Closed Thinking About the Future

[Monty Pendleton]

The half-mile walk from Monty's house to Wendall and Mary Lou's farm was a pleasant one, even in winter. Monty thought so, anyway; but then again, he'd always been fond of gloomy weather. Grey skies over damp countryside soothed his anxious mind. If anything, he was liable to complain that New Zealand wasn't gloomy enough. In any case, it seemed silly to apparate and miss out on a good stroll in the fresh air, especially when visiting his cousin’s family was often the only thing that got him out of the house.

He had not told them why he was coming - only that he had something important to ask. It had been on his mind for several years now, and the time had come at last to put his plan into action. Besides his grandchildren, Wendall and Mary Lou were his closest family; he had watched them grow up, advised them, and supported them however he could, and now that they were older, they supported him in turn, so it was no surprise he had come to think of them as a son and daughter-in-law. But it was the way they treated him like a father which had touched him so profoundly. Their kindness and company, especially in the midst of so much loss, meant more to him than he knew how to express in words, though he regularly sought to try. He loved them both very dearly; and as family, and the godfather of their children, he felt an obligation to care for them in any way he could.

He turned down the narrow road to the farm, passed through the wooden gate, and came to knock on the front door. Naturally, he had brought biscuits - a pack of Mary Lou and Wendall’s favourites each, because he couldn’t decide. Funny how small decisions could be so much more difficult than the big ones.

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

"Montana, my sweet angel, please don't pull on Madeira's hair, we can give her a haircut later, but she needs hair to cut." Mary Lou sometimes wondered if she had erred and in trying to explain haircuts to her eldest, but it was delightful seeing her trying to help and Mary Lou was loathe to tell a child not to do something when it was creative. The only time she really got serious was when one of them brought Alihotsy leaves into the farm house because that was a problem, messes were usual and Mary Lou did not mind cleaning them up. It was busy here most days, they'd managed to hire two extra farm hands since last year, but during the winter there was little for them to do, and so most of the plants were looked after by herself and Wendall over these months. The girls were good at helping when it was needed, but Mary Lou often found that Monti was more inclined to tear sneezewort into tiny strips than to actually place it into the basket.

She yawned a little as she stood up from her crouch, over the alihotsy leaves and shooed the girls away. Both walking now, it was a lot easier for Mary Lou to get around. She was growing very fast, and she knew it would only be a couple more months until there was a third little Layton running around. She headed for the door having heard the knock as she carefully placed her cut alihotsy on the basket high out of the reach of the girls and then carefully and slowly pulled off her gloves before walking to the door to open it. "Monty, what a lovely surprise! It's not Sunday is it?" She asked, quickly glancing over at the clock that confirmed it definitely wasn't Sunday.

In all the busy work she has been doing coming into Winter (they're least busy time of year) Mary Lou had completely forgotten about the note Monty had sent to let her know he was dropping by. "Please come in, mind the Alihotsy on the bench, I've just brought it in so I haven't had a chance to strip and deleave it." She told him, opening the door wider for his entry before crouch down to Monti. "Monti, darling, please go and tell Daddy that Uncle Monty is here." That was probably never going to get any less confusing. But she loved it.

"Would you like some tea? Oh, biscuits, Monty thank you." Mary Lou said, gesturing to take them from him. "Here, please give me your coat."

@Wendall Layton @Monty Pendleton ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

As if looking after two girls under four, a pregnant wife, and a barnyard of animals outside the house wasn't enough to contend with, Wendall was still shouldering the responsibilities of looking after himself, too. That was going less than ideally, however, as he lay face up in the middle of the kitchen floor and debated whether or not anyone would notice if he just stayed there for a moment longer. It was only when the blonde ringlets of his eldest daughter dangled in his face from above, that Wendall had to accept once more that there would be no rest for him today.

