No promises

[Lovely]

June 19, 2009
evening
Veinna Estate


The crackle of the ice was ignored as the scotch was splashed over the fresh cubes. Scotty set the decanter back on the desk and leaned over the glass that hung in his fingers, melting the ice into the brown swirls. His daughter was slowly dying as they watched. It wasn't his fault and he refused to believe it was. Jaime hadn't spoken to him in days. She hadn't spoken with anyone it seemed. The firey spark in her that challenged him nearly daily hadn't shone out at all since... He took a sip and sat back, leaning in thought and running his fingers over his whisker-shadowed jaw as he stared at the door. He needed to bring her back somehow.

Josie headed to Scotty's office after spending time with thier daughter who didn't even seem to know she was there, Jaime had stared at the wall not moving or speaking for two hours. It was more than a mother could bear, watching her waste away. Aberto's shakes, serums, Armand's suggestions, and even Richie's healing did nothing for the girl. It was as if she'd given up the will to live and it broke Josie's heart. Jo wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath before knocking quietly on the door and slowly pushing it in to enter the room.

Scotty's eyes moved just as slowly as she entered, lighting up a little as he saw it was Josie who came in, though he somehow wished it was Jaime coming in to spit fire at him like normal. Some sign of life in the house was a relief, though. He grinned for her a little. "Tell me this is just a dream, Jo. How is she tonight?"

Jo knew who he meant even without a name and with how many children they had. She didn't want to tell him how Jaime was because she hadn't improved, in fact she looked a little worse everyday. Josie licked her lips, closed the door behind her and walked toward the man sitting at the desk. "I wish it were, then I'd be able to wake up and know our daughter was well and fine. She's not any better.. she'll eat if it's put in front of her and she's told to.. the shakes.. the serums.. nothing is helping. She's getting worse.. she's so pale.. weak.. she's always been so strong." The tears she'd wiped away trembled in Josie's voice and she felt her eyes well up again.

The grin faded and he cradled his chin in his palm. He sighed. "She wants me to give in, Jo. I'm not going to. The pouting will stop when she's good and hungry. She's still as tough as a bear. That's why she's doing this." He didn't fully believe that, but was hoping it would help reassure Josie.

"She does eat.. she eats anything we give her.. that's what scares me.. when Lily wouldn't eat.. it was different, the shakes helped to keep her nourished. Jaime is wasting away and she's eating, drinking the shakes, and getting shots from your brothers and the serums they come up with. She's not pouting.. she's not doing anything.. " Josie's voice rose slightly with the tremor of a terrified mother, a tone neither she or Scotty would be used to.

"That's what I mean, Jo. She's...," he paused, catching the tremor and fear from where he sat. He offered his lap for her. "Not doing anything is doing something to get our attention, Jo. She wants that greasy slob and I won't stand for it."

"No Scotty.. she doesn't want our attention.." She tried to make him understand that this wasn't a stunt that would simply stop because he wanted it to. She stood at the corner of his desk, grasping for words or something that would make him realize his daughter was going to die. Her fingers pressed against her lips for a moment and she shook her head. "Bring him back.. please."

"Are you...? No! I said no, and I mean no. She's not going to see that man, Jo. He's not anything we want for her and he's not ever going to be. He's not Veinna material and I don't want him touching my daughter. No, and that's final. Besides.. I've been thinking. She needs someone strong who can handle her, not just sweet-talk her. I've been making some plans."

He snapped back with his usual 'I said and I'm the boss' which she normally supported even when she felt the need to object to his ruling. Jo had always felt she could tell him what she thought even when they disagreed. Tonight the absolute refusal to listen or bend was too much to bear. "I don't care what you said! This is our daughter.." She slammed her hand on the desk and the other reached as if she'd strangle him but then dropped away as she turned to wipe the tears that began to flow down her cheeks. "What plans?" She asked in a voice that almost didn't sound like hers.

