"What's with the hat?" Lydia asked.
"It's her punishment," Liam replied. "She wasn't supposed to tell you we're here, and since she caved, she has to wear the hat of shame the whole day."
Her friends burst into peals of laughter, but his cousins looked crushed.
Julian sounded sad as he asked, "you didn't want us to come? But it's the weekend. We always hang out on weekends."
"I see you at the office all the time." Liam reminded him and walked on, the brothers following behind him.
"So did we gatecrash your date or what?" Sienna asked, looking just as crushed as Julian. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I tried to. But apparently, whatever you had to tell me was too important to wait," Eden said, turning her attention to Cassandra. "What's up with you and Matthew?"
Cassandra suddenly looked ill at ease. She crouched down to help a struggling Brenda as she tried to fix the back wheels on the stroller. Within minutes, the stroller was sorted, and she stood up, wiped her hands on the front of her jeans, and smiled at Eden and the other two. "He's my student."
"What student?" Eden asked and watched Brenda and Aiden pause in front of Snorkeler's Lagoon, where a group of kids under the tutelage of a snorkelling instructor were having the time of their lives.
"Did you forget I run a cooking studio?"
"Right!" they all nodded, but none of them believed a word she said.
"Have you banged him yet?" Lydia asked.
Cassandra was offended by her question. "Of course not! I'm with Skye, remember?"
"Right!" They all gave her knowing smiles, but an irritated frown was all they got in return.
Lydia proceeded to fill Eden in on the reason for their impromptu catch up—Simon and Olive.
"So rumour has it, she ran off to her parents and left him with the baby. And someone in the know claims their marriage is on its dying breath." Lydia couldn't hide her delight, her eyes sparkling with sheer glee at Simon's unfortunate situation.
"Well, that was quick," Sienna said. "I mean, they haven't been married that long."
"It's called karma, bitch." Cassandra smiled wickedly. "Right, Edie?"
Eden nodded even though she had no interest in her cheating ex and his messy home life. Her mind was on the looming lunch with Liam's parents, and her eyes were still on Brenda and her son now briefly blocked from her view by a group of tourists jostling to take photos in front of the glass separating them from the lagoon—
"Edie," Sienna gently nudged her shoulder to get her attention. "Remind me not to piss you off. I mean, that must be some serious God you pray to. You wanted Simon to hurt as much as you did, and now he is."
"I wanted him dead," Eden reminded them. "So, my prayers are still not answered."
"You are evil, St Eden." Sienna nodded her approval. "But I like it!"
"Well, his marriage is as good as dead," Lydia pointed out. "So that's as close to 'dead' as he'll ever get."
"Anyway," Eden said as she tied her hair back. "I don't care about Simon anymore, so please stop telling me about him. I just want to focus on Liam, Aiden and our family. Guys, you won't believe how incredibly happy—"
A blood-curdling scream pierced the morning lull before she could tell them how elated she was, chilling her to her core. She turned in the direction of the sound, her heart sinking at the sight of Brenda huddled over Aiden on the floor.
"Eden!" the nanny howled another horror-filled sound. "Where are you?"
She didn't have to ask her twice. Eden's adrenaline kicked in, and she ran to them, pushing through the crowd, yelling at everyone to back the hell up.
"Give me some room, people!" she shouted at everyone to get out of the way as she knelt on the ground and reached for her wheezing son, an angry rash already spreading all over his body.
"EpiPen!" She held out her hand to Brenda.
They'd practised this scenario numerous times in the past three months, and the nanny should have been prepared. But rooted in place by terror, Brenda couldn't seem to compute her instructions.