Work Text:
December 21st, London
Snow in London was predicted for this Christmas, and Renfield was grateful for it. It would be his daughter Guinevere's eighteenth birthday on Christmas Eve, and living in Louisiana left her feeling much deprived of something more whimsical. Over the years, a real winter was getting harder and harder to come by in the United States, and while things weren't much better in England, it still felt like a safer bet for a potential Winter Wonderland.
This wasn't the Renfield family's first time in London, but it would be their first winter vacation there. Teddy had purchased a summer home in Knightsbridge five years ago, but with their children being mostly grown, it wasn’t utilized nearly as much by the whole family as Robert had hoped. Maximillian and Mortimer secretly (and infamously) threw a rager at the residence on their twenty-first birthday without him or Teddy knowing about it for nearly two weeks after receiving complaints of garbage and broken glass around the premises – making the whole neighborhood allegedly look 'unkempt and downtrodden.' Teddy had threatened to put it back on the market, but Robert had talked him out of it. Since then, it has mostly been smooth sailing with the property.
Robert was sipping tea out on the balcony, his winter coat over his pajamas. It was only 6:00 a.m., but he couldn't sleep in. Mortimer, Theodore, and Guinivere were already at the establishment. Having spent the past few days at his fiancé's house, Maximillian would arrive tomorrow morning, and the jury was out if Victoria would even bother to show up.
He was hoping against hope she’d make an appearance. Even if only for a day.
He feels Teddy’s arms wrap around his athletic frame. ‘Aren’t you cold?’
He nods. ‘Yes, but I’m enjoying it. Why aren’t you sleeping?’
Teddy shrugs. ‘I dunno, uneasy, I guess. Gwinnie hasn’t seemed like herself.’
'She's still reeling from heartbreak, I'm afraid.'
Guinivere’s girlfriend had broken up with her at the beginning of her senior year.
‘That was months ago.’
‘Teenage heartbreak has a tendency to last longer than its expiration date.’
‘But she’d been doing okay.’ Argues Teddy.
‘The holidays can make one wistful…’
The familiar knows wistfulness all too well. It’s permanently entrenched in his bones.
Teddy squeezes Robert closer to him because he knows saying things ‘ain’t always that deep’ would be dumb as fuck in that moment.
Robert smiles sadly. He puts his hand on top of his husband's, 'Let's go back inside, love.'
-
December 22nd
Twenty-five-year-old Mortimer picks his twin up from the airport. The cold winter wind is blowing, and the snow is starting to fall. Mortimer catches a flake in his tattooed hand and smiles as his 6'2 tall, brown-eyed, slightly more clean-cut-looking doppelganger approaches and pulls him in for a hug.
‘Long time, no see.' Maximillian pulls away. 'You're lookin' good, bro.'
Mortimer smiles. 'Thanks, man. How’s Maggie?’
‘Oh man, it was a good time at her place.’ Maxmillian almost wishes he had stayed with his fiancé but quickly pushes the thought away. ‘So, is everything okay so far?’
‘For the most part. Probably because Victoria hasn’t arrived yet.’
Maximillian has a hard time believing she’ll be making an appearance. ‘She hasn’t celebrated Christmas or Gwinnie’s birthday in what? Three years.’
'She'll be here.' Mortimer says with absolute certainty
‘Why are you so sure?’
Mortimer gestures all around. ‘Cause it’s Christmas in London.’
Maximillian shrugs, not fully getting what his twin is trying to insinuate.
‘It’s a great opportunity to ruin things.’
Maximillian gets it now. ‘Ah yeah…. yeah, you’re probably right.’
Mortimer starts to chuckle. ‘You know I’m right. Seriously, when is she ever not a miserable cunt from outer space?’
The twins burst into laughter as they got into the family car. Snow swirling all around. Trouble lingering in the air.
-
Seventeen-year-old (soon to be eighteen) Guinevere wakes up late to the sound of her brothers’ laughing downstairs. She had taken an Ativan the night before just to calm her nerves, but it always knocks her out instead – which was honestly even better.
