Mordecai half-regretted not having asked Jill - or perhaps Thea or Rose - to come along as a witness. That was appropriate for ensuring the legality of what he intended, after all, and the presence of others might help to blunt Edmund's anger. Or if that was too much to ask, then his expression of it.
But that would have looked cowardly. There was no need to add to Edmund's list of his sins. It wasn't as if Mordecai hadn't gotten himself into this on his own.
Edmund was mildly impressed, in fact. Not quite so impressed as to forget that he was also angry, but he'd half-anticipated having to track Mordecai down for their brotherly discussion. However, Mordecai had not only scheduled this meeting voluntarily, but had shown up on time for it. That was more than Edmund had expected from him. He opened the door for his prospective-in-law, gestured at a chair, and then sat down behind his desk. “You wanted to discuss some arrangements?”
He kept his voice calm and even. Credit where it was due, after all.
Mordecai cleared his throat before taking a seat. He counted it in his favor that Edmund did not appear to be armed on this occasion (unless there was a sword stashed behind that desk which it wasn’t wise to discount). “Straight to business,” he quipped. “Not to complain, life is short and unpredictable.” It could potentially be much shorter if he mishandled this conversation.
“I realize I’m not-” That was the kind of opening Lucy would frown over. He grimaced and changed how he meant to finish it. “-guaranteed any length of time here. I want to ensure sooner rather than later that Lucy and Lilian won’t want for anything.” That wasn’t something a brother could argue with, surely.
“Do you think we’d allow them to?” Edmund asked mildly. He did have a fairly broad capacity for argument, but he was honestly more curious as to what Mordecai would say in response. He didn’t believe the other man thought he or Susan - or Rose or Thea, for that matter - would ever abandon family.
He pulled the papers he’d begun preparing from his desk as he spoke. He hadn’t known precisely what Mordecai had in mind, but there were some points he intended to make, regardless.
Clearly, Mordecai had underestimated the lawyer in the younger Mr Pevensie. That qualifier, however, only added to his point. “Certainly not,” he said seriously. “But your position here is no more stable than mine.” True, Lillian, Nova, and the rest of their generation might remember them in the future, but possibilities had been known to shift. He’d seen it before.
“We already appear to have multiple timelines represented among our guests from the future. And dy - nearly dying does give one pause.” He wasn’t entirely above playing the death card (heaven knew it was probably one of the few reasons Edmund hadn’t already demanded to meet him at dawn), but he didn’t want to appear manipulative, either. “I knew a young doctor from an alternate Atlantis who outlasted his mother’s presence there.” He had not mentioned Philip Fitzsimmons to his family here, just as he would never bring up the subject of Edmund’s wife and daughter. ‘Never the twain shall meet,’ might be one of magic’s more humane laws.
Edmund frowned, but it was a good point. It was more responsibility (regarding his personal life, at least) than Mordecai had shown in his presence before. That he was good at his job, Edmund didn’t contest. He might be a less steadfast face of SadTech than Obi-Wan or Lil - or Peter had been - but the leadership also included Ezra and Thea who cared possibly quite a bit less about their public images.
It wasn’t as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind that he could vanish as Peter had, back to that train station. Nor that Rose’s return did not guarantee permanency (that was another thought for another time and one about which he was quite sure his family had as strong opinions as they did about the man across from him). He had his own will made out, after all - although it would need updating in the near future. “Have you spoken to Lucy about this?”
Mordecai gestured broadly. “She believes me prone to overreacting.” He shrugged. That was true, if not technically a yes or a no. “But my father taught me properly, even if I don’t always do him credit. I know what to do.”
All right, so that was an exaggeration. As Mordecai had confessed to Lilliandil, he knew very little about what to do with a child beyond recklessly lead it into danger. “Or rather, I know to do what I can guarantee.” Even Captain Roberts had conceded that guarantees were limited. Guarantees were the province of a higher realm, so he’d say, and children…
“He didn’t expect me - or owe me more than common decency, for that matter - just an orphan he found. But he said a child was a gift from the Lord. One doesn’t turn away a gift.” As if he could have ever turned away his daughter. Mordecai cleared his throat again.
That was not far from Edmund’s feelings about his own child - or about his time in New York, for that matter. “On that we agree,” he said quietly. It was something. A great deal, really, but not everything.
Edmund steepled his fingers, elbows resting on his desk. “So you want to provide for their welfare, ensure they have a roof over their heads. Do you intend to share it or keep dancing around?" It might be harsh, and it was certainly blunt, but it was Lucy's happiness at stake.
He was aware, of course, that certain things were a two way street (had he any reason to think otherwise, there would have been no attempt at politeness), but Lucy had never been able to keep from wearing her heart on her sleeve. There was no question where it lay or what she would choose.
To be honest, Mordecai had expected the question sooner. He'd only waited so long because even exorbitant shipping rates could only achieve so much. "Lucy also believes me very silly," he said, trying hard not to fidget in his seat. "But being an angel, she makes allowances for me wanting to have the ring in hand." Almost as much for this meeting as for the one he hoped to have with Lucy later. Not the awkward, heady talk about talking about it they'd had when Lilian first arrived, but a proper romantic gesture.
Edmund didn't move or alter his gaze while Mordecai spoke. He had to be polite, was even a bit more inclined to politeness than when he'd first received Mordecai's request, but it was still a brother's prerogative to make a prospective suitor sweat a bit - and given Lucy's condition, he clearly hadn't been intimidating enough to date. When the other man finished, Edmund raised his eyebrows. "Are you asking me for my sister's hand?"
There was still a chance he could die right here, Mordecai thought, but hopefully he could make it through the next declaration intact. "No," he said with enough cheer to be called bravado. "The ring wouldn't fit you, for one, but it felt right to declare my intention of going over your head."
He could have gone ahead with the formality, and the part of Mordecai's psyche that remembered too well coming within inches of two and a half feet of steel half-wished he had. It was one (well not the only one) thing on which he'd departed from Captain Roberts's rules of courtship. The accusation of dancing around wasn't false, after all. "I'm trying to improve my forthrightness."
Too pliable. He could barely look Su in the face to dance with. Edmund had once described one of his older sister's suitors. The Ass, on the other hand, had been far too confident. Rabadash had arrived in Cair Paravel with an extravagant collection of gifts not only for Susan but for her siblings, along with a tantalizing diplomatic offer. Edmund had opined (possibly too openly) that the gesture smacked of bribery. I'll not accept selling our sister as the price of a peace we can win ourselves.
"For some it takes work," Edmund said eventually. The Lion knew it hadn't always been his strong suit (some might say it still wasn't). What he hadn't said about Rabadash at the time was that one (albeit former) snake developed a sense for others. "Lucy is a good teacher."
Lucy had pitied even Rabadash, but she hadn't ever trusted him.
He unclasped his hands and picked up the papers on his desk. "What exactly do you want to set aside? I have someone on call in Accounting."