[Lovely]

He didn't flinch as she came at him. She'd refrained from swinging a sharply-clawed paw at him at least. He sat up with his authoritative glare as she challenged him. It was refreshing to have some fight in the room, but it was rarely, if ever, with Josie. Her tears weren't just from worry, but outright fear and that made her actions unpredictable. "Plans for her to get married and not to that... Tripp."

Her hands went up in the air and she laughed, it was nearly hysterical sounding and her hands clenched into fists. "Are you insane? You really think she's in any condition to get married? Do you want her to die?" Her words were delivered with more bite and anger than she'd ever felt or spoken to him with before. Josie spun, her blue eyes pleading with him not to do this but also shining with that fire and anger she felt.

"Not the first time I've been accused of that," he retorted calmly. He reached for one of the fists to calm her as well. "Josie, of course I don't want her to die. She wants her playmate, that's fine. I just want her to have a different one. She'll come around when she's got someone doting on her and making her his world. She'll forget about... what's his real name again? Anyway, she just needs that and she'll be good as... well, she'll be her old self again. She's going to come out of this, you'll see."

"You really don't know her at all.. do you?" Her voice was sad and the tears flowed more heavily as her head shook again. She barely kept herself from pulling her hand away from his, the touch didn't calm her like it usually did. "You don't have any idea what it's like to love like that and have it taken away.. she won't forget Scotty.. she'll never forget him, even if your stupid plan keeps her from dying altogether.. she's dying inside." Jo took a deep breath, her tongue lightly running over her lips. "Make me one promise.. just if this marriage doesn't work.. if it doesn't bring our girl back to herself again.. kicking and screaming about how much she hates us for doing it and lashing out, pouting.. strong and whole.. promise me you'll bring that greasy son of b*tch back - no matter how much we dislike him. If Patrick is what she needs... please."

"Jo, she doesn't 'need' him. She just thinks she does. Alright, alright, look... Give this a chance. I'm making the calls in the morning to have the man come out here to meet her and I can bet you that's going to be the end of it. Besides, it will make his dad happy to get a piece of us, believe me. He's been trying to sell me for years and this should make -everybody- happy. He's a nice kid... doctor or lawyer... I think. She'll get a whiff of him and she'll come around. Trust me?"

"I don't care about your calls or this nice kid.. You're wrong and you're crazy to think a nice kid is remotely what Jaime needs. I thought we were trying to get our daughter back, not drive her into a coma.. which she might as well be in for as much as she interacts with anyone." Josie folded her arms, usually at this point when he asked for her to give things a chance, she'd give in and slip into his lap, but tonight she didn't. He was being stuborn and it was going to cost thier daughter, quite possibly her life. "I'm willing to give it a chance.. but I need you to promise me if this doesn't work, if she doesn't snap out of it.. you'll send the boy away and bring Tripp back."

Scotty's grin returned as Josie's defiance rose. "Send him away? You know how that works, Jo. She marries the kid and it's death-til-they-part, remember? If it doesn't work... which it will... we'll talk about it then, but I think this is case-closed. I'm not promising anything to do with bringing Tripp anywhere near her or this house."

She couldn't help the slap that tried to wipe the grin off his face - did he care so little that he could be amused? "If it doesn't work she'll DIE!" The last word was almost shouted in a growling voice, a mother who needed to protect her child - because Scotty wasn't. "I know how it works and I also know that an empty shell walks around with our daughter's face and you're not willing to do what ever it takes to save her. All you care about is your pride and having it your way. You'd rather our daughter die than give in.. I suppose we can discuss it again as we make her funeral arrangements." There was something in her eyes, as if Scotty had hurt her deeply as if her own heart was breaking which in truth it was. There was nothing more to say and Josie turned away from him, walking out the door without another word. She did not head to thier room as she normally might - even when they disagreed, often they'd make up within hours. This was not like those other times and Josie would not sleep beside him tonight.