This hadn’t been the plan at all. She had hoped this would be her first holiday in London with her high school sweetheart, Alexis. She had talked up the trip to her a week before she got dumped. It was still technically summer, and her fathers had already made plans to celebrate her birthday abroad. Apparently, her enthusiasm to take her girlfriend overseas had triggered some sort of commitment issue or a realization that maybe she just wasn’t that into her enough for such an adventure. Love really sucks sometimes.
Thankfully, she had her brother Theodore to keep her somewhat grounded. The relatively mild-mannered but self-assured twenty-one-year-old had always been protective of his little sister. He towered over the rest of the family at 6’5. And while all the Renfield brothers looked more like Robert than Teddy, Theodore was the closest in resemblance. If it weren’t for the dark brown eyes, he would almost be interchangeable with the British man.
Guinivere hears a soft knock on her door. She recognizes the gentle knock.
‘Just checking in.’ Theo says through the door.
She rubs her face and sits up, still groggy. ‘I’m alright. I’ll be down soon.’
Silence.
'I really am okay. I'm a little down; I'm not suicidal.'
‘Yes, I know this, Gwinnie.’
‘Okay, well, I don't need the constant wellness checks from everyone.'
‘Noted.’
‘I don’t mean to sound so pissy. I just need a minute.’
Theo sighs. ‘Sure. Of course.’
Guinevere doesn’t fully get up until she’s certain his presence is no longer behind the door.
‘Fuck me.’ She mutters to herself as she looks in the mirror, hair disheveled, eyes still a little swollen from the previous night’s crying.
Guinevere was the only Renfield child that came close to resembling Teddy with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, pale skin, and slightly long nose. Her siblings teased her with the nickname ‘Princess Guinevere’ due to her petite frame (at 5'4, she was the smallest member of her tall family), sensitive nature, and the fact that she had been spoiled growing up due to the age gap between her and her siblings. Her fathers had overcompensated in the gift department when she was a child, worried she was lonelier than her siblings. Luckily, she came out of it with little sense of entitlement. Heartbreak aside, she was quite excited to be turning eighteen. She was planning to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s dance program next year. It was nice to have something to look forward to. It’ll help her get through the rest of her dreary senior year. Who knows, maybe she’d even meet her future wife at college. The hopeless romantic in her as alive as ever despite the current heartbreak still weighing on her spirit.
‘Life is but a nightmare.’ She whispers to herself while brushing her long hair.
-
Theodore quietly goes back downstairs to his rowdy older brothers. Mortimer is already drinking, and it isn’t even noon. Cool. Victoria also texted him last night that she’ll be arriving tomorrow. Cool.
This is gonna be a fuckin’ mess. He thinks while pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Maximillan swings his arm over his taller little brother’s shoulder. ‘You look troubled.’
‘I am.’ He sips his coffee. ‘Victoria’s coming tomorrow.’
‘Told ya so!’ Mortimer shouts from the living room.
Renfield takes the glass of whiskey out of Mortimer's hand and dumps it in the sink. ‘I think you’ve had enough this morning.’
Mortimer groans. 'Come ON, dad! It's the holiday! Loosen up a little…’
Renfield is displeased. 'Theo, please pour your brother some coffee.’
‘Sure thing.’
Robert tries not to feel too hopeful about the prospect of his daughter showing up. ‘Do you know when her flight comes in?’ he asks Theo.
His youngest son shrugs. 'She said she'd just get a cab at the airport, ' he takes another sip of his cup. 'I did offer to pick her up, though.'
Mortimer falls back on the couch. ‘So much for a happy holiday.’
‘That’s enough of that kind of talk.’ Renfield commands sternly. ‘We hardly ever get to see your sister. We all know she has her struggles. There’s no need to belabor the point.’
Teddy waltzes in, still in his pajamas, wearing his husband’s oversized bathrobe, and kisses his husband on the cheek. ‘Yup, you guys gotta listen to your dad on this.’
‘I just don’t get why we have to constantly adapt to her.’ Maximillian states plainly. ‘She never has to make the effort.’
‘It’s because she’s a fuckin’ sociopath.’ Mortimer half-slurs into the couch pillow.
