The Secrets in The Night
Chapter One
The day had started like any other. Melody had woken up at exactly six in the morning by her two overexcited puppies. The two husky cross breeds, Jinger who was crossed with a golden retriever and Gracie, the German Sheppard cross breed. Melody's third puppy a little king Charles cavalier was asleep on the bed next to Melody still, like a little tan, black and white angel. So Melody leaped out of bed and grabbed her gym clothes before pulling them on. By six fifteen Melody was stuffing her keys and earbuds with her phone into her pockets before pulling up her ombre hair a messy bun before tying up the laces of her sneakers before putting Gracie and Jinger on their leashes. They knew where they were going as they pulled down towards the beach taking the exact same route they took every day. They jogged along the beach towards Leland's house to collect his 20 year old son Dakota and their dogs to run the same ten kilometre route they did every day before jogging back to Melody's for breakfast and to get ready for work before driving to Leland's. Once back at Leland's they would all get into Leland's hummer to go to the office. Then they would work at the bonds office until four thirty. Unless there was a bounty to go on in which case the end of the day was if and when they caught the criminal. At the end of her working day Melody always took all three of the dogs for a walk before heading off to the gym to spar with Duane Lee and Leland. If they were busy Melody would focus on her strength and resistance training. Most days' Melody would just go home to make dinner before taking a dip in her swimming pool or take a walk on the beach before showering, getting into her pyjamas to watch the usual America trash TV with a plate of homemade dessert and a cup of tea.
This had been Melody's routine for years now except at weekends there was always someone at Melody's house one of her 'siblings' or another 'family' member even if they just wanted food. The routine had been going on ever since Barbara had died and the truth had been revealed. No one knew about the truth except Dakota. Barbara had left her a note telling her everything. She definitely did not want to talk to Leland or Dog about the truth because they would have told her if they wanted her to know about it but they had not so clearly they did not want her to know about it.
"Mel, wait up" Lyssa yelled sprinting down the beach towards Melody.
"What's wrong Lyssa?" asked Melody hoping that Lyssa would leave her to think about her life as she did every night on her walk along the beach.
"What's eating you up?" Lyssa asked she could see the shining lines down Melody's face where the tears had been running.
"Nothing" Melody replied sharply trying to shield the tears that threaten to spill down her cheeks from Lyssa.
"You have the same routine everyday" Lyssa explained trying to reach out to her sister in order to give her a hug but Melody pulled away and kept walking down the beach until she reached a rock where she sat and stared out at sea.
"BK knew some things about me and my family that I never wanted to know and when she died the week after my 16th birthday I was given a letter that she had hidden in her diary that was only to be opened by me. No one else" Melody explain trying to avoid speaking too fast or crying.
"What did it say?" asked Lyssa hoping that Melody trusted her enough to share the letters contents with her.
"I was adopted by Dog and Beth when I was two because Maria, my birth mom, couldn't cope with both me and Tony" Melody began to sob loudly before quickly regaining composure "anyway Tony was only seven at the time so he probably wouldn't remember me and I don't remember then either, it was for the best."
"When was someone going to tell you?" Lyssa asked now hugging her little sister as she sobbed on to her shoulder even though Lyssa was only a few months older than melody.
"On my eighteenth birthday everything was going to be revealed and I would have the option to return to Howard and Maria. But a few weeks before my sixteenth birthday Maria and Howard were killed and no one thought it was right to tell me but BK wrote it down in the back of her diary when she found out" Melody explained.
"Mel, do you know where Tony is?" Lyssa asked as she felt Melody shake her head against Lyssa's cheek. Lyssa had just worked out why Barbara had written all of this down, she knew that no one would tell Melody because her parents had died and at a guess this was only days before Barbara's own death.
Lyssa gently began leading Melody back to her house before carefully asking "you haven't told anyone have you?" trying to avoid offending her baby sister further.
"Dakota knows" Melody replied shakily "it would destroy their precious little hearts if I told them I knew"
"Well I'm sure the older kids will remember how you mysteriously appeared aged two one day" Lyssa pointed out matter-of-factly. Melody just nodded before steering Lyssa back to her house.
As soon as Melody opened the door Gracie and Jinger leapt on top of her and began licking her face, welcoming her home. Lyssa invited herself in before raiding her sister's bedroom finding her laptop and a bottle of for special occasion's scotch she had hidden next to Barbara's diary with the information in still in the original envelope as when she collected it from Barbara's house. Just then her phone began ringing loudly vibrating again her bottom from her shorts pocket. It was Dakota.
"Hey Kota what's wrong?" Melody asked
"I've had it with Dad and Grandpa. Are you at your place or still on the beach?" Dakota asked trying and failing to disguise the anger in his voice.
"I'm home, Lyssa is here and we can spar when you get here if you want I'm pretty anxious too" Melody replied trying not to worry too much.
"Is it okay if me and Arvie come over?" He asked sounding more calm.
"Sure. Why do you think I said we could spar when you got here? If I didn't want you here why would I have said that?" Melody replied guessing that it was what Leland and Dog had been talking about before she left.
"Yeah good point, Thank you, Love you" Dakota replied quickly.
"Love you too" she replied. Before hanging up.
Melody quickly jumped to her feet and closed the front door of her house before heading off up the stairs towards her bedroom where Lyssa had gone. Only to find Tess her King Charles Cavalier spaniel asleep on her bed.