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Barters N Garters Library
Thy Brother's Wife
Parts 1 & 2 Combined
by
Moon Mistress
a/k/a
Lisa Beth Darling

I thought that pain and truth
were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here
when every single hope you had shattered
In a Big Country
Big Country

Chapter Three

Nicholas tried to talk to his Mother and received the same reply his Father did, he soon gave up. Annie didn’t want to appear selfish by reminding anyone that Calla was supposed to take her shopping today so she kept her pretty little mouth shut and helped Nicholas pack their meager belongings into boxes for the move next week. “Do you think she’ll be all right?”

“Yeah, Ma’s tough, you’ll see.” Nick said confidently and wished he felt that way. “She’ll be fine.”

“When do you think your dad will be home?”

“I dunno.” Nick rolled his eyes. It was clear Annie was very worried over the situation but there wasn’t anything anyone, other than Mom and Dad, could do about it. “In a while I guess. He has to get a bunch of stuff for…..Brigid.” Getting used to the idea that he had a sister who wasn’t his full sister was more difficult than Nick imagined it to be. Mom must be devastated but he hoped she’d get over it, Calla loved kids, surely she could find room in her heart for this one. If not, it was over. Nicholas knew he shouldn’t be totally upset about that, it wasn’t like him and Cole were babies or little kids anymore, hell he was married and Cole had a kid of her own, still no one wanted to have a broken home. “I’m gonna put my weights in the car then we can take them over to the house, ok? You don’t have to come with me, you can stay here and keep packing if you want, they’re heavy you don’t have to carry them.”

“Don’t they belong to your dad too?”

“Yeah, but he already said I could take them.”

Annie thought about it for a moment. “It is cold and they are heavy, I’ll help you put them in the car but I think I’ll stay here while you take them to the new house.”

“Deal.” Nick said with a smile.

“When’s Colleen coming home? It’s getting late.”

“Late?” Nick looked down at his watch. Dad left at a little after eleven and now it was almost three in the afternoon. He’d been gone longer than Nick thought and Colleen should have been back by now. More than that, Mom had been upstairs alone for almost four hours and no one heard a peep out of her. “I’ll call Cole after we get the weights in the car.” Feeling like he was letting his Mother down, Nick brought the first of the free weights out to the hot rod through the basement door. If he went up there and Dad came home and found him consoling her then he’d get in trouble for doing something he wasn’t doing and Nick didn’t want to run that risk. There was Annie to think about now. It would be bad enough of Dad got the wrong impression but it would be horrible if Annie did.

Annie didn’t wait for Nick to come back inside she picked up the phone and dialed Colleen’s cell. “Hi,” she said nervously. “When are you coming home?”

“What’s wrong?” Colleen asked, she knew it was getting late and classes started tomorrow but she didn’t think it was that late.

“Not much, your mom…your dad….he brought the baby home.”

“Oh shit,” Colleen mumbled and wondered why she hadn’t been aware of that. Surely the news would have thrown Mom into a tailspin and Colleen would have picked up on it. “Where is she?”

“Upstairs. Your dad left with the baby, she told him that he had to take her and buy things for her.”

Coley let out a snicker. Way to go, Mom. Calla would accept the baby….eventually. Colleen was sure of that but making Dad responsible for her was a nice little twist. “How’s she doing?”

“That’s the thing, he’s been gone for hours and I don’t think she’s come down, Nick and I have been packing up things, ya know.”

“So why doesn’t he go up?” Colleen was already heading toward the door of Terry’s house and motioning that she had to get going.

“I’ll give you a ride.” Patrick, Terry’s brother, said. “It’s getting cold.”

Colleen would prefer to travel the astral home as it was much quicker but it would look strange if she said she’d rather walk in the cold and biting snow with Lilly in her arms than accept a ride. “Thanks.” She said covering the transmitter with her hand. “All right, look Annie, I’ll be home in a little bit. Go on up and check on Mom, I’m sure she’s fine. She just needs some time to deal, that’s all.” Yeah right. It sounded like a lie and it felt like a lie so there was little doubt that it was indeed a lie. Colleen tried to find her Mother with her mind and got nothing but a bunch of static. Where is she? Climbing into the Jeep after strapping Lilly into her seat they took off down the driveway. Terry’s house was only two or three miles away from her house so the ride wouldn’t take long. Nick? Nicky?

She’s in the bedroom. Maybe she’s just not answering you. Where have you been anyway?

At Terry’s? Cole answered in a questioning tone. You dropped me off last night remember? So what is this? Dad tells her about the baby and no one thinks to call me and let me know what’s going on?

I figured you’d get home soon enough. Nick slammed the trunk shut. What was the big rush?

What the hell is wrong with you? Colleen screamed inside of her own head the ride was taking too damn long! If she’d just taken Lilly on the astral they’d already be there. Colleen forced a smile at Patrick. Now that Planet Earth was aware there were other intelligent creatures besides good old Mortal Human Beings maybe she and Nick and even Mom could come out of hiding and be who they were. That would be good. Hiding wasted a lot of precious energy. Go up there and make sure she’s ok.

