A Fire That Burns (10 page)

That one notion was now completely extinguished. The fire of their love
just seemed to be stinging and burning her now.

Then the night she left took over and clouded out all of the good memories
and she felt her low morale drop unbelievably lower.

Getting back, Austin rushed into the house leaving her siblings to
follow in collectively. They knew there were no words right
now,
there were no moments of absolution and lights at the end of the tunnel. There
was just space and time to collect thoughts and prepare to move onwards. They
would be there for her, whatever happened, but right now they couldn’t even
save Austin from her thoughts. There was only one other person besides Tyler
that could do that and she wasn’t talking to any of her children at the moment.
Their mother was acting on her own hurt and only hurting those that loved her
most.

“This isn’t fair on, Aus,” Sienna commented as they all came to sit in
the living room and gathered their thoughts over the entire situation that had
unfolded back at the diner.

“Well until dad gets back mom’s a no go,” Daniel mentioned as he pointed
out that their dad had gone away with business again. “It’s just us.”

“We need to out her,” Tom almost growled as he paced, throwing a
baseball between his hands that he had picked up as a form to work out his
frustration. He knew that Natasha’s grief was nothing like Austin’s had been
and the memories still burnt him and fuelled him. “We need to find out what
happened and prove Natasha as the liar that she is.”

“Yeah, I agree. We were starting to get the old Aus back and then the
pregnancy news completely pushed her away again,” Daniel spoke up, his own
heart sinking thinking he would never get his sister back for good, “And this
doesn’t make sense. Natasha’s story doesn’t add up so why is everyone else
believing them?”

“Because everyone loves a witch hunt,” Dean pointed out the obvious. “We
need to be cunning about this. We need to make sure we have all of the
information before Friday and have Tyler convinced before he makes the worse
decision of his life.”

All agreeing they exchanged looks. They knew they were on time limit now
and that worried them. They also knew that with the house renovations nearly
over, their sister would find that as a reason to never talk to Tyler and they
knew she needed him more than anyone else. They had seen how she had literally
fast tracked the progress and they had to wonder if the house was her way of
getting closure.

“I could go get her medical files when I’m in next,” Tom commented as he
thought of ways in which he could look while on shift at the hospital.

“That’s illegal,” Austin said as she came back into the room wiping her
makeup away. “I don’t want you getting into trouble. Plus, if we wanted to know
that I could hack into the files and find out myself.”

They all looked at her in awe as they tried to work out how she knew how
to do that. Daniel smirked, he knew how, but he never expected his little
sister to excel.

“You learn to teach yourself a lot when you need to make money quick,”
Austin sighed and then looked at them. “But we’re not outing her.”

“Why not?!”
They all seemed to bellow at her. The multitude of shock was palpable
as it hit the walls and scattered upon the floor.

Austin smiled at their concern, but shook her head, “It’s not worth it
anymore. He made his decision very clear back there who he wants to have it all
with and it’s not with me. He believes I’m the bad guy and there isn’t any
changing that. Another one of the reasons I came home just closed me out. There
is no point to push this.” Austin looked at Tom, “You can tell them, but I’m
going to bed.” She then left as quietly as she had arrived.

“Tell us what?” Dean asked as he stood up off of the window ledge.

Tom sighed, “Why she left six years ago.”

“You knew why she left all along?” Sienna asked as she sat up a little,
she felt irked that the secret they had all spoke about over the years had
actually been known by the one that claimed to not have a clue.

Tom looked back to the empty doorway, nodded sadly and began to tell
them of their sister’s demise.

Chapter Eighteen

WHY
was there no police
report issued for assault?” Dean asked trying to digest the events of the night
that caused his baby sister to flee.

Tom rubbed his forehead. He didn’t know about Austin feeling this plight
of never ending grief, he too was feeling it. “I tried to get her to, but
Austin wasn’t in any state to make those allegations. She was scared that if
she did, Natasha’s father would find out and so would Tyler. She didn’t want
him to find out at all and finding out that way would just cripple her more.”

“Why didn’t she talk to us, or mom and dad even? She used to go to one
of us for everything,” Daniel tried to understand his sister’s logic but he was
trumped to what it might be.

“Dad’s rule,” Tom remarked and saw each of them take that
acknowledgement with ease. “She didn’t even care that her and Tyler were only a
month away from their wedding date, she just was terrified of how mom and dad
would react and of telling Tyler what went down with Natasha.”

“So what did happen?” Sienna asked and stood up, pacing a little to work
off her nervous energy that was building in her. She needed to go and be with her
sister but first she wanted to hear everything that happened. “How did she lose
the baby exactly?”

Tom looked at his sister and he felt his anger built again. “Natasha was
taunting her with a necklace that was identical to one that Tyler had bought
Austin back in high school. The one she still wears. For the first time ever,
Austin snapped and went for the necklace, and Natasha pushed her back. I
couldn’t stop it from happening.”

