Three Fates

my place.”
    “Do you think so?” Malachi’s voice was dangerously soft.
    “Stop it,” was all Rebecca said, and she said it under her breath.
    “I can take one more, if anyone wants to relocate. That evens things up.”
    “I’ll go.” Cleo rolled up off the floor, careful not to look at Gideon.
    But Jack looked at him, saw the start of surprise, the quick, baffled anger. “Fine. Saddle up. This won’t take me long.”
    “I don’t have much.” She shot Tia a grin. “You might actually get some work done this way.”
    She walked off into the office, and Malachi sent his sister a fulminating look that only made her yawn. “You think I’m letting you take up with a man this way?”
    “What way would that be, Malachi?” She fluttered her lashes at him, and the eyes behind them were cold steel.
    “We’ll just see about all this.” He lurched to his feet and strode off into the kitchen after Jack. “I’m going to need a word with you.”
    “Figured that. Just let me take care of this.”
    Malachi frowned as he watched him work. He had no idea what the man was doing with the little tools and bits of equipment, but it was very clear Jack knew.
    “Hand me the small Phillips head bit out of the kit there,” Jack asked.
    “You screwing this into the wall?” Malachi handed over the bit, watched Jack fit it onto a mini cordless drill. “She won’t care for that.”
    “Little sacrifices, big payoff. She’s already swallowed more than a couple of holes in the wall.” He fixed the phone jack in place, ran the line, then, taking what looked like a palm-sized computer out of his bag, ran a series of numbers through it.
    “You can use this to contact your mother,” Jack said conversationally. “But I wouldn’t mention to the doc that the phone company’s getting stiffed on the long-distance calls. She’s a straight arrow. Your mother’s phones are clear. Or were when I was there and checked them out. I showed her what to look for, and she’ll be doing a check twice a day. She’s a sharp lady. I don’t think they’ll get past her.”
    “You form impressions quickly.”
    “Yeah. This is set. Reach out and touch someone,” he added and packed up his tools.
    “Then why don’t we step into my office?” Malachi suggested, and grabbed a couple of beers out of the refrigerator.
    From her seat on the sofa, Rebecca had a clear view of small dramas. She watched her two angry brothers split off into opposite directions, Gideon into the little room to the right, where Cleo had gone. The door slammed smartly behind him. And Malachi out the front door of the apartment with Jack. That door closed with ominous control.
    “It seems everyone’s gone off to argue without us.” She stretched, yawned again. The flight had tired her out more than she’d realized. “Why don’t I help you tidy up this disaster we’ve made of your home. You can tell me what’s brewing with my brother and Cleo, and what’s brewing with my other brother and you.”
    Tia looked blankly around the room. “I don’t know where to begin.”
    “Pick your spot,” Rebecca told her. “I’m good at catching up.”
     
     
    “WHAT DO YOU mean you’ll go?” Gideon demanded.
    “Makes sense.” Cleo stuffed clothes into her bag. “We’re crowded here.”
    “Not that crowded.”
    “Enough that you’re sleeping on the goddamn roof.” She heaved the bag onto the daybed and turned. “Look, Slick, you don’t want me here, in your face. You’ve made that crystal. So splitting off makes it easier all around.”
    “It’s that easy for you? The man says I’ve got room and you jump over to him?”
    Her cheeks went ice-white. “Fuck you.”
    She grabbed her bag again, and so did he. For ten bitter seconds they waged a fierce tug-of-war. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He wrenched the bag free, heaved it aside. “What do you take me for?”
    “I don’t know what I take you for.” Despite Malachi’s earlier advice, she’d had no intention of using tears on him and was furious that they were blurring her vision. “But I know what you take me for. A liar and a cheat, and a cheap one at that.”
    “I don’t. Damn it all to bloody hell, Cleo, I’m angry with you. I’ve a right to be.”
    “Fine. Be as pissed off as you want. I can’t stop you. But I don’t have to have it shoved down my throat every day. I screwed up. I’m sorry. End of story.”
    She started to shove by him to retrieve her bag, but he caught