Hyrum and Caecilia returned home with Lucas in tow a few moments later. Lucas crushed Livia in a long hug until she started pinching him to get him to let go. It’d been a stressful day and the affection was irritating.
“That doesn’t hurt,” he drawled, unmoved.
“Lucas!” Livia cried.
He laughed and let go. “I missed you.”
Livia huffed at him. “Apparently, it was a mistake to miss you.”
Lucas laughed again. “Sorry, Liv.”
Livia stomped around the kitchen for a minute or two to release the irritation. Hyrum and Lucas watched her calmly but Caecilia was unused to Livia and looked concerned.
After the dishes were secured in the dishwasher Livia was ready to talk again. She turned toward them. “How was the drive?”
“You have a bad day?” Lucas asked.
Livia rolled her eyes. “Don’t even get me started--”
“She got in a fight with Gaius in front of everyone--” Caecilia said.
“As in all of Caesarea, everyone,” Hyrum said.
Lucas pulled out his phone. “The hordes must be going feral then.”
Livia assumed he’d pulled up Tabula as he started to scroll and read. “Ah, Corvin has come out in support of you and that seems to have chilled everyone out--” Lucas mused.
“Corvin wrote something about me?” Livia asked.
Lucas showed her. Corvin had written a note about how important it was to correct a paterfamilias to protect the emotional and physical health of family members. He even praised Livia for her bravery and strength of character.
She was surprised at his praise. She hadn’t expected that reaction at all. An unexpected blush
spread across her cheeks.
Lucas grinned at her. “You dating him?”
“No.” Livia corrected. “We’re friends.”
Lucas laughed. “Right. So, we’re finally in that situation.”
“What situation?” Livia asked.
“You’ve liked him since we met him, Liv. It was only a matter of time till you caught his eye and he fell for you--”
“What?” Livia sputtered. “First--”
Hyrum’s laugh interrupted Livia’s planned tirade. “She’s liked him that long?”
“Totally,” Lucas answered.
Oh no, this was bad. Livia did not want to be on the opposite side of an argument with both of her brothers. She was in an untenable position.
“This is none of your business--” she snapped at Hyrum.
Lucas and Hyrum laughed at her, unfazed by her tone.
“What signs has he shown that he likes her?” Lucas turned to Hyrum.
Livia interrupted. “Lucas, be serious, there’s no way he’d like me!”
Caecilia answered, “He arranged for Livia to come over to his house this morning so they could help her get ready for the parade. He also helped her memorize the Latin for the ceremony.”
Livia gave her a look of betrayal.
“Ooo,” Lucas teased. “Sounds serious.”
“We’re friends!” Livia shouted.
“Come on, Lucas,” Hyrum said. “Lay off. She’s already had a rough couple of days.”
“Why don’t you think he’d like you?” Caecilia asked, confused. “It’d be an extremely advantageous match.”
Livia sighed. She was going to get another lecture similar to the one Tavian gave her.
“What do you mean?” Hyrum asked.
Caecilia outlined the same argument that Tavian had. Livia watched Hyrum closely to see his reaction. Would he disapprove?
He frowned. “I mean, that’s all interesting...but none of that matters if Liv doesn’t like him.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Did you stop liking him, Liv?” Lucas asked.
Livia gulped. “I’ve tried to--”
Hyrum grinned. “But haven’t succeeded?”
Livia grumbled at them. “It’s ridiculous…”
Lucas grinned, looking at his phone. “You look cute together--”
“Cute? Together? What are you looking at?” Livia asked, panicked.
Lucas turned his phone around and there was a photo of them herding the Tullius sisters toward the temple of Saturn. She was tucked in tight against Corvin’s side and was looking at him for direction. Alia and Mel were on their opposite side.
“There were crowds--” she tried to explain.
Hyrum grinned. “Ignore all the political stuff. If you like him, go for it, Liv.”
“Y-you don’t disapprove?”
“Why would I?” Hyrum was confused.
Caecilia spoke up. “I think you’d get along well. You have similarish personalities...hardworking, protective, soft-hearted but unwilling to show it--”
“So, you don’t think...it’d make me like mom?” Livia asked.
Hyrum snorted. “Livia, mom had me when she was seventeen. Your life is already completely different.”
Livia nodded. “Okay.”
“I think you’d be smart to give him a chance since you like him,” Hyrum said. “You can’t avoid relationships all your life because you’re scared. You got to take a few chances.”