“Stop what exactly?” Dean asked as he leaned against the window sill
opposite his brother.

“Austin falling onto the back of a bench,” Tom told them solemnly. “I
snapped and Natasha offered to tell Tyler about the baby, but I warned her
against it. I tried to get Austin to go to the bar and talk to Tyler but she
just wanted to go home.” His eyes watered immediately then, “I found her on the
bathroom floor crying less than an hour later.” He looked at his eldest
brother, Dean, praying for some strength, “She was bleeding and by the time we
arrived at the hospital there was no hope. She had miscarried and the scans
showed no sign of
fetal
heartbeat. She was still
bleeding heavily and the hospital said that the initial impact of the bench
must have been hard enough and combined with her falling to the floor, there
was no preventing it. Some people are lucky, they won’t miscarry. Austin was
one of the unlucky few.”

None of the Pearson siblings had anticipated that such a turn of events
would destroy what they loved most about their little sister – her ability to
be the happiest person alive. The baby of the family was suffering and had been
for too long. She had kept it well hidden from them and she was being punished
tenfold. It seemed that the jury wasn’t quite done with issuing her with
chastisement just yet. Soon they knew that Austin would buckle completely under
the strain of life and they dread to think how this would affect her.

“She promised she would talk to him the next day and I believed her,”
Tom suddenly spoke in a whisper, pained by this part of the memory. “I got up
the next morning and she wasn’t here. I had a note from her apologizing and
that was it. There was nothing else. She had me and she ran! I promised I would
stick by her and she ran. I failed her by allowing her the chance to run away,”
he clenched his jaw allowing the muscles to twitch as he
forbid
tears to fall. He looked up at the three sets of eyes on him. “I should’ve
spoken to one of you sooner but, I thought if I could just hold this secret she
would come back. I didn’t expect it to take six years.”

“You’re a loyal brother, Tom, and that’s what Aussie needed,” Dean
comforted from afar, not holding any signs of grudge against Tom for
withholding the information. “Now we know and we can do something about it.”

“What if it’s too late? What if me not talking to anyone
means
we left her too long? What if I left it too long?” he
asked with desperation, his eyes searching each of his brothers and sister and
he found no resolution. Placing his hands to his head he let out a large exhale
of frustration, “I should have told him,” he finally gave in and felt like all
of the wind had been knocked out of him as all the memories from six years ago
spilt across the living room floor.

Six years of carrying a burden had finally broken Tom.

As silence settled amongst them, Sienna approached her brother and gave
him a tight squeeze of a hug, giving him a dose of comfort to help soothe him.
She had no hard feelings towards him and he wasn’t going to dig and delve for
any either. Letting go, she bit her lip in anticipation for a plan of action.
“I need to go and see her,” Sienna broke the silence that settled among them
and she couldn’t stand it any longer.

Tom shook his head and blocked the way, “No, leave her be.”

“I am not leaving her,” Sienna said hitting her brother’s hand away only
for his to grab her by her wrist to prevent her from running upstairs. “Tom,”
she ground out through gritted teeth. “You think she wants to be alone? Like
really?” she asked her brother and saw he just didn’t know the answer anymore.
“She’s been on her own for six years with this and are you going to tell me
she’s really over it?” Tom looked down, ashamed that he could have prevented
this, “If anything this will always eat her away and now being back, she
probably feels the grief of losing that baby so much more now than she ever
did.”

“She likes to be alone,” Tom told Sienna nonchalantly having heard
Austin cry most nights.

Rolling her eyes, Sienna wrenched her arm back with attitude, “You can
stay here, but I am going to my sister and doing what I was denied the chance
to do years ago.”

“Sienna,” Tom bit back not knowing what the wisest move was anymore.

“Don’t Sienna me. She has been alone for far too long and I don’t care
what she wants and doesn’t want. She is getting her big sister back once and
for all and I will help her get through this finally, because I can guarantee
that her being this sad has more to do with that baby than just Natasha getting
her filthy lying paws into Tyler.”

“Let her go and be with Austin,” Dean stood up straight. “It’s time we
started to give Austin what has been a long time coming. We also need to let
mom in and alert dad when he gets back from this business trip.”

“Okay,” Tom finally caved, suddenly realizing that all Austin needed was
the support system that she believed she didn’t need any longer.

Turning in the doorway, Sienna looked at her brothers with a heated
glare, “And Natasha isn’t going to get the happy ending.”

“We’ll follow you up,” Daniel remarked, standing up ready to go up after
his sister. He quickly realized that they all did the same, all ready to form
an alliance to bring Austin back to peace.

“Let’s not overwhelm her,” Sienna commented knowing that if they all
went in she would hide her emotions and act like everything was going to be
okay. “Give me ten minutes at the most and then come up.”