Theodore puts a hot cup of coffee in Mortimer’s face. ‘Here, drink this and shut up before dad eats a bug and murders you.’
Teddy nods. 'Listen, your brother Morty.'
Mortimer begrudgingly takes the coffee mug and gets up. 'I’m over this noise. I’m drinking this shit in my room.’
‘And maybe drink some water while you’re at it.’ Teddy suggests as Mortimer storms by.
Ten minutes later, Pig Destroyer blasts from his bedroom.
Between Mortimer’s drinking and Victoria’s most likely clinical sociopathy (the child psychologist seemed reluctant to give an official diagnosis but noted she had 'antisocial tendencies'), this entire trip could be a massive disaster in the making. Renfield starts to wring his hands and wrists nervously. He couldn't bear it if this further dampened Guinevere's mood. Perhaps this was a miscalculation on his part.
Teddy whispers in his ear. 'It'll be alright, babe.'
It won’t. Thinks Theodore, but he knows how his dad is. Constantly (and understandably) fretting over this bizarre gothic mess of a family. He had done his best over the years not to add to the stress. He vaguely remembers being a disturbed young toddler, but by the time he had started elementary school, he had his psychology sorted out – not by therapy, but by quiet observation. Victoria had already started becoming a problem. He made the executive decision to be as unproblematic as possible.
It hadn’t been hard for Theodore as he quickly became popular for his kind eyes, handsome features, and friendly disposition. Things came naturally for him. It had been a sweet relief for Robert and Teddy. One child they didn’t have to worry excessively about. The twins had a penchant for partying and getting too carried away, Victoria had her antisocial challenges, and Guinivere was sweet but hypersensitive and gravitated towards girls who seemed like walking trouble, mirroring his own lovesick addictions to bad men.
Of course, not worrying about Theodore was also a worry in and of itself. He hopes his youngest son never felt neglected.
Maximillian furrows his brow in concern. After graduating college, he and his twin started to drift apart, which was partly normal but also due to diverging paths/interests. Maximillian met his fiancé in his senior year at college, and suddenly, being high and drunk all the time seemed unappealing. Mortimer begged to differ.
Even now, he’d still beg to differ.
Maximillian makes a mental note – I should check in with him more.
-
Victoria covers the marks on her arms with a foundation that’s close enough to her actual bronze skin tone. The twenty-three-year-old had just become a certified phlebotomist – she had been practicing taking blood on herself. She was quite good at it, but now she was covered in markings that would look a little suspicious. She normally wouldn't care if people thought she was a junkie, but it was different with her so-called 'family.' Everything was an issue to fret about. Especially with Renfield, but Lobo wasn't much better, Victoria thought ruefully. She had difficulty seeing these ageless men as her actual parents. In her mind, they were playing house and nothing more. She hadn’t spoken to them in a little over a year.
She tosses the makeup-covered q-tip in the waste bin. She knows she’ll have to reapply the makeup at the airport, but the pre-trip trial run seems convincing enough. She’ll be taking the red-eye flight to London later that night. She can never sleep on an airplane, so she decides to shove her suitcase off her bed and collapse for a late afternoon power nap. Black curtains cover the windows in her sparse studio apartment. The walls are gray, and the kitchen table is covered with medical books and journals. She usually just ate on her bed. As abysmal as these surroundings were, this small desolate space felt more like a home than the Victorian house she grew up in ever did. She moved out the day after she graduated high school and never looked back. She had gotten an overnight custodian job at a hospital in Avondale.
Now, she'll be drawing blood at that very same hospital.
A rare smile crosses her face as she still weighs the option of even going to London.
She really didn’t want to lose this smile. Well, she won’t give her family the satisfaction of taking her rare joy away. She knows they'll do it under the guise of 'concern.' They always do.
-
Later that night, Maximillian and Mortimer go to a local bar while Theodore and Guinivere play checkers with ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ playing quietly in the background.
'You could have gone out with them,' Guinevere says while analyzing the checkerboard.
