Deleting History: History Series, #2

Copyright © 2017, 2019 by Hanleigh Bradley

www.hanleighbradley.com

[email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This book is licensed for your personal use only. Please respect the author’s work and refrain from sharing it with others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

The characters, organisations and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

This book is written in UK English as the author is a British author. You may notice the occasion variation in spelling and grammar if you are used to reading in American English.

ISBN: 978-1697197068 (paperback)

Published by HB Books

Contents

Dedication

Dear Reader,

Epigraph

1. Clara

2. Clara

3. Andrew

4. Andrew

5. Clara

6. Clara

7. Andrew

8. Andrew

9. Clara

10. Clara

11. Andrew

12. Andrew

13. Clara

14. Clara

15. Andrew

16. Andrew

17. Clara

18. Clara

19. Andrew

Preview

Preview

Thank You

About Hanleigh

Hanleigh's London Saga

For everyone who has ever loved someone they shouldn't.

Dear Reader,

We all have a history, a story, some of it good, some of it bad, partly painful, but also unbelievably beautiful.

We can’t change history. We can’t delete out mistakes. We can’t do anything about the past, but we don’t have to let it ruin today. Perhaps more importantly, we can learn from it.

Hanleigh

It might be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all but by god, that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice it so willingly.

It’s better to keep it. Fight for it. Own it. If you lose it, you lose it because you had no choice, not because you gave it up at the first obstacle.

Chapter one

Clara

‘So, what did he do?’

Aurora's question catches me off guard because truth be told, I barely know her and she’s massively overstepping the line of civilised, polite conversation between two complete strangers. We’ve only met a few times and yet now that suddenly we’ve found out we’re sisters, she expects me to just open up to her about things that I haven’t even told my best friends. It also grates that she presumes that Andrew has done something. He has, of course, but really, why would she presume it’s him and not me? I could be the one to have messed this all up. I’m not, but still, I feel protective of him.

It sucks that we’re paying for something he did back when we were sixteen. I’d thought we’d gotten past all our history. I had been trying anyway because the way he made me feel was worth it. Loving him was better than hating him. I don’t think I could hate him even if I tried now and I know without a doubt I don’t want to.

Hating him isn’t an option.

‘It’s a long story.’

I’m not telling her.

I don’t know her.

I can’t trust her.

She’ll probably run back to Andrew and tell him everything I say, or at the very least, she’ll tell Landon, and he’ll undoubtedly tell Andrew. Landon and Aurora are his friends. He has their loyalty, not me. But that’s okay.

I don’t want a sister.

I don’t need a sister.

I have two brothers, and they are more than enough to deal with. I never wanted to know who my mother was. I didn’t want to know the name of the woman who had abandoned me as a small girl. I hadn’t wanted to know if she started a new family... A better family...

The idea that that family might be enough to keep her, that she might have loved them enough to stay when she’d never loved me that much.

My pride had taken a fall when I learnt that my mother did indeed have another family. She’d had two more daughters, neither of which looked anything like me. To look at us, you wouldn’t even think we could be cousins, let alone sisters.

Looking at Aurora now, all I want to know is what makes her better than me. What is it that made Michelle Stone stay with Aurora and Aileen when she didn’t stay with me?

‘I’ve got time.’

Aurora’s smile is easy, almost carefree. But then, right now, her greatest concern is the colour scheme for her wedding reception. It’s hardly taxing.

‘How’s the shoulder?’ I ask, trying to distract her. She’d recently been in a plane crash that had caused Landon Peters, my boss, to fly across the Atlantic to be with her. They’d returned home engaged. Most people are easily distracted by the idea of themselves, but not Aurora Stone apparently. She eyes me shrewdly, noting my deflection.

‘Fine.’ She laughs. ‘Now stop trying to change the subject.’

‘I just don’t want to talk about Andrew.’ It isn’t a lie. I don’t want to talk about Andrew, but more importantly, I don’t want to talk to Aurora Stone about him.

‘I get it,’ and for a second I think she’s going to drop it, and then she opens her mouth again. ‘You know he’s a mess?’

Her eyes are kind, but the rest of her face is set to business. She has an agenda. But it’s not my agenda. She’s on team Andrew.

The problem is this is not something she can change with a little girl to girl chat. No amount of over-sharing on my part can change the fact that Andrew slept with Sarah or that they were pregnant. Time catches up with all of us eventually, and if Andrew stays with me, his past will hit the headlines. I can’t let that happen.

‘He’d be more of a mess if he was with me,’ I tell her honestly, because it really is what I believe.

‘How? How is that possible?’

Aurora’s frowning now. I find myself wondering if my mother looks more like her or me. We really don’t look anything alike.

‘Is this to do with everything with our families?’

‘Yes. No... It’s complicated.’ And I don’t want to have to explain.

‘I’m good with complicated, trust me.’

‘Problem is I don’t. I barely know you. I’m not about to open up to you.’ My words are harsh and perhaps unnecessary, but I’m riled up, and it’s the truth.

‘Okay.’

She winces slightly at my words before moving on.

‘What would you like to talk about then?’

