The next day they set Alastair down right after a hearty breakfast.
"This must be serious," Alastair joked. "You feed me like a king, so it's clear that you want something from me." Breakfast had been much heartier than usual with ham, bacon and sausage as well as eggs and toast. It had been quite the feast.
Cassia went on to explain how she had met someone on her vacation and soon her brother was sputtering.
"You can't be serious Cassia it was only a fling," Alastair tried to tell his sister.
Cassia sighed exasperated and glared at her brother. "And you are being damn unreasonable little brother," Cassia emphasize the little. "Do you really think I would've mentioned them if I believed it was only a fling? I never would've said a word to you, because I know how damn unreasonable you are when it comes to the men in my life. A true brother would support his sister and not raise constant objections just because he fears us being hurt. Yes I understand that you don't want either Petra or me to possibly get hurt, but on the other hand we deserve a life. Don't you want some nieces and nephews?"
"Well yes," Alastair admitted reluctantly.
"The only way that's gonna happen is if either one of us get married and both of us are smart enough to divorce anyone who abuses us. We are not stupid Alastair so don't patronize Petra and me. We have needs and yet you keep acting like a child every time we even try to have a relationship. We are grownups and while we love you we have every right to get married if we care to and you need to stop acting like a child, since you are 28. Basically, you need to grow up."
"We're gonna stop treating you like a baby," Petra added with a glare of her own. "I, for one, am sick and tired of your attitude. I know that our parents death deeply affected you and I understand you're very protective, but we can take care of ourselves. Like Cassia, I would like to get married one day. It won't be long before I can't have children only a few years."
"I would like you to at least try to get along with Dave and Aaron," Cassia added, "as they'll be here for a visit tomorrow."
"I don't want them here," Alastair said stomping his foot like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
"At this moment I don't particularly care what you want Alastair Jonathan," Cassia told him in a no nonsense tone her voice determined. "Don't make me tell you that I never want to see you again because of your attitude, your childishness.
"You wouldn't," Alastair exclaimed staring at his sister in shock.
"When you act like a baby yes, I would," Cassia told her brother firmly. "You are my brother and I love you. On the other hand, I and Petra deserve a life that doesn't include coddling you like a little boy when you haven't been one for a very long time. I really like these two and I would like to see where it goes and I'm not gonna let my immature brother stop me. Do you understand me Alastair Jonathan? Just because I get involved with Dave and Aaron doesn't mean I don't love you or that I'll abandon you. I'll always love you. I mean for god sake's Alastair, Petra is the oldest one of us and she is rapidly approaching the point where she'll never be able to have children because she'll be too old. Now while she might not want children it should still be her choice and not because her brother doesn't want her to date at all."
"It's high time you learned to look after yourself," Petra added. "While I admit you are mature in most ways this little talk has just proved that you are not mature about this subject. Your usual behavior isn't gonna wash with either Cassia or I. Not anymore."
"At least try to get to know Dave and Aaron while they're here," Cassia requested, but with steel in her tone. "You are to act like a gentleman, none of this petulant behavior."
"And if I don't?" Alistair challenged.
"You know what will happen if you don't Alastair," Cassia told him rolling her eyes at her bother's pretend denseness. "Then I will never speak to you again and while I don't want to I will go that route if I must, as I deserve to be happy and not be held back by a brother who should be happy for his sister who might have actually found love. I really think I do love Dave and Aaron as my feelings are a lot stronger for the two of them then they were for any other man I dated. You'll never get to see your nieces or nephews when they arrive if you don't get your act together. Petra can come and visit us when we have children while you will be excluded."
Alastair sighed and nodded in compliance after grumbling quite a bit. He couldn't win and he knew it. His sisters did deserve to be happy and although he would probably never be comfortable with them being married he knew it had to happen eventually. Besides, Cassia had been serious about cutting off all communications with him, which was her way of telling him that she really was attracted to this Dave and Aaron. She probably even loved them, though he didn't understand how you could fall in love in just a couple of weeks. He supposed some people were like that.
He really had been acting like a brat on this subject at least ever since his parents death and his sisters had apparently had enough of his behavior. Even his older sister had finally put her foot down and had lost her patience with him something that had never happened before. He supposed he was gonna have to try to shape up.
"I'll try," Alastair promised.
"That's all we ask, little brother," Petra said.
Their conversation with their brother had actually gone better then either sister had expected. Now they just hoped that Alastair kept his promise.
~~~Dave, Sabella, Aaron, Cassia~~~
"Welcome Dave, welcome Aaron, welcome Sabella," Cassia greeted the three with hugs for the three of them and kisses for Dave and Aaron. "I'm so glad you're here."
