Thank you for the reviews! As for scariness...there'll be some eventually but the next few chapters have most of the plotting going on in secret.

CHAPTER THREE

It was getting dark and Mads, Thayer and Jordan had left already. Only the three Mercer girls remained with the two Whitehorse males outside the trailer. Ethan nudged Emma who cleared her throat. "Thanks for having me round, Dan, but we need to get off."

Dan had a feeling he knew what the pair had in mind but couldn't resist winding them up. "You need a lift somewhere?"

Ethan put an arm round Emma's shoulder. "We kind of had plans. Don't wait up."

Emma turned to Sutton and Laurel. "Can you tell Kristin I won't be back tonight?"

Sutton sighed theatrically. "I don't know, I go to all this trouble to get you to stay and you're skipping out on us right away."

"It's pretty shabby,"Laurel agreed, smiling.

Emma surprised Sutton by giving her a hug. "I'm really glad you're my sister."

Sutton managed a smile in response. "So you should be."

Ethan helped Emma onto the bike and they rode off.

Dan moved closer to Sutton, out of earshot of Laurel who was busy gathering her things. "You still like him, huh?"

Sutton sighed. "You know that thing about how if you love someone enough you let them go?"

"Yeah."

"I've never got that." Sutton turned to her younger sister. "Hey, Laurel!"

Laurel looked up. "Yeah?"

Sutton tossed her her car keys. "Since you're the sister that hasn't deserted me, you can drive."

Jordan and Mads stood in the living area of the Rybak house, kissing softly but intensely. Mads leaned out of the kiss slowly, putting her arms round his neck. "So, are we going to take this upstairs?"

"Yeah." Jordan disentangled himself slightly. "But first there's something I need to ask you." He led her over to the couch and sat her down, then crouched in front of her.

Mads looked at him, suddenly worried. "You're not going to propose, are you? Because it is way too soon and we are way too young for that."

"I'm not,"Jordan assured her. "But it is kind of the next step. Before that one."

Mads was confused. "What do you mean?"

Jordan took a deep breath. "I want us to get a place of our own."

Mads' eyes widened in surprise. "Okay, I wasn't expecting that."

"It's just…this place, us living here together, it didn't really start out the way it should. There was your dad and Rebecca and all sorts of game playing going on, and it kind of feels like we need to have a fresh start. Something that's about you and me, not them. Where it doesn't feel like we've got a load of ghosts looking over our shoulders."

"What about Thayer?"

"I don't know, he's lived on his own before and he only moved back in with you because he was worried about you being on your own after your dad died…If he's okay with it, would you be?"

Mads thought for a moment. The idea was exciting but she was still having trouble getting her head around it. "Can we afford it?"

"Well, the money you've got from your dad can cover the bond. And I was talking to Ethan, he thinks he can get me some work at the club. I never realised the advantage of having friends in low places. So, what do you think?"

Mads smiled. "I think that the two of us having our own place sounds like a great idea." She leaned forward and kissed him.

Emma opened the door to the cabin and led Ethan inside, closing it firmly behind them. "You realise the irony that we've only just got you out of this place and you're back here?"Ethan asked.

"I want to spend the night with you,"Emma answered. "And as it stands, our options are a tiny trailer with your brother a bit too close for comfort, Kristin's couch or…this place."

Ethan pretended to mull it over. "Okay, I can see how this might seem like the best option."

Emma took his hands and walked slowly backwards to the bedroom, pulling him after her. Once inside, she released him and continued walking backwards towards the bed. "So…we could just go to sleep or..?"

"Or?"Ethan prompted.

Emma unbuttoned her blouse and let it fall from her body. "Or we could think of something else to do first." She unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it, standing in front of him in her underwear, smiling mischievously.

Ethan smiled too. He pulled his shirt off and unbuttoned and dropped his jeans so he too was in his underwear. He crossed the few steps between them and kissed her passionately, once again feeling the intense sensation of her near-naked body against his.

They fell back onto the bed, the passion of their interaction growing as they discarded the last few remnants of their clothing, their bodies joining in a crescendo of pleasure. It was about more than the intense physical longing they felt for each other, it was a joining that neither had experienced with someone else, the feeling of being fully known by another both physically and emotionally, leaving both of them certain that they were exactly where they were meant to be.

"You had something to tell me?"Rebecca asked.

Thayer leaned forward, taking a slight perverse satisfaction in breaking news he knew would disconcert her. "Kristin knows. She knows about Emma, she knows about you being her mother."

Rebecca maintained the mask of disinterest, keeping her voice level and her expression unchanged. "How did she react?"

"She invited her to stay. She's living with her. Emma and Sutton are both living with Kristin."

This time he saw the tremble of her lips and the flash of fire in her eyes, the only outward sign of the anger he knew she was feeling. "And Ted?"

Thayer shook his head. "No. I spoke to Laurel. She says Kristin's more angry with him than ever. She's still pressing ahead with the divorce."

Now Rebecca smiled, a smile that somehow didn't make her expression any less cold. "Well then. It makes no difference. Once Ted and I are back together, Emma and Sutton will come and live with us. We just need to make sure everything goes according to plan in court. You know what you have to do."

Thayer smiled. "I think I've learnt how to be convincing."

"Good. If we both play our part in court, then this time next week I'll be out of here. Then Kristin and the rest of Scottsdale are in for one hell of a surprise."

End of Episode Four