Adjournment (The Fate Series) (21 page)

“She’s all you,” I hear Earl tell my mother, who by her laughter agrees with him.

But they’re wrong…

I’m nothing like her.

Slowly walking up the steps, I look around at the house whose exterior hasn’t changed since I last saw it. Memories of a childhood spent here try to surface but I push them away.

I was around nine years old when my parents bought this. A thirteen bedroom oceanfront mansion, with rounded front steps that lead up to the stone portico which travels entirely around the whole house. With its tall pillars and arches spaced every few feet the exterior of the house has a very Greek feel to it.

I put the sewing machine down, my hand moving up to grip the surprisingly cool metal handle. My thumb pressing down on the latch, I close my eyes to gather courage before opening the large white front door.

It’s just a few days, then you go back.

The door clicks, and I push it open as I lift the machine back up before slowly stepping into the white and caramel vestibule. I stand here frozen, looking around at the long corridor with doorways that lead to different parts of the house.

I can do this. I’m sure they’ve made updates, remodeled since then… it’s been years since I’ve been here I can’t imagine them not.

Wandering down the hall, I notice so far, I’m wrong… nothing has changed… I mean,
nothing
. It’s as though time as stood still here.

My hope for feeling disconnected is gone because even after all these years it still feels like home. Well, the only place I’ve ever really considered home… it was our getaway, a place we could go and just… be.

I bite my lip, blinking back tears as I breathe in the smells of the ocean that fill the house, and my heart begins to sink. I forgot how much I loved this place. I’m about to break when a little voice in my head reminds me that I’m not here to remember; I’m only here a few days and then I go back to reality.

Snapping out of my nostalgia, I square my shoulders.

“I can do this,” I whisper to myself.

I look around at the beautiful Romanesque home with its high ceilings, tall pillars, and marble fireplaces. I personally am a sucker for hardwood but the beige marble floors fit well with the style of the house. The main corridor has tall Greek pillars stationed every few feet that are connected to wide arches in the ceiling and opens to the great room at the back of the house. I walk down it, past the curved grand staircase that sits on the left side of the corridor and leads to the children’s wing, lounge, and second floor terrace.

Admiring it as I travel pass, I smile at it as if to say hello again. The first archway on the right goes toward my parents’ wing where the gym, theater, and bowling alley are, along with my parents’ office, bedroom, and guest rooms. Continuing down the hall a little further on the left I look into the archway that opens to the main dining room, a doorway on the far left connects the butler’s pantry which sits between the dining room and the kitchen. It’s attached to both rooms through a short narrow hallway that also leads outside if you walk through the arched glass French doors.

Walking into the great room I place the sewing machine on the large round table to my left.

The great room isn’t just great—it’s an enormous room that is made up of the kitchen, a casual dining room, and a sitting room all in one. A long rectangular dining room table sits to the right of the room when you first walk in. It’s always decorated and only used to put food on. The back half of the room is a gathering area with a large stone fireplace on the right wall. Three sets of couches and chairs are arranged into sitting areas with coffee tables placed in the center of each cluster. Across the back wall there are three sets of french doors that open onto the courtyard and pool area.

Listening to my sisters argue over rooms, I grab some carrots from a nearby platter while they negotiate.

I remember the first time we walked through this house. My mother had been eyeing it for months. Every time we went to pain-in-the-ass Judith’s house, who owns a house not too far down from ours. Judith was one of my mother’s first socialite friends who she made when their business took off. She took my “bumpkin” mother and made her into everything Judith thought she should be. She called her bumpkin because my mother liked to do “men” things. The house wasn’t always so big, a lot of it came with time. The great room was the first to get a makeover. It was once made up of a quaint kitchen, an office, and sitting area. I think it was something about the way Judith called it charming and cozy that put it on the chopping block. The pool was smaller back then.

One year as a birthday present to our mother, Dad had enlarged it to an Olympic size. That, I think, was also to stick it to Judith. Dad says it was a gift so we let it go. The bowling alley in my parents’ wing came in when my sisters and I were in our teens. We tried to convince them to switch wings but I think they were afraid of us giving Grams alcohol. Yeah, you heard that right. They weren’t afraid of us having alcohol, they were afraid of us giving it to Grams. We knew better and well… you’ll see.

