“Are you all right?” she asks. “What is it? You know you can tell me anything.”
“I hope so, Faye.” I flick my eyes up to the mirror and see Penny unconscious in the bed behind us, blankets swamping her unmoving form. I take a deep breath.
“Jack was not a good man,” I say. “I haven’t even told you a fraction of what I suffered. Belittling me and not letting me work were just the tip of the iceberg. I wasn’t allowed anyone over to the house without his permission and I became an expert in using make-up to hide the worst of what he did to me.”
My heartbeat quickens as I let myself remember the torment of the last thirty years.
“You can’t even begin to imagine what it was like being trapped in that house with the two of them.” Angry tears start to fall down my cheeks as I try to focus on the road ahead. “Magnus wasn’t just born evil, he learned everything he knew from his father. My life was dominated by two controlling psychopaths, and I thought I was worthless. I was powerless. Until that moment.”
“What moment?” I can feel Faye staring at me.
“He developed a heart condition in the last few years. The day he died he had a bad attack. He dropped his medication when he collapsed. All I had to do was help him.”
“Help him?” She asks.
“I picked up his pills and I held them in my hands as I watched him die on the carpet in front of me. Magnus walked in, and saw what was happening. By the time he reached his father, he was dead, and…” I gulp for air, remembering to breathe as I unburden myself.
Faye leans forward. “And?”
“And that’s when he made the choice to destroy me, you and everyone in his path. He snapped. He completely lost it. He threatened to kill me. He made my life even more of a living hell and then after the funeral when he found out he wasn’t going to inherit the business, or anything, he attacked me.” I let out a long breath. “I had no idea he was still in contact with Dina. I didn’t know she was just as bad as him. I had no idea when I freed myself from the prison that was my marriage that any of this would happen.”
Faye is silent beside me as the empty road rolls out in front of us, never ending.
“Oh my God, Claire,” she finally whispers.
“So, now you know.”
As we drive along in our getaway van, my tears continue to fall. Not for what I did to Jack or for everything that happened between me and Magnus, but because I feel as though I’ve finally found my sister and I’m about to lose her again immediately.
After a few minutes, Faye speaks. “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot since we left Scotland, and you didn’t have to come with me.”
My heart sinks.
“But I wanted to?—”
“Let me finish,” she says, cutting me off. “You didn’t have to come with me. We are twins but we had only just met and you don’t know Penny at all. After everything Magnus put you through, the years of abuse, and the very real danger to your life. Most people would have turned their back, and yet you were willing to risk everything to help me.”
I bow my head, listening intently to her every word.
“You are my sister, Claire. My twin sister. And I will never forget the sacrifice you made for me. You helped me get my daughter back,” she puts her hand over mine on the steering wheel, “and in return, I will keep your secret until I forget it.”
I squeeze her fingers and hold my head up high as I wipe the salt from my cheeks.
“Thank you,” I say.
We continue down the deserted road, leaving the past behind us while hurtling towards a future that may never come. The only thing that matters is right now. And in this moment, I am reunited with my missing half and we are on our way home.
‘THE PALMER TWINS: THE TWINS FIGHT BACK’ BY FAYE MATHIS
Step one in this dastardly plan,
Give your landscape a bloody good scan.
There can’t be a witness,
To this sick business.
Heed this or end up in the can.