Aw, Cole, you do it when you get home. I’m tired of being her babysitter. That wasn’t it. Nick didn’t want to go up there because he already knew what he’d find. The minute he came out here to put the weights into the trunk of the hot rod he tried to see what his Mother was doing and couldn’t.

“Nicky!” Annie yelled down from the second floor.

He didn’t have to ask but it was what was expected of him. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Your mother…..she’s gone.”

Yeah she was and from what he felt crawling inside of him she’d been gone for hours. That wasn’t going to please Dad. I don’t suppose you heard that, Cole? But, ah, Mom took off. No matter how it looked to Annie Nick realized he should have gone up to check on her. More than that he felt guilty, more than Annie it was the conversation he’d had with Dad that kept Nick from going up the stairs and being the good son he almost always was. Admitting he had, at least once, felt something other than sonly for his Mother made him second guess himself and it made him uncomfortable around her which was why he suggested the movie and the stay at the Inn last night. Uncle David was at the Motel 6 some fifteen miles away and it was snowing like a bitch and Uncle David did not have any transportation so Nick figured she was safe enough. Yeah, sure, safe enough from everyone but herself there was always Calla to worry about when it came to worrying about Calla.

Take your time. Standing at the head of the driveway he looked to the foot to see a shiny red Jaguar pulling up. Dad’s home, you don’t want to be around for this explosion. Nick clicked off the line in his head.

Daniel climbed out of the car. “Hey, Nick, you wanna give a hand here?”

“Nicky! Aren’t you gonna do anything?” Annie shouted down from the second floor window. “I found a note! She left a……Hi Doctor J.” Annie’s voice faded.

“Where’s your Mother?” Daniel’s blood ran cold as he started taking Brigid out of the car.

“Can’t you guess?” Nick said in a snotty voice and was instantly sorry. “It seems she took off, Dad.”

“Where were you? I left her with you.”

“Me?” Nick roared and his tiny sister let out a cry. “You got me so confused, so fucked up and turned around in my own head that I don’t trust myself, Dad. It used to be that I knew who I was and I knew what I was capable of but you really believe that I’d do something nasty to her so I just stayed away from her. Where the hell were you?”

Daniel wasn’t listening he was too wrapped up in his own world to hear the worlds of his son.

She took off, well that was typical Calla. Just fucking typical.

Stop it. He told himself. No, it’s not typical Calla because David was right about one thing she didn’t believe there was anyone in the whole world that she could trust. That little fact meant she had no one to run to. So where the hell would she go? Calla only left once and that was only because she had someone else to go to—Andrew Fucking Hartley. Right now she didn’t even trust Ares. “It’s cold out here.” Daniel hurried the baby inside. “Annie come down here!” He called up the back stairs. “Watch Brigid please.” He handed the baby, seat and all, over to her Aunt Annie. “Tell Nicholas to get the bags out of the car.” Daniel scrambled up the stairs looking for the note Calla left behind. There it was on his pillow;

That was it. No signature and no mention of Daniel or Brigid or exactly where she was going or when she expected to be back, in fact the note didn’t say anything about her coming back at all.

Opening the closet he found all of her clothes there. Opening the drawers he found the same. She hadn’t taken one thing with her, not even her purse so she couldn’t have gone far. Even a Goddess needed money. Unless…..unless they didn’t use money where she was going or maybe she just wouldn’t need it. Daniel pulled open the drawer on her nightstand and grabbed the address book there to look up Duncan MacLeod. Within seconds he had Duncan on the phone, he was in a small town on the outskirts of Rome in a villa which he owned. No he hadn’t seen or heard from Calla but he would come if needed. Daniel told him to stay put and that he’d call if anything happened.

Not with Duncan MacLeod.

She had to be near Ares somewhere on his island. Where else would she go? To whom else would she run? Calla had to be there. It looked as though he was heading back to Greece. Then again, maybe not, Ares betrayed her just like the rest of them and for longer. Calla understood that Ares had to know from the start that Enya wasn’t carrying his child. In other words, her Father lied to her too and that put Ares on the Shit List just as much as the rest of them.

Standing there by the bed with the note in his hand he realized he’d been reading it over and over while trying to think of where she’d gone but the answer was right here in her own handwriting. “Hey!” Daniel shouted down the stairs.

Colleen came to the bottom of the stairs with Lilly in her arms. “Hey, Dad, any good news?”

“Lots.” Daniel said waving the note in his hand. “Take care of your new sister for me, I’ll be back with your Mother.”

“Dad maybe you shouldn’t go after her.” Colleen suggested. “Maybe she needs some time alone right now.”

“I’m sure she does.” And aren’t you the most intelligent young woman ever? “She’ll get, ok? But here.” Daniel kissed Colleen’s cheek. “Watch your sister, ok, pumpkin?”

“Got it.” She agreed.

End Chapter Three Of
Thy Brother's Wife
Continue to
Chapter Four

This story and all stories in the Barters N Garters Library are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.