Wish upon the Stars chapter 953

When we reached the house my parents had been staying at, I admit I froze. “I…was expecting something bigger.” We were standing in a small grass yard between two huge buildings. Packed into the intervening space was a small cottage, thatched roof and all. It was a warm brown color, with a blue painted door sporting a shiny brass knob. The windows had matching blue shutters thrown wide to reveal gauzy yellow curtains, and the path up to the door was brown cobblestone.

My mother beamed excitedly. “Isn’t it lovely! Your father wanted to stay in a big drafty castle, but I wasn’t having any of that. I get quite enough of castles back home. I went looking for lodgings and found this darling little cottage for us to sleep in!” The others had already split off to stay at the two neighboring boarding houses, but Chelsea and I had been press ganged into staying with my parents for family bonding time.

I turned to look at my dad, whose face looked like it was carved from stone. I might have assumed he was unaffected, if his shoulders weren’t slightly hunched. I snickered at his obvious exasperation and he glared at me. I turned to look at my mom. “Hey mom, dad doesn’t seem very happy to see me, was he not as worried as you were? I mean I just assumed he would be super anxious about all the trouble, but if it didn’t bother him that’s fine too.”

He turned to shoot me a betrayed look, his jaw dropping in horror as she pinned him with a gimlet stare. “Now honey, I’m sure that’s not the case. Your father loves you, of course he was worried for your safety. Would it kill you to show your son a little affection Eli? We’re not on the run anymore. Now that we’re a family again I won’t have you treating him like a stranger.”

My lips peeled back in a sadistic grin. This was MUCH better than punching him in the throat. I knew my mom was my dad’s biggest weakness, but I hadn’t realized how easily she could push him around.

Granted, I was also aware that this whole dynamic was probably him expressing guilt over how my life had gone, and she was playing along because she thought I deserved a little payback. Oddly though, that made me feel even warmer. They knew me well enough to know I was still upset and were letting me work it out my own way.

Chelsea giggled at his expression. “I didn’t even get a hello. Honestly, it’s like you both forget you have two children.”

My mother snorted. “You were twins, dear. Trust me. No one forgets giving birth to twins. Your brother has simply been deprived of affection for most of his life. I’m not asking for miracles, but I’d like to see Eli put in a bit of effort at least.” Her eyes softened as they landed on me. “And it would mean a lot if you could meet him halfway, Shane. I know that isn’t my right to ask, given the way things went, but…now that we have the chance, I really hope we can try to be a real family.”

That took the wind out of my sails, as far as tormenting my old man went. She sounded so sincere and pleading. I felt like an asshole for reducing my own mother to begging me to be nice to my family.

“I can try,” I allowed. “I can’t just wave a magic wand and say everything is fine. But I get why he did the things he did, and it turned out ok for the most part. I won’t swear to not to give him a hard time when I can, but I’ll make an effort at least. If he’ll do the same.”

I looked him in the eye as I said that last part, and he sighed. “I…suppose I can do that. I can’t promise to do it WELL, however.” He grimaced. “I’m not a KID person. Never have been. I find children frustrating, and you were a special kind of frustration because you reminded me of myself in some ways.”

“YOU raised me,” I scowled. “Or helped from a distance at least. I guess Zeke did most of it. Though he led me to believe I reminded you of mom more than yourself, he said that was why you left me on Callus.”

He smiled wanly. “Like I said. In some ways. I don’t mean to say I’m not proud of you. The things you’ve accomplished are nothing short of miraculous. But I’ve always been a selfish man. I take care of myself first. Sasha was the exception to that rule, and I suspect you know a little something about that. You and your wife seem to be close as well. But anyone else…I just didn’t have it in me.”

“Don’t make excuses,” snapped my mother. “You were never a proper child. Ezekiel’s family treated you like an honored guest, and when you finally met your father he manipulated and controlled you as best he could manage. The only positive feedback you got from Malachai was when you outsmarted him, and that’s not the kind of relationship I want you to have with our son.”

Putting up both hands, he just sighed. “I didn’t say it would be. And I’m not making excuses, just setting expectations. I’m not going to suddenly be the dad who takes him to ball games and plays catch at the park. That isn’t me. It wasn’t me when I was his age and it won’t be me from this side of the equation. I’m not here to parent him. He doesn’t need it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get to know the boy. We’re both adults, and just because I’m not going to wipe his nose for him doesn’t mean we can’t interact.”

She just rolled her eyes. “Oh for the love of the gods.” She turned to me with an exasperated snort. “He’s SAYING that he’s afraid he won’t be a good father, so he’d rather try to be your friend.”

