WHO: Ophelia Wilkes and Ioan Llewellyn
WHAT: Siblings talk about important matters
WHERE: Llewellyn home
WHEN: Beeeefore Ophelia and Grayson's thread
Ioan’s home was so very comfortable.
She’d always thought that her brother had made a nice home when he settled down with Caitlin, but Ophelia could really appreciate it now. Steaming cup of tea warming her hands, she looked around the mid-sized kitchen at all of the little personal touches; the messy drawings on the fridge, the wind chimes clinking outside the window over the sink, the not-quite tidiness of some remaining dishes on the counter... It was just... it was comfortable. It was lived in, inviting, and warm.
She supposed that, having had her own flat for only three months now, one could not expect that it would look the same. Even back at the manor, though, she had never felt quite this at home with a space, especially one which wasn’t her own. Ophelia would have liked for Dmitry and Anya to grow up in such a place, rather than a small, temporary residence or a vast, cold estate with no real character or life to it.
First, however, she should have been figuring out just how temporary her current situation was, before she began calling in the interior designers. That was the rather sizable problem that had been weighing on her for the past several months--on top of which sat the problem of having no idea when said problem would be resolved. She knew what Ioan would say, but something had been nagging at her to speak with him nonetheless. Now that they had returned from the day at the park and the children were all upstairs in dreamland, it seemed like the perfect time.
“You’ll have to remind me to wake Dmitry and Anastasiya before it gets to be too late,” she said, drawing her eyes to where her brother stood at the stove. “It will be terribly inconvenient if they won’t go to sleep tonight.”
Ioan had become an expert at tiring out children. And the best part was that they didn’t ever figure out the reasons behind his scheming, behind his great desire to let them run around for hours and not ever force them to stop until they decided to. It all worked brilliantly, even for Matteo who could barely keep up with his siblings and cousins. Ioan lifted his mug of tea in a toast from across the kitchen, nodding in agreement that while this afternoon nap was a nice break, it would be more than frustrating to get the kids to sleep tonight when there were things to be done tomorrow.
He pushed off the stove and dropped down into a seat on the opposite end of the table than Ophelia. Ioan was trying very, very hard to keep his nose out of his sister’s business because she was an adult who had a husband and children; she should be able to do what was right for her family. She was doing what was right, because that home with Grayson Wilkes was not a place to raise a family. Ioan felt like a paranoid nut when he ranted about how creepy and strange the man was to his wife, but the evidence of his madness just kept piling up, and that was only what Ioan saw---he couldn’t imagine what the man was like behind the closed doors of their home.
“Do they ask about him?” Ioan took a drink, his eyes shooting upwards to indicate the children, and Ophelia would know who the ‘him’ in question was. It was the best way he could think to start this unwanted conversation.
Well, she hadn’t been expecting Ioan to be the one to start things off, but it would have been a lie to say she was not thankful for the segue. Truthfully, she herself didn’t know what to say when it came to talking to her brother about her husband. The relationship between the two men had been bad from the beginning, and had only gotten worse throughout the years. While there was certainly less actual violence taking place, the feelings that built themselves up through continued encounters (and of course Grayson’s penchant for doing things to purposely upset Ioan didn’t help) were constant and got heavier as the years passed.
The most recent turn of events of course had simply been another--although much larger than usual--stoking of the fire.
Ophelia pursed her lips together. The problem was, she didn’t know these days whether she wanted to continue attempting to convince Ioan that her husband was not as bad as he believed, or let out the frustrations she was feeling, effectively fueling the flames further.
“Well, Anya misses him, although she can’t properly say so,” she began. “But she has been a Daddy’s girl since the moment he first held her.”
And then there was... “Dmitry, on the other hand, I can’t read properly.” After all, the situation between father and son was so complex, and the boy was barely three; it was hard to tell. “He never was able to become attached to him enough to miss him, but he does ask at times why we no longer live all together.”
Ioan listened carefully, trying to keep his face neutral and to maintain his composure. Grayson, as much as Ioan had been opposed to his romance with Ophelia, had never put her in harms way. Or, from what Ioan knew, Ophelia had never felt to be in danger. These past few months however, Ioan had only wondered what had caused his sister to leave that house---Finally, he’d think, but the fear of actually knowing why Ophelia had left Grayson had him more than nervous and concerned. Ophelia had been so sure about her love for the man, and the way she spoke now still showed some of that, but...had she been scared away? What had scared her away?
“And what about you?” he asked, letting out a breath, “Have you gone to see him? You know I’m always going to trust your judgment so I can’t help but wonder...”
He was a big brother, he’d always be her big brother, first and foremost, and as much as Ioan would love to tell his little sister what to do, he was going to have to find a way to support the changes and decisions she made in her life.