"We are certainly glad we're here," Aaron grinned, as he kissed Cassia quite thoroughly making her blush prettily.
"Save that for later you rascal my sister is just in the kitchen down the hall and around the corner," Cassia told them.
"So how did everything go," Dave inquired.
"Better than I expected with Petra," Cassia said. "My brother is another matter. As you know, my brother is as stubborn as they come, but Petra and I finally put our feet down on his behavior. We've always just put up with it when it came to us settling down but Petra actually lost her patience with him for the first time ever. She usually has endless patience. I believe it was because she wants to settle down to without her brother putting up obstacles."
"I would've lost my patience, if I had a brother, long since," Sabella said speaking for the first time.
"Yeah, I probably would have too if not for the extenuating circumstances. We both understood how our parents death affected him deeply. Of course it affected Petra and I too, but in a different way," Cassia admitted. "Petra had so many responsibilities after our parents died, as she was the executor of their will, that Alastair kind of got lost in all the hubbub that happened when you're reordering your life, taking care of a lot of little details. Hopefully, that's over with and Alastair will start acting normally at least when it comes to that one particular subject. We're just gonna have to wait and see. I know not all men in their 20s are completely mature, but on the other hand, he's nearly 30 so he should've measured by now."
"That is the truth, as I know I wasn't as mature in my 20s as I am now," Dave said. "I also didn't have your brother's hangups.
"Which was a very long time ago for you," Aaron teased him.
"For both of you," Sabella said quietly.
"Petra our guests are here," Cassia told her sister from the kitchen doorway.
"I know. I heard you coming down the hall," Petra said, as she turned away from what she was doing.
"It's nice to meet you," Petra said shaking each of their hands firmly. "I'm Petra Jasperson."
"Nice to meet you too," Dave said taking the lead. "We're always happy to meet members of Cassia's family."
The similarities between the sisters could not be denied as they had the same red hair and the same color eyes. They also shared similar figures, except Petra was a little bit taller. Petra's hair was also longer, way past the shoulders while Cassia kept hers several inches shorter. Both young women were very beautiful and would've had numerous offers from men if they had been at all interested.
"Lunch is almost ready if you're hungry," Petra said. "It will give us a chance to chat, get to know each other."
Petra tried not to blush as Cassia had been right as both men were incredibly handsome and Sabella was a very beautiful woman with a shining mass of brown hair with natural blonde highlights and eyes as blue as the sky.
"Sounds good," Aaron offered smiling at Petra.
"So where is Alastair?" Cassia asked.
"Who knows where our brother is," Petra said rolling her eyes to show she was rather frustrated with him. "He left without telling either one of us where he was going or at least leaving a note. I haven't seen him at all this morning actually. I think he's hiding."
"Well he's an adult, supposedly anyway," Cassia said. "He can do what he wants. He'll come home when he's hungry."
"It's rude to leave without even leaving a note," Sabella offered.
"Alastair is dealing with a lot, as we did just talk to him yesterday about acting like an adult at least where it concerns his sisters. I suspect that he left so he didn't have to deal with you right away," Petra suggested calmly. "He wants things to stay as they are, to not change, but also understands that we deserve lives, to get married and so forth eventually. Believe me, I'm not condoning his behavior but lecturing him doesn't do any good as he's just to stubborn. I thought we had finally gotten through to him when we talked, but apparently not."
"I told these three how much trouble Alastair was probably going to be," Cassia said.
"She did," Dave said.
"We understand that your parents died when he was only 14," Sabella added. "Really that's too young to lose both your parents in one fell swoop. Some though just rise up in mature when they lose a loved one like that, others want to regress to be childish"
"Some people handle the death or deaths of loved ones better than others do," Aaron said knowingly.
"I have to agree on how young my brother was. Really, Cassia wasn't much older, but she handled it better than Alastair did," Petra said.
"I believe all of you were too young to lose both your parents, but it happens that way a lot of times and at least you, Petra, weren't underage so you could look after your siblings and not have to go to one of your relatives or into foster care," Dave said.
"Going to our aunt and uncle wouldn't have been too bad, as they love us and would've looked after us at least until I was 18," Petra said.
"Luckily, it didn't happen that way," Cassia said. "Since Petra was of age, even if she was young, that responsibility fell to her and no authority could say different, not so long as we were financially solvent and since our parents left us everything that wasn't a problem."
The doorbell rang then and everybody looked at each other. "Expecting anyone?" Cassia asked her sister and Petra shook her head negatively. "I have no idea who it could be. I suppose it could be one of our neighbors."