“I was NOT saying that,” he said in an appalled tone. “I would never say anything like that. It’s…cloying.”

Her eyes hardened. “I hear you deride me for showing affection to your son again, and I might decide all the affection I show YOU is cloying. You can maintain your ominous and intimidating image sleeping on a pile of fertilizer bags in the back shed.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he groaned. “Damn it woman, this is hard enough without you putting words in my mouth!”

“Mom,” I said gently, taking off my mask. “I think maybe this is making it harder for him.” She looked hurt, but I offered her a warm smile. “You said you wanted me to try, and I want to do that. But I think he needs to process things with me in his own way. I know you want to just make things ok, and you probably COULD bully him into acting like it, but I think in the long rain that’ll do more harm than good.”

She wilted slightly. “I just…I want us to be a FAMILY,” she pleaded. “It’s not that hard!”

“No,” I agreed. “But it’s not that easy either. We’ll get there. I know we will. Just…let us go at our own pace. That was my fault, honestly. I didn’t realize it would upset you so much when I teased him like that. I don’t actually need you to fight my battles here. I love you, and I know you feel guilty. But like I said, I’m past the anger mostly. I get you want to fix things between us all, but some things just need time.”

Biting her lip, she nodded slowly. “Alright. Fine. I’ll stay out of it. But can we have dinner together? The four of us? Actually, make that five. I want to spend some more time with my daughter in law.”

“I’m sure she’d love that,” I beamed at her. “And even better, I’ll cook for us. I’ve been told I’m a decent hand in the kitchen, and my skills have only grown.”

Chelsea nodded eagerly. “He’s got a gift,” she admitted. “He’s going to make Callie an amazing house husband someday.” She grinned at me teasingly, sticking out her tongue at me, and I raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“I’m sorry, how is YOUR love life going?” I said with a malicious grin. “You expressed your feelings to EITHER of the people you’re interested in?”

She squeaked, her face going red as she glanced anxiously at our parents. “Shane what the hell? How did you even know about that? I mean…what do you mean? I mean…shut the hell up!”

My mom actually giggled at that. “Listen to the two of you, acting like real siblings. I love how close you’ve gotten.”

“This family is the worst,” sulked my sister, actually pouting about her secret being exposed. She hadn’t actually told me about it, I’d just kind of guessed, so I hadn’t been under any obligation to keep it secret. It was my turn to stick my tongue out at her.

I sent a quick mental message to my wife, who appeared pretty quickly after as mom led us inside to give us a tour. She hadn’t been far, and was planning to stay with me, of course, she just wanted to give me time to reconnect with my family. And I appreciated it, but honestly…I felt awkward around them.

After years with my friends and allies, being around these people that expected me to be someone that I wasn’t sure I’d ever been was awkward. Like yes, there’d always been expectations from mom, but only for the short time I’d actually seen her.

Weirdly my dad seemed to have the least expectations, if only because the self absorbed bastard was too focused on what he should be feeling to even worry about me. I was a little grateful though. What I’d said to my mom was true, I did think we’d get there eventually, but I hadn’t had the heart to tell her that her trying to force us to mend fences made me feel like a damned zoo animal on exhibit.

Callie appeared next to me without any hesitation, lacing her fingers in mine and shooting me that lodestar of a smile. No matter how lost I got, that always showed me which way was north. One smile from my wife would set me back on the right path, and I’d never been more grateful.

We headed inside, and I explored the kitchen, snagging some easy ingredients as the others gathered at the table in the kitchen on the other side of the counter. “So,” I said as I started preparing the roux I was going to use to make the Jambalaya tonight. “Zeke said there are bounties?” This was one of my favorite recipes. Jambalaya was supposed to be tomato based, but this one cooked much faster because the roux got VERY hot (the trick was using an oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed oil).

My dad nodded as I started chopping up the onions, celery, and bell peppers. “There’s been some success identifying some of the abstract information on targets. Due to the secrets moratorium, outright FINDING them is problematic, but getting some information to use as a base for a bounty list is much more manageable.”

I grimaced. I knew perfectly well how annoying that could be. But with a bounty list…I hummed to myself as I started to prepare the chicken thighs. Dantalion could help me ferret out many different things. Maybe not A-rankers, but C-rankers if I used my staff. Hell if I ranked up B-rankers would be viable if I spent some time working on it. Beyond that though, I had another advantage. I had Zeke. I was in a good mood as I returned to cooking. I had a feeling I’d do just fine in this round.