A couple years ago they added a small kitchen in Grams’ wing along with an outdoor kitchen in the back by the pool.

Everything about the house is white, cream, or caramel. Except the lounge chairs outside. They’re orange and navy blue.

Now that, I
know
, is to piss Judith off.

As a “gift” one year she bought my parents new patio cushions. Navy blue… because that was so “Hampton’s”. My mother already had orange ones that we picked out together but Judith being her pain-in-the-ass self wouldn’t let it go. So my mother took both sets to a local seamstress and asked for her to stripe the two together.

Judith hasn’t sat on them since.

“Okay, this shouldn’t be hard since I get my room… the master suite thanks to the bet you both lost.” I point my carrot stick at them. “Now it’s a coin toss for you two. But let’s not forget about Lexi, and Jacob when he gets here,” I beam out remembering when we were fourteen and bet on who the best bowling team was.

“Dammit, I forgot about that,” Molly starts to protest but lets it go. “Fine, I’ll take the green room, any room but the Navy. I feel like all of Mom’s hatred was put into that room,” she finishes, picking up a handful of cashews and stuffing them into her pocket followed by a second handful that she starts to toss into her mouth.

“Molly Chandler! You better not be hoarding food in your pockets like a hamster!” we hear our grandmother accuse from behind us.

“Oh, Grams no, I was just saving it for later… you know how Mom changes or moves the food all the time. I want to make sure there is something left for when I get done unpacking.” She smiles, leaning over to kiss Grams in her wheelchair.

Liar.

Oh, and our grandmother can walk fine.

Does she want to? Not. At. All. She’s stubborn, and she doesn’t like to drink and walk. Although drinking and driving over my feet she loves… she’s part evil. That’s where our mother and uncles learned it from. My mother says it’s the strongest with me… I don’t see it. I’ve managed to control it, and I won’t give into temptation.

Wait—if she is here… where are the uncles? 

“Guys…” I start, looking around to find them. “Umm, where is everyone?” I continue on as my sisters pick up what I am talking about.

“Those jerks better not be doing something to our beds!” Molly yells, running down the hall to the stairs.

Morgan takes off to the small hallway that leads to the butler’s pantry, the dining room, and one of the hidden staircases that goes upstairs, and I take off through the great room toward the back staircase that connects to the second floor terrace and the third floor observation deck leaving Lexi and Grams alone in the kitchen.

I can hear Grams’ evil little laugh from behind me as loud screaming breaks out upstairs. I charge the steps two at a time just as Uncle Mitch launches Molly over the second floor balcony into the pool. Shoes, cellphone, and all. Dropping to the steps before he can see me I slowly start making my way back down when I see Uncle Matt through the posts in the banister holding Morgan and getting ready to throw her next. I know soon they’ll be looking for me.

If I can make it back to Grams in time I might have a chance. Creeping down slowly I feel something behind me, and I turn my head to see my worst nightmare. Simon and Uncle Sal…

Dammit.

The sight of him catches me off-guard, and my heart begins to pound with delight.

Knock it off.

The devilish smirk on his face lets me know I won’t be getting out of this easy.

“I’ll get her legs, you get her arms, son,” Uncle Sal shouts. He grabs my ankles and lifts me up from the steps while Simon secures his arms under mine, lifting me up to walk back down the steps.

“Please. Please, don’t do this!” I plead with them. But my pleas are falling on deaf, malicious ears.

“I like it when you beg me, Pet. Let me hear you say pretty please.” Simon’s smile flashes his perfect white teeth, and his face softens into a beautiful…

NO, Sidney! He is about to dump you into a pool and he is using his charm to do it!      

“Simon! Simon, I swear if you don’t put me down right now I will make your weekend… NO! Your life a living hell!” I growl, jerking against his grasp to try and free myself.

To hell with begging I would rather eat dirt at this point then to beg these two.

“Now, that’s my girl. I thought you were getting soft on me. Sal, you owe me, she just said she’s going to make my life a living hell… that means she is going to marry me someday. Pay up.” He winks as they stop next to the pool.