Noting that her brothers agreed, she went to find Austin. She
practically marched upstairs and went to the guest room where the soft glow of
a light came from the crack underneath the doorframe. She could hear the
muffles of cries and she wondered if this was a nightly routine for her sister
now.

She didn’t knock because she didn’t want Austin to have the chance to
wipe the tears away and put on a brand new facade. The moment she walked in,
Austin looked up at her stunned, almost terrified and then tried to wipe away
the tears and attempted to hide the photos in her hands under the pillow.

“Why?” Sienna asked and suddenly she realized she was hurt by her
sister’s reaction to the baby news. “Why couldn’t you have come to me, Aussie?
We were two of the closest in the family. I know you and Tom were always in
each other’s pockets but why couldn’t you just let us in?”

Sienna felt immediately that she was too cold with the tone and began to
approach her. She only halted her walk towards her sister when Austin looked up
at her, lips pursed, poised, and ready to respond to her questions.

Austin shrugged her response and thought over why she never did. “I was
scared of the fallout and I mean I never got to tell Tyler he was going to be a
father and when I finally got the confidence and the opportunity, I lost
everything. What was the point of ever telling anyone?” Looking directly at her
sister, Austin begged
herself
not to cry, “Tom
wouldn’t even have known had I never gone to him.”

“Tyler would have dropped everything, Aus,” Sienna dropped down onto the
bed and sat sideways, watching her sister quietly. “It was his loss too.”

 
“I know,” Austin spoke but when
she looked up at her older sister, Austin still held the fear of telling
everyone that she had felt when she was nineteen. “How could I face you all
knowing what had happened when I couldn’t bear to be in a room with Tyler? I
loved him; I do love him and all I started to feel was that I was losing. The
baby was the final proverbial nail in the coffin.”

Sienna wrapped her arms around Austin the moment the tears begged their
existence.

“He always had Natasha. No matter what she was there,” Austin sobbed against
her sister, not even seeing her brothers appear at the doorway. Her hands came
up to claw at her sister’s shoulders as if she needed to hold on. “He always
had her. Now he really has her.” Pulling away, Austin wiped her eyes and left
her lip to tremble heavily, “He was so happy when she said he was going to be a
father. He was only that happy when I accepted his proposal. He looked like
Natasha had completed his life.”

Sienna watched as something in Austin shifted and her sorrow transcended
into anger. The fire that once was Austin Pearson seemed to come alive again as
she spoke of her misery.

“He should’ve been that happy for me!” Austin cried and shudder on her
breath. “He should have been my support and I couldn’t even tell him. He never
knew and I can’t blame him for wanting her now. I can’t hate him for moving on.
I was the coward. I’m the one to blame in never telling him and I can’t hate
him.”

“Yes, you can,” Dean spoke out as he entered the room and came to crouch
in front of his sister, taking her hands. “Why should he move on when you
can’t?”

“He doesn’t know any different,” Austin replied softly and
sniffled
a little, lavishing her brother’s full support. “He
just thinks I stopped loving him.”

Dean gave her a sad smile and let one of her hands go so he could reach
up and wipe one side of her face clear of the tears soaking it. “We all know
that isn’t true don’t we?”

Austin just nodded and bit down on her lip, “I’m so tired.” She meant
that sentence in so many different ways. She was exhausted from her miserable
onslaught,
she was tired of crying, of denying herself
happiness, of denying Tyler the truth. She was tired of being hated and she was
tired of being the town’s resident monster.

She wanted to be that girl that did things for others and got things in
return. She wanted to be liked not feared. She wanted to go to Point Arena Cove
and remember when Tyler proposed and she wanted to wake up and smile because
that is what she deserved after so much bad luck.

“We’ll let you sleep,” Dean commented calmly to her. “We will all be
here if you need us.”

“I don’t think I want to be alone,” Austin mumbled meekly but didn’t
look up.
 

That comment provoked Sienna to initiate her plan of the evening. “I’m
staying here with you tonight, sis,” Sienna uttered and pushed some hair out of
Austin’s face. “You’re not alone anymore, Austin.”

“And we’ll be just downstairs,” Dean said and looked at his brothers.
“We’re here for you, Aussie.” he stood up and Sienna stood up too, “Let’s get
you into bed.”

Watching them leave, Sienna climbed into the other side of the bed fully
clothed and felt her sister immediately take to her waiting arms. It had been
years since she had ever had to do this – hold her sister so she could sleep.
It was almost like Austin was six again and had awoken from a bad dream and
Sienna had spent the night chasing away the monsters from under the bed and the
ghost from the closet in a big sister manner.

    
Sienna
didn’t move that entire night. She just held onto Austin and didn’t even let go
as she started to cry way into the midnight hours all over again.