Livia looked at Lucas.
“I’m already a fan,” he said. “Tavian highly recommends him.”
Livia glared. “Figures, the Halls are gossiping about me.”
Lucas started scrolling on his phone again. “People are mad at you but agree with what you did is the gist of it. This place is crazy! How can they insult and praise you at the same time?”
“You can’t ever win,” Livia agreed. “Never.”
“Ignore them,” Lucas said. “Just apologize to Gaius and then avoid fighting with him like that in the future. No big deal.”
Lucas moved on to teasing Hyrum and Caecilia about whether they wanted to have a boy or girl first. The conversation morphed into a discussion about all sorts of baby plans. It was fun to see Hyrum and Caecilia exchange warm looks and get excited after all the stress that morning.
It got late and Lucas stood up and declared that he needed to sleep. Livia stood up to retreat to her room.
Hyrum called to her, “Wait, Liv, I have a question."
Livia gulped. Well, this was when he was going to give her the lecture about the parade. She’d hear all about how she’d disappointed him and how she should have acted better. She’d gone through enough years with Hyrum to know that he‘d never be as harsh with her as their mother. Still, Livia’s heart thudded in her chest as she awaited his lecture.
“I’m wondering if…” Hyrum hesitated. “I know it seems like Lucas has had an easier time accepting all this than you but I’m worried that he’s expressed so little...reaction. But he’s interested in participating in the reenactment in two days. He even mentioned he had started training again. Would you consider joining him in it?”
Livia groaned. This was the last thing she was expecting. She could get back on Hyrum’s good side by agreeing but she didn’t want to. “I oppose on principal--”
The reenactment was a game that recreated the snatching of the sabine women. A girl and a selected male “guardian” stood on one side of the field to represent the Sabines. The other half of the field represented the Romans who were going to swoop in and snatch them. The guys acting as Romans had to defeat the girl’s guardian to haul her over to the Roman side of the line. When they got over to the other side the guy got to kiss the girl and the game was over.
“I know, I know,” Hyrum said. “But this is the only time Lucas has expressed an interest in participating in the community. Gaius gifted him a full suit of Roman armor that used to belong to his brother.”
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Livia’s heart fell. It was hard to remember the extended family. There weren't many left after the civil war that had torn Taurus house apart. A small number of their remaining relatives secreted themselves away in Istanbul, Turkey. Mistrustful and resentful, they refused to leave their new home.
Gaius visited often to keep up with relatives there. It wasn’t a secret that he preferred it there to Caesarea, which was hard on his wife Lauretta. She went with him wherever he traveled the first year they were married but more often these days she opted to stay in Caesarea with her family.
Hyrum and Lucas were the future of Taurus house in Caesarea. Livia would take on the house of her husband and unless there were special circumstances all her children would also. If Lucas didn’t find a way to acclimate to Caesarea, then it would have permanent repercussions for the house. Livia felt obligated to smooth over Lucas’ transition into the community.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
Miraculously, she escaped a lecture on her behavior at the parade and retreated to her room in relative peace. Her rest was disrupted when her phone vibrated with a text from Gaius.
Meet me in the Taurus house office tomorrow morning. 8:00 am. Be on time.
She hadn’t escaped a scolding after all. Hyrum was letting Gaius handle it.
***
Livia was ten minutes late, but it wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t been able to find a place to park. Then the lines to take the elevators were long. She didn’t understand why the crowds were still so thick now that the parade was over. Why were people up this early in the morning during a holiday?
She stood before Gaius apologetic. “The traffic was really bad...then the elevators...I tried--”
“Stop, Livia,” Gaius snapped, impatiently.
Livia stopped talking and waited for him to say something. He only stared at her for a long uncomfortable moment. Then went to sit down at his desk.
“Can we pretend I punished you and agree never to engage in such unpleasantness in public again?”
Livia’s eyes widened. “P-pretend you punished me?”
“I don’t have any energy to deal with it. So, let’s agree that I will not insult Caesarea in public out of respect for Caecilia and Lauretta and you will not directly contradict me unless we are in private.”
“Alright,” Livia agreed.
“Good,” Gaius said. He picked up a folder on the corner of his desk and set it in front of him.
“Now, I have papers to review. Unless you have anything else?”
Livia stared at him in shock. “Y-you aren’t angry at me?”
