Page 84 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

CHAPTERFIFTY-SIX

Bear marched off through the trees with no idea where he was going until he arrived at the wedding chapel. He heard Heath working away inside and climbed the stairs to talk to him. His brother looked up as he walked inside.

‘Hey, you come to give me a hand as River is off swanning around somewhere?’

Bear was so hurt and angry right now that handling a hammer or drill was not in his best interests.

Heath sat back on his heels as he looked at Bear. ‘You OK?’

‘Meadow has just found out that I’m AstralSurfer.’

‘Oh shit.’

‘My words exactly. I was going to tell her, I just wanted to wait a few days as you suggested so she’d forget that she might have blurted out the truth about Star in her drunken state. And the more she was talking to me about all her worries and pain from the past, it was harder to say, oh hello, it’s me. And I was kind of hoping that once me and her got together, then she wouldn’t want to message AstralSurfer any more, but she told him this morning that she still wanted to be friends, help him with his dates as I had helped her. It was just getting more and more complicated.’

Bear paced across the wedding chapel. He should have come clean about all of this before, maybe not as Meadow was pouring her heart out in a drunken emotional state but certainly the next morning. He had lied to her and many times. And he supposed she was right that he had used it a little bit to his advantage when she was talking about the dating events she was going on with her friend. But it had never been malicious or with any intent to play any kind of game with her. He could understand she was pissed about him hiding behind AstralSurfer but to suggest that it had all been part of some convoluted plan to get her into bed was horrible.

‘I take it she didn’t react well to it?’ Heath said, getting up.

‘That’s the understatement of the year,’ Bear said and briefly told him what was said.

Heath shook his head. ‘Christ, that lie that caused her to get drunk and let that dick get his hands on her messed her up a lot more than I thought.’

‘Plus her parents just generally being crap and making her think she isn’t worth anything. We’ve both been there with our own upbringing so I know how she feels, but she told me her parents hated her, that’s a heavy burden to carry,’ Bear said. He looked out the window at the sea beyond. He should have been more sympathetic to her past instead of getting hurt by her lashing out to protect herself. He needed to prove to her that he would always be there, that she might get scared but his love for her was constant. He sighed. But she had to play a part in that too, she had to trust him enough to let him in.

‘I need to talk to her,’ Bear said.

‘At the risk of giving you more crappy advice, as it’s my fault you didn’t come clean initially, I think you might need to give her a few hours to calm down.’

Bear let out a heavy sigh as he looked out the window again. He could see Wisteria Cottage peeking through the trees, he could see the purple front door and the purple window frames. He had hoped he might move in there with Meadow one day, but she had to want that too and maybe he needed to give her some time to realise that.

CHAPTERFIFTY-SEVEN

Amelia walked into the office a short while later, but stood in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder.

‘Where’s Star?’ Meadow said.

‘Out here, putting sausages down everywhere, she is determined to catch this dog,’ Amelia said.

Meadow smiled weakly.

‘River and Indigo not back from their baby shopping spree yet?’ Amelia asked.

‘Not yet.’

‘And where’s your young Bear?’

Meadow looked away, biting her lip so she didn’t cry again.

‘Oh no, what’s happened?’ Amelia said as Meadow moved to her side to keep an eye on Star.

Meadow explained what had happened.

‘But the worst thing is that he thinks I slept with Heath to get back at him. He thinks I chose to sleep with Heath instead of him and I’m not sure he will ever get over that.’

‘I’m pretty sure the thing that has Bear most upset is that you chose Heath to raise Star with and not him. In his eyes, you didn’t think Bear was good father material.’

Meadow stared at her in horror.

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