CHAPTER FIVE

When Sky got home that evening, the first thing that struck her was how incredibly quiet it was. She listened for sounds of voice or movement but there was nothing. "Lana?"she called out. "Honey, are you here? Kerry? Scotty?" She headed through into the dining room and found Lana sat at the table, a piece of paper in her hand. Sky looked at it and was surprised to see it was a bank statement. "Where are the kids?"

"Dylan's got them, he's bringing them back later."

It answered the question, but it didn't really explain anything. "Lana, is something the matter?"

"I called the hotel,"Lana explained. "Where you stayed on your 'conference'. I found out about Boyd. That he was there with you."

Sky stopped dead, not sure what to say. Should she try to make up an excuse? Explain everything? She was so uncertain she ended up saying nothing.

"Are you going to tell me it's not what it looks like?"Lana challenged her.

Sky knew she couldn't do that. For some reason, she didn't even really want to. "No, it…We slept together."

"Seriously? We've been married a matter of months…"

"It's got nothing to do with that!"Sky protested. She stopped, realising she was digging herself a bigger hole, but realised there was no way back now. "It was going on even before we met up again."

Lana struggled to process this. "You were already seeing him when we got back together?" Sky nodded. "How long?"

"Ever since we left Erinsborough. I mean, I haven't been seeing him every week or anything but…every few months we'd meet up."

"That…that's over ten years!"Lana protested. "You can't have…" She trailed off, taking in Sky's expression. "You actually have, haven't you? All this time. I guess I should have known this was too good to be true. We meet up again years after I had a crush on you, and you're single, and you like women now? I really was kidding myself."

"I do like you,"Sky argued, before correcting herself. "I do love you."

"Yeah, but not enough. Not enough to give him up. If someone told you to choose, you'd choose him."

"I…" Sky trailed off again. The truth was she didn't know what the truth was. She just knew there had been so many times over the years when she'd had the choice of giving Boyd up and she'd never been able to do it. "I didn't want you to find out like this,"she said at last.

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

Maybe Lana didn't need to know it. But it was the secret she'd been keeping for nearly half her life, the one part of her had been dying to tell someone all along. "He's Scotty and Claire's father."

Lana gaped at her. "You're sure?"

"Well, I haven't done a secret DNA test, if that's what you're asking. But they were both conceived when I was with Boyd. And Dylan has genetic problems, it was a miracle I managed to get pregnant with Kerry. There wasn't much chance I could get pregnant by him two more times, even if he likes to think I did." Sky sighed. "Look, I don't know what you're feeling…"

"What I'm feeling,"Lana replied,"is that I'm suddenly seventeen years old again, stood here wishing you could love me more than Boyd. But you can't, can you? You couldn't then and you can't now. All this time, I thought it was Dylan, but no. It was Boyd Hoyland all over again." She got up and walked past Sky, heading towards the stairs.

"What are you going to do?"Sky asked, following her into the hall.

Lana turned and gave a bitter laugh. "I'm going to go. I'm not sure where, maybe all the way back to Canada. I just can't play this game anymore. I'm not Dylan, I'm not going to be someone you're with half-heartedly. I deserve better than that. And I'm not the only one."

Lana was upstairs packing. Sky wondered if she should be up there as well, trying to talk her round. She wondered exactly how significant the fact that she wasn't was. Or the fact there was only one voice she wanted to hear at that moment. She took out a phone and made the call.

Boyd's voice was on the other end a moment later. "Hey, Sky."

"Lana knows,"Sky told him. There was no need for preamble.

She could hear the confusion in Boyd's voice. "Knows…knows what?"

"Everything. She found out some of it and I told her the rest. About how long we've been seeing each other, about the kids…"

"What do you want to do?"

It was hard for Sky to admit and every logical part of her brain told her to stop, but she knew the answer to the question straightaway. "I want to see you. I want you here with me."

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard Boyd's response. "I'll be on the next flight."