Brian Ottomas Ch. 8 Back From Twikkii Island

All the way home from Twikkii Island Meadow and Brian talked about how they couldn’t wait to see the kids and how they would love to go on a vacation with them. If not to Twikkii, maybe to Three Lakes, which was much closer and didn’t involve flying. When they got back the first thing Willow had to do was go to the nursery for Willow and just love on her. She’d missed all three of the children, but it was hardest to be away from the baby.
 
Willow had been well taken care of; it was obvious that all the children had been. Nana had taken Willow to the playroom every day when Heath and Brook were in school and let her play while she sat and read. Willow just loved the play-station, especially the blocks.  The children had still had playmates over after school. Tessa Ramirez was a friend of both Brook and Heath (who still did not realize she had a crush on him).

That night Samantha and Pete stayed for supper before they headed for home. The next day Heath and Brook played on their new swings. The greenhouse had been dismantled--neither Meadow nor Brian had time any more and besides, they wanted the space for the kids. But it was definitely getting even colder. Soon the trees would be bare and there would be football and other things to do, but swinging in the cold would not be fun.

It wasn't too much later that Meadow came to Brian to tell him she definitely was pregnant, but true to his word, he took the news in stride. Brook's bedroom upstairs had two twin beds, so once Willow had her birthday there would be room for her. But Heath's room was smaller and he was used to having privacy. Where would they put the next child once he or she outgrew the nursery? The room where Brian's parents had stayed a few days (formerly the music room) needed to stay as it was--he and Meadow thought they might take the kids up to Three Lakes before Christmas. Brian did get a chance to paint it but had to use navy blue paint to cover the black paint. Pete said not to worry, he liked navy blue and Samantha would too. There was no room for the piano anywhere so Heath was behind in his practice.

While they'd been at Twikkii Brian's brother Dylan had sent a message via their parents that he needed to talk to Brian as soon as he got back. It turned out that he wanted to promote Brian to manager--Dylan needed more time for travel and wanted to semi-retire. The job of manager would pay a lot more money, but he'd have to work longer hours. Brian and Meadow decided that he should take the job. The band would have to get a new guitarist--although Brian hoped to play with them from time to time.

Brian would start as manager almost immediately so he tried to spend extra time with the children over the next couple days, especially Willow.

Brook had a good friend at school, Kirstie Burb, but Kirstie had not been to the Ottomas house until she came over one Saturday. Brook wanted to introduce her to Heath and when she did Kirstie immediately seemed to crush on Heath, who remained clueless about any girls liking him. Brook couldn't figure it out; she loved her brother, of course, but what was the big deal? Both Tessa and Kirstie thought he was the greatest thing since Coke. There was just no explaining some people's tastes Brook decided.

Before Kirstie could leave it began to snow. It was almost a blizzard so Brian drove her home. She was wearing an extra winter jacket of Brook's because she'd only brought a sweater. It was just a week before Halloween; no one had expected this snow. When Brian returned he sat on the sofa to read the entertainment section of the newspaper. Both Heath and Brook came downstairs and before long they were both asleep, one on the sofa next to Brian and one on the love seat. Their father smiled, yes, it had definitely been a long hard day of playing. Overnight it continued to snow and by the middle of the night the house was blanketed in white.

Brian started on that Wednesday night to work with Dylan to learn how to manage the Club Dante. Although he'd been in and around clubs, lounges, bars and honky-tonks for more than 15 years both here and across the country, Brian knew he had plenty to learn from his older brother about running the club. He would have to schmooze with customers but that would be no problem for Brian--he was already very people-oriented by nature, just like Dylan. That's why he had once been so good at selling insurance even though it had bored him and he never missed it.

A couple days later Brian told Meadow,

"I think that we should face the fact that we're going to need a bigger house."

Meadow wrinkled her nose,

"Oh, Brian, I love this house. I know it's getting too small for us now, but I love the look and feel of it. I wanted our family to be here for years and years and make lots of happy family memories."

"We have to have more room, sweetheart. And I already know of a place we can consider. Remember my parents old house? You were there a couple times. Well it's for sale again and at a really good price. It's really big with a lot of rooms and a nice big yard, but I realize it isn't our style. Still I think we should check it out."

So Meadow agreed to go with Brian to look at his childhood home. She remembered it as being very beautiful but so formal, with a double staircase and huge foyer with a marble floor. Meadow had been invited to a birthday party for Brian and his twin, Bridget, when she was about 13, but she'd never been above the first floor.

"Do you really want to live here? I mean, do you feel sentimental about living in your old home?" she asked Brian when they toured the house.

"Not really," he shook his head, "Home is wherever you and the kids are."

"It's just so formal, Brian. I love the organic look and feel of our house, I like that it fits our casual lifestyle. None of our furniture would look right here, anyway, and the kitchen doesn't even have any cupboards, counters or appliances in it--why is that?"

"Well, the people who bought it from Momma and Daddy fell on hard times and now it belongs to the bank. The bank is offering it at this low price but it comes as is. The bank hired a contractor to demo the outdated cupboards and fridge and stuff to redo it but then decided to put it on the market first. I'm sure if it doesn't sell they will eventually put new cupboards and appliances in, but the price will go up then."

On the left: Exterior view of Brian's childhood home, now up for sale again. On the right: the imposing foyer with marble floors and double staircase.

 

The very empty kitchen, sans cupboards, counters and appliances is shown below on the left and the formal dining room is on the right.

 The huge living room

In the end, neither Brian or Meadow could work up much enthusiasm for the imposing house as a future home for their family and never really seriously considered buying it. So the question of a new house remained unanswered--for the time being.

Next blog update: Brian Ottomas Ch. 9 Toddlers Don't Stay Little For Long in Pleasantview