"Don't move," he warned his daughter, rolling onto his front and ignoring how cold his torso now felt, the milk running down his back. He took her by the hand, directing her back towards the door of the kitchen and out of the way of the creamy white lake that was now running through the center of the room. He crouched and listened intently as Monti told him that Big Monty was here, and he immediately knew she'd been tasked to fetch him. "He is?" Wendall's smile lit up and not just for the sake of his daughter as he was always excited when Monty came to visit, even if this was unexpected. He picked up Monti and sat her on the countertop, "I wonder what he's been doing," he mused aloud, quickly moving to mop up the rest of the milk that covered a large area of the kitchen floor, so that neither he nor anyone else in their family were doomed to slip over in it again. It had happened so fast, one moment he was trying to make tea, carton in hand, the next, well the next moment he was here.

Closing the fridge door, he crossed the room once more to scoop Monti up in his arms; something that had taken him a good few months to be comfortable doing given his history, but confident enough now that even if he were to run into another accident, he'd make sure to at least make sure his children weren't hurt or involved. His shirt may have now been stuck to his back with cold milk, but between being uncomfortable and keeping Monty and Mary Lou waiting, he knew which he'd rather. "Can you do daddy a favour?" he whispered to his daughter as he walked them through the house, "Can you go into the yard and pick daddy a new shirt from the basket near the clothesline?" he asked her. Monti loved being outside and any excuse to keep her preoccupied with things that were safe, felt like a good choice when it came to those in his bloodline. As he approached the voices, Mary Lou always the pinnacle of an excellent host, Wendall gently placed Monti back on the floor, who was quick to take hold of her sister by the collar of her shirt as they raced down towards the garden. He'd have to talk to her about that at a later date.

Turning his attention to their guest, Wendall grinned as met the face of Monty; the man who had been no less than a father to him over the many years they'd known one another. As much as he appreciated the others that he now found in his family, through Leda and the girls, it was Monty that he aspired to be like most of all. "Hi Monty!" Wendall said, voice thick with enthusiasm. Sunday or not, he was glad to see him, "I would offer you tea but erm.. we seem to be all out of milk." he confessed, hoping that no one could smell the reason why.​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"Hello! It is me,” said Monty, stepping into the house. He laughed as Mary Lou took his coat. “Oh, no - did you forget? I’m sorry, I should have reminded you. I wanted to drop by and speak to you both. Are you sure I’m not interrupting?” Even if he was, he doubted Mary Lou would say so, but it felt polite to ask. In any case, he didn’t want to put the conversation off much longer. It would weigh on his mind, attracting anxious thoughts, and then he might start to think it was a terrible idea after all and change his mind. That wouldn’t do. He had wanted this long before Mary Lou and Wendall became intertwined with it. Change frightened him, yes, but not everything that frightened him was wrong. It was about time he came to terms with that.

He smiled fondly as Wendall appeared. He was looking… sticky, but well. Monty wanted to think the stickiness came with the territory of having small children, but he was being generous; he’d never known Wendall not to he covered in some mess or another. “Oh, that’s all right,” Monty said. “Bad timing as usual, I see. If you want to change, don’t let me stop you. Do you mind if we sit down?”

When everybody was ready, they went into the kitchen. Monty set the biscuits down and made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the table - or as comfortable as he could be, given the havoc his nerves were playing on him. “I’ve come to ask you something - or to offer you something, I suppose,” he began. “I don't know if you're aware, but I happen to have quite a large house in England. Too large for myself and the girls. I've been thinking about selling it for a while, now, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it while Arvo was still alive; he helped me restore it, you see, many years ago, when it was supposed to be condemned. But as he is no longer here, and the girls are old enough to cope with the change, I’ve decided I’d like to downsize. Quite considerably.” Part of him ached at the thought of selling the place, but it was time to let go. He had no need of so many rooms, and the ones he used were full of old ghosts. He couldn’t stand to stay there any longer. “Now, I won’t share the exact figure, but I had the house valued, and… well, let’s just say I’ll be able to buy a nice cottage in England, a house over here, and still have more money than I’ll ever know what to do with.