Gaius laughed, a hard, bitter sound. “I’m too busy doing damage control with Lauretta to spare emotions for anything else.”
Livia’s eyes widened. “Is she still angry?”
“Furious,” Gaius said.
“There’s nothing...we can do...is there?” she asked.
Gaius gave her an impatient smile. “No.”
Livia gulped. “I am sorry to bother you but I don’t know when I’ll see you again…”
“What is it?” he asked.
“How did you arrange your marriage to Lauretta?” she asked.
Gaius looked surprised. He closed the folder and then sat back and gave her a suspicious look.
“Her mother had a connection to my mother. They arranged for us to meet together several times. We determined to marry and wrote up the contract and signed it.”
“Lars objected?” Livia asked.
“Yes, of course, he did,” Gaius looked, annoyed. “Lars is a traditionalist.”
“How were the papers written up?” Livia asked.
“I told Lauretta to give me her requirements. I wrote back what I agreed to and what I didn’t. She had thirty days to review the papers. She asked for a handful of things that I agreed to and then we signed them at the ceremony.”
“So, she spoke to a lawyer?”
“Her uncle is a lawyer who often writes up these contracts,” Gaius said.
Livia blinked. “Did you have a lawyer?”
“No.”
Livia’s eyes widened. “You weren’t worried she’d...trick you?”
Gaius sighed and closed his eyes. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
Gaius shrugged. “What prompted you to ask?”
Livia explained, “I was just...with Epiphany when she announced her match with Hortensius. They explained how it all worked usually.”
“Right, where you don’t get tricked into agreeing to lose half your property and your entire fortune when your wife divorces you.”
“Is...that what you ended up agreeing to?” Livia asked.
“Unfortunately. The only solution is to give it all away.”
“To who?” Livia asked.
“You,” Gaius said.
“What?” Livia sputtered.
“Hyrum and Lucas too, of course,” Gaius said. “I’ve been advised by Lars already. Funny, he
asked if you’d spoken to me.”
“You asked Lars for help?” Livia asked.
“I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to save Taurus house,” Gaius said.
“So...you are getting a divorce, then?”
“We’ll see. I’m minimizing the damage if I do. I wouldn’t care really if we’d had a child first. I would have considered it worth it. But to lose all my money and property and have no child? Well, that’s just unendurable.”
Livia stared at him. She had no idea how to respond. First, the complete lack of emotion over losing Lauretta as a person. The relationship only mattered to him if they had a child? She hated to admit she could see why Lauretta was divorcing him if that was the sum of his regard for her. Still, It didn’t make sense. If he wanted a child so badly, why did he spend so much time away from Lauretta?
“Any more questions, Livia?” Gaius asked.
She hesitated. “I only wondered if I could arrange my marriage differently than the way you and Hyrum did it?”
“How do you want to do it, Livia?” he asked.
“If I want to sign three contracts, who will be responsible for the cost of a lawyer?” Livia asked.
“I will pay for it with house funds,” Gaius said. “You do not need to worry about that.”
Livia’s eyes narrowed. “Can I choose a lawyer?”
“If you wish.” Gaius grinned as if he’d discovered something. “Who is it that has caught your eye, Livia?”
She shook her head. “I’m not interested in being married right now.”
“In case you didn’t notice,” he said. “It’s a rather extended process. If you match for a year and set a year-long betrothal you’ll not be married for two years. That doesn’t count the back and forth it requires to arrange the match in the first place. That can drag on six months. It’s not a quick way to get married.”
“Six months?” Livia asked.
Gaius shrugged. “You might as well tell me.”
But Livia shook her head. “I’m not certain about anyone right now. I was only curious.”
“Anything else?” Gaius asked.
Livia figured she’d pressed his patience far enough and excused herself. She stood in the hall and tried to evaluate the concerns that were plaguing her. If Livia decided to work with Gaius to arrange a match how could she stand to remain in Caesarea? If she left Caesarea how would she navigate any significant relationship without revealing her powers? Livia’s mother had kept Tad in the dark for years but Livia couldn’t imagine herself doing that. She didn’t know how her mother had maintained the deception for so long.
Their multiple moves took on a new dimension in her mind. Would Livia live her life running from city to city to avoid anyone finding out? How had Tad convinced mom to marry him? Maybe Livia could leave for a long time--long enough for Gaius’ divorce to die down--then come back. Did leaving have to be permanent? Would people look at her more favorably when she was older?
