Chapter Fifty Nine

Ninety minutes later they were in the car, cutting through the countryside, Nate chattering madly in the back seat about his day, his lunch, his teacher...Lizzie couldn't believe that it was possible to feel so normal after all that had happened. In a brief moment she'd taken to Google and read a little about Locked Twins. Some of the stories she'd read were grim, a baby dying when it couldn't be delivered, then some of them...like her mother had hinted, dismembered to allow the bodies of both babies to be separated.

She couldn't imagine how hideous and traumatic that could be and she did feel a huge pang of guilt, and pain on her mother's behalf. But it wasn't her fault. None of it was. And her parents could have done many things, counselling, anything but take it out on her. Oscar glanced at her occasionally, she knew he was concerned about her, but she wasn't about to let the news from her parents to ruin her. It was a horrendous story, painful, the thought that she lived at the expense of her brother, but it wasn't her fault. It was no one's fault. It was a tragedy, and that was exactly how she was viewing it.

The car turned onto a gated driveway, and a mansion appeared on the horizon.

"Wow," she offered as she placed her hand over Oscar's on her thigh.

"It's part of the luxury range of getaways. I still get a little discount!"

She smiled, "you are really spoiling us."

As he pulled into the gravel car park, he turned to them both, "you are worth it. Both of you."

The whole building was opulent. From the extravagant, yet somehow not overstated, chandeliers and marble pillars that decked the hallway, to the four poster bed in the master bedroom of their two bed suite, everything was perfectly lavish. Not that Nate's room was any less elaborate.

"It's brilliant!" He exclaimed running into the room and throwing himself onto the huge bed. Then before Oscar had got their bags into the room, Nate was bouncing up and down on the bed, actually squealing with glee.

He chuckled from across the lounge that separated the two bedrooms, "not sure it's meant as a trampoline, but if it keeps him happy!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Nate, stop love. You'll hurt yourself."

He groaned as he bounced on to his bottom then collapsed starfish on the bed, "You are no fun!"

Oscar laughed, "get changed into your swim stuff, we can hit the pool?"

Nate's eyes lit up as he turned to Lizzie, "can we? Go swimming?"

Oscar watched the two, a smile on his face, despite everything he still turned to Lizzie for confirmation that he could or couldn't do something. He saw her as his mother, and she was, in everything but biology.

"Let me find them," she buried her nose in the large bag that she'd brought for them. Two pairs of swim shorts in very different sizes landed on the bed. Within seconds Nate was completely naked and pulling them on. As his father pretty much mimicked him, she rolled her eyes.

"You two go on, I'm going to sort out towels and dry clothes to wear after your swim."

Oscar chuckled, "they've got robes...look." He gestured to Nate who appeared with a white hotel robe that seemed more like a regal cape than a robe, dragging behind him as he walked towards them.

"OK." She tried to hide a laugh, "you look amazeballs babe!"

Nate took it all in his stride, "come on, Dad! There's swimming to be done."

Oscar stared at Lizzie a little anxiously, "you're going to join us though?"

She waved the scraps of fabric that made up the bikini he'd bought her, "I'll be there. Just give me a few minutes."

Still he studied her, obviously worried about what would happen when she was finally alone, "I'll come back if you don't join us, I mean it."

She gave a smile that she hoped made it to her eyes, "I'll be there. Now go!"

Alone, she did feel sad, but that was to be expected. But she could relax, and not keep a smile pasted on her face for a moment. Lizzie looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and she could swear she'd aged ten years overnight. Leaning both hands on the sink, she leaned closer to the reflective glass and studied her face. What would her twin brother have looked like? Her father wasn't tall, but she and Janis hadn't been short. Yep, tall, dark and caring...that's what she saw. Though if he had survived, then she might have been a little more loved and cherished than she had been.

But he'd have defended me, chased off the errant boyfriends, hugged her when she was down, and ganged up with her against their big sister.

