I'll Keep This Secret For You

Chapter 126

"Uncle?" Isla screws up her face and frowns at you confused.

You nod as you continue to stare at him in shock.

"Yeah, remember, my brother that I told you about?" You say in a daze.

"Oh you mean the one that you said abandoned you kind of like Nana and Poppa and you had no idea where he was now?"

Couldn't have said it better myself, you think of Isla's comment.

"Yeah. That's the one." You quirk an eyebrow at the man standing before you.

Realising where the conversation is going, he gives you a sheepish grin and stops coming towards you.

"Hey Isla, would you mind preoccupying Theo once we get inside? I just need to chat to your uncle and then maybe you can come meet him properly yourself okay?" You ask.

"Okay. Come on Theo." She shrugs seemingly unphased and takes her brothers hand to lead him inside.

"(Y/N) I-" Eric starts but you cut him off.

"Don't. Not yet. Not while the kids are around. Come inside and give me a minute," you say sternly.

He nods and follows you into the lounge.

"Wait here."

You can tell by the timid look on his face that this is not the cherry family reunion that he was hoping for and probably expecting. But how dare he expect that after casting you out all those years ago?

You go and lay the already sleeping twins down in their cots, in a daze the whole time as you try to process the fact that to your brother who you haven't seen since you were eighteen over twelve years ago now has just now showed up on your front doorstep without warning.

"What are you doing here?" You spit as you charge back out to the living room after deciding that you definitely feel angry now.

It's been long enough that you're over the hurt. You forgave your parents... sort of, but you never heard from your brother meaning that he doesn't get forgiven without a decent explanation.

"Nice to see you too, sis," he says sarcastically.

"Excuse me? It's an honest question! Why are you here? Where have you come from?"

"Wow, fighting like the old days again and it hasn't even been five minutes." He mocks you.

You roll your eyes. "If you don't give me an explanation right now I swear to god I'm going to cause a scene. Where were you? You do realise everything that's happened don't you?"

You can feel the hurt starting to creep back in and hear it too in the way that your voice cracks in that last question. He knows it too because his face softens. He steps towards you again and reaches out to touch your face. You flinch away but when he does it again you let him because you know deep down that you missed your older brother. He was everything to you growing up.

He even leans in and plants a gentle kiss on your forehead, the same way he did that night he was saying goodbye as he left on his travels.

His hands are rough, course and calloused, indicating that he is some kind of axe man or a carpenter of some kind. The weary wrinkles forming around his eyes and on his forehead and the weathered tan of his skin indicate that he works outside as well. He's definitely grown up a lot from that soft skinned, lanky college boy you remember. Now he's broad shouldered and sticky underneath his braces, white shirt and tan trousers that no longer are ill fitting over his shined shoes.

"I do now," he says sincerely. "And I'm so sorry that I wasn't here throughout it all but I didn't know then. I was in England, in a small village where I have a life set up for me now. After my travels, after the war, I stayed over there. It was so much better for me. I wanted to know how everyone was getting on of course. But it's a little hard to hear about what's going on in a different country and I didn't exactly chase it up either because you know how much I hated it here."