~~ 1. What is Mommy's secret? ~~

I was sitting on my Daddy's dock with my legs dangling in the water. It was almost summer and the end of the school year. Mommy and Daddy had been discussing going away somewhere on holidays, just the three of us, but as yet they hadn't decided where to go. For some reason Mommy wanted to go to California, but Daddy didn't. Mommy had tried to drag me into it- "Lara, it's your sixteenth birthday present, where do you want to go?" But I'd refused to take sides, and told her that wherever they chose would suit me fine. My parents rarely argued and I wasn't used to it.

"Hey kid." Someone said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hi Nelson." I said without turning around. Nelson Childs, was my half second cousin technically, but it was all pretty complicated so at school we never really mentioned how we were related. All my friends couldn't understand why Nelson and I were only friends since they, like all the girls in school, thought he was pretty good looking. I had to admit he was, but in a way he was like my big brother.

Nelson sat down next to me and dangled his legs in the water too.

"Do you ever think about just getting on a boat and sailing off into the ocean forever and ever?" I asked him.

He looked surprised. "I can't say it's ever crossed my mind, no." He said slowly. "Why?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing. I was just thinking."

"Your parents still fighting about the holidays?" Nelson asked, nodding as if he already knew the answer.

"Yeah." I said with a sigh. "In sixteen years I've never really seen them argue, and it's such a stupid thing too. I mean who cares whether we go to California or Timbuktu?"

"Timbuktu." Nelson said thoughtfully. "Don't forget to send me a postcard. I've never known anyone who's ever gone there."

"Idiot." I said fondly, and a smile broke out on my face.

"That's better." Nelson said, throwing a friendly arm around my shoulder. "Look Lara, all parents fight over stupid things, and yours are no exception. It's not like they're going to get a divorce over a holiday….."

"I know that." I said with another sigh. "I just don't like it. I mean if they fought often I'd be used to it, and they don't, so I'm not. Maybe I should tell them I don't want to go away these holidays?"

"Don't you?" Nelson asked.

"I don't care, I just don't want to be the cause of any fights." I explained.

"Look kid-"

"Stop calling me kid or I'll push you off the dock." I said angrily.

Nelson laughed. "I'd like to see you try." He teased me.

I laughed too. Nelson was on the school football team and he was pretty good. He was hoping to get a football scholarship to college next year. As for me I was looking at colleges nearby so I could come home for weekends. Mommy and Daddy, however, were determined I'd get into an Ivy League college, but I didn't know whether I was smart enough to do that. Mommy's best friend from when she was my age, Alice, had gone to an Ivy League college and now she was a judge in Boston and Mommy was sure I could do the same thing. I didn't really comment, but I was thinking I'd like to be a doctor.

Nelson stood up and held out a hand to me. "We better get back up to the house. Mom and Melody are planning our party and they'll need to hear what we think of it all so they can completely ignore it and plan something else." He said.

I smiled and got up, ignoring the hand he was holding out to me to prove just because I wasn't a footballer didn't mean I wasn't athletic. "That silly party. I don't know why they're forcing us into it." I complained as we started up towards the house.

"Because," Nelson said in his normal voice, "Sixteen is the most important birthday in your life, other than your twenty first, and your fortieth, and your fiftieth, and your sixtieth, and your-" He started imitating his mother.

"Stop it." I managed through my laughter.

"Anyway, I suppose it could be all right." Nelson said with a shrug. "As long as we all remember who is the oldest."

"By a few months." I argued.

"Still older." He replied, and I rolled my eyes as we climbed the stairs onto the porch.

"Older doesn't necessarily mean more mature though." I said.

"Sure it does-" Nelson began, but he stopped as we entered the house.

"When are you going to tell Lara the truth?" Aunt Holly was asking Mommy.

Tell me the truth? What truth? Nelson and I exchanged puzzled looks and he went to walk towards the kitchen, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Lara, we shouldn't be snooping." He whispered to me.

"Damn it Nelson, they're talking about me." I whispered back fiercely. "We're staying right here for the moment."

"It's not right." Nelson argued, still in a whisper.

I raised an eyebrow. "Since when were you Mr. Ethical?" I demanded.

He shrugged and said nothing.

"…..and I just don't know how to tell Cary." Mommy was finishing. "If I tell Lara there is no way I can't tell him and it's going to break his heart. I always said I'd tell her, but I keep putting it off."

"He'll understand." Aunt Holly assured Mommy.

"Will he?" Mommy asked and I was shocked to hear the catch in her voice. "I don't know that he will Holly, he's even annoyed about me wanting to go to California."

Aunt Holly sighed. "He doesn't understand Melody. And you can't blame him. You've been saying for years you didn't care, you didn't even want to know-"

"It's just….I never thought I'd want to see her again, I really didn't. But I need answers, answers I didn't get last time. No, not even need- deserve!" Mommy interrupted.

"And is that worth alienating Cary for?" Aunt Holly asked.

Mommy didn't respond.

"That's it." Nelson whispered to me. "We can't stay here and listen to this."

I knew he was right, so I followed him into the kitchen meekly. Mommy looked up startled and she and Aunt Holly exchanged a brief look. "Lara, I didn't hear you come in." Mommy said.

"Surprising." Nelson said, and he walked over to the kitchen table and dropped into a chair. "She was talking so loud I couldn't even hear myself think."

I glared at him, and then realised what he was trying to do, so I shrugged and went and took a seat too. "So, Nelson said you want our input on the party?" I asked.

"Right, we want to know about the color scheme." Aunt Holly explained.

"I was thinking purple and blue." I replied.

Aunt Holly looked thoughtful. "We'd just decided on blue and yellow." She said.

Nelson caught my eye and I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing out loud.

"Sure, blue and yellow is fine." I agreed, and out of the corner of my eye I watched Mommy as she made coffee. Her hands were shaking slightly, but other than that there was no sign that anything was wrong. What on earth was her secret, and would I ever learn it?