The King of Sin {Complete}

{39}

Link's pov

It is with the greatest reluctance that I move about the house, dragging my feet in searching of my dad. Both dreading and wanting this 'talk' to be over and done with.  After combing his usual haunts, I find him in the sunroom, looking out the floor to ceiling window.

"He is hidding something isn't he?" Dad asks, as I come to stand beside him, watching Bear mess with the youngsters in the backyard. I can't stop the gentle smile on my face as the youngsters manage to trip him and  gleefully pile ontop of him.

"What makes you say that?" I question, already having had enough of this conversation. Dad looks sideways at the tense tone.

"His eyes." He states simply. "They are closed off even though he smiles and laughs, his heart isn't in it." He frowns before turning "I don't trust him."

"Is that way you and yours are watching him and Cedric like hawks?" I can't believe his! "Afraid that they will steal the family silver? Or the contents of your precious dinning cabinet?"

Dad looks shocked at the words. "Yeah, we all know about your dinning cabinet and it's illegally acquired contents."

"But thank God this little family charade will be over and done with. We will be leaving in a couple of days so everything will be safe again. And I will never set foot in this house again." I sneer. "I am done with this family."

"Lincoln!" Dad looks pale and drawn at my words. My heart squeezes in pain uttering the words. I just want dad to accept me and mine. But that will never happen.

"Lincoln," dad's grip is like a steel band on my arm. "Calm down and let's talk about this." His eyes telegraph sadness and regret. "We never got along like the way I do with your brothers." He looks down at the hand on my arm. "I know I am at fault for that and I want that to change."

Something in his tone tells me he actually means what he is saying. "I don't want us to end up like me and Graham and realise our mistake until it is too late to do something about it." He looks beseeching at me. "Please Lincoln."

My anger drains away as I remember the fight between dad and Graham his best friend that ruined their lifelong friendship. It was about something banal as the taste of a particular bottle of brandy that is in the dinning cabinet. The brandy dad bought as a gesture to let bygones be bygones. Sadly dad never got that chance as Graham died before we knew it.

Blinking I stare at that particular bottle of brandy is pulled out of the dinning cabinet and placed on the table. "I am sure Graham wouldn't mind." Dad smiles a little sadly as he undoes the plastic around the screwtop and twists it off. Placing two thumblers on the table, I sit down at the table as dad pours generous amounts in both glasses. "Tell me everything."

The sun is well set by the time I finish the tale, the bottle of brandy long gone and several bottles of whiskey joined it. "That's some tale." Dad gulped down the last few drops of his drink and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "I am glad he has you and...Cedric? To see him through the whole ordeal." He hesitates on the name as he gets up from his seat and looks at Bear still outside with the youngsters. "The poor bastard." The fact my dad calls him that means the story actually struck a cord in him and it's the highest form of sympathy my dad can offer.

"Thanks Da." I squeeze his shoulder afdectionly, we aren't that big a fan of an emotional display. Dad's face doesn't betray anything but I can see some emotion in his eyes. They look lighter dan their usual dark brown that gives him a treathening look. Thank God for that. I know he hasn't accepted us but it is a start.