Polly's Boys

Dinner and Devilment

Dinner was going as well as Polly expected which meant it was a disaster. Michael seemed beyond overwhelmed. Truthfully even the staff was frazzled.

The children while at the table had food, liquid and God knows what else all over the expansive white dining room. We'll whatever was left white still from sticky hands and spills.

Devlin and David had offhandedly mentioned that some of the staff had worked for them before so they knew how the children could be.

Michael nodded and downed his fourth glass of Whiskey.

Polly had had enough. Even Winter was at her limit. Her short blond bob had been tugged at so much the shape was mangled making her look as if she was losing her mind.

She sure as hell was!

"Enough, this isn't a circus. Why don't you three go upstairs and play in the nursery. I'll send your parents up soon enough." She snapped at the babies. Three under five years of age was a disaster.

David and Peggy's nanny, who was a young woman from a poor family, God bless her dumb soul, seemed more than happy and capable of herding the little hellions upstairs.

She gathered them up gently and with a sticky sweet voice convinced them to walk upstairs and out of site.

The pressure in the room was like steam being released. A large collective sigh went through the room. It would be funny if it wasn't so exhausting.

"She's not the sharpest tool in the belt but she's fantastic with them." David almost seemed to beam with pride over the girl's lack of intelligence. It was probably for the best.

"Ignorance is bliss sometimes." Polly added with a tight smile. She loves her grandchildren but sometimes she wondered why God had allowed David and Peggy to breed. They clearly were too in love with a free outgoing lifestyle to care to parent their own babies.

"So Michael, you have a girl back in the village or Birmingham?" Devlin's eyes were icey cold slits, his jaw set hard and he was leaning forward his elbows leaving an indent into his solid oak tabletop. He'd also had too many glasses rapidly.

Polly's eyes swept over her boys to the object of attention. Winter St. Clair.

Everyone had caught Michael looking at Winter several times.

It was no secret the girl was stunning. She was petite, friendly, quick to smile and she had a quick wit. A lot of people "loved" Winter St. Clair.

It was the nature of the beast, she was a popular celebrity starlit. Where she went people would try to paw at her, talk to her and dazzle her.

"Devlin, get your elbows off the table. I raised you to have manners." Polly snapped sharply at him. She needed four glasses of whiskey, maybe the whole barrel to get through tonight. Had she realized when she was driving over that everyone would be here, she'd have booked a hotel. By the time she was told everyone was sleeping at Devlin's mansion for the night, well there just simply hadn't been a gracious way to get out of the invitation.

She'd been caught in her boy's trap. She wouldn't let them trap Michael, they both seemed overly attentive to him tonight and not in a nice brotherly love way.

"Mum, you're in my house." Devlin must have forgotten who he'd been speaking to. Polly's eyebrows shot up in a harsh and warning. She bit her cheeks as she held Devlind gaze, Everyone checked their hands and elbows removing them from the table. She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing.