Growing Season (MxM) Complete

Ch. 25 Destruction

CH 25

"I'm telling on you!" The high pitched cry every parent dreads came from one of the kids out in the yard, one of the girls, he thought, although it was hard to tell.

Gareth sat up too quickly, making himself a little dizzy. He'd just laid down on the sofa for a moment's rest after working all day to surprise Phillip. The children had helped some, but most of the effort had fallen to him, which was to be expected, really. Gareth had developed a bit of a pounding headache from the fumes and now something happened that threatened whatever rest he was hoping for.

The screen door slammed with a clatter that only angry kids managed, and next thing he knew Franny was standing in the front hall howling loudly, unnecessarily, seeing as Gareth was sitting mere feet away.

"Daddy! Gabe broke Phillip's plants!" Her shirt was bespattered with mud, legs soiled, and her curls had bits of mulch and leaves stuck in them. Fat tears ran down her mottled cheeks.

"What on earth?" Gareth asked, rubbing his forehead wearily. Maybe a few more weeks at day camp for the kids would have been a good idea for everyone involved. Slowly he raised himself from the sofa, fighting a little nausea.

He followed Franny out the door and around the side of the house past the edge of the driveway where the children had trod a path in the damp soil, explaining how Franny was so messy. Gabe was next to the potting shed desperately trying to make a broken branch of some sort of bush reattach with no luck, and Daisy stood solemnly off to the side, observing with watery eyes. Both of them were also completely filthy. Not as bad as Franny, but still, their legs and clothes were streaked with dirt. It was obvious that Gabe was panicking as he turned towards his father and younger sister.

Gabe's face was red with worry and tears were rolling down his cheeks. "I didn't mean to, it was an accident, we were just playing, and then I pulled on it, and then it broke, and now it won't go baaaccckkk." Gabe started sobbing in earnest. "Philllliiippp's gonna hate me. We're gonna have to leeeeaaavee. And it's gonna be all my FFFAAAUULLLTTTT."

Gabe's wails were completely insensible and set Daisy to tears, too. It was like some sort of switch; one starts to cry and they all follow. Gareth's head, which had been pounding before, was now screaming in pain. He rubbed his hands on his aching temples before taking a few steps towards the cries opening his arms wide to comfort his wailing brood, or at least get them to quiet down some. Daisy sniffled and mentioned something about the coffee table. Gareth supposed she was referring back to Leeann and their old home, and it made the children cry that much more. He took a deep breath, trying to fight the urge to vomit that accompanied thoughts of Leeann and his headache.

At times like this he really wished he wasn't a father at all. For at least a few minutes. He took a deep breath and hugged them a little harder, trying to erase their hurt and his own guilt at the situation they used to be in. Things were so much better now.

Phillip pulled his sedan into the driveway, only to see some sort of chaos at the back of the yard, view partially blocked by his potting shed. After a trying meeting with a client in the morning that was far too much talking for his liking, then working in three different gardens in the afternoon, he was completely spent. Gareth had said he'd make dinner and Phillip hadn't had much time for lunch. He was starving, tired, and really in need of some peace and quiet.

Evidently, that might have been too much to ask for.

The sounds of the children in distress were the first things he heard as he got out of the car. It struck fear to the core of him. Worried that someone was injured, Phillip dashed to the back of the garden to find three unharmed, loudly wailing, totally filthy children, a completely exasperated Gareth, and one very broken branch of his very rare, very expensive, exceedingly difficult to care for shrub bauhinia orchid clutched in a child's hand.