Chapter Twenty-Six
Fred
Daliah and Sequin would find some middle ground again eventually. The closer the siblings the bigger their fights were had been my experience. Daliah was smitten with Rosemary and ignoring Sequin’s boundaries and he was doing his best not to pick a fight with the girls. The knockout, drag out argument would happen later when I sat down with them both and showed them exactly how I’d enforce the deeds and Lotus’s will if they didn’t straighten up. Hell, maybe they were at the age where they couldn’t straighten up. Maybe this was the last straw to something I didn’t know about. I had gone from sleeping to space in what felt like the blink of an eye.
“We hadn’t been fighting beforehand,” Daliah sighed as we pulled into the driveway. “Sure, we had some minor stuff go on, because that one,” she nodded at Sequin. “Thinks he’s still in his early 20s and should drag home a different guy every weekend.”
“No slut shaming, kiddo,” I sighed. “What your brother does in his personal life is his business.”
“Well, when they’re always in my house, it becomes my business.”
“My house,” Sequin spat back.
I wished I’d kept my mouth shut about who the house really belonged to until I had the chance to talk to them both at the same time, but that cat had already torn and scratched its way out of the bag.
“We are not having that argument! I nested there! My eggs hatched----”
“Enough!” Nelum snapped, turning to face them. “We can have this discussion like civilized adults inside and not in front of all these children.”
I turned my head to hide my grin, but Minter clapped his hands. That was the first time, Nelum really sounded like Lotus. I waited for Daliah to snap back but everyone fell quiet until we were inside.
“Did I go too far?” Nelum asked over our mating link.
“No,” Elio and I said at the same time.
“Besides, you’re with an egg and they were going too far,” Elio said.
“Elio? Take the babies, love. I have to sort out these egg brats,” I said, kissing both the kids on the head before passing them off. “Daliah is the house aired out?”
“I think so. The grounds keeper said it was,” she nodded.
“Both of you, my office,” I said and asked Rosemary to excuse us.
She might be family now but outside of whatever Daliah gave her of what she was entitled to, she had nothing to do with this family matter.
“You always side with him,” Daliah said before we even made it across the yard to the house where Lotus and I raised our children.
“I’m not siding with anyone. There is a system in place to settle these arguments. That’s how we keep from killing each other,” I said, opening the double-glass side doors and stepping into the past.
Lotus was everywhere in this house. Somewhere in the past the kids were still running round and playing together. Old man Cromwell and me were probably arguing out the best course for Lotus’s treatment in my office while she pretended we weren’t fighting at all.
“It can wait, Dad,” Sequin said. “If you need time. We know this is a lot for you. Being back here.”
“Yeah,” Daliah nodded a second later.
“No, let’s get this over with. I’ve missed you guys and want to have a nice visit without you two jumping down each other’s throats,” I said, leading the way to the office.
An ancient pack of half smoked cigarettes still sat on my desk next to a marble ashtray. I left the latter alone and tossed the first into the trash. It would be too easy to pick that habit back up and I didn’t want Minter to see me smoking and think it was a good thing to do. He copied us so much already.
“What are you two really fighting over?” I asked, once we were all seated around my old desk.
“She’s let that pink nightmare take over the house!” Sequin said.
“She has not taken over! It’s her home too!”
“She decorated my living room and reorganized my kitchen. She goes into my sewing room like it’s hers and she uses my shampoo! I did not take her to raise. I did not marry her or hire her to redecorate my life into some pussy-pink mad house.”
I noted pussy pink mad house down mentally to share with someone who would appreciate the line later.
“You sexist little worm!” Daliah growled.
“Nope!” I slapped the desk. “Nope. Not today. Not right now. Not in the house. Not on this property while your baby siblings are here.”
“Did you hear what he said?” Daliah narrowed her eyes on me.
“It wasn’t nice but, Dal, do you understand where he’s coming from?” I asked her. “He’s not wrong to not want the house taken over without having any input in it. What did you think was going to happen?”
“It makes her happy,” Daliah sighed. “I like when she’s happy.”
“Which is why you each have your own house.”
“But I don’t want to move,” she sighed and sank lower in her seat. “I mean, the decorating is already done. Wouldn’t it be easier for him to move.”
“He doesn’t have to move out of his own house. Dal, I tried to explain this when you two were deciding where to live. You wanted to live together which is fine but I warned you both then that if you fought over the house, it goes to whoever it was meant for in the first place.”
“I’m a grown up! I have hatchlings!” She said drawing out each word as if I didn’t understand her the first time. “It’s just him who would have to move if we traded!”
“He doesn’t have to trade, Dal. I don’t know what’s gotten into you!”
“Well, maybe that’s because you ran off to outer space as soon as you woke up! I get it! You have to be off on adventures!”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t think to ask my daughter’s permission before doing something.” It was my turn to narrow my eyes on her.
“For all we knew, you’d never get back here,” she said, gripping the chair arms.
“Well, I’m back. Did you think my being gone meant you could do what you wanted with the properties? Clarence would’ve enforced the same deeds if it became a big enough fight to draw that sort of attention,” I told her. “Seriously, Dal. I’ve missed you but I don’t know what’s wrong if you don’t tell me. If you’re mad at me, don’t take it out on your brother. If you’re being territorial over Rosemary, stop it. Sequin doesn’t want her. He just wants her to stop taking over his house.”
“Maybe I like the pussy pink,” she crossed her arms, looking more like her mama with each passing second.
“Well, you can have your house any shade of pink you like,” Sequin crossed his arms. “The kids can stay. You and Rosemary have to go.”
