Snowfalls, Fires, and Family

Snowfalls, Family, and Fires 6

Tristian broke the silence as they were closing the back of the truck. "I was never mad at you guys. Just confused as to what I had done wrong to have you so chilly to me. Especially Karla. I just don't have the urge to give a fuck now though."

Brian chuckled and nodded as they moved to the cab of the truck and loaded the bags with boxes into it, snow once more falling to the ground. "Man, I don't think I've ever seen it snow quite this much," he said, shaking off the snow as they quickly climbed into the cab, closing the doors with loud thuds. Tristian chuckled and shrugged.

"It can get bad in Seattle during the winter months but yeah, this is a record. I'm glad that we have so much wood and that the house was outfitted with a generator for the fridge, freezer, stove and oven at the least," he said, starting the truck and turning the heat on low.

Brian hummed and flexed his fingers. "Yeah, true. Mom always hated dealing with," he drawled. "Let's get back. I'm sure Aunt Tabby is ready to raid the bags and start setting things out in neat lines again."

"You actually remember how she cooks?" Tristian asked as he pulled out of the parking spot.

Brian let out a short burst of laughter. "Remember? I learned her techniques. It's done nothing but help me in school and my teachers love me," he drawled. "Especially since I prep as many of the things I need before putting things together," he said, shaking his head. "I'm actually doing my interning at one of the higher class restaurants in the area. Gonna have to find a new apartment closer to that side of town but so very worth it."

Tristian flashed his brother a smile. "Good luck," he said. "Ask if you need some help getting a place. I know a few people down there who are looking for roomies, one of them for a couple of years before she's done with her own degrees there," he said.

Brian chuckled. "I may take you up on that. A couple of years to save up for a deposit, and rent for my first and last months? That works well for me instead of getting a shit hole of a place," he said.

As they pulled up into the driveway, the snow was starting to come down harder much harder, Markus and Anne rushing out to help them carry all the bags in before Tabby opened the garage. The three siblings all carefully parked in the three of the four spots and thanked Tabby for cleaning out the garage so that the vehicles weren't buried in snow.

With the garage door closed behind them, and the grocery bags all set out on the floor for Tabby to go through, Tristian and Brian finally noticed the candles and lanterns that hung from hooks in various rooms.

"Already preparing for the electricity to go out already, Aunt Tabby?" Brian asked in amusement as Markus sat on the floor and started to dig things out from the bags. Tabby snorted and took each item, creating little sets for each thing that they were cooking, the cold stuff going into the refrigerator and freezer.

"Yes. Because of how hard that snow is coming down, I decided to set them up before we actually need them. We made sure that there was some more wood in the three plastic totes in the living room. The green ones from the woodshed, not the blue ones with the decorations. We also dragged in the water proof buckets with wood ships and newspaper scraps. I also made sure that your rooms all had their own lanterns, batteries, candles, and lighters and matches," she told them. "Once this is done, I'm going to my own home and locking down my own place. I had Markus here help me shutter up the windows of the house to for the most part."

Tristian smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I noticed that coming in. Thank you," he said and sitting down on the floor to help Markus. "If you need to come over and stay, don't be afraid to ask. We do have an extra bed."

Tabby chuckled and patted his cheek. "Of course, dear," she said, moving to pull on her now dry boots, jacket, gloves, hat and scarf in the mudroom. She soon left, climbing into her own Jeep with snow chains on the wheels and driving off down the driveway. She lived only about two miles away, having bought a new home closer to her sister after Tristian had left to go to college and work in Seattle. She had wanted to do it earlier, but she hadn't wanted to put Tristan through that so had kept it so that she could visit while he was at school. When he got into his teen years, it had been easier but now it was nice to have the land and house.

He knew that if she had to, she'd come around back to the house to stay since her home didn't have quite as much wood and was still being worked on insulation wise. She had only owned it for about two years. Still, it was usually warm enough for her, and she was happy with the house. She had plans on leaving it to her only child and his wife to do with as they wanted, the man having been raised alongside Tristian since he had been ten. Her son admitted that he would probably turn it into a renter house.

Standing, he looked out over the snow covered landscape through one of the kitchen windows that hadn't been shuttered yet, he smiled at the fact that the trees that lined the properties around them blocked most of the line of sight between houses. Each house in the area that the land had been bought at, stood on two acres each, right in the middle of those acres. Their mother had chosen the house with her first husband because of the space.

They had plans that had never happened before he had died, and then Richard had come into her life. After he had left, she had lost what grasp on her sanity she had.

But now, as he walked back into the living room, standing in the doorway, gazing into the room, he smiled. The tree was still bare, with only the lights wrapped around it so far. The mantel, still the same wooden one from his child, but retreated with something to make the deep red tones come out, had garland hanging from special hooks that they had found.

Lights were wrapped around said garland. They had worked it so that the garland trailed up and around the bookcases that sat on the left side of the wall and half of the wall next to that the fireplace wall. The tree sat where there was usually a small couch and table in that reading area, taking over the corner on the left of the fireplace.

On the plain side of the tree after the garland, stockings that had been knitted by their mother just that year, as far as Tabby had known, hung on more nail-less hooks, adding a splash of color against the cream. Two strings of draping lights fell down the rest of the wall and the wall next to the door to his left while three more covered the wall of the right side to the window. A fall of lights in soft blues fell around the family manger scene in the corner on the right side of the doorway and on the other side of the window. It was pretty but there were still some things to finish.

They had to set up a few other things yet to truly finish off the decorations. Various bits and bobs had to be hung up before the tree could be decorated in full. He was kind of hoping to get that done that day and with the help of his siblings, bar Karla most likely, they could get it done.

Sighing, he stepped in over to the fireplace and moved the hanging fireplace metal mesh screen out of his way. Grabbing the small sealed buckets that were marked wood chips, kindle sticks and newspapers, he knelt before the fireplace and created the small pile that would help create the fire, using a mix of all three on the special metal grate bowl that hung under the grate. He then placed a couple of logs on the grate before he stood up after closing the hanging screen again.

With that done, he moved the buckets out of the way along with the wood tote that he had gotten the logs from and checked the placement of the candles and the lantern in there. There was no reason to have the place burn down on them after all just because they had left a candle to close to a piece of flammable wood or to the tree, fake as it was.

With all of that checked over, he sighed and stretched before going to find the siblings who were willing to help do the decorating while Anne worked on cooking the pies.

Soon, he, Brian, and Markus had most of the decorations up and were ordering in for lunch, going for four deep dish pizzas. Karla finally made her appearance, walking on silent socked, standing in the living room and watching as the lights twinkled.

Her four siblings lether stare, wondering what was going on in her head but not wanting to disturbher thoughtfulness. She looked as if she was thinking deeply of something.