"Well, I suppose we better go answer the door then," Cassia sighed.
Everyone trailed after the sisters from the kitchen curious to see who it was.
Petra opened the door to see a policeman standing there. "How can I help you officer?"
"Are you Petra Jasperson?"
"Why yes, I am and you are?" Petra inquired politely, even as she led the officer inside.
"I am Colin Fairweather."
"What can I do for you Officer?" Petra inquired. "I mean we don't usually have police showing up at our door.
"I am here about your brother Alastair."
"What has my brother done?" Cassia who had come into the room asked. "Oh, sorry, let me introduce myself. I'm Cassia Jasperson older sister to Alastair."
"It's nice to meet you ma'am," Colin said shaking Cassia hand. "As for your brother he got involved in a bar fight. He was way over the legal limit and while he wasn't the one that started it..."
"So do we need to bail our brother out of jail?" Petra asked Colin with a rather resigned expression.
"Not this time, as we just let him sleep off his drunkenness, since he didn't start it," Colin explained. "It helps that he has no previous record so this is a first offense."
"So you're basically telling us this is strike one," Cassia said in an exasperated tone.
"Basically yes," Colin agreed.
"I'm sorry about this," Petra told the handsome cop who looked only a few years older than herself. She barely stopped herself from blushing, as the officer was just so handsome and it would be just her luck if he was married. "Our brother has never been quite the same since our parents died when he was 14."
"He's mostly very mature, except when it comes to his sisters dating and possibly getting married. He was so young when our parents passed away that I think he's afraid of being abandoned," Cassia explained. "I suspect that the talk we had with him just the other day is the cause of his drunkenness."
"And this talk?" Collin inquired politely.
"I met someone on my vacation," Cassia explained calmly. "I invited them to visit so they could meet my family. Petra and I had a little talk with him, asked him to be on his best behavior, as his attitude towards either of us dating at all is rather lackluster to say the least. Unfortunately, he doesn't like us to get involved with any man, as he doesn't want things to change. We explained to him, that we had a right to date, get married and have families. We thought he had accepted that I might just get married in the near future, but apparently he decided to get drunk instead."
"We probably should have seen this coming," Petra sighed looking at her sister with a serious, resigned expression. "We both know how he is about either one of us dating, much less getting married. That is not going to change overnight."
"I suppose it was too much to expect for him to just accept that I had fallen in love," Cassia said her expression exasperated. "I've put my life on hold for years partly because of Alastair, though that's not the only reason of course."
"So do we need to go pick him up?" Petra inquired of Colin.
"No, he's out in my car, so you can just bring him inside," Colin explained. "He can't get out without me unlocking the locks of the back door."
"We better go help you with him then," Petra sighed and Cassia nodded.
"I suppose we should, though right now, I'm rather upset with him," Cassia said.
"So am I," Petra agreed her expression grim.
"I really can't blame either of you for being mad at your brother," Colin said. "What he did was stupid, but on the other hand, some people just don't accept change very easily. I would suggest that you have a talk with him and inform him there could be serious consequences for his actions next time, like possible prison time."
"We will," Petra promised. "He was lucky that he wasn't hurt during that bar fight. He so easily could've got a knife in his belly or several broken bones at least."
"He so easily, could've ended up in the hospital," Cassia added shaking her head. "Alastair isn't usually that stupid."
"He must really be upset about you dating, because he usually not one to drink until he's actually drunk," Petra said.
"He needs to get over it," Cassia said. "It's not that I am unsympathetic, but I can't remain single for the rest of my life just to make him happy. I mean I could, but why should I? Doing such a thing would only make me miserable."
Colin unlocked the back door from the front seat and the ladies opened the door to see their brother sitting there looking miserable, probably because had a vicious headache if his pinched expression was anything to go by. "Alastair Jonathan Jasperson you are in so much trouble," Petra told her brother firmly her expression furious.
Alastair looked at his older sister and saw how mad she was and winced, as he couldn't blame her. He had been so miserable at the thought of his sister getting involved with anyone those feelings of abandonment had just reared up within him that he had gone and gotten stinking drunk, just to avoid his sister's guests. He knew deep down that his sister wasn't really abandoning him, but it felt like it. Logic however, didn't help his feelings.
"Thank you very much officer for bringing our brother home," Cassia told Colin shaking his hand in farewell. "We'll try to talk some sense into him."
"It was my pleasure ma'am," Colin said politely before he started the engine of his police cruiser and disappeared down the driveway.
~~~Dave, Sabella, Aaron, Cassia~~~