Like Mother, Like Daughter

Part three

Colin woke me up the next morning. He practically ordered me to be ready within an hour. I rolled my eyes and climbed out of bed, getting dressed quickly. I glanced at the clock and decided I had enough time to read a little…

January 5

I don't know what to do. Now that we found Peter and Nathan, dad wants me to go home, back to Texas. Truthfully, I'd rather not. I don't know where else I could possibly go, but I don't want to go home…

"Here we are." Niki said, looking at my house. I stared at it with her. D.L. and Micah were back at the hotel, so Nathan was sitting up front with Niki, while Peter was in the back with me.

I bit my lip and stared at the house. I don't want to go…

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Peter told me softly. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. My breath caught in my throat.

Yes I do. I don't have anywhere else to-

"You can live with me." Peter cut in quickly. Nathan and Niki stopped talking to stare at us in shock.

"What do you mean she can live with you?" Nathan practically roared.

"She doesn't want to go back." Peter argued. "And it would be better for her to live with family than anyone else."

"But not with you!" Nathan roared.

"Why not?" I asked.

Apparently Nathan thought something that pissed Peter off, because the next instant Peter was reaching forward, trying to grab Nathan. Niki reacted quickly and pushed Peter back, making him fly back in his seat.

"Stop." Niki snapped. "It's up to Claire."

They all looked at me expectantly. Nathan with warning eyes, Peter's were hopeful, and Niki's gaze was just trusting. So I did the thing I wanted to do.

I'm moving into Peter's apartment in two days.

"Keira!" Colin yelled, pounding on my door. "Come on!"

I closed mom's diary slowly. Mom lived with Peter? The uncle she was in love with? That really couldn't have been a good idea.

I made my way toward the stairs, and was automatically swept off my feet. Literally. I smacked into someone and we both went flying. I landed on the ground, the other person on top of me. I winced, then looked up into a pair of light brown eyes. "Sorry." Braden muttered, pushing himself off of me. He stood, brushing his longish hair out of his eyes, then held his hand out to help me up.

He pulled me up easily. "Sorry about that." he apologized. "I wasn't really paying attention."

"That's okay." I said, not meeting his eyes.

Braden looked at me a moment, worriedly. Then he shrugged. "Ready to go?"

I nodded and we headed down stairs. Nobody was there. "Where did they go?"

Braden sighed. "Who knows. They could be anywhere." He shrugged. "Oh well, it's just the two of us right now."

I raised my eyebrows. "So where do you want to go?" He asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never been here before."

Braden stared at me. "You've never been to New York?" I shook my head. He smiled. "Fine! I'm going to play tourist for a day. I'll show you all the sights you missed."

I laughed as he grabbed my arm and pulled me outside. "Where are we going?"

"Statue of Liberty." Was the swift reply. He led me down the subway. I swallowed hard.

He smirked at me. "Are you afraid?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Liar." He muttered. He led me down the subway. We got on and sat in the chairs. "So…" He looked like he was trying to think of something to say.

"Why was your dad so upset yesterday?" I asked, my mind still on the diary.

Braden looked at me a moment, then looked out the window. "He never really told me what happened. Why Claire left." He shook his head. "It's weird, but before you got here yesterday, it was like her name was a curse. If someone even mentioned it, everyone would freeze and just look at my dad. And he would be so strange…." I stared at him, waiting for him to keep going. "Yesterday, when he got the call that you and your brother were here, it was like he snapped. He just…he was so weird." He shook his head once again. "I just want to know what could have happened…"

I swallowed hard and decided to tell him about mom's diary. I felt I could trust him. I felt like I could trust him more than anyone else- more than Colin.

"This is our stop." Braden said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the subway. He pulled me toward the ferry that took us to the island.

It was a great day, we wandered around, just talking about different things. I found out he was twenty years old, five years older than me. He was a junior at NYU. He was studying biology, and he wanted to be as different from his brother as possible. "I don't hate Tyler." Braden explained, "He's just…not the person I want to be."

I nodded. I could understand that.

We were sitting at a pizza place that night when I finally got up the courage to tell Braden about the diary. He listened intently when I described everything I had read. When I finished, he stared down at the table.

"Your mother was in love with my father. Her uncle." Braden said slowly. He shook his head. "He's never mentioned your mother living with him…" He swallowed hard.

"I'm going to read more tonight." I told him. He looked at me, then ran a hand through his hair.

"Do you mind if I read it too?"

I slowly shook my head. "We can read it out loud, if you want."

He met my eyes squarely. "I do."