Chapter 20: Dinner with the in-laws

Sierrah was in the midst of cleaning up as she dealt with the twins, proving to be an almost impossible task with the boy's antics. Now in the face of dealing with things on her own Sierrah came to realize just how much she'd come to rely on Paige since their birth.

Anytime the girl had been home she had seen to the care of the twins and handling the evening meals, allowing her mom the chance to clean up the house without interference. Though as much as she missed her daughter, it being several days since the girl had moved out of the house, she didn't regret it for an instant. She only hoped that Paige had found her a good husband who completely adored and pampered her, never to know the complications of life.

Unlike her.

Her cell phone rang.

She groaned as she answered the call, "What is it?"

Eric's voice came over the line, "My parents and siblings are gonna be coming into town for dinner tonight, so I need you to go to the market. Get a good bottle of wine, some fresh seafood and a nice salad."

Sierrah groaned in torment at the mention of her in-laws coming to town, every time they showed themselves it caused stress and hassles for her. She took a deep breath, "Eric I'm really not in the mood to be entertaining tonight. I'm attempting to clean the house and the boys have been cranky."

"Have Paige watch the boys so you can go to the market," Eric snapped out in aggravation at her pleas, irritated that she'd think of trying to convince him of his plans. "After mooching off of us it’s the least she can do."

Sierrah bit back the snappy retort at comments on behalf of her daughter, never thrilled when he made snide comments like that to her. To anyone. Her child wasn't the burden he'd made her out to be. Instead she said, "Paige won't be home tonight."

"Why the hell not?" Eric seethed at the thought of his step-daughter's avoidance of the house of late, it'd been close to two weeks since he'd seen the girl. Ever since her last beating. "That girl is getting out of control Sierrah, she's snappy and sullen, the last time she disrespected my family and now she's disappeared for two weeks."

Wincing as she listened to the angry tirade of her husband, she knew she needed to tell him the truth, or else it'd be ten times worse when he found out. "Paige moved out of the house," Sierrah finally confessed, bracing herself for the blowout. "She came by the house earlier to inform me she'd gotten married and grabbed her belongings." Okay, that wasn't entirely true, it'd been almost four days since she'd informed her mom of her hasty marriage, but neglected to tell her husband that.

There was a spew of curse words that came from the other end of the line, proof of his anger at the bombshell he'd been given. "What gives her the right to get married, without the blessing of her parents?"

Don't dilute me, you're only pissed at the bride price, she thought to herself, instead Sierrah's voice softened marginally, "I'm sorry Eric, she didn't tell me either but the fact remains she's married now and it's out of our hands."

Eric's fingers clenched tightly on his cell phone trying to reign in his anger at this news, which proved harder than he'd thought. He took a deep breath to control his emotions. "Well, figure it out somehow. It's too late to cancel on them now."

Groaning as he disconnected the call on her, Sierrah swore into the silence of their townhouse, aware that she really didn't have a choice in the matter. So despite feeling tired to the bone, she loaded the boys up into the stroller and made her way to the supermarket to buy the supplies for dinner. Thanks to her husband telling her of the plans at the very last minute, most of the fresh seafood was gone, knowing his family was gonna have something to say about that.

So pissed off at the behaviors of her husband of late she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, running right smack into the wall that appeared out of nowhere. Attempting to collect herself from falling flat on her face, suddenly a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her to safety. Wheat-colored eyes gazed into those of deep sea green, completely mesmerized by the man that stood before her, that was downright gorgeous. Not even the frightening scar on the side of his face could take away from his beauty, nor the wall of solid muscles that held her securely.

Immediately snapped to attention at the realization of where her thoughts were taking her, reminding herself that she was married and totally faithful to him. Jerk or not, she wasn't a cheater. Straightening back to her feet she smiled, "Thank you...."

"Malcolm," he offered to her, "Malcolm Graham."

"Thank you Mr. Graham, you saved me from quite a bruising fall," her voice gushed out of her, struggling to regain her steady breathing, which seemed to be difficult to do.

Malcolm immediately took a step back from her, as if he was afraid she'd attempt to jump his bones right there. "It'd be wise for you to watch where you're going next time. You're bound to hurt someone one of these days."

"Of course," she seethed at the haughty tone in his voice, then pushing the stroller out of the market she made her way back to the brownstone.

She'd barely had the chance to get the twins inside the house when her cell phone rang, having little doubt who it could be. Muttering when she saw the name registering on the caller ID, showing no surprise that he was calling her. Eric's voice erupted into the speaker, "What the hell is the meaning of this? Six hundred dollars? What the hell did you buy?"

Sighing in the hopes of regaining her composure before she snapped back at him, she put a pleasant tone to her voice, "Honey, I only purchased what you asked of me. Crab, lobster, shrimp, wine and the ingredients for a salad. The price of fresh seafood has gone up. I'd gladly have purchased something else, but you're sister is determined to have seafood every time she visits."

