Free The Honeymoon Sisters by Gwyneth Rees Page A

things out of the window into the garden.’
    ‘But that’s … that’s … horrible !’ I exclaimed, imagining that happening to all my stuff.
    Mum nodded. ‘Linda came home just as they were about to set fire to it all. She called the police but in the end she decided not to press charges.’
    ‘But why ? I mean why did Sadie do it?’
    ‘She wouldn’t say, though things hadn’t been going well between her and Linda for some time apparently. Anyway, Sadie is banned from seeing those friends from now on.’
    ‘Banned? But –’ I broke off, too scared now to tell Mum what I knew. ‘But Mum, doesn’t this show you what she’s really like?’ I pleaded. ‘She did that to Linda after Linda took her in and tried to help her!’ I paused. ‘What if she gets her friends to do the same here?’
    ‘You don’t have to worry about that, Poppy,’ Mum said at once. ‘It sounds as though she and Linda had a very poor relationship and Linda was a very unsuitable choice of carer for her. Sadie’s given me her word that nothing like that will happen here.’
    ‘Sadie’s word doesn’t mean anything!’ Frankly I felt almost as angry with Mum as I did with Sadie. How could she bring Sadie into our home after what she’d done? ‘Mum, you said Sadie was only here on a trial basis, right?’
    Mum nodded. ‘Yes. We’ve agreed with her social worker that we’ll wait and see if this trial period is a success before deciding on the next step.’
    ‘But the next step is Sadie moving somewhere else, right?’
    ‘Yes … well … before we decide that, I think it’s worth waiting to see how well Sadie settles with us if we give it a bit more time.’
    ‘ WHAT ?! Mum, NO ! That’s NOT what you said before!’
    ‘Listen to me, Poppy … Lenny is going to speak to you about all of this before we decide anything. You’ll have the chance to tell her all your concerns. But I want you to think hard about what you’re going to say, because you know Lenny will take it seriously.’
    ‘ Good! At least somebody will!’ I glared at her so hard that she actually looked a bit upset. I was glad. I couldn’t believe she had tricked me like this. She’d said nothing before about there being any possibility of Sadie staying with us permanently.
    ‘Poppy, think how you’d feel if it were you in Sadie’s position …’ Mum sounded almost like she was pleading with me. ‘The poor child has no parents and no home of her own, whereas you’ve got here and your dad’s place to fall back on.’
    I looked at her in disbelief. Did she even realise what she’d said? ‘So now I’m lucky to come from a broken home, am I?’ I rasped.
    ‘I didn’t say that!’
    ‘Yes you did! You know, maybe I should just go and live with Dad! Maybe that would solve the problem!’
    ‘Poppy, I –’
    But I didn’t want to hear any more and I stormed upstairs, only to find Sadie standing in the doorway of her bedroom, a smug look on her face. She pushed her door shut when she saw me but I knew she had to have overheard.
    Once I was alone in my bedroom I fully expectedMum to follow me upstairs like she usually does when I stalk off like that. Only she didn’t.
    After a while another thought hit me. What if the reason she hadn’t come after me was that she was busy thinking over what I’d suggested?
    And what if she decided that me going to live with Dad was actually quite a good idea?

Chapter Twelve
    I was quite glad to be going to school on Monday morning just to get away from Mum and Sadie. Even first thing, Sadie was all smiles and compliments about the way Mum made toast. Apparently Linda’s toast was either too soggy or too well done, whereas Mum’s was just perfect.
    I hardly spoke to either of them at breakfast. I felt betrayed by Mum, and as for Sadie – well, it was all I could manage not to pick up my toast and throw it at her.
    In the bathroom I saw Sadie had shoved some of the stuff on my shelf to one side and put out her own