She felt a familiar pang in her heart at Ioan’s question. The terrible guilt she felt at having taken Grayson’s children away from him and not yet bringing them back--even once--to visit with their father was something that she could only feel wholly fine about when she didn’t think of it at all. She may not have felt that it was safe or wise to keep the children around him, but he was their father... and as fearful as she might have been near the end that harm would come to them, it hadn’t. All the topic did was make her wonder if she was really keeping the children to herself for no good reason.
That was dangerous thinking, she knew. But she couldn’t help it--too large of a part of her still loved and trusted the man she had married.
“The kids haven’t seen him, and neither have I,” she answered after a long breath. “I have spoken with him shortly, but only over journals... and only because I’ve been trying to get him to allow me to adopt Dmitry.”
Suddenly the dark liquid swirling in her cup seemed very interesting. “Just in case.”
“Oy.”
Ioan rubbed his forehead. He’d wanted to hear those words forever, he had wanted Ophelia to leave Grayson since the beginning of this insane match, but now that it might actually be happening he felt nothing short of terrible. His sister obviously loved the man, his insanities and all, so to see her hurt pained him greatly but... “He’s had a very rough year.”
He stopped for a moment, choosing whether or not to once again voice his concerns about what he believed Grayson’s ‘extracurricular’ activities may have been. It would not be a good time to fight with Ophelia about her husband being a death eater when he didn’t have any solid evidence outside of the man being ridiculously creepy, “The murder of his brother must have hurt him deeply.”
Ioan hadn’t known Amery Wilkes very well, but from the family dinners that he’d attended, he seemed the sanest and most sensible of the Wilkes siblings. A jolt like that to a family, especially your only brother, could really shatter a person’s spirit.
The words coming out of Ioan’s mouth were so unbelievable that Ophelia’s head nearly shot up.
She never thought she would live to see the day when her brother actually sympathised with Grayson, much less tried to see things from his point of view in the first place. She raised her brow for a moment, watching Ioan carefully and wondering when the ‘but...’ was going to come. When it didn’t, she could hardly believe it.
Not that she was complaining. Maybe she would get some not-so-one-sided advice from Ioan for once. She could certainly use it right about now. Then again, would telling him what all had made her walk out ruin his momentary lack of bias?
“He has, he’s had a really tough time of it,” she said carefully, taking a slow sip of the tea and watching her brother over the rim of her mug. “Since Amery died” --and He Who Must Not Be Named fell-- “he just hasn’t been the same. He keeps everything to himself, barely speaks, and when he does speak and act, it’s completely unpredictable. The rest of the time, it seems like he can barely tell what day it is.”
It hurt her to think about it. If it hadn’t been for the children being there, Ophelia would have still been around, trying to help him, and she couldn’t help but feel--like Juliana insisted--that she had abandoned him. “He’s not himself and it’s not his fault, but I was too worried for the kids... and I don’t know what to do for him.”
If Grayson were a normal man, Ioan would suggest therapy, or a conselor or----something along those lines. But Grayson was not a normal man, and Ioan was long past the point of honestly caring about his well-being. Could Ophelia see some sort of solution to her husband’s depression? His sister was head-strong, he would never have guessed that she would leave her home with Grayson unless something terrible had happened, but she was amazingly calm. She must know, for sure, then, that there was nothing within her power to fix the problems that lay before Grayson. Ioan wondered what had caused her to finally lose hope.
“Depression can take its toll...” he mused out loud. It was difficult, trying to play this part. Ioan wanted Ophelia to come to the idea that leaving Grayson for good was the best for her and the children, because the second he suggested it he knew that she would run right back to him. The man was a monster and---- “But until he gets help you’re right in taking the children out of that environment.”
What else could he say? She was out of the house and hadn’t been back, it was a start. He had to support her efforts right now so that she could continue down this road. He loved his niece and nephew and would never hold the grudge he had against their father against them, but Grayson was never a welcomed member into the Llewellyn home.
“You should absolutely bring them over more often,” Ioan said with a smile, trying to at least make this ordeal seem like it could have a positive outcome. “Keeps everyone busy and happy.”
Ophelia ran a hand back through her hair and let out a long breath. She knew that taking the kids out of the house was for the best, but it felt good to hear it said. When she sat alone at home, thinking about all of the things she wished she had done differently, thinking about all the things she wished had turned out differently, it was hard at times to believe in her decision. So she appreciated someone saying it.
Although she was fairly certain that Ioan just wanted her to give it up and divorce him already, she appreciated that he was trying to not just out and say so. While she loved her brother and appreciated him when he was standing up for her (even if she was too frustrated to say so at the time), she loved him even more when he acted fairly sensibly about the whole thing.
Then again, she had moved out. That had to count for something in his book.
Cracking a small smile despite herself, she nodded at his suggestion. “Definitely, we’ll have to have them all together again soon,” she said. “For now, though, I think I had better get my two home. Anya’s going to be a terror tonight if she sleeps much longer.”
