Consequences

Part 24

Ryan and Charlie looked at each other for a second. Clearly there was a lot more going on here. The question was whether to push Doug for information. He could revert to form and clam up. Relationships were not on his conversation list.

"So what are you going to do Doug?" Ryan asked after Charlie had flashed him a look that told him she was expecting him to question his brother.

Doug waited for Ryan to put the dish on the table, before he said calmly, "Go with tradition." He hadn't missed the silent communication between his sister-in-law and his brother. He knew they were itching to find out exactly what Doug planned to do about this situation. Doug was pretty sure he would surprise them. His lips quirked for a second as he held his smile at bay.

"Tradition?" Perplexed by that cryptic comment, Ryan frowned at his brother. "What does that mean?" He looked across at his wife as if she would hold the answer to that question.

"Get engaged, get married. You know the route." Came the droll response.

Ryan and Charlie gaped in astonishment, not a sound was uttered as their jaws dropped in comical surprise. They weren't sure whether Doug was being serious or just having them on. Given the twinkle in his eyes it could be either. For a few seconds they just blinked and processed his comments. Was he serious?

"Marry? You?" Charlie finally choked out the questions. Doug? Married? And pigs would fly, she thought. Then she all but scowled on the inside, for there was a time, on the day she had married Ryan, to be precise, when she had thought that Doug looked wistful. Maybe beneath all that bluster was a man who did want to get married, but a man who believed he was unlikely to get married. She knew for a fact these Hawke brothers were complex men.

Doug wasn't surprised by the fact her questions were actually about the state of matrimony. The he fact he'd consider marrying someone he'd just met and someone so out of their social sphere as to be practically from another planet did not warrant concern! He knew he had long given out the message that he was not interested in getting married, having children, doing the domestic scene. He also knew that was a defence mechanism. Course he'd love to get married, have a wife who loved him, have children he'd adore and love and cherish. But that was a pipe dream. No sane woman would take him on as a father to her children. He'd learnt that a long time back.

Charlie was starting to think Doug was kidding. She'd known the two men for several years now, and Doug was the last person she had ever imagined settling down, let alone getting married. He was never short of company. But he never appeared to be looking to make anything permanent. He seemed quietly content with his lot in life. Women came and went. He was no monk. He certainly wasn't celibate. But emotional involvement was not on his to do list. Yet here he was making grand announcements about getting married. In jest, surely.

Doug grinned at the chaos he was causing. For once in his life it was good to turn the tables on his brother and sister-in-law. He was pretty sure they had decided he was going to remain single for his life. "Yeah me. It's time." Doug took a seat. Strangely enough, announcing he was considering getting married was as much a shock to his brother and sister-in-law as it was to him. And yet, at the same time, something about proposing marrying Isabelle Sojour-D'Sa felt right. Which really was quite mystifying. Given he had never met the woman until recently, given he knew practically nothing about her, and given he had never seriously contemplated marriage, announcing he might just follow through with this engagement was quite a shock!

Ryan scowled at his brother. There was simply no way that Doug was serious about this. He did not even know the woman. Until a few moments ago he knew nothing about her family history. Until a couple of days ago he had not met the woman. There was simply no way his brother was getting married to the woman. "And she's it?" Ryan was frowning, wondering what was going on.

"She'll do." Doug replied with a composure his brother had always envied.

Charlie took her seat. She watched her brother-in-law with open speculation. Doug sounded serious.

"She'll do?" Ryan snorted at that comment. Then he looked at his brother, and much to his amazement saw that Doug was serious. Ryan glanced at his wife. She shrugged, also at a loss at that moment. Ryan just shook his head in disbelief as he looked back at his older brother and asked, "Are you nuts? The woman is established family. They don't settle for she'll do!" Ryan grabbed the seat opposite Doug.

"She will." Doug stated flatly, sure that comment would annoy his brother no end. And it did.

"Yeah right. Why the hell would she want to?" Ryan challenged. Charlie was curious to learn what made Doug so sure of Isabelle. Was there something he hadn't told them? Had they met previously?

Doug listed a few facts that he thought were pertinent to the current situation. "Her sisters are married, she's the oldest, nearly thirty, she's hardly going to want to stay on the shelf." The logic seemed obvious to Doug, though given his brother's grimace he wondered if he'd perhaps underestimated a facet or two.

Ryan snorted and looked at his brother as if he couldn't understand how Doug had come to loose his logic!

Charlie decided to point out the obvious. "I somehow doubt she'd have a problem finding a man." Though she had not bothered to look for any images of the woman online, Charlie was pretty sure she'd be well-groomed and attractive. "She could have her pick no doubt!" Charlie stated bluntly. She propped her chin on the back of her bridged fingers and tipped her head to the side as she muttered, "Bet she's the slim, long legged aristocratic type."

Doug was tempted to agree with that description but knew that it missed so much. Still no point telling his immediate family about all the things he had noticed. Like the fact a single dimple appeared on her left cheek when she smiled in delight. "She's easy on the eye." Doug grinned in remembrance. Marrying Isabelle would be no hardship. The woman was elegant and graceful. She had all the trappings that came with wealth and then some. She was also remarkably poised.

"So basically you want to get her in the sack?" Ryan challenged with basic coarseness.

"Ryan!" Charlie chastised but waited to hear Doug's response to that blunt question.

Doug rolled his eyes, before he muttered, "Not everything boils down to sex."

"Yeah right. I know you, remember! When did you loose your virginity? Early teens?" Ryan slid the bowls together, and got to his feet. With his brother, up until now, everything that had anything to do with women in his life, simply came down to sex. Ryan knew his brother well. And he knew that Doug was not interested in getting emotionally involved. But that did not mean he intended to be celibate. He very carefully chose the women he became involved with and he was scrupulously up front with them about the fact that he was not looking for long term relationships. Short term. No ties. No commitment. Ryan knew that. Which made Ryan all the more curious. "So why her?"

Doug looked straight at his brother. "She's got class." Doug stated simply and then held his hand up, "And I think this inquisition is over." He gave Charlie and Ryan a clear message as he said, "Inquisition over."