Snowfalls, Fires, and Family

Snowfall, Fires, and Family 11

Bacon had been made by Brian while Tristian had created the sausage, and was piled up onto a plate. Hash browns had been the frozen kind and slipped into the oven with the biscuits, but they didn't care since it had been seasoned just right. As Tristian mixed the cooked sausage into the gravy, Brian and Markus moved the plates of bacon, hash browns, and biscuits onto the table.

Tristian put the two bowls of gravy down on the table with spoons and took his own place with a smile. "Merry Christmas," he greeted.

Karla husked out a 'Merry Christmas' while Anne grunted, and Tabby beamed at him.

"So, go head, dish up," he told them, checking his own coffee cup and standing up to make himself a cup of coffee. Putting a coffee pod for mocha into the machine, he added a single thing of creamer to his cup before letting the machine make his coffee for him. Behind him, his family started to grab biscuits and split them in half. They were all amazed at the fluffiness of them before they added some of the sausage gravy to that along with bacon and hash browns.

Sitting down, Tristian started to make his own plate. "So, after breakfast, turkey prepping?" Karla asked as she cut into her biscuit and eating the bite with a happy sigh. "Damn it. I'm going to gain like ten pounds from these two days," she complained, her siblings snickering at her.

"Aw, no you won't. We'll hit the gym tomorrow since you're not heading out until I am anyways," Anne teased, getting a roll of her eyes.

"Fine, yes, we can do that. That would be best," Karla huffed. "The dishes are waiting to be done right?" she asked.

Tristian stared at her with wide eyes. "So...what are you doing exactly?" he asked. "Yesterday you were all gung-ho to piss all of us. But now you're...not."

Karla sighed, putting her fork and knife down with a sigh. "After mom's letter last night, me and Aunt Tabby stayed up and she told me what was found in mom's journals," she admitted, playing with her silver wear. It was some hard things to hear but I think I had to hear about it." She looked up at Tristian with a sad look. "You were right to tell the teacher what was going on and I was so very wrong to blame you and for that, I am sorry."

Tristian smiled and leant his elbows on the table. "It's fine, Karla. It took me time to learn to forgive myself. To ask you to forgive me without knowing what was going on wouldn't have been right," he said.

Brian blinked and looked at his brother as he chewed and swallowed. "You mean you knew what was going on with mom?" he asked.

"Aunt Tabby here, on the suggestion of my therapist, explained mom's mental illness when I was about sixteen. I hadn't known that she had gotten that bad until last night though," he said.

"As I told you lot last night, if you had asked, I would have told you guys," Tabby said, reaching out to grab some more bacon and dip them in the gravy on her plate. Markus smiled and shook his head.

"I think...I think I want to write mom's story," he finally said, blushing at the soft look from Tabby and the looks of surprise from his siblings. "She's a good story to tell to help others understand what can go on with mental illness," he said, shrugging one shoulder as he continued to eat. "I have experience in doing this after all."

"He's right. He did write his own story of his life so far," Anne drawled, getting a groan from the other man. "And to answer your question, yes there are dishes. There are always dishes. And most likely they're soaking."

"Then I'll get to them after presents," Karla said, smiling softly.

"Which will have to happen after we put the turkey's in the oven to cook," Tristian said, wiggling his fork. "Which will allow the three of you," he continued, pointing to Markus, Anne and Karla, "time to put the left overs away."

"How long are you going to be staying?" Anne asked. Tristian hummed, pulling his fork out of his mouth and chewing the bite.

"Eh, until just after the New Years. I think by then I'll have an idea of what I want to do. I think I will keep the house though," he admitted, shifting in his seat. "But maybe rent out this house as one of those Air B&B things," he said.

Tabby smiled brightly. "I can help you start getting that all set up. Your mother at one time was thinking about it about a year ago, and thinking about moving into that cottage on the edge of the property. Then decided to move into the other cottage instead and sell this place."

Tristian hummed and smiled. "I'll have to go look at it and make sure that it's solid. Because I think that we, as a family, could use it as a vacation home," he said, smiling at his siblings. "Each of us will have a key if it's good and we'll be able to come by as we want."

Karla smiled. "Think me and my husband can honeymoon for about two weeks in the cottage if it's good enough?" she asked.

"You're getting married, what? Next year in October? You could," Tristian said, the group all talking about what Tristian could do and was planning. After they had eaten, the conversation continued as he and Brian prepped the birds and stuffing, putting the turkeys into the oven and allowing the stuffing to sit until it was time to cook them, the yams, mashed potatoes, and rolls.

Karla took over the drink prep and pulled out the slow cooker, making fresh apple cider to have for the rest of the night. She told them that it would be ready to drink right around dinner time and she would make more if they wanted more on the stove and use the crock pot to keep it warm.

After the presents had been gone through and wrapping had been cleaned up, the siblings walked out onto the porch as the sun started to shine on the falling snow, content with how things had gone. Yes, their lives had been changed and torn apart when they had been young. Yes, they had lives that were far different then what they had thought, but they were happy.

And finally, finally, they were family, well and truly family. Smiling, Tristian sipped his coffee and watched the snow fall with his family, Anne and Karla leaning their heads against his shoulders since he was still the shortest brother.

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