She sighed, but it was all thoughts, all daydreams. Instead, life was as it was. She had lost both her siblings, her parents loathed her...but she had gained so much. Nate was everything; she'd die for him on a heartbeat. Then her mind drifted to Oscar. He had given her so much, fun, happiness, gifts, pleasure, confidence and of course orgasms. Then there was love, he'd told her unchecked about how much he loved her, repeatedly, unrequitedly. There was no greater father for Nate, he worshipped his son equally as wholeheartedly, that was what she wanted, someone who loved the boy as much as she did.

And he loves you too.

Why was that so hard to grasp? Why couldn't she accept that and deal with it?

With another sigh, she stripped and covered her body with the scanty bikini. She knew it would make Oscar's eyes pop out, and other things too.

Wrapping herself in her robe, she chuckled as she left the room.

The pool was in an annex at the back of the hotel, a large conservatory that allowed natural sunshine to bathe the water, and the surrounding deck. THe pool was kidney shaped, with stairs to descend into it and a bubbly hot tub at the far end. In the middle of pool was Oscar, Nate wrapped around his head, lifting his arms, he held his son aloft, high above him, before Nate squealed and wriggled. Then the two collapsed into the pool in a Patrick Swayze-esque way, reminiscent of Dirty Dancing. Lizzie had shrugged out of her robe and was half way into the water when Nate emerged from under the water.

"Aunty Lizzie! Did you see our SPECTACULAR crash?"

She nodded, "I did."

Then Oscar appeared beside him, water pouring off his tanned body like some sort of bronzed god. Her heart skipped a beat and her pulse ramped up a few notches, as he blinked the water from his long lashes, then devoured her greedily, his eyes covering every inch of her skin. She felt her nipples harden at his scrutiny, then saw his eyes widen as he spotted that too.

When he ran his tongue over his lips hungrily, she almost dissolved in a heap. Fortunately the squeak of an excited Nate cut through the atmosphere like a knife. Oscar caught him as he flew at him, and they were both ducked under the water again by the youngster's momentum.

Smiling, Lizzie lowered herself into the water and proceeded to swim to the end of the pool, slow and gentle breaststroke, loving that every inch of her body relaxed with each stroke she made. She missed swimming, and ignoring the noise from the boys behind her, she eased herself into a few lengths of the pool.

"You look good enough to eat."

She paused midstroke and smiled at the beautiful man who had swum level with her.

"You don't look too bad yourself."

Oscar grinned, and his arms wrapped around her bare waist, then he grimaced, "this was a bad idea."

As if to prove it, she felt his erection press into her thigh.

"You've got a thing going on down there," she nodded in the direction of their feet.

He winked, "I've ALWAYS got a thing going on when you're around."

Blushing, she swatted at him, "well you better deal with the thing...Nate isn't ready to deal with that."

With an elaborate wink, she dived under the water and swam until she reached the side, when she emerged; he was still stood transfixed, watching her.

From the hot tub, where she relaxed, she watched the two boys, because when he was in this mood, Oscar was as much of a child as his son. They were rolling around, splashing each other, and racing across the shortest width of the pool. Luckily there was no one else in the pool, so she could lean back and not worry about the chaos the two were causing in their wake.

The bubbles, the warmth and the setting sun were a perfect combination, that when she closed her eyes, she was able to drift. Maybe not to sleep, but to a place where the noises from her family were soothing and she had no other thought in her head. The horrors of the day, the complexity of her home life...nothing mattered but the bubbles, the lapping water. Bliss.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so relaxed. Nate was safe; there was nothing she needed to do. Thanks to Oscar bringing her away, she had nothing to worry about.

And it was perfect.

All due to Oscar and the way he worships you.

That internal voice was challenging her, interrupting her relaxation. Rolling her head to the side, she opened her eyes and watched her family. Would she ever get used to that thought? That after all these years she had people who needed her, who wanted her...and who loved her.

At that moment Oscar's eyes met hers, and his smile lit up her world. He loved her. All doubt had suddenly evaporated, he'd been tested so many times, and yet he was still here, devoted, and patient...all the things she wasn't sure she deserved. As he threw Nate over his shoulder into the water, he blew her a kiss, an old fashioned kiss to the palm that he blew in her direction...and she felt the last vestige of her defences crumple.

I love Oscar Wicker.