✔ Mrs Mandray

60. Home

Isabella

She stood between her mates, standing outside the house she had picked in another life. A home for her new life. It looked so much brighter now she was free. The ivy crawling up the small house was brighter, rustling with the wind where it curled around white framed windows.

Even the garden, overgrown as it was, was alight with life. Bright pink rhododendrons spilling out over the fence, tall grass plants with heights that challenged the small willow tree.

They watched as Rhys spoke – flirted – with the realtor.

"I don't see it." Cassian states, arms folded as he watches his brother. "He's still flirting."

"That's just his personality." Azriel defends his theory. "He's charismatic, that's not how he feels."

Isabella ignores both of them. Especially since Oliver is standing in front of her. She has her hands resting protectively on his shoulders. He's been quieter today, seemingly guilty for yesterday's outburst.

Ollie has been clinging to her all morning. He sat quietly at breakfast, shying away from Cassian and Azriel. They hadn't taken offence. Well... the pair of them had been a little upset but they were mostly worried for the young boy.

The only food he was willing to eat came from his mother's plate. Azriel was a little concerned about the trust issues. Isabella had countered that kids were weird sometimes.

She really hopes he was just being a little odd.

"What's flirting?" Oliver whispers to her but of course the males heard.

They snigger but quickly shut their mouths when she glares at them.

"It's a type of conversation." She awkwardly begins. "It's not angry like arguing, nor polite like small talk, it's loving and caring romantically."

"So it's wh-what people do," He frowns thinking through his words. "When they want to date."

"Yes, it can also be a way for people who aren't dating to find other people who do want to date."

He nods but she doesn't think he fully understands. Not that she expects him to but Isabella has always strived to treat him respectfully with minimal condescending.

It's to make up for all the bald faced lies she tells him.

In her defence, if her kid wants to have a midnight feast she's going to tell him that it's midnight at 7pm. Or if he wants to go to the park and they can't she tells him it's closed for cleaning.

She's also trying to avoid the mistakes her mother made. Well, the ones she and Nesta made when they did their best to raise Feyre and Elain. They told pretty stories to make life easier.

Elain ended up believing that mother and father could do no wrong, which also resulted in her developing some kind of severe social stereotype personality. Feyre ended up believing some nonsense about every has and needs a role in the family, one that doesn't overlap with the others because we have to be individuals.

Isabella is genuinely not sure how either of those two mindsets developed but she's trying to avoid that happening with Ollie.

"So Rhys... likes that.... Man?"

"Male." Azriel corrects, "but no."

"That's good. He's not supposed to like other males."

All three of them look down at the young boy with varying levels of disbelieving horror. How the hell did Olvier hear anything of– Oh wait. Right. Yeah that makes more sense.

"You can like whoever you want." Cassian states, crouching down so he's eye level with Oliver. "It doesn't matter their gender, beliefs or race. So long as you both want to be together and you're happy and safe with them it's okay."

Oliver's brows furrow in concentration.

"But you will be damned."

"That was just a silly excuse your father made up." Isabella interjects and her son peers up at her, frowning as he clearly expects something negative about Tomas. "Some people in the village are cruel and would hurt you if you loved another boy. So Tom– dad, made up an excuse that was easier for you to understand."

"Like the boogey man." Azriel adds on, "from the stories in the book."

"But the boogey man isn't real."

"Neither is hell." Isabella glares at Azriel till he stutters and swallows nervously.

"Azriel believes different things to us." Isabella explains, "His beliefs have a different version of hell, they call it by a different name and believe there are different rules for what condemns you."

"So Azriel can date a male but I couldn't." Oliver tries, "Because we have different hells."

Yes, exactly that but we're trying to change mindsets here so no.

"You like whoever you want and not be condemned to hell." Isabella states firmly but Ollie doesn't look convinced.

"The Gods make exceptions for love," Cassian murmurs, glancing up to Isabella for approval. "No matter what you believe, every god accepts that love is love. Some will not allow you to marry outside of your...race, but they still respect other religions and acknowledge that they are sacrificing a mortal love for the love of.... God."

That was way too many big words.

But it was a cute sentiment.

"That's really confusing." Ollie states, sounding like a tired parent. He turns back to his mother. "So no males or yes males."

"Yes to males and anyone you fall in love with so long as–"

"They're nice and caring, you say that about everything."

Well sue her for trying to instil healthy relationship goals in her child. Azriel snorts at the little boy. Or maybe he's amused by Cassian's baffled expression as he straightens up.

"Kids are simpler than you think." Isabella reassures the general. "Sometimes they get stuck in their ways and other times all they're really doing is repeating something they've heard without understanding it."

"I hope so because it'll make this relationship really awkward if he's against Azriel and I dating."

"Eh, he has a very loose concept of what dating involves." Isabella states watching as he wanders on ahead when Rhys waves them forward. "He mostly thinks marriage is sitting side by side at dinner, holding hands, occasionally kissing and owning a house."

"Well he's not wrong."

And as Isabella stepped over the threshold into her new home she didn't disagree with him. It would be nice to have a stereotypical happy family for once. To build a home, cook dinner and go on dates. She wants to fall back in love with life, not just with her mates.

This is a good first step.

A/N: End of book One.