Milk And Cardamom | S. Brown ✔

[06]

Isadora hated living with her father so when the month ended and she was finally going to stay with her mother instead, she felt considerably happier.

Vincent Beaumont had a rough temperament with almost everyone and staying with him in their old family house reminded her of how things used to be before their parents' divorce, back when her elder brother Alexander also hadn't left.

It was a painful reminder as every single place was clustered with memories.

Everything had started to go downhill for the Beaumonts when Vincent kicked his son out of the house. Alexander had disappeared, going to Gotham instead but that was a fact only Dora knew since he had called her before taking the train but asked her not to tell anyone else.

After Alex, their parents hardly ever agreed on anything and the situation got so worse that they had to opt for divorce. But the divorce tore their family apart and Dora was left divided among the two, an aspect that was clearly affecting her adversely.

She hated the constant fluctuation from one place to another and she couldn't wait until she turned eighteen so that she would finally be able to go to her brother instead and start her life afresh.

For the time being, she was stuck between her mother and father, slightly preferring to stay more with Camille since Vincent's anger issues and instability scared her.

It was the first time Dora would be going to stay with Camille after her marriage to George so she would be meeting her mother's new family for the first time as well. She had attended the wedding though only met George briefly there, so she had no idea what her stepfather was going to be like.

All she hoped was that he wouldn't be like Vincent or else that slight relief she felt while staying with her mother would evaporate as well.

And then there was the mystery of her stepbrother Lucas who she hadn't seen before either. All she knew was that the boy was reserved and took his time to open up to other people. She didn't mind that but she had the feeling that despite having a person of nearly her own age in the house, she was still going to spend most of her time alone.

Still it was a hundred times better than having to deal with the mess her own father had become.

She smiled politely as her mother introduced her to George, her brown eyes flickering towards the boy that had just stepped into the living room. He was about two years older than her but he was rather tall, almost as tall as George already though he was just fifteen by then.

Luke nodded as George told him about Dora, stepping closer but not making any attempt to hold his hand out or smile at her. As far as first impressions could go, to her, Luke seemed cold and distant.

Dora had always been very observant such that even then she could observe the slight barrier Luke had up in front of him, keeping his distance from her intentionally.

Deep down she had been expecting that because it would be a very normal reaction from anyone who would be introduced to people who were going to be his family members from then onwards, regardless of the fact whether he was ready to accept them or not.

She knew that if she was in his place, she would have taken her time too.

Dinner was laid out in the garden that day and so far everything had been going rather pleasant. George seemed like a good man to her, it was the first time she had sat down on a dinner table and not seen any argument.

It was nice to see her mother happy too in her new life so she pushed all doubts she had regarding Luke and focused on the food instead.

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