Page 12 of Ethan

“Did she tell you to say that to me? That I’m a blot? I don’t even—and her life is far from perfect. She is living with that man in our home, and I don’t like that.” She made a sound like she was sobbing at him when he could tell that she was finding humor in his woes with his mother. “You know nothing. Whereis a man that I can speak to? What of your husband? Does he control you? I think not. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be out and about, causing me grief. Be gone with you, woman. I have better things to do than to put up with your womanly vapors today.”

When she laughed, it occurred to him that he had no idea who she was. Much less why she, of all people, where here talking to him as if she were his equal. Telling her again to go away, he felt the slap of magic roll over him, much like the one that his mother had used to slam him against the wall.

“Now you listen here, you little snot. I was sent here to give you some information. And in doing that, I made a promise not to kill you. And I can, mind you, but I do believe that—never mind. You’ll not understand. My name is Parker Foster. Grand witch of all witches. My mate is the grand warlock of all our kind.” He started to tell her that there were no such things as witches. “Keep your mouth shut before I remove that pie hole of yours permanently. Here is the information that I was sent to give you.”

He thought that she was going to start spouting off things that she was making up as she went along. But the moment that she touched his forehead, he knew that it had really been his mother who had sent this person and that she was making plans to keep him out of her life. Closing his eyes with the onset of information, information of the likes that he’d never heard before, Shamus felt his belly lurch, and his body began to feel like it was boiling from the inside out. There were things that he’d not known about his mother as well.

He wasn’t her child—he was no one’s child that he knew of. She’d not birthed him but found him as a foundling along the side of the road. His grandparents weren’t his true relatives, nor was his mother. Their words, plenty of them that made him sick with them, told him that they’d never really liked him at all but wanted to have Shawn around so that they could live out theirdays in comfort. The only reason that they’d taken him in was to regain a closeness with their only child.

She was powerful, the woman who raised him. More so, he thought, than the grand witch before him. And she was plenty powerful enough. His mother hadn’t been around for the few hundred years that he thought, but thousands of years, well before the house that she lived in was a dream. Even before magic was thought of as something that was to gain. His mother was…the woman who had taken him in and had gained more than he would ever have in his existence. For he was only human.

The money that she had and the riches that she used were well beyond a number that could be counted for it. Not only did she seem to have an endless supply of it but she was making more of it daily. Investments that he didn’t understand. People were there making her money even if she didn’t see them. Throwing up when the information got to be too much, he lay there with his eyes closed as everything that he’d been told to learn sorted out his bruised and battered brain, telling him things that he’d never guessed about a woman before.

“Had enough yet?” Blurry-eyed, he looked in the direction of the woman, the witch. Afraid to nod or to even shake his head, he told her that he’d had more than enough. “I have a feeling, however, that you’ve learned nothing from this, have you?”

“I don’t know what you expect me to remember when it’s been rolling around in my head like it has been.” She tsked at him. “Where did you get this so-called information about my mother?”

“She allowed me to touch her mind. She opened it up for me so that I could let you know just what you are to her. And you do realize that you only being human, she can and will kill you if you don’t straighten up your ways, Shamus.” He told her that she lied. “No, I would never lie about something like this. Notto you or to anyone. You, you little shit, are nothing to anyone. But for the love that Shawn has for you? I would kill you where you stand for the way that you’ve treated her. And yes, I could see that in her mind as well. That you’re a monster for the things that you’ve said to her. The names that you called her.”

He was suddenly bombarded with all the things that he’d done to his mother. The times that he ignored her calling out to him when she wanted to talk. The other times that he treated her badly, no, terribly when he didn’t get his way. It had taken him months to harden his heart to her, and he was ashamed at the way things had turned out. Before he could say a word, even if he knew what it was he’d say, he saw his mother large with child. The happiness that he’d seen on her face earlier was nothing compared to what her smile looked like now.

There was a Christmas tree laden with ornaments. Gifts wrapped in bright glittery paper just waiting to be opened. Ethan was there, holding a toddler in his lap as his mother talked about the next child that was coming to them. There were other times in the future that he could see. And in all of them, not once was he there. No mention of him being around when there were holidays with family.

He watched as the children, a great many of them, appeared to have grown up without him being around. Not once did he see him even holding a baby. No woman that was his hanging onto his every word like Ethan did to his mother. When he could no longer feel the touch of Parker, the thoughts and dreams kept coming.

Thinking of the things that had been shown to him it made him think of his own worth. Did he have any value at all to them? It seemed as if not only had he lost his place in the family but in their heart as well.

Opening his eyes, he had to wipe at them. They were so sticky. He’d been crying, he realized and hated himself for it. Beforehe could wonder what all this meant, his mother seemingly disowning him, he saw that Ethan had at some point joined him in what appeared to be a hospital room.

