The Twelve Tables Ch. 06

"Everybody sit," Emily carried a huge pot of gnocchi to the table and began dishing it into bowls for the children passing the plates around the table. Rather than sitting in his usual spot beside his sister Josh swapped seats and sat between BJ and the youngest of the girls, making them laugh all the way through dinner.

"I'm sorry I can't stay," Josh announced as the meal ended. "The thing we talked about is on your desk, Ben. I left it then after my meeting with the little man." Josh grabbed up BJ and began to walk to the door. He got as far as the car before Ben cleared his throat and indicated he should put the little boy down and walked with Josh to his car.

"She worried," Ben murmured, "She was unusually quiet dinner."

"She should be worried, I imagine you will see a lot of her in the near future," Josh said without explaining why. He didn't believe anyone in the family knew about the financial support he had been giving Nik. He doubted she would care if he gave her the cold shoulder for a while, after her recent actions, but she would care about the money. He saw her approach from behind Ben and hugged his brother, "Thanks for everything. Give me a call tomorrow, I am taking a personal day to look after the patient."

"Who's sick?" Nik asked coming to stand with the two men.

"Peri's badly hurt," Josh turned his cool gaze on his sister.

"I heard about that, who knew Sabrina was such a nutter," Nik frowned.

"See the right thing to say there would have been to ask how she was doing, or if Pete had seen her, but you couldn't even manage that. You can lie to everyone else Nik and have them believe you but don't even try it with me," Josh said his voice hard and her shock at his abrupt reply evident. "Don't worry I won't tell Mama or anyone who wasn't there to see it for themselves, but if you ever disrespect me again, all bets are off. I love you Nik, you're my sister, but right now I don't like you very much." With that, he got into his car and sped off leaving her stunned and open-mouthed beside Ben.

"You hurt him Nik. You didn't hurt or scare Peri, who is a lot stronger than you gave her credit for. You did that to Josh. He's been hurting since you messed up his workplace and got two women fired. That hurt and sense of betrayal only got worse when you brought Mama to town. He was mad at you, not her when they argued at the restaurant. Then the scheme today went too far. He's over being mad or sad or even caring. You have made it abundantly clear that you didn't consider how he would feel if Peri left him." Ben said sadly feeling for them both. He had thought them inseparable for life much like his other twin siblings. He wasn't sure either of them would get over this rift now.

"I didn't do this," Nik whispered into the night.

"Even if you weren't behind the incident today, and I am sceptical about that, you started it rolling by telling Sabrina about their relationship in the first place. Not once in all these episodes, that we know for a fact were your doing have you apologised to Josh or tried to get to know the woman he loves. You have disregarded how he felt entirely in favour of Nik knows best." Ben wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence was overwhelming. "That's why he is so hurt."

Nick seemed to pull herself together and turned to walk back into the house with Ben. "He'll get over it, he always does," she said with a tight smile that showed she wasn't as confident as she sounded.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't be holding my breath," Ben said sadly. It was going to be a tough time for Nik without Josh to constantly run interference for her. He may love her but he would have encouraged his parents to arrange a marriage for her years ago if not for Josh. Her self-importance was beyond measure and she had pissed off all of her siblings long ago

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