‘She’s torn the muscle and they’ve given her an ankle brace and told her to apply the RICE method, which means she won’t be driving for at least a couple of weeks. So she won’t be able tomove on just yet.’ Bex recognised Tristan’s voice, but she still couldn’t work out who he was talking about, although if she’d had to guess she’d have gone for Holly, given his comment about her not being able to move on, which might not be a bad thing. Tristan had seemed really keen on Holly, so perhaps a delay in her departing would be fate stepping in. She couldn’t help hoping that it would.
‘What’s the RICE method? We’re not all former paramedics, you know.’ There was a hint of humour in Matt’s tone and as Tristan gave an exaggerated sigh, Bex paused outside the door to the kitchen, not wanting her arrival to cut off their conversation before she discovered who he was talking about.
‘Rest, ice, compression and elevation. So I’m going to go down to her van later and see if she wants me to get her any shopping, or if there’s anything else I can help with.’
Ah, so it was Holly.Bex smiled to herself. With everything that had been going on with her mother she hadn’t met Holly yet, but she couldn’t imagine her not realising what a great guy Tristan was. It was typical of him to want to step in and help. Bex loved him and she wanted the best for him. If there was any advice she could give Tristan about how to approach Holly she would, and her hand was already on the door when Matt responded.
‘Is she worried it’s going to affect Donna’s transplant?’ Bex caught her breath. What the hell was Matt talking about the transplant for? The only person who could affect Donna’s transplant was Briony, but she didn’t even know Holly. None of this made any sense.
‘I didn’t want to tell her at the time, but it crossed my mind that if she needed surgery it could delay the transplant, because they might not want her to have two anaesthetics so close together, but the doctors said Briony didn’t need surgery.’
At the sound of Briony’s name the last shred of doubt that Bexhad been clinging on to disappeared and she flung open the door. ‘What the hell’s going on?’
Matt and Tristan exchanged a horrified expression, the looks on their faces reminiscent of the one that had passed between Briony and Liam when she’d caught them kissing. Bex knew only too well what betrayal looked like, but she’d never expected Matt or Tristan to deceive her like this, and in a way that involved Briony too. Her head was thrumming with the rage she was trying so desperately to suppress. She needed answers and she knew if she totally lost it she might never get them. The only thing outweighing her anger was hurt.
She couldn’t believe Matt had been a part of this. He understood better than anyone how she felt about Briony and she would have staked everything she owned on him being completely on her side when it came to her sister. Yet here he was, talking about her in a way that suggested he cared about Briony’s wellbeing and, worse than that, he was doing it behind his wife’s back. Whatever excuses he was about to come up with, it meant that Briony had already driven a wedge between them. She’d done that in spectacular style when it came to Liam and all of Bex’s old insecurities were rushing to the surface. Matt had done so much to help her dispel them by proving time and time again how much he loved her and that she wasn’t some kind of second best, the way Liam and Briony had left her feeling.
‘Oh God.’ Tristan was the first to respond. ‘I was going to tell you when I thought the time was right, Bex, but I’m guessing you’ve already worked it out now. Holly is Briony. I’m so sorry, you weren’t supposed to find out this way.’
‘Oh really?’ She was shaking now, her voice betraying her emotion even as she tried to control it. ‘Let me guess, the time was never going to be right to tell me, was it? And I wasn’t eversupposed to find out, was I? I’m just a gullible idiot who believed her family wouldn’t do anything to deliberately hurt her.’
‘Oh sweetheart, the last thing either of us wanted to do was hurt you.’ Matt moved to touch her, but she flinched, her voice rising by at least an octave.
‘Well, you bloody well have and what I want to know is why? You knew what Briony did to me, and how hard it was for me to have to face her at the hospital. You pretended to be on my side, Matt, the way husbands are supposed to be, but all this time you knew that Briony has been staying in her van, just a few hundred feet away from the house. You chose to collude with her in keeping that from me, and it feels like a huge betrayal.’ Hot tears were spilling down her cheeks now, anger, humiliation and pain all merging in to one.