“You’re both set to inherit some money in my will, anyway - but as I intend to live for a good long while yet, it seems a shame that you should have to wait for me to die to put it to good use. I’d like to give some to you now.” He told them how much. It wasn’t a small sum. Monty realised money didn't go far in this day and age, but it would certainly make them more comfortable - or provide them with an excellent safety net. The figure he chose was the result of a great many hours of consideration, both for his future and for how he might like to share his money with the rest of his family. "Please don't refuse. I've spoken to a financial advisor, I've thought long and hard, and I've made up my mind. This is what I'd like to do, and it would make me very happy."

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Wendall, typically, was a bit of a mess, and Mary Lou had to work harder than usual to refrain from commenting on his state of unpreparedness in the face of their guest. In fairness, she hadn't been expecting him either, and she'd forgotten about him coming to see them completely. She immediately retracted her offer of a tea and instead took his coat and hung it on the hook just outside the dangerous plant room, that she then locked so the girls couldn't get in there. All of their most dangerous plants were kept in that room and the garden adjacent so someone couldn't accidentally stumble upon them. Mary Lou would have been terribly upset if something happened to one of her girls, or to any poor person who happened upon them and after her terrible allergic reaction in Potions because no one had been in the know about her allergy, she tended to be extra cautious. When Madeira and Montana were born she'd had a healer test them for allergies. Montana, of course, was allergic to Allihotsy, but only if she ingested it, much like Mary Lou, and now everyone was aware they were much better prepared about it.

"Of course you aren't interrupting, actually Monti and Madeira are always so much better behaved when you're here so please do feel free to drop by more often," she said smiling warmly at him. She was going to have to get more milk and keep some one hand, perhaps in a secondary fridge in case Wendall felt he wanted to bathe in her milk again. She loved that man fiercely but sometimes she suspected she might need to wrap him in a bubble, or perhaps to chain him to the couch so he couldn't trip over anything. She did find herself wondering if he should be anywhere near some of the plants in their stock if he was so clumsy, but she could never force him out either, since she really did love him terribly a lot.

Mary Lou followed both of the men into the kitchen and began tidying as she listened to what Monty had to say. It was just as she had picked up a rather nice tea cup to place back into the cabinet when she hard him say something so completely unexpected she gasped in shock, dropping the tea cup which then shattered all over the wooden floor. Mary Lou stared at it for several seconds before she ignored it completely (how unlike her!) and stepped over it to put her hands on Monty's face and pull it closer to hers. She hadn't sat at the table with them because she liked to keep busy, and knowing Wendall had spilled the milk meant she felt the need to make sure none was left in places that would get icky. "Are you ill? We can't accept that Monty, this is insanity," she told him, looking over her shoulder at Wendall. They were doing okay on their own, they farm was doing well for the most part. They had their moments where there was some uncertainty about where they would be heading in the next years, but it was all very up in the air at the moment. If they did run out of money, all they needed to worry about was the girls, since they were magic (sometimes) and Mary Lou knew well enough how to survive on her own.

Not that she wanted to have to do that. A bunch of numbers fell in front of her eyes about how much she would need to fix this place up exactly how she had wanted it, she couldn't, no, the girls would need to share a room once Marvin was born, but no, that was okay, little girls could share a room. No she couldn't accept Monty's money, no. "Monty you... this is far too generous. I..." she didn't know what to say. No one had ever offered her money before. Not for herself, not for something she wanted, and certainly not out of a kindness like this. "Wendall?"

@Monty Pendleton @Wendall Layton ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall had watched with quiet intrigue as Mary Lou had hung up Monty's coat, before they'd moved towards the kitchen, wondering whether his wife knew Monty was making a surprise visit today, and what on earth it could possibly be about. The last time he was gathered with family in a kitchen to talk about some serious matters fourteen years ago, his life had been turned upside down. He blinked at Monty for a moment as he asked whether or not Wendall wanted to change, and while he didn't think he did, the sheer fact it was mentioned had Wendall debating whether or not he was underdressed for whatever he was about to tell them.

"That's okay, I'll change soon," he concluded, sitting at the table beside Mary Lou and peering over to Monty, who was looking slightly nervous despite the distraction of biscuits laid out in front of them. Wendall had to consider that he too, was probably more well behaved when Monty was over as well; sometimes he needed a gentle reminder that he was now the man of the house. "What can we help you with?" Wendall asked, making the mistake of nibbling on the corner of a chocolate bourbon as Monty began to explain why he was there.