I don’t say this often but, what the fuck?

“No, no, you have to get her down the aisle first… and she can’t be drunk or drugged either,” my uncle jokes back.

Looking back and forth between them my jaw drops at the casualness of this conversation.

I haven’t been here ten minutes, and my own family sells me out.

“Sidney darling, you might want to shut that… wouldn’t want you to drown, it kind of takes the fun out of all this. Ready, son?” Sal looks from me to Simon.

A wicked grin spreads across Simon’s lips, “Oh, I have been waiting
years
for this.”

They start to swing me toward the pool chanting one for the money…

The last thing I hear before hitting the water is my mother yelling Uncle Sal’s name, then I’m immersed in water. I do a quick pocket check but they are empty.

Thankfully!

Swimming to the side of the pool I pull myself up the ladder.

“Lovey, what on earth happened to you three?” Gram asks as she pulls up in front of me.

“Your sons!” Molly scoffs as she walks around the pool.

I kick my heels off and begin to roll the bottoms of my black pants up, Molly and Morgan start to take everything that was in their pockets out. Bending over to grab my heels I hear dipshit whistling. Straightening myself out I turn my nose to the sky and strut away with what little dignity I have left, which isn’t much since my wet clothes cling to me revealing just how cold the water was.

His laughter echoes behind me as I make my way back into the great room.

He is waiting for these shoes to get launched. Don’t do it. Don’t. Throw. The. Shoes.

“Ladies, and once again I say that loosely. Don’t even think about tracking water through here. Take the steps outside and lay your clothes on the banister. Your uncles left towels out there for you to show their apologies,” my mother says, without looking up from cutting something in the kitchen then gestures her hand at us to leave the way we came.

“Wh-Where are they?” Molly asks looking around suspiciously.

“Oh, they took the boys up to the cabin to go fishing. They’ll be back later.” She smiles sweetly and continues on cutting while we walk back out and race up the steps toward the second floor balcony.

“I’m showering, then we’re going to have a little meeting about our plan of retaliation,” Molly says as she strips down and wraps her towel around herself to go inside. Following close behind is Morgan, and I’m left out here trying to peel my sopping wet skinny pants down my legs.

“You understand whatever we do we will get blamed for, right?” I can hear Morgan sigh as they walk through the room toward their bedrooms.

“Hey, I was thinking… jeez Sid, do you often strip down on the balcony.” Lexi stops mid-step holding her hand up like it’s covering me.

“Oh get over it, I’m still in my underwear. I just can’t. Get. These. Pants. Off.” I thrash around, while pulling at them to free my ankles.

I exhale, giving up and drop onto one of the chaise lounges to lift my ankles toward her.

“On the count of three you are going to pull these with everything that tall, stick body has. Are you ready?” I give her a thumbs up.

Her mouth falls open as she crosses her arms.

“First off this is not a mission… it’s just wet pants. Second, underwear are see-through when wet. And third-” Her voice trails off when we both hear the mutants coming.

Oh, that mother of mine is a liar!

“Lexi, now it’s a mission! I need you to focus and pull these off so I can run into the house! Quickly!” I say in a rushed whisper, since we can hear them below us.

Please, please let them stay where they are.

Tiptoeing over she puts her hands on the crinkled material, gathering it in her hands to get a grip. “Okay, fine! Ready? One… Two…” her whisper is cut off by one of the guys yelling up. “Sidney, are you up there?”

My legs break free, sending Lexi backwards into the staircase that leads to the observation deck.

“Sorry,” I whisper, swiftly bolting through the french doors that open to the lounge. Racing toward the hall that leads to our rooms I see a glimpse of Simon walking toward me in one of the mirrors on the walls.

Thank God my sisters don’t shut doors.

His head is down with a shit-eating grin on his face. 

Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!

Looking around for a quick place to hide, I dash behind the back of the bar and crouch down into the small space next to the sink. Covering my mouth with my hand I try to silence my heavy nervous breathing. My heart thumps wildly in my chest with fear that I’ll be found under here.