“You have a concussion. They had to put just over fifty stitches in the back of your head. You’re being kept overnight again to make sure that you’re not out and about causing any trouble with the way they’ve put you back together.” He asked where his mother was. “She’s at home. The women are sorting out supplies to distribute to the schools when the new year starts. Why did you ask?”

“She’s my mother.” Ethan leaned back in his chair and stared at him. There wasn’t any way that he was going to think that it was a glare. He didn’t know the man well enough for him to be glaring at him at all. “You do know that I didn’t ask to be saved by her.”

“I’m aware of the fact that she more than likely saved your life. Other than that, I have no idea why you would continue to think badly of her.” He told him again that he’d not asked for her to take him to her home. “No, you didn’t. But there you are. Or I should say there you were. You’re not welcome in our home again. Not unless you change your ways. And right now, I’m not seeing that happen, are you?”

“It’s none of your business what transpires between my mother and myself.” He told him that he was wrong about that, that everything that he did was now a part of his life. “So you say. But I was there first, and you’re not anything to me.”

That didn’t sound right even to his ears, and when Ethan laughed, he thought that he couldn’t hate any more than he did at this moment. Turning gently on the pillow, he looked at the wall beyond where he was. The rattle of the chains on his arms made him think that nothing had changed. That his mother, or whatever he was expected to call her, hadn’t changed her ways one bit in knowing that he’d not be a part of her future life. Likehe wasn’t anything to her.

“Now that it’s been established that you are nothing to her, you’ll abide by our rules, or you will no longer have the support of she nor I.” He asked him what he was talking about. “You’re to get a job. Make your own money and try your best to stay on the right side of the law. I don’t see that happening, but now that it’s out there, perhaps you’ll try a bit harder to get along with people. Again, I don’t see that happening.”

Long after he realized that Ethan had left him, Shamus was lost in thought. Some of the things that were going round and round in his head, he thought, were just his imagination. Others, some of the things that he thought he might have said were blatant attempts to make him feel bad. But it wasn’t going to work on him. He was a good deal smarter than they thought he was. And he was going to prove it.

~*~

It wasn’t until Jack snapped his fingers in front of his face that he realized that he had been watching the television without actually knowing what was going on with it. His brothers were all there, watching a game with him, but his mind was elsewhere. He asked his brother what was going on.

“We’ve been talking to you for the past hour, and all you’ve done is grunt. Tell us what is going on so that we can fix it and watch the game.” Jack eyed him hard. “You’re not having trouble getting it up, are you? No, that wouldn’t be the trouble. She’d be singing less around the house if that was the issue. Hey, did you hear about Kayce’s ghost?”

He had. He’d also heard that his brother didn’t take showers at his home anymore and that he undressed in the bed with the covers up and over himself. Ethan had laughed as hard as his brothers had when Shawn had told the story to them all. But that wasn’t the trouble at hand.

“I have a feeling that Shamus is going to be causing ustrouble. He gets out of jail tomorrow and the officers that have been around him seem to think that he’s just waiting to have the doors unlocked so that he can get to his mom. I don’t know what it is that he’ll do to her. He’s nothing more than a human as it is right now.” It was Denver who pointed out that Shawn had a big heart, and that was where he might hit her. “Yeah, he’s hurt her there already, twice in the last couple of days. The first time was at the jail, and then when she went to see him in the hospital, he told her that if she thought that she was going to forget about him just because she was going to have children, then she had to rethink things. That as the oldest, he was the one that would be taking over the mansion and money and he dared her to say differently.”

“He might be a man in his thirties but he acts like a five-year-old who has missed his nap. Maybe he needs a good swift kick to his ass. Ever think of that?” Ethan said that he had thought of it and that Finny was itching to knock him around a little, too. “Can he do that? I mean, I never thought of ghosts until Shawn came around, but now that she has, I’ve been finding out a great deal that I never knew before. Have you guys found any more treasures?”

The game was forgotten when he invited his family into the dining room. They’d been keeping the things that they found in there so that they could sort them better. Finny had hidden some of the items that went together in several places like a hairbrush with a comb would be buried with several coins that were beautifully made. Then, there would be the mirror to the set buried in a different spot. It was the money that he found the most intriguing of the things that they’d found.

“We’ve been able to find a lot of gems that weren’t buried with the cans and rags that he buried things in. Just last night, I found this one with a box of money. Not a great deal at the face value of the money, but today, it’s worth a bundle.” He gentlyhanded his brother the five-dollar bill that they’d put into plastic so that it wouldn’t be destroyed by picking it up. “Shawn found this in the top of the barn. It was just lying there like someone had dropped it out of their pocket. Can you see the date on it?”