‘I didn’t know anything about it until Tristan rang me earlier and said he was taking Briony to the hospital, after she fell and hurt her ankle. I was going to talk to you about it later, but I wanted to know that she was going to be okay to do the transplant first, so that it wouldn’t give you even more worry about your mum.’ Matt’s voice was steady as he took a step towards her and this time she didn’t pull away. She believed him and she was as certain as she could be that he’d never do anything to deliberately hurt her. His expression was so open and his tone so gentle that it was easy in the end to choose to trust him, and she desperately wanted to, because she couldn’t bear the thought of anything coming between them. When Matt put his arms around her, she didn’t resist, turning instead to Tristan.
‘And what about you? Did you know who she really was when you invited her to come here?’
Tristan shook his head and she could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth too. ‘No, I only found out a couple of days ago. She did a live broadcast on Instagram and what she saidmade it obvious who she was. She deleted it straight afterwards, but it was too late, I’d already seen it.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me straight away?’
‘Because of everything you’re already going through, but I went to talk to her about it. I wanted to know why she’d come here.’
‘What did she say?’ Bex could have already written a script in her head, detailing the kind of excuses Briony would come up with, and how hard things had been for her. She didn’t want to listen to any of it, but at the same time she wanted to know.
‘Not much, I was too angry to stick around and listen to be honest. So I asked her if she was your sister and she said yes, but then I walked away. I figured there was no harm in her staying until all the stuff with the transplant was sorted, and I didn’t think you’d ever find out.’ Tristan couldn’t look at her. ‘I’m really sorry, Bex. I thought she’d be leaving in a few days to start the assessment, and that it would be easier not to let you know she was ever here, but then she had the accident.’
‘Had she been drinking?’ She knew the answer from the way Tristan’s mouth turned down at the corners before he nodded. ‘Well that just sums her up, doesn’t it? She’s supposed to be giving Mum part of her liver and she’s too selfish to even take care of it.’
Bex’s throat was raw with emotion, she’d known something like this would happen if she allowed Briony into her family’s life in any way. She’d done everything she could to prevent that from happening, but somehow Briony had still managed to come between Bex and the people she loved once again; making them lie to her and leaving pain in her wake. It made Bex more determined than ever to keep that kind of poison away from her boys, whatever it took. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Briony deliberately, but right now she couldn’t see a way around it, she just wanted to put some distance between her sister and her sons.
‘I want her off the land right now.’
‘But, Bex?—’
She held up a hand, cutting Tristan off. ‘I don’t want to hear any excuses about why you can’t get her off the farm, I just want you to do it. Or I will.’
‘I don’t blame you,’ Matt said, as he took hold of her by the shoulders, gently but firmly. ‘But she’s going to be going to London with your mum for the assessment and if she’s wearing an ankle brace it’ll be up to Ken to get her there. He’s already under enough stress and I don’t think it’s going to help anybody by making that more difficult for him if she goes elsewhere. If you let Briony stay here for a couple more days, it won’t be for her benefit, it’ll be for your mum and Ken’s.’
‘I just can’t stand the thought. This is my home and it’s the place I feel safest in the world. Having her here makes me feel like everything I love is at risk.’ She knew it might sound like an extreme reaction, but it was true.
‘I get how difficult this is for you, sweetheart, I really do, but she’ll be gone soon and knowing she’s here will stop your mum worrying, especially as Briony has been injured.’ Matt held her gaze, his arms still circled around her, and she finally allowed her body to relax. Her safe place was wherever Matt was, and she wasn’t going to let Briony take that away from her. He was right too, they couldn’t afford to do anything that might derail the transplant and Briony would be in London soon, preventing any chance of her coming into contact with Bex’s sons. She could handle it until then, but there still needed to be some boundaries in place, for all their sakes.
‘Okay, but you need to tell her to stay away from me and the farmhouse.’ Bex shot a look in Tristan’s direction and he nodded, relief flooding his face. ‘And I don’t want the boys going anywherenear the camping field, because if I find out she’s so much as spoken to them I won’t be responsible for my actions.’
‘Of course.’ Tristan was nodding, but the look of relief seemed to have disappeared, a darker expression clouding his face again. He probably thought she was being unreasonable and no doubt Briony had worked her magic by manipulating him into believing she’d been the innocent victim of all of this. All she could do was hope that her sister had been genuine about the one thing that mattered most now – helping their mother. It was the only thing that was stopping Bex from getting into one of the tractors and pushing Briony’s van off the farm herself. She just had to get through the next few weeks, and she’d never have to see Briony again if she chose not to. After uncovering the latest deceit that Briony had been part of, she knew with more certainty than ever that she never would.
