The evening was uncomfortable but lovely.
The Weston estate was located a significant distance from the heart of the city. Both Grace and Granny were feeling rather exhausted today. Fritzi extended an invitation to spend the night with them. Thea gave her assent.
They stayed in the room next to the garden. She was similarly overcome with emotion. She headed to the bathroom to get ready for a relaxing soak in the tub.
After that, she could finally let her guard down a little bit. As she emerged from the restroom, her mother and grandmother were still having a conversation in the living room. It seemed as if they were having a hushed conversation about something.
“Mom, I have a question,” Thea sat across from Grace, “Did John use the secret of the fact that I was actually adopted to threaten you? Is that why you failed to keep the house?”
Her grandmother glanced across at her mother. Her mother heaved a sigh and then began to speak, “Yeah… If I did not give him the home, he threatened to inform you that you were adopted from another family. Thea, I need to apologize for being so self-centered. I wanted nothing more than for you to be my girl. In addition to that, I don’t want you to feel down. I want you to have the impression that you are my only child.”
Thea let out a sigh as her tears began to fall. She leaned forward and embraced her mother, saying, “You are so ridiculous, Mom. You should know that regardless of what happens in the future, I will always remain your daughter.”
Grace sniffed, “I know, baby. And you will always be my sweet girl. But your family loves you. They have spent years looking for you. They love you so much even if you don’t remember it anymore. So just promise me that you will spend more time with them, okay?”
Thea nodded.
Granny was stroking her hair gently, her eyes gently and warm.
****
Thea slept quite well that night.
She didn’t wake up until 12 the next day. It was probably because crying cost her too much energy. Cody, on the other hand, didn’t get much sleep. He spent most of his hours getting worried.
When he saw Thea in the main house, he finally let out a long breath of relief. Thea looked quite nice. She didn’t look that devastated anymore.
Her long hair was a bit messy, and she was wearing a loose yellow dress. He could tell by the look on her face that she had just woken up.
“Brunch?” Cody stood up from his chair.
Thea’s eyes widened, “You also stayed, Cody?”
Cody nodded, “You must be hungry, right?”
Thea put a hand on her rumbling stomach and smiled awkwardly.
Candace was making eggs and slices of bacon in the kitchen. She brought the food to the garden so they could admire the nice view of the Weston garden while enjoying their organic food.
Thea suddenly felt extremely hungry as she sat down.
She started to enjoy her pancakes. Cody was smiling as he enjoyed his cup of black coffee.
Candace noticed her brother’s eyes had never left Thea since she showed up.
Thea was hungry, yet she still didn’t eat much.
Cody didn’t like the idea that she was starving herself. So he forked more food she liked on her plate, “You don’t need to lose weight, Thea Todd. You already look amazing before the cameras and human eyes. Starving yourself is not healthy.”
“I’m not trying to starve myself.” Thea protested, “This is called self-control.”
“You can let loose a bit every now and then,” Cody sighed, “You will work better and more efficiently if you reward yourself now and then.”
“Fine.” Thea pouted as she started to eat her food little by little.
Cody enjoyed watching her eat her food, small bite by small bite.
She looked cute when she did that. A strand of hair escaped and fell before her eyes. Cody’s hand shot out to push it back before Thea could.
And then, both of them froze.
Candace instantly looked away, holding her cup of coffee as she said in a really loud voice, “Today’s weather is quite lovely, isn’t it?”
Cody smiled awkwardly and changed the topic, “Have you remembered anything yet?”
Thea shook her head slowly, “Not really. I can’t even remember the memories of my Mom and Dad. I hope I can remember those things soon. Drew and Fritzi seem so sad when they look at me. I think I owe them that.”
“Hey,” Cody put the coffee cup down and grabbed Thea’s hand, “You don’t owe anyone anything. Just take it slow if you can’t remember. Don’t force yourself, okay?”
Thea was blushing as she took her hand slowly out of Cody’s grip. His hands were big and warm.
But she still felt a bit embarrassed when he did this before Candace.
Candace joked at them, trying to make the atmosphere more comfortable, “Cody’s lucky that you don’t remember. I mean… Cody Bradley was a major bully when we were all little. You will probably start to hate him if you get your memories back.”
“Candace.” Cody shot a murderous look at his sister.
“Yeah,” Candace laughed, “You tried to skip school when you were little. Yet this guy managed to grab you by your scuff and take you back to school every time. He used to be our nightmare.”
Thea’s mouth fell open, “He did?”
“He even forced you to learn things from higher grades. You tried to run away whenever he came to your house.”
“What?!” Thea’s eyes widened a bit.
“Candace Bradley is lying.” Cody smiled, “You used to follow me around and ask me to carry you every day. You liked me because I was the smartest kid you’ve ever seen.”
“That’s a shameless lie, Cody!” Candace was not happy.
“No, you lied,” Cody drank his coffee calmly.
Thea looked at the twins and let out an awkward smile.
Which one should she even believe?