Mentally, Braxton rolled his eyes while his mother doled out instructions to his siblings. Of course his mother saw the gesture because he'd purposefully waited for her to look his way and see him. He flashed her a wolfish grin when she glared, frowning at him with her usual disapproval. "I could just drop my drawers . That'd leave a BIG impression. " Braxton snickered. That comment earned him a sharp elbow in his side and the death glare from his wife. He sighed and readjusted his collar , making it sit crooked. He wasn't about to let the women control him entirely this night; He was a real rebel!
"Well, if that's all it takes then ,by all means, do have at it, Janette," Leanna muttered in reply to Ma's instructions of behavior to her unruly sister-in-law.
Braxton tried not to laugh.
While his mother continued to fuss, Braxton's patience was quickly wearing thin. He was a moment's breath from losing his temper and telling his mother to go upstairs and let them all be on their way when , thankfully, Redley interrupted (and a lot more tactfully than his own fiery temper would have allowed !) .
As soon as she was gone , Braxton heaved a sigh of relief, "For a moment I thought she was going to change her mind and tell us that she was coming with us." It really wouldn't have surprised him because he knew that she counted on him screwing up somehow! "Hey, does anyone think that if I bribed someone with half the Treyburn inheritance, that they'd marry Janette?" He jested.
"Braxton!" She didn't like Janette, but that was terrible a thing to say! She smacked his shoulder.
"Oh come on ,honey bear. I was just kidding. "Sort of, but not really!
Leanna narrowed her eyes at him, her glowering expression clearly conveying that she wasn't susceptible to believing his lies.
Braxton heard the door open and in stepped a peculiar looking man in the most ridiculous and girlish of costumes he'd ever seen. While Illi thought the stranger may have been a dreamboat, Braxton was eyeing this man up suspiciously. He moved away from the other Treyburns and went to intercept the newcomer who introduced himself.
"Yeah, great. Fantastic. I'd say that it was nice meeting you too, Ezekiel, but I'm not really that fond of random strangers just inviting themselves into my home without , you know, seeking my permission first." He then closed the gap between them and was standing just a couple inches away from the stranger, scrutinizing their face with his steely blue eyes, " I feel as though we've met somewhere before." It wasn't a question. No. He knew he'd met this person, but the given name was either lost to memory, which he doubted or false.
But there were questions in his mind and the circumstances as well as the explanation were a red flag. There was one possibility in his mind that made sense, but he kept those thoughts internal for now.
He backed away ," Heh. So be it, Mister Enigmatic. Just don't give me any trouble this evening. "
((Damn. I had meant to delete the first word in my post as I had changed my mind about the eyerolling. As old as he is , Braxton would no longer care whether mother saw or not. ))
