Time: Present Day

Location: HereAfter

Carter and Amelia watched as Monique drove the family home in silence. She was thinking, plotting, she caught herself doing a lot of thinking lately. As soon as they got home Monique went straight to the mailbox and retrieved the bills and letters inside. Amanda saw a white satin envelope.

"Is that for me?" she asked her Mum.

"No!" was the stern reply.

"For Amelia then. I'll bet it's from Peter," Amanda guessed.

"No.! It is not! Now get inside."

"Gee, no need to bite my head off!" Amanda cried.

"I'm still angry with you for upsetting Amelia at the hospital," Monique explained none too convincingly. She shoved the letter in her handbag and hurried inside just behind the kids.

Once inside Michelle met them in the kitchen where she was preparing dinner and said, "Oh, you're home already, how's Amelia?"

"She's fine. She'll be getting back to her old self in no time I hope. That's if some people stop upsetting her, eh Amanda."

"It wasn't my fault, she made me," pleaded Amanda.

"I've got no idea what you two were up to, but it was no good I'll wager, now go upstairs and freshen up for dinner. We are staying in tonight. We are going to let Amelia rest, aren't we Amanda? Besides, Michelle and I have a lot of planning to do, so you and your brother can find something to amuse yourselves with. I don't really care as long as you two stay out of our hair, got it Amanda?"

"Yes Mum I get it, you and Aunty Monique are going to take my twin from me. I get it and I don't like it, and neither will Amelia!" was Amanda's parting comment as she bounded up the stairs two by two.

"She's right you know, Amelia won't be happy about any of this," Monique agreed.

"Do you think I want to send Amelia away?" Monique cried.

Michelle said, "She could stay here and have the baby you know. It's not the end of the world to have a pregnant daughter. It has happened a few times before you . . . I seem to recall a sister having a scare that she was pregnant when she was not much older than Amelia. That would have been frowned upon much more then, than it would be now, even in a Catholic country like France."

"That was different!" Monique argued." I had Jean then. We were in love from the time we met at school, and anyway, I wasn't pregnant was I?Amelia is!"

"Yes, but couldn't you handle it here. I am sure the Academy will hold over the offer of a place," Michelle offered.

"And how would she cope going over there with a baby. Would she even want to? I don't think so," Monique explained, "and there's Jean. Jean will convince her to have an abortion if she stays. They are very close, you know the story, father and daughter. He'll convince her. I don't want that on my conscience, do you? Even if he doesn't, Amelia will want to marry Peter, if he is willing and she keeps the baby, either way, my life, I mean, her life is ruined. No she must go to France, have the baby, adopt it out, come back and resume her music career. That is the only solution, that is what is going to happen. I'm going to see to it."

"Alright, if you've made up your mind, let's get to it. It's probably best to check with Don to see when Amelia will be well enough to fly. I'll talk to Margot and arrange to stay on here until she is ready to fly back with me if you like? But we still haven't tackled the problem of telling Amelia about the pregnancy, she may already suspect something is wrong if she hasn't had her period. But she might think that's something to do with her illness, and then there's Peter, what do we do about Peter? What do we tell her that would stop her trying to contact him when she finds out? It's very messy Monique, lying always is!" Michelle said sadly.

Carter and Amelia watched as Amanda stole halfway down the stairs to eavesdrop on her mother and aunt's conversation. They saw the look of shocked horror on Amanda's face as she overheard what her mother said next. Amanda tip toed back up the stairs so as not to be discovered, anyway she'd heard all she could handle at the moment. She went straight to her room and locked the door. She had to work out how to tell Amelia, and she only had till tomorrow to get it right.

This Saturday morning started out like many others in the Cheval household, a big breakfast of delicious omelettes, bacon, french toast, cafe latte and freshly squeezed orange juice. Amanda surprised herself by eating as much as usual despite the squirmy feeling in her tummy that she had woken with. It must have been because Michelle had made breakfast, she was a super cook, better than her Mum, though she'd never say that in front of her. She hoped her Mum was in a good mood and would relent and let her go with them to the hospital. Then she would have to tackle the problem of getting some alone time with Amelia.

"Come on, hurry up Amanda, we are overdue at the hospital, you wanted to come didn't you?" Michelle said as she finished clearing the dishes.

"But what about Mum?" she said.

"Don't worry. I'll handle Monique, you just get yourself ready, okay?" Michelle said cheekily.

Okay, great, I'm off, I'll just be two shakes!" Amanda said as she rushed out of the kitchen.