“That doesn’t even make sense, you stingy git!” Daliah growled.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. This is why we handled things the way we did. This is why everything was sorted out from the moment they all moved onto the property. We didn’t want fights like this breaking out.
“Okay, my turn to vent. I literally just got back to Earthside. I’m sitting in a house where my wife – your mother – lived, loved, and died. Now, my adult children are fighting tooth and nail over something that isn’t even a fight. Daliah, if you like the décor, I will ensure it’s replicated at your house. I’ll hire whoever you want to help you and Rosemary do it but I think it’s best for everyone if you two have your own space.”
“But that’s my home!” Daliah growled.
“Not anymore,” Sequin frowned. “Remember. You’re all grown up with a mate and hatchlings. Go be with them.”
“Oh, stop your jealous bullshit, Seq!”
“I am not jealous! I let her move in! I let her build a nest! I thought it might even be nice to keep living together until I was shoved aside in my own damn house!” Sequin shot back.
“I’ll enforce the deeds but you two need to realize what you do now will affect you for the rest of your lives. Once you take a sledgehammer to a relationship the pieces never fit back together properly,” I sighed. “It’s okay to want different things. It’s okay to change your life to suit your current situation. You just can’t expect someone else to change for it.”
“Why do you want my house so Frost damn much anyway?” Sequin asked his sister.
“It’s home,” she shrugged. “At least I thought it was. Sometimes I think if Rosemary was a guy, we wouldn’t be having this argument.”
“Yes, we would,” Sequin rolled his eyes. “But I might’ve popped a guy one for redecorating my living room. Mom helped us pick those things out and I want them back up and I want her out of my sewing room.”
“She’s trying so hard to be friends with you,” Daliah sighed.
“It’s not because she’s a woman,” Sequin rolled his eyes again. “Dal, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re a woman.”
“Yes, I am,” she sighed back at him.
“It’s not because I think she stole you either. Dal, I agreed to have her stay with us and she took over.”
Daliah’s eyes misted off and my memories flashed with her sprinting toward her mother’s body on the funeral pyre. I shook the memory away.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep,” I said. “Maybe if I managed not to, I’d have sorted this out for you.”
“We were really okay when we told you that, Dad,” Daliah said. “We’re still okay. This isn’t about her. Well, not only about her.”
“What about the other thing you offered me? But for them?” Sequin asked me it took me a minute to realize what he meant. “I mean, the place still has a nursery and stuff. They need it.”
I thought about it for a long moment. Was I comfortable with anyone coming in and redecorating the house I shared with Lotus? I wasn’t sure about that. For the first time, I had the impulse to grab my younger kids and mates and return to Starscale 1. Then they could do whatever they wanted with the houses.
“I’m not redecorating her house,” Daliah shook her head.
“Egg brats. I’m tired. I can’t cut a house in half. It’s not a cake,” I sighed.
“And mum can’t come decorate with us at another house either,” Daliah said.
“What about your grandparents’ house?” I asked. “What’s being done with that?”
“That’s a hotel now,” Sequin said. “We couldn’t bring ourselves to dismantle what they put together.”
“That makes sense,” I nodded. “I hate to be the one to say this but no amount of enshrining her life is gonna bring her back.”
A sob tore from Daliah’s throat and I stood up. Sequin beat me to hugging her. Neither of them looked at me for a long moment. Hell, maybe both of them needed to get away from this place for a while. I couldn’t tell them what to do beyond enforcing what we always said we would.
“I’m sorry you’re sad. We’re all sad,” Sequin said, “but that doesn’t mean you can have my house.”
Daliah pushed him away and stormed out of the office. I opened my mouth to tell Sequin that she wasn’t turning on the water works to get her way but he was already headed off in the opposite direction. I didn’t follow after either of them and instead poked at my guys over our mating link and told them to head over here. I wasn’t in the mood to attempt to sit through a meal with those two. I ordered something in from Mama Dragon’s and went to wipe down the dining table while we waited.
The dining room was spotless. The grounds keeper had kept up more than I expected anyone too. I grabbed the highchair we’d always kept in case company had kids and gave it a good wipe down. It was still in tip-top draconic shape and would hold up well for Minter.
Elio, Nelum, and the babies came through the backdoor and I called out my hellos. Elio made a b-line for me and Nelum lingered taking in the sites of the house that was his home in a past life. Minter ran ahead of his carrier and hugged my legs. He smelled confused at all the grown-up drama. I scooped him up and put him in his chair, promising the food would be here any time now. Then I hugged Elio. There wasn’t anything any of us could do for the grown egg brats but it was nice to have a hug.
“They’ll be okay,” Elio said. “I talked to Duke. He’ll be here tomorrow. He’s coming alone because of the drama going on. His mate is pregnant again and he doesn’t want to drag him into the drama.”
“This place is huge,” Nelum announced walking into the dining room.
“And it only gets bigger the more you explore,” I managed a chuckle.
“Did those two get it worked out?” he asked.
“Not really. They’re arguing over Lotus’s involvement in that particular house. That’s not something I can split down the middle. It belongs to the house and the house belongs to Sequin,” I sighed. “Only, when Daliah tells the story, it’ll be how her brother kicked her and her hatchlings out of their home.”
Nelum rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t come here to get in the middle of their stuff,” I said and pulled him in for a hug.
“It’s our stuff too. Not because I was Lotus but because we’re family.”
Someone knocked on the door and my dragon lifted his massive head. He knew the smell of food from Mama Dragon’s anywhere. His stomach growled, rumbling my ribs, and both my mates and Minter laughed. At least I managed to keep them happy.