[Lovely]

Continues from: No party


He'd gotten Aberto's scent out or at least masked it enough with the repeated sips of sour mash that clouded more than just his sense of smell. Scotty's cheeks had become pink with the heat of the alcohol and he leaned on the desk now more as a means of holding himself up from the floor, not simply thinking and pouting as he'd done for nearly an hour since his brother had left the room. His family hated him. That was the conclusion he'd come to, and that everyone's anger toward him was clouding the fact that Jaime was only trying to get attention by going to the extremes she always had and then some to get what she wanted. "Just like deeeaaar.. ooooold... daaaaaad... thhhthphphphphpppp....," he sputtered over the edge of his glass as he lifted it again against his stuck-out tongue. The glass tipped, then tipped more and he held it out over his tongue, noticing only then that the glass was empty and dry. He slammed it down roughly though not enough to break and reached for the bottle... also empty. He hurled the offensive brown glass across the desk toward the door. Josie still hadn't come back in to see him. Fine, he argued to himself, pushing himself up awkwardly from his chair with the attempt to continue defying gravity - a feat he felt was likely more easily accomplished than defying his wife or his daughter. The bottle hadn't even shattered. "Et tu Bruth-...?" He lisped and mashed the name of Caesar's nemesis, picking up the bottle and staring at it like a Shakespearean skull as if it too had thwarted his attempts to do what he felt was the right thing. He carried the empty bottle with him, forgetting it was in his hand a moment later as he tottered through the halls to find Josie, hoping to just find her asleep.

Josie had left Scotty's office and gone out to the gardens for a short time to try to cool off, it hadn't worked very well. She was furious that her husband was being so stubborn and refused to see what was happening right in front of him. There was no question where thier daughter got her streak from, but even that thought didn't amuse Josie tonight. She ended up in one of the guest rooms on the other end of the house from the room she shared with Scotty, she sent a couple of the maids to fetch her some clothes and her pillows. Jo went so far as to have them change the sheets in her and Scotty's room so that her scent would not be there to comfort him tonight. She had never been so angry with him to leave thier bed, much less thier room and she had no intention of returning so long as he kept hurting thier daughter in the way he was. She probably wouldn't sleep tonight but hoped that Scotty would get the message that she couldn't support him in watching Jaime slowly slip away to nothing.

He moved on instinct toward their room, stumbling once or twice and moving past the maids he didn't think twice about. Josie was on his mind and there was room for little if anything else to get inside his skull past the vapors and the stubborn streak that kept him focused and moving forward. He got the room and frowned, trying to open the door with the hand that held the bottle, realizing that his fingers couldn't manage both, though not having enough sense to let the bottle go. He knocked on the door with it, not that he expected her to open the door and shower him with kisses. He rattle the frog loose from his throat and tried to call out to her. "Jo!! Josie, open the door, honey. Got my hands full," he said, keeping the tone quiet, knowing she could hear him if she was in there. No answer greeted him and he tried again. "Josie? C'mon, just open the door. Oh... okay, I think... I think I got it," he mumbled after a moment, finally putting the bottle under his arm and opening the door. He left the room dark, scanning into the shadows. If she was in here, she was asleep or simply not talking. "I'm okay with not talking." He wasn't okay with not sensing anything else, however. There was no deep breath as she pretended not to hear him and was 'hiding'. There was no movement of covers from her flipping a cold shoulder toward him from their bed. There was no fuming grumble over him stumbling in and stinking of the bottle he carried. "Jo, honey?" He turned to make sure the room was theirs, a mishap that could be forgiven easily an hour ago before he'd even started on this bottle and moreso now. It was clearly their room and he moved slowly to the bed, tipping himself over onto it as he arrived at it quicker than he realized. "Fewer steps haha. Never noticed. Josie...are you asleep?" He chuckled and the scent into his nose smelled of bleach and fabric freshener without Josie's wonderful perfume. He pushed himself across the other side and found no one there to caress or cuddle up to and sweettalk into forgiveness. He nearly fell off the edge of the bed on the opposite side as he moved across. No scent? No Josie. He rolled onto his back, staring upward in the dark.

