Breaking The Ice

Dragons

Harry's POV

I hadn't been able to stop myself from glancing out the front window every five minutes for the past few hours, the worry I felt only seeming to magnify itself no matter how much everyone around me kept trying to distract me. It had been hours since Louis texted me to say he'd found her, but that was all he'd said, and I hadn't heard anything since.

Mr. Tomlinson had continued to make calls all afternoon while simultaneously dodging them from his wife, ensuring that any possible angle she might find to get herself out of the situation she was in would be erased before she even found it. I had to admit it was impressive, the way he'd taken charge of the situation and protected his children so fiercely, doing absolutely everything in his power to make sure their mother would pay for what she'd done.

He'd spoken to all of his sons throughout the day, keeping them updated on what was happening and making sure they were okay with everything. I'm sure it was a difficult line to walk, wanting their mother in jail for what she'd done to his daughter, but keeping in mind that she had three other children who may not exactly be pleased with their own father making sure she never saw the light of day again. As predicted, TJ's brothers showed zero hesitation to give him their blessing, and it seemed that somehow it had all just proved how close they all really were.

It wasn't like they were thrilled about it, but I'm sure that somewhere along the way TJ's brothers had formed their own opinion of their mother through the way she treated them. I know it obviously wasn't to the degree that she had treated TJ, but someone that controlling and manipulative was bound to have left a mark on all of her children in some way. Aside from the fact that she treated their sister like shit, I had a feeling that her brothers had been made to feel pressured by her expectations of keeping up with the image she was so desperate to have. They knew exactly who she was and what she was like, and I'd seen that evidenced by the way they'd all been so quick to defend their sister and not even hesitated to refuse to even hear their mother's side of things.

They knew who and how she was, and I could only gather it was from their own experiences.

I can't say I knew Dan and Rich all that well, but it was obvious the way their mother had influenced Louis and the way he turned out. She'd babied him his entire life, and therefore he had no sense of responsibility, no idea what the real world was like. She'd almost crippled him in a way, so that if he ever did have to step out into reality without someone there to help him he'd be completely and utterly lost. I suppose maybe she'd done it on purpose so that she knew he'd always need her.

Louis spent a lot of his life feeling guilty for how unfairly things were slanted between him and his sister, and I'm sure that it had impacted him in more ways than one. His fierce desire to protect her, to make sure that she was okay, was more than the natural brotherly instinct. It was driven by his need to make up for all the things that he was given that she wasn't, to make sure she knew how much he loved her even if their mother didn't.

It wasn't hard to see how lost he felt in all of it, how caught in the middle and unsure he was of how to act. It was clear to me that when the four of them were together without their mother it's when they were most at peace, feeling like they could just be themselves without worrying what she would say or how she wanted them to act. The thought of it brought me a small sense of peace in knowing that maybe going forward it would always be like that, and that maybe they could all begin to heal.

It had taken my parents most of the day to convince Mr. Tomlinson to stay for dinner, and he'd reluctantly agreed once he found out his car had been stuck in the snow in Chicago and they'd had to send him another one. I could tell he felt like he was imposing on our holiday after the way he'd arrived that morning, but I also knew if Teej ever showed up it would mean a lot to her to have dinner with him. I don't think any of us liked the idea of him out there in some car driving in the snow on Christmas day, so we of course got Luce to sway him with her charms and he finally gave in while she smiled to herself in satisfaction.