Carter and Amelia watched as they jumped in the car and sped off to the hospital.

Monique parked the car and joined the others at the front entrance. They made their way to Amelia's room.

Don was in the room talking to Amelia.

"Where is Peter, why hasn't he been to see me?" Amelia asked Don.

"You'll have your ask your mother about Peter. I promised I wouldn't discuss the situation with you until Monique had spoken to you. I'm sorry Amelia, but I'm going to keep that promise. I can only tell you that Peter is already living in Melbourne, and Vera and I are going to join him there next week. I'm letting you go home this afternoon. I also promised your Mum I'd stay and look after you until you were well enough to go home, and so I have, Ah, here they are now. I'll leave you to it," Don said as he made a hasty exit.

Outside Amelia's door Don pulled Monique aside and said quietly, "Good news, Amelia can go home this afternoon, bad news is she is asking about Peter a lot and getting more insistent. I had to tell her he was in Melbourne but that's all I've told her. She hasn't asked anything about her period or lack of one, maybe she still doesn't suspect she's pregnant, or maybe she is shy about asking me about it."

"Thanks so much Don, I know you don't necessarily agree with how I'm handling the situation but thank you again for not interfering." said Monique as she took both his hands in hers and squeezed them gently.

Don took his chance to leave, smiled at Amanda and Michelle as he passed them and raced off to pack up his office.

Monique joined Michelle and Amanda as they entered Amelia's room.

Amelia squealed with delight when they entered.

"That's more like the Amelia I know," Michelle said, "You look much better now there's some colour back in your face."

"She does look good doesn't she, so much so, Don says you can come home with us Amelia. He rang me this morning so I've brought some clean clothes for you," Monique announced.

"That's good," said Amelia, "I am getting sick of hospital food. I can't wait to have an Aunty Michy breakfast. You'll make it for me tomorrow morning won't you aunty?"

"Of course I will," replied Michelle.

"And will you tell me what's going on with Peter?No-one else I ask will, including his dad." Amelia waited for a reaction.

Michelle said nothing, she only looked at Monique.

Amanda couldn't help herself, even though her mother and aunty were still in the room she blurted out, "Peter made some girl pregnant and now he's gone back to Melbourne to live. Dr. Margate and Vera are going to move there too. They've already rented out their house here. I heard Mum talking to Aunty Michy last night, and that's not all I heard, Peter is going to marry the girl. He wrote you a letter, I saw it, Mum has it."

"Mum, no, is any of this true? Why are you keeping it from me, if there's a letter from Peter I want to see it. I want to read it."

Monique looked horrified. There was a long silence then she stammered out, "Amelia, Amelia, I'm sorry honey, but Don said you needed to be kept calm and rested. We kept all this from you for your own good. We didn't mean to hurt you . . . quite the contrary."

"Where's the letter then?" Amelia asked, "what else are you keeping from me for my own good then?"

"The letter is at home, in a safe place, waiting for you to get well." Monique explained even though she had not intended to show Amelia the letter unless forced to. Luckily Michelle had come up with a brilliant idea to deal with the letter.

Amanda interjected with, "I knew the letter was from Peter, you lied to me, Mum, why?"

"Yes Mum, why are you lying to us? What's going on? Amanda says you are talking about sending me to France, to live with Aunty Margot for a while. Why are you doing this? I know what we did was wrong, but Peter and I love each other, you can't split us up for no good reason, it's just not fair!" Amelia whined.

"Now Amelia, you are far too young to really know what love is, and so is Peter for that matter. What you two did was irresponsible and very nearly cost you your life. I was hoping to have this conversation once you were home, in fact, I am. I'm not going to be drawn into anything about the future until you are safely home, so hurry up and get dressed. We are leaving as soon as I fix up the bill and check you out."

"You go do that, Amanda and I will help Amelia get ready to go," said Michelle.

It was late afternoon when they finally arrived home. The drive home had been filled with an uncomfortable silence. Even the two twins in the back were not their boisterous selves. The twins in the front were deep in silent thought. At last they were home. Monique opened the front door with a mixture of relief and dread.

They had hardly put down the bags before Amelia asked, "Where's the letter Mum?"

Monique went over to the bureau draw and took out the satin envelope. She walked reluctantly over to Amelia and handed her the envelope.

Amelia resisted the temptation to snatch the envelope from her Mum's fingers, though she was peeved, something told her not to upset her Mum anymore.

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Chapter 24 - Flee to France.

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