Page 17 of Teach Me How To Fly

I didn’t even know what to think about my father anymore.

I still remembered how devastated Lydia was when he left, but she healed with time and became the woman she was today. The strongest woman I knew.

“The smell of pumpkin pie makes my taste buds go crazy,” Lydia said as she got closer to Olivia.

I watched her walking to the kitchen island and my lips raised up in a corner as I saw the classy dress she chose to wear today.

I’ve learned from her that dressing according to how you want to be perceived by others is the most important thing. So I’ve always chosen clothes that imposed respect before I even spoke for myself.

“You know how much I love cooking it.” She winked and her lips stretched into the wide smile that was so characteristic of her.

“And you know how much I love eating it.”

We laughed together and Lydia turned around, glancing at me. She came closer and grabbed me by my hand, taking me to the hallway. I looked attentively at her and wondered where we were going.

“Where are you taking me?”

“More likely, where are you taking me?”

I was so confused that I let my eyebrows get closer into a serious furrow. “What do you mean?”

She smiled and as soon as we got out of the house through the door that was leading us to the forest, I understood exactly what she wanted. A walk between the tall trees with her dearest niece.

“Walk and talk?”

“Exactly,” she quickly replied and a comforting smile crept on her face.

We were walking slowly, sinking into the forest and breathing in the clean air of nature. We both loved this forest, and as she’d always told me, my mother did too. I guess I was the perfect copy of my mother because everything I was told about her matched my own description. But I didn’t want to fall into those deep painful thoughts again, so I tilted my head to come back to reality.

Lydia was glancing at the surroundings as she was lost in her own thoughts too. That was the forest’s power.

It could bring you to such a state of mind that you were able to put into question every little detail of your life. And that’s why father hated that my mother was spending her time here – just as he hated that I was spending my time here too.

We were dreamers, and nature was what kept us sane.

“I used to come here pretty often back then when your uncle was still around,” she murmured as she continued to walk beside me. “It made me come to peace with myself no matter what I was going through.”

“You know you could come here whenever you want. You are more than welcomed,” I replied and put my hand around her shoulders.

She sighed and a tiny smile came on her face. “I know, but I don’t want to bother any of you. We are all having our issues and I can’t bring mine here too.”

“We are a family, auntie.”

“I was in your family for as long as I had Sylvian with me. Now, I’m just his ex-wife.” Her tone of voice broke down into tiny millions of pieces, and I tucked her in my arms.

She seemed totally destroyed with every word she let out of her mouth.

“You are still my favorite aunt and my second mother. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you and Olivia, so please, don’t you ever think that you’d be a burden to us.”

She took in a deep breath and gazed at me, rubbing her temples. “To you, I’m not.”

So he forbade her from coming here? It looks like everything I thought about my father is just like a house made of bricks that are falling one by one.

“You mean my father told you not to come here? Because if he did such a thing, he’s a total ass. He proved to me what kind of person he is and –”

“Annalise!” she exclaimed and grabbed me by my hands as a smile curved her lips up. “Don’t talk like that! He’s your father.”

Oh, I swore, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t do it again because that was something my father used to tell me too.

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