Page 6 of Edmond

“I suppose you’re right. I don’t see it that way but I suppose that you’re going to be right about your own children. I just think that having his hand wounded is a far cry from having the food—”

“Grandmother, do shut up.” Mac looked around the table as she continued. “No one here knows what they said to him when they were pissing Edmond off, but Edmond. Christ. You make it sound like they’ve never done anything wrong. Well, I have news for you, Grandma. Alan has been arrested three times for his part in some robberies. Even the diner hasn’t been safe when he wanted money. David told me once that he’d been caught looking in the neighbor’s yard when his child was out in the pool. You should hear Uncle Tim talk about the amount of times that he’s had to arrest them. I love them dearly, but they’re nothing but trouble. While not harming me in their shenanigans, as you call it, it still reflects badly on me. If you want to have a life with us, me included, you’re going to have to understand that while they were babies, you pampered them too much. Now they’re paying for the way that you treated them. And me, for that matter.”

No one said a word, but they were all looking at Mac’s dad. He was smiling but it was the humor in his eyes that made Lica like the man. Trying as hard as he could, the man finally let go of his laughter and patted his wife on the back, telling her that she had wanted to say this to her mother for decades, and her daughter finally did it.

“Markus, you’re not fit for this family. I’ve said this to you before.” Caroline turned to him and he smiled at her, knowing that if she asked him, he was going to be as blunt as he could be to her. “I bet that we’ve scared you off, haven’t we. You’ll no doubt try and get your brother to leave my granddaughter alone. It’s what you should do. I’m not going to make you, though. You really should think about what they’re saying about my family.”

“My mother tried to kill my brothers and me on the night that she was arrested for murdering my father. Ever since we were small children, our parents have wanted us dead. Even taking what little money we had to buy ourselves clothing that fit and school supplies, they’d take it away from us by beating us nearly to death. Edmond has been injured himself so badly that he lost a toe that makes his wolf limp a bit.” Lica stood up. “You ever say any bad things about my brother’s family again, Carol Kensington, and I will bring my entire pack down on your head so quickly that you’re never going to recover from it.” He looked at his brother and Mac. “If you two are ready to go, I was thinking that we could go shopping for you a car and then make our way home. Please. I don’t think that this is going to be the best environment to have and raise children in. Especially if Carol is around.”

Lica made his way out of the hotel and to his car. He knew that Brandy was behind him, but he was terrified of what he’d say to her if she thought that he’d been wrong about what had just transpired. When she finally said his name, Lica stopped so suddenly that she hit him in the back.

“Are you mad at me?” She shook her head and said she was proud of him. He didn’t know if he’d heard her wrong and asked her again. “Are you mad at me for talking like that to that woman?”

“I’m proud of you. Had myself or even Mac, who looked as shocked as we did about what was being said, we would have knocked her on her ass and stomped on her on the way out. You were brilliant. You said it all, and that, my husband dear, is how you keep a bully from coming around again.” He asked her if Mac seemed pissed or even her parents. “No, when we left, Markus was gathering up his things to leave, too, when his wife started in on her mother. Christ, she might say she wants to change but I’m doubting that she ever will. And those tears, they’re not even close to touching her heart either. She’s a royal bitch.”

“That she is, Brandy. Yes, that’s my mother-in-law in one word.” They both hugged the other couple, and Lica felt a connection to them that he’d not had before. Apparently, Markus felt it as well. “What was that? I feel like I got a jolt of something from you. Is that possible?”

“I would say that we keep from saying that around your family. You’ve not seen things that will question your sanity until you hear the things that we know about Mac and Edmond.” The two of them joined them on the sidewalk. Edmond asked one of them if they’d pay the bill as he didn’t have any money on him. It was then that Brandy spoke up about the credit cards that she’d brought with her with Edmond’s name on them.

~*~

Edmond took the credit cards when they’d been offered. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could have a mate and no money. Not that she had said anything to him about where they were going to be living but he was sure that it had been on her mind. It had been on his mind since his brother and Brandy had shown up. When she took him aside, he just knew that she was going to tell him what his punishment was going to be for leaving when there was so much left unsaid at home.

“I’m sorry. So very sorry.” He took a step back from her before asking her why she was so sorry. “I’ve been a bitch before, but this thing that I did to you and your brothers, and that would include Lica, was so wrong on so many levels. I want to help you, but forcing your hand isn’t the way to go. I should have thought that…I didn’t think at all, Edmond. I just wanted you guys to like me.”

“I love you. We all do. I hope that you don’t think that we don’t?” She told him that she really didn’t deserve that from him. “You do. And not because you’re our alpha bitch but because you’ve made Lica so happy. And he is. I’ve never heard him whistle before. He’s not any good at it, but I believe that you’re the one that gave him a reason to do that.”