Eric muttered something underneath his breath she couldn't quite hear, but was confident it was an insulting remark of some kind. It's all he seemed capable of these days. His voice came back over the line. "My parents will be there by seven, make sure dinner's done on time." Then he hung up.

Tossing the cell phone down on the coffee table at hearing the dial tone, no less than what she'd been expecting from him. Glancing sideways at the clock hanging on the wall she grumbled at seeing it was already six o'clock in the evening. Realizing that Eric had given her less than an hour to have dinner prepared for their arrival, Sierrah rushed into the kitchen. Unloading the bags that she'd purchased while at the market, Sierrah hurriedly saw to getting the food on the stove cooking.

Then while the seafood was left left to cook on the stove, with the twins occupied in the playpen Sierrah began straightening up the house. For the next thirty minutes she saw to straightening up the coffee and two in tables, then vacuum the floor. Sierrah raced from one side of the living room to the next, cleaning up every little nuisance that would've been considered trash. Or clutter. God forbid it being messy when her in-laws finally got there.

Simply because the house was slightly messy all of them seemed to think she laid around the house all day doing nothing. If only. Sierrah dared one of them to stick it out at home during the day, to see precisely how she occupied her time. Then maybe all of them would come to see she wasn't the lazy hag everyone thought her to be, as she never had five minutes to herself. Unlike them, she didn't have a housekeeper to keep the house clean, nor parents that took care of their children and ensured meals were prepared.

It was a wasted effort.

An hour later, the house completely cleaned to perfection, Sierrah opened the doors then stepped to the side as her in-laws and their children sailed in. Brianna gnashed her teeth as she glanced around the house. "Oh my god, this place is filthy. Don't you ever do anything besides sitting on your fat arse and eating away all of my brother's money?"

Closing the front door a bit more forcibly at the woman's insulting comments, Sierrah stepped around them loitering. "Your brother won't allow the boys to be put into daycare, he doesn't trust strangers with his children. And given your parents are more concerned with raising your and your brother's children, then my getting a job is out of the question. Hence my husband's requirement to foot the bill of our expenses."

"How dare you!" Brianna snarled in outrage, raising a hand towards the sister-in-law in front of her, proving her intentions then.

Refusing to cower down in fear from Brianna, Sierrah tilted her head upstairs, meeting her gaze squarely head-on. Almost daring her to strike her. "Brianna dear, you are my sister by marriage, so I'd strongly advise you against hitting me. Because if you do it won't turn out pretty. For you."

Monica Maxwell reached for the hand that she'd been attempting to use to strike her, forcibly moving it down to her side. Vehemently shaking her head when she looked to argue, she turned around to face Sierrah. "Is dinner finished yet? We're starving."

Thankful when the woman finally talked sense into her daughter, though she knew it wasn't for the care of her daughter-in-law. Monica hated her as much as the rest of her family did, but for her own reasons had thought to interfere this time. Sierrah pasted on a bland smile. "Dinner will be done in another fifteen minutes."

Monica pouted childishly. "Another fifteen minutes? What on earth is taking so long? My son assured me that dinner would be done at seven."

Picking up Liam when he started fussing in the playpen, soothing her son, Sierrah slowly turned around to face them. "And it would have been, had my darling husband given me the appropriate amount of time to prepare for your visit. But considering Eric had only called three hours ago to inform me of the dinner plans, I didn't have the appropriate amount of time to be ready for your arrival. Besides, my husband has yet to arrive."

Twenty minutes later she heard the sound of the front door opening as she set the table, evidence of Eric returning home from the office. Brianna and Monica of course immediately launched into action, complaining to him to their heart's content. Whining all about the disrespectful urchin that he'd married, that allowed them to sit there starving away without a care.

"What's the meaning of this Sierah?" He demanded as he came into the dining room, arms crossed over his chest as he shot a heated glower at her. "I told you that my family would be here at seven, it's nearly seven-thirty. Why hasn't dinner been served?"

Setting out the last of the plates Sierrah fetched a basket of rolls to place it down on the table, appearing oblivious to his anger. The smile was ever present. "Just as I had informed them you only gave me three hours of advance notice to prepare for their arrival. I had to get the boys ready, then had to push the stroller for the four miles to the market, by the time I got back it was nearly six, at which time I promptly started cooking."

Showing no concern for the time constraints he'd placed on her to get the meal finished in a rush, Eric slowly advanced on her. "When I give you a time to have dinner finished, then I expect it to be done. I don't want to hear these excuses."

She stared him down, "Well my darling husband if you want dinner finished at a precise time, maybe it would be beneficial to you to give me the appropriate amount of time to prepare. Now it would be wise if everyone sat down at the table else your seafood would get cold."