood, her mother's laughter reaching her before she had stepped foot in the kitchen, but in all her nine years, Lanecea had never heard her mother laugh quite like that. Leaning with her back against the wall, Sheila held her brother's hips, moaning and laughing as he kissed and licked the side of her neck. 

Betrayal. 

Her mother was betraying her father.

In a split-second, the ground seemed to give way beneath Lanecea's bare feet as Sheila flushed, slipping one hand beneath Uncle Bernard's shirt. Lanecea hadn't uttered a single word, gazing at her mother in shock, but her heart was bleeding profusely. Yes, Sheila was like a wicked stepmother in fairytales but how could she betray her husband with her own brother? Especially when she alone could cause Phillippe's heart to turn as cold as ice, turning against his own daughter week after week? 

It was too much to comprehend, the young girl nauseated at the sight. Did Aunt Veronique know? That would definitely explain why she had said trust is fragile, but how could a man ever betray his wife especially when there was nothing but worship in her eyes? Nothing made sense!

"Don't let them see you," her older cousin, Francois, warned as he clamped his hand over her mouth although Lanecea hadn't said a word.

Still clamping his hand over her mouth, Francois led her backward, away from the room, then back up the stairs to her own bedroom, but didn't enter, leaning against the doorframe as he looked over at her many dolls.

"You didn't know, did you?" Francois whispered, releasing her mouth at last although he already knew the answer, she supposed.

"No."

"Ya...they've always loved each other and Mom had no idea when she married Dad. Dad and your mom were always very...um...close. That's what he told me anyway. You must have heard the stories of our grandfather. Has your mom ever told you what he was like? Who he was?"

Lanecea nodded slowly, not sure how much she should say, even to her own cousin. Nearly every time Sheila beat her within an inch of her life, she would later sit on the side of Lanecea's bed, whispering, "My dad was much worse, you know. You have it so good," before Sheila would proceed to tell Lanecea yet another sordid tale of her evil father. "I never wanted to have kids - well, not you, at least. I thought your dad would rescue me, so I married him and then you were here. I've never known what it is to be happy... If you lived with my dad, you'd understand..."

She wasn't sure she would ever understand, but Francois seemed to know something she didn't - the reason why their parents were acting as though they were married while Aunt Veronique was alone in bed, rarely emerging from the bedroom day after day, and hadn't said more than a few words during their visit.

"Well, then you understand that they only ever really had each other and your mom made my dad happy. Dad ended up marrying Mom though but no one in the family has ever accepted her. Mom thinks it is because she is French but that doesn't make much sense," Francois rubbed the bridge of his nose as though that would help him understand why his sweet, soft-spoken mother was never welcomed into his father's family. "Anyway, I guess maybe it is fate that Dad and your mom have been reunited, even if it breaks Mom's heart."

It was too much for Lanecea's brain to comprehend, but what could she say? 

"Don't tell anyone else about the secret, okay? I think our parents would freak out if they knew...well, you know..."