For a few moments, Wendall was convinced Monty was going to try to move in with them. As he listened to the man explain that he was selling his house, wanting to downsize. Immediately Wendall's thoughts raced as to what it would be like with Monty around the house too, he'd be able to ask him questions all the time, about so many things. He'd be an extra pair of hands around the farm with the children; Merlin knew he was good with them (the children). Wendall's eyes were shining with excited possibility, that was at least, until Monty then mentioned buying a nice cottage in England. Wendall almost did a double take as he continued listening, and upon discovering that he and Mary Lou were included in Monty's will, his eyebrows rose. Wendall had never known his father, didn't even know his name, but as he stared wide-eyed across the table he knew that the man in front of him was the closest he was ever going to come to having a real father, and for that, he felt absurdly lucky.

It took Wendall a moment to come to realize Monty was giving them money, and it was only as Mary Lou smashed the cup at their feet that his thoughts were brought back into the room. Monty seemed very adamant (which wasn't usual for him) that he'd made up his mind, and Wendall knew he must have considered all the possibilities before arriving at this decision. Wendall didn't make a lot of money, but it was enough for him and the girls to live comfortably, especially after they'd already been gifted the house as somewhere to stay. Wendall went to speak but coughed on the crumbs in his mouth he'd clearly forgotten to swallow moments before. He promptly cleared his throat before trying again. "What about Ainmere and Rion?" he asked, wondering how his grandchildren factored into the equation. They certainly couldn't accept this when they were secure and others around them may well have needed it more.

He glanced at Mary Lou, who was now watching him over her shoulder. He wanted nothing more than for her and their children to be comfortable. They deserved everything, and even though Wendall knew he wasn't always the smartest or the bravest or the strongest, he'd always do what he could to make sure the girls never had to worry, or choose. He didn't want to offend Monty, or doubt his own abilities to look after his family, but how could they possibly just accept something like this? He hadn't seen the amount, but judging by Mary Lou's reaction, he didn't need to. "Monty this is, very kind. But you should let us do something for you in return. How can we help you?" he asked, hoping they could come to an agreement that would make things a little more, balanced.​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty startled at the sound of porcelain shattering. In hindsight, perhaps dropping this sort of surprise on a pregnant woman was inadvisable, but he wasn't sorry. Now that he'd put his proposal to them, he couldn't take it back. He couldn't sit and worry and wonder whether moving was the wrong decision, or work himself into a state, or delay it another five years. Well, he could probably still work himself into a state, and no doubt would just as soon as reality set in, but it would be for naught. He was committed. It was happening. A new chapter.

"I'm fine, absolutely fine," he said, capturing Mary Lou's hands and bringing them down. He knew what she was thinking, and he was keen to quell any suspicion of - as she had put it - insanity. "Don't worry. This has nothing to do with our chat." This was the truth; and as he had always been a terrible liar, he hoped Mary Lou would recognise his sincerity. If not, he would reassure her as many times as it took.

As for Wendall - well, he had his own concerns, each of them true to his selfless nature. Monty smiled. It was precisely this kindness which made him so confident in his decision. "My grandchildren will be very well taken care of, I promise. It's all figured out." Ainmere and Rion would always be his number one priority. What he offered to the rest of his family, he offered with absolute certainty it would not affect the girls' futures.

"You help me by inviting me round for tea, and pretending you need my help in the garden," he said. The last bit was mostly a joke, although he did have a suspicion Mary Lou and Wendall were capable of doing nearly all the things they claimed to rely on him for. He'd been so desperate to feel useful over the last few years, he'd preferred not to think too hard about it. "You don't know how much these simple things mean to me. And you'll be helping me if you accept. You'll be giving me a reason to make a decision I've put off for years. I lived a terrible life in that house - a lonely, miserable life that I somehow managed to convince myself I wanted. I can't go back to that. But I'm a coward, and I will. I'll do anything to avoid change, even if it hurts me. So you see, you'll be doing me an enormous favour. You must say yes."