Page 2 of Fallen Legacy

Grinning, Silver strides around to her and lifts her in a big bear hug, spinning her round. “Missed you, gran” Silver tells her as he puts her back down on her feet and drops a kiss on her head.

She pats his cheek with her hand and looks up at him with such love and affection that it makes my heart ache. It’s been a long time since anyone looked at me that way. I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t notice her attention has fallen on me.

“You brought a girl to lunch?” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Hey Frank, get over here. Damon bought a girl with him.”

I smile as I pick up on the teasing tone in her voice and Silver rolls his eyes and laughs. “Don’t get too excited. She’s just a friend.” Silver gestures me over. “Eliza, come and meet my gran.”

I make my way over to where they are, and his gran smiles warmly at me. “Well, aren’t you a gorgeous little thing?” She surprises me when she pulls me in for a hug. “Welcome to our home, Eliza.”

“Did someone say Day bought a girl?” a female voice asks from the open door that leads to outside. A young woman in her early twenties comes into the room. She’s slim and has blonde shoulder length hair and a blunt fringe. “Wow, it’s a real girl.” She grins and bumps her hip into Silver playfully.

“I’m Emma, this one’s big sister,” she tells me as she leans in and drops a kiss on my cheek. “Eliza, is it?”

I nod. “Yeah, it’s Eliza, and it’s lovely to meet you. I hope you all don’t mind me turning up like this?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable that I have clearly gate crashed a family get together.

“The more the merrier,” his gran assures me as she lifts the lids off a pan on the stove and gives the contents a stir.

“Gran cooks the best Sunday lunch, princess,” Silver tells me as he leans over her and takes a spoonful of what looks like gravy from the smaller pan. “Hands off, you,” she tells him softly, slapping his hand with her tea towel. “Take Eliza out to meet everyone and get out from under my feet.”

Chuckling, Silver beckons me to follow him outside. There are about ten more people outside. “Grandad, come and meet Eliza,” Silver says, shouting over to an older man. He’s a formidable figure. He has a large belly and a sleeve of tattoos up both arms.

“Pleased to meet you, Eliza. I’m Frank, the head of this rabble of a family,” he tells me as he takes my hand and shakes it in his firm grip.

“Nice to meet you,” I reply, just as an arm appears over my shoulder and I look up to find Silver’s brother, Luca, smiling down at me. “He finally got you out of bed, huh?”

Frank coughs up his drink and I look in wide-eyed horror at Frank and then at silver. Damon laughs and jabs his brother in his side. “Ignore my brother. We all do. Eliza has had a bit of family drama going down, so she’s been staying at ours the last couple of days,” he explains, and I feel the fire in my cheeks lessen.

“Damon’s been a great friend and let me stay with him,” I explain to his granddad.

Frank shakes his head, smiling and gives Luca a look that says don’t tease the girl. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your brother with a female friend.”

“That’s because Day only befriends girls for one thing.” Emma chuckles as she comes up beside her brother and ruffles his hair.

“Okay, can we quit the Damon bullying?” Silver says, placing an arm around his sister and dropping a kiss on her cheek. “Where are the brats?”

Emma grins and points with her bottle out to the fields. “Playing manhunt over on the back field. Hopefully, they’ll wear themselves out and I’ll get them in bed early tonight.”

“Emma has twin boys, aged five,” he tells me. “Oliver and Noah.”

“Twins wow,” I exclaim. “I bet they keep you busy.”

She laughs, nodding her head. “Not a minute of peace, I tell you. Take my advice and don’t have kids.” Laughing, she shakes her head. “I’m kidding. I wouldn’t be without the two little devils.” She points her bottle at me. “Anyway, enough about my devil spawn. Tell us how you know my brother?”

“Oh, we go to the same college,” I explain, and see her brow arch in surprise.

“You go to the posh school like Day. No offence, but you don’t strike me as the type of girl that goes to that school.”

I hold my hands up. “None taken. I only moved here a couple of months ago. I didn’t grow up like those girls, trust me.”

Emma nods her head. “Never understood why Dad felt the need to send him there. Luca and I had our education at the state school, and it did us no harm.”

“I’d much rather be at the state school as well,” I reply. “The girls at the Hawk are something else.”

Emma laughs. “In other words, they are a bunch of pretentious bitches.” She reaches behind her and offers me a bottle of fruit cider. “So long as my brother never brings one of them to a family lunch, we won’t have any issues.”

Silver snorts in reply, as if the idea he’d bring a girl from school to lunch is ridiculous.

“Come on, Eliza. Let’s escape the men, and I’ll introduce you to the real boss in the family.”

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