Free The Honeymoon Sisters by Gwyneth Rees

… but listen, I don’t want you thinking I started that rumour, or that Anne-Marie or Josh did, because –’
    ‘Oh, but that’s brilliant !’ Sadie interrupted.
    I frowned. ‘It is?’
    ‘Oh yes!’ She was grinning. ‘You see, a few weeks ago that nosy Julia saw me coming out of Mrs Thomson’s room and asked why I was seeing the school counsellor. So I told her you have to see the school shrink if your dad’s a hitman!’
    ‘Oh!’
    ‘I am so going to have fun with this!’ She checked her watch. ‘Come on. I’m starving. Let’s go home and see what’s for lunch.’

    When we got there we found Mum sitting at the kitchen table sipping a mug of tea and studying her new vegetarian recipe book. Judging by the smell she had something already cooking in the oven. Sadie stuck her nose in the kitchen to say hello and comment on ‘the delicious smell’ before going off upstairs.
    ‘Is Sadie all right?’ Mum asked me. ‘She looks tired.’
    The concern in her voice really annoyed me. After all,if Sadie was tired then she only had herself to blame. ‘Yeah, well, I guess it must be pretty exhausting pretending to be nice all the time,’ I snapped. ‘Still – at least she gets a rest from that when she’s with me.’
    ‘Poppy …’ Mum closed the book with a bang, patting the seat next to her. She fixed me with the look she always gives me when she doesn’t think I’m being sympathetic enough to some other person’s predicament. ‘I think we need to have a talk, don’t you?’
    I sighed, and got myself a glass of water before sitting down next to her. I badly wanted to tell her how Sadie had sneaked off on her own today, but I was too scared after Sadie’s threats. Still, that didn’t mean I had to agree with her that Sadie was perfect.
    ‘Mum, you have to see that she’s not nearly as sweet and innocent as she’s making out!’ I hissed before she had a chance to start talking.
    ‘Poppy, I’ve been through enough honeymoon periods with enough foster-children to know not to get complacent just because things are going well at this stage,’ Mum assured me. ‘I’m well aware that she’ll start testing me sooner or later – just like they all do. Then I’m sure she won’t be nearly so complimentary and well behaved, but until then –’
    ‘Mum, this isn’t the same! Sadie’s deliberately manipulating you. Why can’t you see that?’
    Mum sighed. ‘Poppy, she may be family, but at the end of the day she’s in exactly the same position as all the other children we’ve taken in. She’s been abandoned by the very people who are meant to love and protect her. And she doesn’t trust that it won’t happen again.’
    ‘This is different, Mum! She’s being super nice to you and horrible to me. None of the others did that.’
    ‘Sadie is a lot older than they were. Maybe that has something to do with it.’ She paused. ‘You’ve always been so patient and kind with all the others, Poppy. Can’t you just give Sadie the same chance you’ve given them?’
    I frowned. I could see that Sadie had had it pretty rough until now, and it wasn’t that I didn’t think she deserved a chance. But Sadie wasn’t being honest with Mum. And it wasn’t fair that she was somehow managing to wedge herself in between Mum and me so that it felt like she was pushing us apart.
    ‘Mum, what happened at Linda’s on Friday night?’ I asked nervously. I had to admit that my mind had been coming up with all sorts of horrible possibilities since Sadie had made her threats to do the same at our house.
    ‘She hasn’t told you?’
    ‘No.’
    Mum sighed. ‘Apparently last year Linda inherited a lot of money from her great-aunt, and also some personal items – clothes, shoes, ornaments, crockery, jewellery, that sort of thing. Most of it was in her spare room waiting to be sorted out. While Linda was out last Friday evening, Sadie and some friends went into the spare room and went through it all, chucking