That’s the question, isn’t it? I really don’t know why I agreed to this lunch. I don’t want Aurora to be my sister. I want her to be the girlfriend of my boss who I occasionally go out for a drink with or out on shopping dates. That’s where our acquaintance had been heading before all this, and now instead we’re half-sisters.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Want to talk about mum?’ she asks gently.

‘No. Definitely not.’

‘You don’t want to know about her at all?’

‘No.’

There’s an awkward silence that is only broken by the noise of the other guests in the restaurant.

‘This is weird, isn’t it?’ Aurora smiles sadly at me, breaking our silence. ‘If we were friends, I think you’d happily talk to me, but instead we’re sisters, and everything that’s happening in your life right now seems to be off limits to your new little sister. So how about a truce?’

‘We’re not at war.’ My voice is still tense.

‘Feels a bit like it.’ Aurora laughs. ‘Truth is, we’ve all been caught off guard by this…’ she struggles for the word, ‘scandal. But it doesn’t have to change anything. You don’t want to know mum, though I know she wants to know you. Mum and I aren’t really talking, so you don’t need to worry that anything you say to me will get back to her.’

She takes a breath before continuing.

‘And as for everything else, we were well on our way to being friends before all this. I think we should just be friends. Put this sister shit on the back burner and just get to know each other.’

Again she pauses, as if considering her words.

‘Problem is, though, Clara. Friends talk. They share their opinions... sometimes frankly and I think... I think you’re making a mistake and as your friend, I feel obliged to tell you.’

‘What mistake?’ My head feels like it’s going to explode. I’ve had a headache for days and talking to Aurora isn’t helping at all.

‘With Andrew. I don’t know what he did, but I know how he feels about you.’

‘Aurora, drop it, please.’

‘Just one thing... Is there any way to fix it?’

‘It’s not broken.’

It sounds ridiculous even to my own ears, but I also know that it’s the truth. She’s looking at me in confusion, and I know she expects me to say more. If I want Aurora to be my friend, I probably don’t have much choice. I sigh, resigned to the fact that Aurora, my sort of sister, sort of friend, deserves at least a bit more than I’m giving her.

‘It’s not about Andrew and me. He hasn’t hurt me. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Not recently anyway.’

‘Then what?’

Her eyebrow is raised as she tries to understand what I’m not telling her. She’s trying to read between the lines, but the lines are too far apart for her to have any comprehension of the truth.

‘History is always there. Even when all the history books are gone, burnt or destroyed. It doesn’t change what actually happened. You can’t just erase history and sometimes repeating it or voicing it causes more damage than good. With me, there’s no privacy; there’s no keeping your past in the past. It all comes out. The press find the story, they always find the story and then they put it into print and then it’s eternal, it’s not just history, it’s in today, tomorrow, it becomes ingrained into every facet of time.’

‘There are things in his past that you are scared will come out?’ She’s not really asking a question. She knows the answer. She’s good at reading between the lines. She’s intuitive and highly intelligent; a lethal combination in a sister you’re trying to keep at a distance.

‘It’s already out,’ I tell her, ‘but while ever we’re not together, it’s not press worthy. They don’t care what Andrew does or did so long as he’s not dating a potential Mayor of London’s sister. My family is very public, especially at the minute, what with everything... Maybe when this all blows over…’ As I say it, I know it’s a lie. It’s really not something I’d risk. He means too much to me.

‘I’m sorry, Clara.’ Aurora shakes her head. ‘I was really rooting for you two.’

I nod, considering how to respond, if at all.

‘This secret... Who would be hurt? If it came out, I mean.’

Trust Aurora not to drop it.

‘Everyone. Andrew. My friends. Their family.’

‘I don’t understand. It can’t be that bad. We’ve all got secrets…’

This isn’t my story to tell, but she keeps pressing, and I feel myself give in.

‘Years ago, Andrew slept with my friend Sarah. They were only sixteen. They fell pregnant. But that’s not the worst of it. The thing is, she lost the baby, and so if it comes out, Sarah will be hurt. Her loss will be public... but as well as that, her husband—my friend Mike—he’s under the impression that he took her V card and it’s all a lie. They’ve been together since they were seventeen. He’ll be devastated. I can’t let that come out.’

‘Why are you so convinced he doesn’t already know?’

‘It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.’

‘Even if your own happiness hangs in the balance?’ She’s bewildered. ‘What if he knows and they’re still happy, and then you waste your own happiness on keeping a secret that’s already exposed?’

I shrug my shoulder because I have no response. ‘Even if he knows they don’t need it in the paper.’

‘I’ll give you that, but everyone gets over scandal. People think bad of you for a few minutes, but then they move on. Look at us. The press is already moving on. They’ve run every story they could. They’ve exposed your relationship with Stephen in Liverpool. They’ve told the whole country about Aileen’s pregnancy. They’ve pointed out our parents’ indiscretions, and they’ve posted list after list of your brothers’ conquests. They’ve hounded Landon and me. All of it hurts, sure, but it’ll be over soon.’

‘I like your optimism,’ I say bitterly.

‘Yeah... I’m not naïve, you know. I know what it is to be scared. It might be better to have loved and lost than to never love at all, but by god that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice it so willingly. It’s better to keep it. Fight for it. Own it. If you lose it, you lose it because you have no choice, not because you gave it up