Secrets pt. 1

Ainsley wasn't used to the house being so quiet all the time. Jake had moved out several years ago when he went to college, leaving Ainsley alone with her parents. Her father wasn't nearly as quiet at home as he was in public, at least not usually, and his suddenly suspicious silence worried Ainsley to bits. Likewise, her mother had never been quiet in any situation and her constant exhaustion left the seventeen year old even more worried that Jonathan's silence. Even more frightening, was the way that both parents seemed to be blocking her out. Madeline always had a smile for her, but it was always tired, and distracted. Jonathan always answered her queries with a hug and a promise that everything would turn out. That answer did not satisfy the girl who didn't even know what was wrong to begin with. Even Uncle Morgan wasn't saying a word, though the fear in his blue eyes did nothing to reassure his god-daughter.

It didn't seem that Jake knew anything, either. Ainsley was racking up quite the bill on her cell-phone, with her late-night calls to her older brother. Neither one wanted to worry their older siblings. Isobel was pregnant again, and Christian was busy with the restaurant. Besides, Ainsley was afraid that they would go straight to their parents, and despite wanting to know, she didn't want to cause any more stress to them. So rather than linger in the terrified silence at home, the kind of silence that felt like the whole place was holding its breath, Ainsley was spending more and more time with her almost-boyfriend, Avery. She was certain that he was waiting until she turned eighteen to make anything official, but his door was always open to her, for which she was grateful. Ainsley knew she could tell him anything, and he was the one who had to listen constantly to the softly-spoken observations that her mother was losing weight, and that her skin was turning gray. She wasn't supposed to notice, she knew, but the day she was cleaning her parents' bathroom, and found rather long and thick clumps of her mother's hair in the shower, Ainsley began to snoop.

She spent hours in the library, poring over medical journals, trying to discover what the matter was with her mother. She took to rummaging through Madeline's desk, and even attempting to follow her mother the few times she went out. Still, Ainsley couldn't seem to figure out exactly what it was that was causing her mother to be so ill. It was killing Ainsley that she couldn't discover what was wrong with Madeline, but there wasn't much more she could do. Her parents were determined to keep their secrets.

One day, Ainsley was home alone with her mother. Jonathan had to be somewhere, and Morgan was meant to come, but was stuck in traffic. Between the two men's absences, Ainsley felt the unspoken need to watch out for her mother. She was in the kitchen, trying to prepare something that she felt her mother might be able to keep down. As she stirred her mother's favourite soup, she heard a clatter from the living room. Immediatly the girl turned the stove off, and rushed away to see what the matter with her mother was. The girl's mother lay sprawled on the floor, having fallen while retrieving a book from an end table. Ainsley knelt by her mother, carefully checking to make sure she was alright before lifting her helplessly into her arms. It was a pitiful sight, the daughter holding the mother in her arms. Ainsley had outgrown her mother years ago in stature, and her athletic build easily lifted her rather frail mother. Shock was overwhelming the poor girl, crying softly, and holding her mother. Should she call the emergency room? She wasn't even sure what had happened.

Madeline groaned, turning her face against her daughter's shoulder as Ainsley faced the front door, having heard the sound of keys rattling in the lock. The door swung open, to reveal a rather hassled-looking Morgan, who stopped cold, his gaze fixed on his god-daughter's tear-stained face.

"Why didn't anyone tell me, Uncle Morgan?"