Theo shakes his head. ‘Nah, you need an older brother who isn’t gonna be a hungover trainwreck this holiday.’
She laughs. 'They're fuckin' nuts, aren't they?'
‘I think Mort can be a bad influence on Max sometimes.’
‘Well, I think he can be a bad influence on everyone. It's not all his fault, though. When they get together, they become weirdly dysfunctional and co-dependent on each other.’
Theo is ambivalent about the observation ‘I guess that’s twins for ya.’
Guinivere nods. ‘Well, thanks for stickin’ around.’
Theo smiles and shrugs. ‘Well, thanks for not being annoying.’
They chuckle with a sad and subdued understanding.
-
December 23rd, 1:00 a.m.
Renfield couldn't sleep, so Teddy made quiet love to him in the shower to soothe his nerves. Teddy knows not to take for granted that his husband is perpetually pristine – even after all these years, he's still as beautiful as ever. Athletic frame unchanged, with the exception of faded stretch marks from carrying their five children. Moans is still hot as fuck, even when he has to cover his mouth. The kids are grown, but they still don’t need to hear their dads fucking.
‘It’s going to be okay, babe.’ Teddy says to Robert, for what feels like the eighty-billionth time, they’re back in bed, hair still damp, eyes still slightly hazy from orgasm.
'How do you do it? After all these years, I still can't quite figure it out.’
'I don't do much of anything, babe.'
‘Yes, you do. How on earth do you put up with me and my unrelenting neurosis?’
‘Probably because I don’t even know what that means.’ Teddy jokes.
Renfield suppresses the urge to laugh. ‘I’m serious.’
‘You know I don't have the ability to answer that in a serious way, hon.’
‘I suppose I know this…I was just genuinely curious.’
‘Do you not want me to put up with it?’ sometimes Teddy wonders if his husband is trying to push him out the fuckin’ door with these kinda questions.
‘It’s not that – it’s just-’
Both men are suddenly startled by a loud door slam and a drunken groan from downstairs.
Robert sighs. ‘Oh yes, the boys are back home. Hadn’t realized they had stayed out this late.’
‘Hope they’re not too wasted.’
‘We both know that is highly unlikely.’
‘They get it from me – the drunken fuckery.’ A guilty look crosses Teddy’s face.
‘Hey.’ Robert says softly – now it’s his turn to soothe his husband’s insecurities. ‘Don't think like that, love. You've been a wonderful father.’
‘They still have my genetics.’
‘They’re good kids. They just have a penchant for excess.’
‘Just like me.’
‘And you’re good as well, my love.'
Teddy inches closer and kisses his husband on the forehead. 'So are you, ya know.'
Renfield feels like they’re stuck in an ageless field, something that remains beautiful as everything around it deteriorates and falls apart – their own children included.
The two men hear a loud banging noise and an ‘OW! FUCK!’ from the kitchen.
Teddy rolls his eyes. ‘I’ll see if he’s okay.’ He kisses his husband’s forehead again before heading downstairs.
Robert thinks he won’t be able to fall asleep until he gets back. He sighs and pulls the covers over his head.
Teddy finds Maximillian rubbing his banged-up knee, wincing slightly at the pain.
‘You, okay?’ Teddy asks while pulling a water bottle out of the fridge and placing it on the counter for his son.
Maximillian doesn’t answer out of fear of slurring his words too much. He hadn’t drank like this in a minute. He should have just stayed with his fiancé. Life was just better with her.
‘Where’s your brother?’
Max shrugs and tries to concentrate on the words that are gonna pour out of his mouth. ‘Went off with some girl with pink hair.’
Teddy nods, unsurprised. ‘Of course he did.’
Max takes a gulp of water. ‘Sorry…. should’ve kept it together.’
‘It’s alright. Just try to sleep it off. Your dad is already anxious enough.’
Max continues to pound down the water as if it were the sweet nectar of life.
‘Need help getting up the stairs?’ asks Teddy. ‘Don’t need another injury.’
‘Imma just crash on the couch.’
Teddy gives a thumbs up. ‘Good idea. Just take your shoes off first.’
Max looks down at his sneakers like they’re foreign objects.