Then there was this divorce to consider. How much had Livia’s actions yesterday affected Lauretta’s decision? She’d been extremely displeased with Livia. Did Livia bear some portion of responsibility for the situation? If she did, how did she fix it?
Livia had to drive over to Hyrum’s work to find him. He was in one of the greenhouses planting vegetables in the raised beds. She told him everything Gaius had said and asked him what they should do. Hyrum refused to get involved.
“If she wants to divorce him, she probably has her reasons. I’m not going to interfere. Do you know how much better our life would have been if Mom had divorced dad the first time she wanted to?” Hyrum asked.
“What about all the money and property he was talking about?” Livia asked.
“Not my problem,” Hyrum said. “We all have food and shelter and an honest way to make a living. Not going to worry about it, Liv.”
“But isn’t he making a rash decision? Doesn’t he realize giving that stuff away to us is going to nuke his relationship? I don’t want to be involved but if he gives everything to us then we’re involved. We should at least try and stop him!” Livia cried.
Hyrum sighed. “Fine. I’ll call him.”
Hyrum stopped digging with his hand shovel and pulled out a cell phone. “Gaius,” he said. “Liv’s over here upset. Maybe you should take some time before you--”
Hyrum was silent. His expression fell. “Gaius, no. We should discuss this first--”
“See,” Livia hissed.
But Gaius hung up on Hyrum when he tried to protest again.
“What did he say?” Livia demanded.
Hyrum shook his head. “It’s already done. There’s nothing we can do to change it.”
“What did he do?” Livia asked.
“We’ll find out all the details soon enough, Liv. I think I’m going home. I better prepare Caecilia for the shock.”
Whatever Gaius had told him, Hyrum didn’t look happy. What had Lars told Gaius to do? The only thing Livia could do was follow Hyrum home and listen to what he told Caecilia.
Lucas was on his way out the door to go spar at the fields. “Wait,” Hyrum told him. “We’re all here...we should talk.”
Caecilia came down the stairs a moment later. “You’re home early? Is everything alright?”
“Lauretta and Gaius are probably getting divorced tomorrow or the next day,” Hyrum said.
“What?” Caecilia asked.
Hyrum shook his head. “That’s not the part to get upset about, love.”
“Then what is?” she demanded.
“To cheat her out of a divorce settlement he put all that land that Aquila and Taurus house have been fighting over for the last twenty years into a public trust and made the three of us the executors over it.”
Caecilia sat down on the stairs. “No,” she whispered. “What will all those Aquila families do? They’ll have no place to live.”
“Wait,” Lucas asked. “What’s going on?”
Hyrum turned to him. “He turned about 500 families out of their homes. Now that it’s turned over to public lands it’s no longer permitted for residential use. Aquila house stole the land from Taurus house landlords. Uncle Quin tried to litigate it back into Taurus house control and was successful to a degree but spent almost a million dollars in legal fees.”
“What?” Livia sputtered. “H-how is that even possible?”
“So, if it went to Lauretta in the divorce settlement she could have sold it to someone in Aquila house and finally ended the dispute?” Lucas asked.
Caecilia said, “Could have. Now? Now, we have to develop it. There are strings attached to public lands.”
“I don’t know what we’ll do,” Hyrum said, wearily. “We’ll have to see where the chips fall tomorrow. Maybe she’ll decide to stay with him when she discovers her divorce settlement has been significantly reduced.”
“I’m sure the Senate will have to give them time to move out…” Caecilia said. “But wow, turning all that land to public space? Caesarea needs that too. The forum isn’t big enough anymore…”
“What we need is public housing--” Hyrum said.
“Maybe if you did it in phases, some of the poorer families could move in right when the housing was ready?” Caecilia said.
Hyrum muttered, “They’re all poor, Caecilia. Everyone knows those houses should have been condemned a decade ago. It’s a political and logistical nightmare so everyone has refused to touch it. Gaius just threw us to the wolves.”
“The eagles in this case,” Livia joked.
Nobody laughed.
Lucas watched them all with wary eyes. “Sounds like we’re clearing out a slum.”
“Essentially,” Hyrum said. “It’s going to make a lot of people angry.”
That sounded awful to Livia. Weren’t things in Caesarea bad enough for her already? She had come here to find reasons to stay. Now, she only had a longer list of reasons to leave.