If Ever I Fall: Book 3 of The Six Series Read Online Free

only been nine at the time, and I never really fully recovered from losing him.
    Mum had done her best to get both of us through it, and kept life going on for both of us, but I could tell she was lonely.
    Showing back up on her doorstep looking for a place to stay would upset her life. It would also probably traumatize mine, seeing her budding relationship with John.
    As the train chugged along the countryside, my stomach clenched and twisted, reminding me that it was well past time to feed it. I pulled my legs up and curled into myself, hoping the other passengers couldn’t hear its distressed noise and mistake it for the mating call of a Humpback Whale. I just had to hold out for a few more hours and Aunt Brenda would feed me until I burst, and then I’d shuffle off to the nearest bed, passing out into a food coma.
    There was something to be said about going home. I’d never understood the whole ‘you can never go home again’. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. Of course you could go home again. It was the place where your family welcomed you back with open arms, hugged you, fed you, and clucked over the adventures you had. Or at least, mine did. It was a shame not everyone had that.
    I leaned back, settling in my seat, and could almost hear Aunt Brenda’s welcome…
     

     
    “OH, MY POOR DEAR!” AUNT Brenda cried out as she whisked me into a quick, bone-crushing hug. “Come along,” she continued. “We’ll get you fed right away. You’re looking right peely-wally. Di’ ya no eat a thing while you were awa’? Never you mind that, we’ll get you fixed right up. Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come home, Airen. It’s not been the same without you here with me…” Aunt Brenda put her arm through mine. My last glimpse of the man standing behind the counter was cut short as she whisked me away, carrying on about my return home.
    Pulling me into her office, she led me over to the small couch tucked against the wall. Hugging the wall beside it was a tall, metal cabinet that held a mishmash assortment of everything from packing supplies to a pestle and mortar from the mid- 1800s.
    My eclectic aunt was a collector of mismatched things that time had forgotten. Kind of like the brass monkey lamp on her desk and the vintage, bone china teacup she religiously drank from on her desk. The yellow friendship daffodils looked bright and cheerful, even if the gold accents had all but worn away.
    Weary from my travels, I sat down as she continued on while my head spun from her words. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with her running dialogue. But I knew she’d wind herself down eventually, I just had to wait until she got it all out.
    Aunt Brenda sat beside me, perched on the edge of the couch, and patted my knee. “…and I was just saying yesterday to Mina how it was time you came home.”
    I groaned, stopping Aunt Brenda’s next words before they left her mouth. “You told Mum I was coming home?”
    She pulled a deep breath in with what could only be called a ‘harumph’. “Well, of course I did. And why shouldn’t I then? We’ve been so worrit about ye and no more than a word or two every so many weeks. Why, we’ve been sayin’ for a while now, wouldn’t it be nice when Airen finally comes home? Of course, you should have been the one to call, but what’s done is done, I say. And now she knows.”
    Head in hands, I leaned forward with a sigh that started at my toes as it worked its way out. It wasn’t that Aunt Brenda told Mum I was coming home. No, it was the guilt Mum would lay on me that I hadn’t told her first. I’d always gone to Aunt Brenda for everything, and it wasn’t until that moment I realized it. Mum would be upset. I had to fix it. I groaned, pushing myself up from the couch and stumbling forward, swaying from exhaustion.
    “And where do you think you’re going? Sit before ye fall,” Aunt Brenda said, grabbing hold of my arm to steady me.
    I willed my legs to hold me up for