‘Sit down.’ Teddy orders. ‘I’ll take ‘em off.’
Max stumbles back a little and sits on a kitchen chair. 'Cool…thanks, Dad.'
Teddy feels like he’s assisting a younger version of himself. The twins may look like Renfield, but their personalities mirrored his own. It was trippy as fuck.
After Teddy removes the shoes, he guides his beleaguered son to the couch. ‘Wanna blanket?’
Max shakes his head wildly. ‘Nooooo…. wannagobackhome.’
‘You are home.’
‘Maggie is my home.’
Teddy doesn't take this stuff personally. His son is a grown man who is drunk outta his fuckin’ mind. It only made sense that he’d wanna spend it with the person he’s fucking.
Teddy tosses a blanket on him anyway. ‘Here ya go. Get some sleep.’
Max is already drifting off into another drunken dimension. 'Love ya, Dad.'
Teddy smiles. ‘Love you too.’
-
Robert and Teddy come downstairs later that morning, only to find Theodore, Guinevere, and a still-hungover Maximillian heading out the front door.
Renfield’s confused ‘Where are you going?’
Max's head is still pounding slightly. 'Getting breakfast.'
‘You guys know your sister will be here soon.’ Reminds Teddy.
'She knows we're going out. I asked her if she wanted anything.' Theo holds up his phone to show the text back and forth.
‘I think it would be more considerate to wait for her to arrive before you go out gallivanting.’ Robert tries his best to hide his exasperation with his children.
Theo just shakes his head. ‘Trust me, she doesn’t care.’
Renfield storms over to the kitchen to make himself some tea. 'Christ! Mortimer isn't even back yet. Who knows where he even ended up last night.'
'He's fine, Dad.' Max says while rubbing his eyes.
Oh, bloody hell. Robert says nothing, but his hands shake a little when grabbing a mug from the cupboard.
Teddy comes over to help steady him; he takes the mug from Renfield's hand and helps pour the tea for him.
Guinevere takes a prescription bottle out of her purse. 'Hey, dad, catch!'
Despite the shakiness, Renfield successfully catches the bottle and takes a look.
It’s Ativan.
‘Take one.’ Gwinnie says with a smile.
'Fuck it.' Teddy grabs the bottle and takes a pill for his husband and himself. 'It's gonna be a long day, babe.'
Robert begrudgingly takes the pill. ‘A long one, but hopefully a good one.’
Teddy tosses the bottle back to his daughter.
‘It’ll be a good one now.’ She says confidently to her parents as she and her siblings head out to lord knows where.
A half-hour later, the two familiars are pleasantly zonked out on the couch, collapsed in on one another, when Mortimer staggers in still smelling of alcohol, brown hair disheveled and sticking out every which way.
‘Had fun last night?’ asks Teddy
‘It was okay. I need some fuckin’ coffee.’
Renfield dreamily runs his hands through Teddy’s hair. ‘So, whereabouts in London did you end up?’
‘Still not sober enough to answer that.’ Mortimer looks around. ‘Where’d everyone go?’
‘Out for breakfast.’
‘Ah, avoiding Vicky. Good call.’
Robert snaps out of his Benzo haze. 'Hey, I said we won't be having that talk in this house, young man.'
Teddy perks up a little as well. ‘Yeah, she’s your sister, not the fuckin’ anti-christ.’
Mortimer chuckles. ‘Speak of the devil.’
The two men look at the front door to see none other than Victoria standing there, luggage in hand, with a steely look on her face.
Renfield jumps up and pulls her in for an embrace. 'Ah, you've finally made it, my love. How was the flight?’
‘It was fine.’
Teddy hugs her and gives her a peck on the cheek. ‘Looking as mysterious and beautiful as ever. How’ve you been?’
‘I’ve been alright. Everyone still out for breakfast?’
Mortimer waves his hand, a mischievous smile on his face. 'I'm here. Good to see you, sis.'
She observes her older brother, who's been slowly going to seed. ‘Hmmm…not sober. Seems about right.’ Victoria retorts.
