Coming home to chaos

My Radwinter stories are about Thomas Radwinter and has followed his life over the past six or seven years and during that time his life has changed more than he could ever have dreamed (and thinking back to when I wrote the first one, more than I could have imagined either!) In the seven books about him,, as well as exploring family histories he is also commissioned to investigate other seemingly innocuous things. As with any of us, his home life affects what he does so without having too many scenes involving his wife, children and brothers, I do include domestic  incidents, but I hope not too many to be an irritation or distraction but to show different aspects of his character. With the present story I’m writing, a man went missing over ten years ago – as a husband and father, Thomas is able to empathise with the the wife who doesn’t know if she’s a widow or not, and also the daughter as Thomas’s own father was missing for many years.

Here is a scene from Thomas’s life where he has to deal with his children, their ‘nanny’, Eli seems to be missing:

I arrived home to chaos. Unusually Cassie had fallen out with her little shadow Vita and they had been fighting, yes actually fighting. Kenneil had got involved trying to pull them apart, Terri trying holding Cassie’s arm to stop her hitting her little sister, everyone shouting and Marko standing bewildered. Eli was nowhere to be seen, Marcus not home, Kylie due any minute and an ominous smell of burning.
I gave a mighty shout at Cassie, who was older than Vita even though Vita was swinging mightily, her little fingers extended to scratch, and everyone stopped at my roar.
“What on earth is going on! You two girls should be ashamed or yourselves!” and I strode in, scooped up Vita under one arm, grabbed Cassie’s hand and marched them through to my study, which wasn’t an ideal place but somehow I’d just automatically headed there!
Cassie was screaming at me that it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t her fault, she didn’t do it, she hated Vita, and Vita was bellowing with tearful rage. I guessed it was all over something and nothing and decided it wasn’t worth trying to sort it out because it would all be trivia, she did, no she did, no I didn’t, yes you did.
I told Cassie to sit in my chair which actually was a favourite place for the kids to sit and Cassie’s screaming reduced to an indignant rant.
Will you be quiet, you naughty little girl!” I said really fiercely, and sat down on my desk and put Vita to sit beside me. This was equally unusually and a bit of a privilege and her bellowing subsided to an indecipherable mutter.
“Now you are going to be quiet for two whole minutes, absolutely quiet or you will be going straight to bed right now.”
Cassie began to object.
“Do you want to go to bed right now, Casimira?” I asked sharply. “Because if you do then I will take you right now!”
Vita, now enjoying not being told off, called Cassie a foo-foo, no idea what she meant but it was a dreadful insult to Casimira whose white blond curls seemed to vibrate with indignation. I lifted Vita off the table and said she was going to bed right now at which she cried sorry daddy sorry daddy and I said she had to apologise to Cassie, and accepting defeat, she said sorry Cassie almost nicely.
I made them sit in silence for nearly a minute, by which time they were fed up with it all and just wanted to forget it. I spoke quietly and asked each what the matter was and it was the usual nonsense, a tiny thing which had escalated, probably because they were both tired.
I made them say sorry and kiss each other, then sat them side by side while I pretended for two more minutes to do some work, by which time there was whispering and giggling and it was all over. These two go off like rockets, and like rockets their anger soon fizzles out and all is forgotten. Kenneil is a real drama queen and would be pretend sobbing for ages. Terri and Marko are both quiet and keep many thoughts to themselves.
Just as I was about to let them go there was a knock on the door and Terri was calling me, and I could hear Kenneil giggling.
“Da-ad,” Terri said, and then she too was overcome with giggles.
“Come on girls, let’s see what the matter is,” I said to the terrible two.
The absence of Eli was explained by Terri who was trying hard not to give into the giggles which were convulsing Kenneil. Eli it seems, was locked in the bathroom, somehow the catch had broken and he couldn’t get out. He had been knocking and calling but with all the kerfuffle no-one had heard him.We all trooped through to the downstairs bathroom, ’Dad to the rescue!’ Kenneil shouted, and the five kids began chanting, ’Dad to the rescue! Dad to the rescue!’   I love my life!

Needless to say in Thomas’s investigation into the missing man, and to another commission into an elderly lady who may be something of a con-woman, he finds himself in danger and drawn into something a little more testing, frightening and dangerous.

Here is a link to the seven published Thomas Radwinter books:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/kindle/series/B08GZSHBGD?ie=UTF8&ref_=sr_1_14