Calum's PoV

I didn't quite know what to do, or how to act. I felt bad for Poppy, of course. In fact to watch a woman who had been so strong through everything before break down like that in front of me was actually frightening. She'd never let anything get to her that way, and these people who didn't have the right to the title of parents had come in and crushed her, probably bringing back memories of so many things that had cut deep with her in her past.
However, I felt lost. Reserved even. Suddenly all this history she'd never wanted to tell me had come about. She had parents who treated her badly, she had a brother?! All of these things had been kept from me and I was feeling upset. I don't know if the anger from her parents visit had spurred it on but I suddenly felt like an outsider. How much of my wife's life did I not know about? As I stroked her hair, my brain whirred with what her parents he said. Her brother was in the west end? He was doing so well for himself that they felt the need to warn her that she could tarnish his name. Not that she'd done anything bad - not without my ex getting involved and spreading it all to the paps. But she'd never mentioned him, not even in passing. Not even a 'hey cal, I haven't spoken to him in years but I have a brother'. It felt odd.

"Cal?" Her soft voice brought me from my thoughts and I tried desperately to push the uncomfortable feeling aside. After all, she'd dealt with worse. I needed to be there for her. I plastered on a small smile as I gazed into her eyes, now red and swollen from crying.

"You okay babe? That was tough, I'm so sorry." I soothed as she got to her feet, heading back towards the kitchen where she clicked the switch to boil the kettle.

"No, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to deal with that. I should have tried harder not to-" I shook my head to cut her off.

"No. We're not blaming ourselves. Your parents turned up unannounced and stirred up some shit. You did nothing wrong." Poppy pulled two mugs from the counter and placed them on the side, quickly making two coffees - one decaf for her. She handed me the steaming mug and I smiled thankfully at her.

"I should have just stopped it before it got too much though. I shouldn't let it get that far, to the point I'm on the floor. I have a baby to look out for now. I need to be more careful." Poppy sighed, running her finger over the top of the mug. I stroked her arm with my free hand.

"Babe. You're fine. You did what anyone else would have done. Now let's forget they even came, let's talk about what we were discussing with-" my eyes widened as I cursed under my breath, slamming the coffee down on the counter as I ran over to my phone and picked it up, only to see the call with my family still running and my mum sat patiently on the other end of the phone. "Jeez mum I'm so sorry!" I redirected my conversation to my mum and offered her a sorry smile. Poppy sidled up beside me and gave her a small wave. We both looked at each other for a second, realising that my mum must have heard everything her parents had said. Poppy looked defeated.

"I'm sorry Joy, I'm just going for a lie down. Give my love to everyone. It was great seeing you." Poppy said half heartedly as she sluggishly shuffled to the bedroom and shut the door behind her. I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding.

"Were those really her parents?" Joy said in a whisper, I looked around to make sure Poppy hadn't snuck back in and then nodded to my mum. "Wow. What horrible people. I feel so bad for the poor girl." I bit my lips together to stop before I vocalised my thoughts and got myself in trouble. "Are you not in agreement?" Mum could always read my face well. I looked away once more.

"Believe me I am, I thought they were awful and upset Poppy terribly. But I'm also lost. Like I didn't even know she had a brother. At all. I just feel like maybe there's a lot about her I still don't know. What if she's trying to keep certain things from me?" I sighed as I opened up to my mum for the first time in a while. Touring really takes it out of me and my brain works on nothing more than eating, sleeping and playing bass. Now I was overthinking, probably working myself up for no real reason but I just couldn't let it go. How could she have forgotten to mention a sibling to me? Mum offered me a sympathetic smile, as if she completely understood.

"It may feel like that but you know Poppy, she wouldn't do anything like that to hurt you. You are her world. Maybe she's just so used to not having them around that she never talks about them to anyone. It probably feels quite normal to her." Mum offered me some advice and I gratefully accepted it. It was weird to think how she always knew what to say to make me feel better. I was about to have a kid and yet I was clueless about most things in the world still. Would I ever be like her to our child?

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Mum." Suddenly the doorbell sounded from the other end of the phone and my mum looked away from the screen.

"Oh honey I'm sorry, that's the neighbours. I invited them round for brunch. I'll have to speak to you later on." She looked sad at the fact she was suddenly going but I grinned and waved at her.

"We'll catch up later. Enjoy yourself! Speak soon." We both said our goodbyes and she hung up, leaving me feeling alone with my phone in my hands. Only one thing came to mind, I knew I shouldn't do it but the overwhelming feeling made it all the more hard to resist. I brought up a search engine and went to work, trying desperately to find out who this mysterious brother of hers was.