Mortimer tilts his coffee mug, brown liquid spilling onto the kitchen tiles. ‘The party’s just beginning.’
-
Renfield is staring at his eldest daughter’s needle bruised arms at the dinner table, still slightly zonked out on Ativan. It was an early dinner of sorts with the children skipping lunch – staying away from the Knightsbridge residency for as long as possible without seeming rude, but the reunion couldn’t be avoided forever.
The familiar was just grateful that he had all five of his beautiful children under the same roof again.
'It was phlebotomy practice,' Victoria says dryly, trying her best to enjoy the mediocre British food her parents had catered since they never bothered to learn how to cook properly, she thinks disdainfully. 'You've been staring at my arms since I've gotten here,' she adds.
Robert snaps out of his trance. ‘Phlebotomy? That’s wonderful.’ A strained smile crosses his face. ‘When did you start doing that?’
‘Just got certified.’
‘Fuckin’ fantastic!’ claps Teddy.
The twins join in on the clapping, and Victoria suppresses an eye roll, and they should be eternally grateful for that.
Guinivere beams. ‘Seems like everyone’s on the up-and-up. Congrats on the certification, sis!'
The wholesomeness makes Victoria’s stomach churn.
Renfield decides to seize the moment of levity to earnestly express how content he is in the present tense. ‘You don’t know how much it means to me and your father to have the entire family under the same roof again.’
He does his best to blink away the tears. He can feel Teddy squeeze his hand, and sweet Guinevere puts her hands over her heart.
Theodore sets his glass of wine down to add to the sentiment, but before he can say anything, a stifled bitter laugh from the eldest Renfield daughter causes the feel-good sensation to come to a screeching halt.
'Oh, here we go…' Mortimer says, sounding completely unsurprised.
Victoria gives him a piercing stare.
‘Yo! We ain’t doin’ this!’ Teddy commands, trying to get ahead of the situation.
‘Doing what?’ Victoria says in faux-ignorance. ‘All I did was laugh. I always love a good joke.’
'Vicky, please.' Pleads Guinivere with her brown-doe eyes.
Victoria slowly pushes herself back from the table while still seated in the chair. ‘I knew this was a bad idea.’
Renfield shakes his head, trying to coax his daughter back. 'It's alright, love. We should all be free to express ourselves.'
This is gonna be bad. Really bad. Thinks Theodore.
I should’ve stayed at Maggie’s. Maximillian chastises himself.
'There's no point, Renfield.' Victoria states bluntly. 'This here. This 'home'. This 'family.' It isn't real. It's a fantasy.'
‘This is as real as anything I’ve ever known.’ Robert tries not to sound too defensive.
'Well, that ain't sayin' much. Your entire life is one perverted fantasy.' Victoria looks the British man directly in the eye. 'I've read your godawful poetry books about fucking a vampire.'
Teddy slams the table. ‘Vicky! Can it now!’
‘And who are you to tell me to ‘can it’? You’re just as awful. Both of you.’
'You gotta let it go, Vic. At least let it go for Gwinnie's birthday.' Theodore advises. 'You really can't be mad about it forever.'
'I'm not mad. Like I said, I like a good joke, and let's face facts – we're replaceable. The moment we're all dead. These two are just gonna replace us with a brand new 'family' that they will outlive again.'
Renfield’s eyes are burning. He’s devastated by the accusation and also a bit furious. ‘That simply isn’t true.’
Mortimer shrugs. 'Even if it was true -who gives a fuck? Theo's right, you gotta move on.'
Maximillian nods in agreement with his twin. ‘Seriously, we had it good growing up. We still do – I mean, we have a nice house in fuckin’ London.’
Victoria smirks with a disdainful look in her eyes. 'Thank you for the input, Goofus and Gallant.'
‘Goofus and who?’ Mortimer asks in confusion.
Renfield feels slightly charmed. ‘Haven’t heard that reference in ages.’
'Shut up, Renfield.' Victoria snaps but doesn't yell.
There’s an audible gasp from her siblings, with the exception of Theodore, who furrows his brow.