“Thank you for that. And while we’re talking about happiness, I’ve spoken to the others, again including Lica and I’m making amends. Not like that woman was, but I’m seriously making it up to the six of you. The house is yours. Also, the money. No, what I mean is, I’d like for you to take the house and the money. The cards that I’ve given you are for you to use if I have you doing something for the businesses. I also, well, I was ashamed that I’d not thought of paying you before when you were working for me and I felt doubly ashamed that you guys didn’t come to me when you needed it. I’m sorry.” Edmond saw Brandy look at Mac then. “You were right in everything that you said to me. And I’d very much like for us to start over where we can be friends. I think that I’d very much like to hang out with you and your mom, too. She’s funny.”

“I would love to hang out with you now that you’ve got the burr out of your ass. As for my mom, that’ll be up to her. She’s an adult. But I will say that I’ve never had the opportunity to hang out with other women, including my mom.” Mac grinned. “They think that I’m a cunt. I can be, but not all the time.”

They were still laughing when Nancy and Markus joined them for the second time. They had gone back in to pay the bill and to tell Caroline to leave them be if she wasn’t going to be nice. Nancy told them that her mom was going to go and bail out the others, and she thought that it would be a nice time to visit the rest of Edmond’s family.

He and Mac were loading their few things into the car that Lica and Brandy had come up here in, and the Pendleton’s were going to follow them. It was agreed that they would get together for a dinner party at Lica’s home. Edmond’s home was finished, Lica told him; however, he lacked even the basic needs of a home. Such as a table and chairs, not to mention a couch to sit on.

“We were going to take care of that the other day.” Brandy no doubt wanted to say she was sorry again, but Mac cut her off. “We’ll get to it. I promise, but I see no reason for us to have anything but a bed and a kitchen table. Right?”

“Two beds for now and a kitchen table. But I would really like it if we were to have a massive television where we can watch all the football that we want. I bought that ticket thing that lets you watch them all, and I want to use that sucker.” Edmond laughed with Mac and he took her hand into his. “Don’t get ahead of yourself too much there, buddy. We still have a lot of other decisions to make before we go humping each other.”

The ride back home was a nice trip. Bursts of laughter had him enjoying it much better than he had the drive up here. Almost as soon as they pulled into Lica’s driveway, the others started coming over and getting to meet the rest of the family. It was then that Mac’s cell phone rang.

When she returned to the family just as they were going into the house, she told him not to ask and that she’d tell him later. He had a feeling that it was about either her grandmother or the brothers or both. Whatever it was, he was going to be there for her.

Dinner was catered. Brandy had made the arrangements on the way home and by the time they had arrived, everything was being set up. Edmond had only seen his brothers yesterday, but he hugged them like it had been years instead of only a couple of days. They felt the same way, they told him.

Brandy suggested that after dinner, they go to see their new home. He was kind of nervous about having such a large home, but Lica assured him that it would be all right. How he figured that was anyone’s guess but he was willing to take Mac over if she was willing to go. Markus wanted to know if they could go and see the house as well.

“I think that would be all right, sir. But you’ll need to clear that with Mac. I talked to Brandy on the way back here, and she’s making sure that Mac’s name is on the deed.” He asked if he meant they were both on it. “Not yet. If things don’t work out between us, I want her to have a place to live. I’m not saying that I don’t think that it’ll work out, but we’re only just getting to know each other, and we might not set well. I don’t know that much about happy marriages other than my brother, and he and Brandy seem to me to be the exception to any rules when it comes to being in love.”

“Do you believe that you can have the same kind of love as your brother, young man?” Edmond told his future father-in-law that he had no idea. “But you’ll make it work out, correct? You’re not going to just give it up before giving it a try, will you?”

“I will give it my all to make sure that Mac is happy. If loving me is a part of that, then I will consider myself to be the luckiest man on earth.” Markus stared at him for several moments before he pulled him into a tight embrace. Once he was done, the two of them walked to the kitchen to help with serving the meal.

The food was, in the words of Nancy, stupendous. He had to agree and was happy for the food to be served on such short notice. Edmond could cook; they all had learned how to do that so they’d not starve, but he loved to cook. Not for a lot of people, just his family, and he was looking forward to being able to cook for him and Mac. However, he didn’t know how long she’d put up with him doing that for them. Edmond found himself terrified of living with a basic stranger. Sitting next to her on the couch, when Lica turned on the football game, he asked her if she was having fun.

“A great deal more fun than I thought I would. However, if you’re going to talk to me, you’d be better off waiting for a commercial or halftime. I’m a great lover of football.” He was, too, but he found out that no one was as good of a fan as Mac was. She knew the rules and the players as well as she was great at shouting at the refs when she thought they were slacking on their job. Markus was as well, and he’d bet anything that he was the one that had made his little girl a football fanatic.

At each break, she’d talk to him about herself or ask him about himself. He had learned a great deal about his mate in the three-hour game.