The maids took care of the bedding and then delivered Josie's things to her new room, a good amount of clothes and some personal items as she wasn't sure how long she'd be staying in here. Once the items were stashed away, she hurried the maids back out of the room, she wanted to be alone. She was growling softly and pacing the floor of a room she really didn't want to be in but would stay in until Scotty came to his senses.

The maids were scurrying past him, he remembered. At this hour? They'd been called... Scotty rocked himself to his side and pushed himself off the bed to try and stand again. The whiskey was wearing off but not enough to go charging into the hall. He staggered a little, lightheaded and off-balance, working his way back to the door like an aged man. He felt aged and beaten at the moment, leaning on the door and trying to determine where the maids were going in the expanse of the house.

One came back around the corner carrying a couple towels to replace those that were taken from the washroom. She was humming to herself and stopped short as she realized the doorway was blocked by the master of the suite.

"Buon journo, Marta," he grinned, though his eyes darted from the towel to the woman who carried the faint scent of his wife's belongings on her sleeves. "Where is she, hm? Josephine?"

[Lovely]

She stepped back a moment, but not from fear as much as the powerful aroma of the man's drink as if he'd been bathing in it. Her nose wrinkled. "She is not in there?" She asked meekly, looking past him and trying to appear as if she knew nothing about his wife's whereabouts. "These are for your bath," she said, holding up the towels and trying to move past him without answering his questions.

His arm blocked the doorway and he stood straighter though he was already taller than the small woman. "Marta...? I know the towels are for my bath. Where is my wife and the towels you took to her?"

Her nose wrinkled again, angry with him and siding with Josie that he was being difficult and mean. He had been drinking and she wanted not to smell him any longer. "She is not sleeping in here," she admitted, folding the towels down over her arm. "She would rather be a guest tonight. You are not sober. Your towels, Mister Veinna," she said, now holding them out to him to take if he would not move.

He grinned wider and took the towels from her. "Go to bed, Marta," he insisted quietly. As she turned and went on her way, Scotty tossed the towels into the room, onto the floor and went in search of his wife in the guest rooms.

Josie had not discussed why she was sleeping in the guest room, this was a private matter between her and Scotty but of course the maids were not dumb and knew well enough that she must be terribly angry with the master of the house to be staying in another room. She considered a bath to try to relax but decided against it as she was far too restless to sit in the tub, instead she continued to pace the floor grumbling to herself about what a mule her husband was.

He stopped at each the guest room doors, leaning a moment to hold himself up but also to test for the scent he was searching for before knocking on every single door and disturbing any true guests, though he didn't recall who, if any, had come by to stay. He stopped longer now at this door and finally knocked, his hand free of bottles, towels and most feeling altogether as the whiskey coursed through him. "Joooooooo... what are you doing in there?"

Beneath the sound of her own quiet growling, she heard the light sound of knocking and the scent that filtered from the hall as he came closer to her door. She stood in the middle of the room as he stood at the door and she glared through the block of wood that seperated them. "Being furious with you." She replied in a normal voice, knowing his feral ears would hear her clearly.

"You need to do that down here? C'mon... open up," he said, disbelieving she was so furious not to let him in. She'd hear his shoulder slump against the door frame. "Jo... you didn't come back. You always come back," he pointed out in a soft pout, his head resting against the wood.

"Yes, I need to do that down here." She didn't move from where she stood, her eyes misted with tears, it hurt her more than she could say to be this far from him physically and emotionally. "You're always stubborn but you always do what's best for our family, for our children.. this time you're going too far and I'm not coming back this time, Scarlatto... I can't.."