Teddy stands up. ‘That’s it. You're my daughter, and I fuckin’ love you, but you can't stay here if you're gonna talk to your father like that. It's not cool, and it's not okay.'
‘I think we all just need to cool down for a moment.’ Renfield says weakly, trying to hide his hurt.
‘Ever get a vasectomy?’ Victoria asks pointedly
Teddy tilts his head in confusion. ‘What?!?’
‘What even is this conversation?’ Mortimer asks drunkenly.
‘If Lobo and Renfield were serious about this being a real family and not a replaceable one, Tedward would have gotten a vasectomy.’ Victoria’s eyes burrow into Teddy’s soul. 'So, did you ever get one?’
An earth-shattering silence permeates the atmosphere. Teddy rubs his forehead, which has broken out in a sweat.
'I'm sorry, but this is batshit crazy.’ Theo interjects. ‘It’s Gwinnie’s birthday tomorrow. We don’t need this nonsense.’
Renfield feels like the entire room is spinning in slow motion while his children bicker with one another. Of course, everything led to a moment like this. Perhaps he and Teddy were selfish, after all.
‘So, did you get a fuckin' vasectomy, 'dad'? Victoria spits out one last time.
Teddy never answers, and Victoria is in a cab to the airport within the next fifteen minutes. She never even bothered to unpack her luggage.
-
Later that night, Renfield is in a near catatonic state, staring down into a cup of tea Teddy had made him.
'Could've been worse.' Teddy says, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed.
‘It was terrible.’ Robert says quietly.
Teddy hears sadness but also a little bit of anger. He wonders if it's at him. 'Sorry, I botched that vasectomy interrogation. There was no good answer, and I didn’t want to lie.’
‘That’s not what I’m upset about.’ He hands the tea back to Teddy and stands up, wrapping his arms around himself. ‘She was the only one I had post-partum depression with…’
Teddy knows where this is goin’. ‘Babe, don’t do this.’
‘Children pick up on these things. She’s the only one who wouldn’t latch.’ Renfield’s voice grows shakier and louder.
Teddy haphazardly puts the tea down on the bed, causing it to spill on the sheets. He'll deal with that later. He grabs Robert (who is now pacing anxiously) by the arm. ‘Don’t blame yourself for this. If anything, it’s on me – she has my DNA. She looks like my mother more and more by the day. It’s like Bella’s ghost hijacked her in the womb or some shit.’
Robert angrily pulls away. ‘Don’t imply that our daughter is possessed by her grandmother!’
‘Oh, so you can blame your hormones, but I can’t blame my fuckin’ genes?’ Teddy asks, sounding just as angry and frustrated by the entire fuckin’ evening.
Robert chooses not to respond. What good could arguing do?
There's laughter coming from outside—his children's laughter. He looks out the balcony screen door.
His four other children are drunkenly playing in the snow. Growing up in Louisiana, they had never gotten to play fight in the snow, and if there were any tears, he couldn't see them from the view, but they all looked happy. Even Guinevere. The novelty of the whimsical winter weather didn’t seem lost on any of them.
'Wanna join them?' Teddy asks cautiously, not knowing if his husband is still annoyed with him.
Renfield still watches them play in awe. ‘I think we should let our kids act like kids tonight.’ He turns to Teddy with a soft smile. ‘Why ruin it?’
It was hard for the two men to acknowledge that the dark cloud had lifted with Victoria’s departure.
Teddy throws his arm around Robert’s waist. ‘All that matters is that Victoria is doin’ fine on her own and that it looks like Gwinnie will have a happy birthday.'
‘A Christmas miracle.’ Robert says grimly.
'Hey, this is as good as it's gonna get, babe. There's no such thing as a perfect family.'
Renfield knows Teddy is right, but it doesn't remove the sting of his eldest daughter's rejection or whatever mysterious internal pain she had within her. A wound that will seemingly never heal. He wishes he could tell her that he truly understands that feeling.
-
Victoria stares out of her airplane window. She's no longer feeling much of anything now that the anger has subsided. While boarding the plane, she made a definitive decision to never speak with her family again.
Another rare smile crosses her face.