Love, Lies & Blood Ties - Whitby Shadows Series Book 2

Chapter Three

Thankfully, Mason didn't return. As promised, Maddy's cooking was absolutely delicious, even better than Sophie's in my opinion but of course I'd never tell her that.

"Why did Mason call you a brother from another mother?" I asked, picking at a hash brown.

Luke pulled his lips into a thin line. "My brothers and sisters all have the same parents except for me. I'm the odd one out. Same father, different mother."

"Ah, ok." I couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. "Sorry, I didn't mean to poke at stuff."

He shook his head. "Their mum died years ago. When my father met my mother, they had no intentions of adding any more children. She already had two and my father already had seven. Still, I guess the universe felt an even ten was better than nine."

"Are they all local? Your brothers and sisters?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately."

"You don't have issues like that with all of them, surely?"

He laughed. "No, just Mason. There's always been sour grapes between us. Probably because I'm a constant reminder that his dad moved on."

"What did he expect? Your dad to be single forever?"

"Knowing Mason, most likely. He's rather unreasonable at the best of times."

"You don't say."

We both laughed and finished up our drinks. Maddy reappeared to take our empty cups and gave Luke a cheeky wink. "Seeing as you've finally brought someone to meet us, does that mean you've told her your biggest secret?"

Luke's face visibly paled. "No, Maddy, I haven't."

She put a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Oops. Did I let the cat out of the bag?"

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "This sounds good."

"It's not a good climate to find jobs, Madeline," Luke said, frowning.

"Oh, I love it when you use my full name. Makes me feel all naughty," she said, giggling as she skipped back to the kitchen.

I grinned at Luke.

"What?"

"Come on. You've got to tell me now."

He rolled his eyes. "It's really not that good."

"I think I should be the judge of that."

Maddy returned with two side plates, two thick chunks of Victoria sponge with oozing cream and strawberry jam. "Here you go," she said, her voice all high and sweet.

"This doesn't cut it as an apology," Luke said, snatching at a plate and digging in with a fork.

Maddy grabbed a chair from the next table and sat down next to me. "Did you notice anything weird about our names?" she said, bumping my shoulder with hers and smiling at Luke.

I thought over the three names I'd heard so far—Mason, Marissa, Maddy. It took me a second or two to wonder. Not sure if I might be wrong, I hesitantly asked, "Is it they all begin with M?"

"She's a clever one, hey, Luke?" Maddy said, bouncing her leg up and down under the table.

A wide grin burst out over my face. "Am I right in guessing Luke isn't your first name?"

He narrowed his eyes at his sister. "I hate you so much right now."

"No, you don't. You love my cake too much."

Luke continued stuffing the fluffy cake into his mouth with a deep crease on his forehead.

"Luke is also short for something," she whispered to me.