"Going too far? Me? You're in the guest room, Jo. I... why?" He was being stubborn? That was it? "I do what's best for our girls and I always will. I talked to her, Jo. She's going through with it.. the wedding."

She finally crossed to the door and yanked it open, her face was full of fury and her eyes gazed sharply on Scotty. "Is she screaming, crying, stamping her feet, cursing you, or promising to torture the groom horribly?" She asked, hopeful that he'd say yes that Jaime was being completely unreasonable, even if she went through with the wedding it wasn't Jaime if there wasn't lashing and taunting.

[Lovely]

He about fell in the door on top of her and scrambled to catch the door frame. He repeated the list in his mind and checked off each one as a lonely, horrible 'no'. "Not exactly," he said, reluctant to say anything conclusive. "She was tired... and quiet."

Josie's hand went up in case she needed to keep him from falling and push him back out the door of the room, she'd opened it but wasn't letting him in. He caught himself and she snatched her hand away, clenching it into a fist. "Not exactly.. more like not at all, right? Have you ever known Jaime to be tired and quiet? She's fought us tooth and nail on the mere thought of an arranged marriage since she was nine years old and realized that's how it worked. Something is seriously wrong with our daughter and it's begun to dangerously effect her health.. marrying her off to a complete stranger is not the answer. We know and love her and we can't reach her.. how is this boy possibly going to help her?"

"He'll help her with a stable, normal life. He'll dote on her and respect her and her family. He'll give her anything she wants and provide for her without scraping or resorting to back alleys and who-knows-what-else. I'm not talking underhanding means and negotiations, but panhandling or whatever else that... that... what'shisname does. Kent has a name and a background.. he's like us, Jo."

"I have only met one man more thick headed than you're being right now.. may he rest in peace. Our daughter doesn't need or want normal.. she's not normal when she's herself! She's vicious and b*tchy! Tripp was a computer consultant and worked for us! Furthermore what the hell do you think this family does if not resorting to who knows what and back alley deals, underhanded means and negotiations?? It's what this damn family was built on! I can't even believe you tried to justify your dislike of Tripp with that.. Kent sounds like a dishrag and I don't want my daughter married to a dishrag! A dishrag will not snap her out of this.. Admit it, this is what you want and you don't really give a shit whether it's what is good for her or not. Kent will kiss your ass and you'll be happy.. our daughter will just continue to disappear."

"Of course I'd be happy, because I'm happy when she's happy and she'll be happy once she gets to know him. That's why she's meeting him tomorrow. I'm happi-ER knowing she's not marrying Tripp who -I- think is a dishrag and treats her like one... a dishrag with attitude and too many ... hands."

"She's nowhere near happy, genius! If you're happy when she's happy then you should be pretty f*cking miserable right about now. What is wrong with you? No one says you have to like Tripp, but I thought you knew our daughter well enough or at least had a clue. What in the world would make you think Jaime would like a nice, normal, rich boy?" Her hands rose in the air with the question and her frustration at how totally blind and stubborn he was being. "How can you even imagine someone who is anything less than rotten would make her happy? Tripp is many things and there are many many negative things I could say about him, but one thing he is not is a dish rag and he never treated our daughter that way. He has been the only person who could handle her. Some sap doting on her won't make her happy now and never would have, she could give shit and deep down you know it! She has all the wealth of our family and can buy anything she wants.. she doesn't care about that." Josie set one hand to the door and the other to her hip, Scotty reaked of alcohol and she was sure it was helping to keep him believing in his little fantasy world but she was done. "You can say anything you like but we both know our daughter and that this marriage is not what she needs. I supported you when you sent Tripp away but i will not support you driving our daughter deeper into the hole she's sinking into. As long as you continue to delude yourself with this Kent idea, I will be sleeping in here. Good night, Scarlatto." She swung the door closed in his face, not caring if it hit him and a small part of her hoped it would - maybe it would knock some sense into him.