Love Thy Brother

Redemption

When Tamryn pulled up to the main house, she was so exhausted. She
looked in on Liam before she left and saw he was still fast asleep. There
was a pain shooting through her heart when she looked at his face. She
saw new lines that were never there. That man had to carry the burdens
of the whole family. Enough was enough. And she would make damn
sure of it!
As soon as she went inside, she saw everybody was already there,
waiting for her. She sat down and kept quiet while looking at each of
them.
“My family….” she just said. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Where is Liam?” Ryan asked carefully with a sombre look on his face.
He came to realise that his family needed fixing. He failed them. He
failed their parents. He was supposed to take care of this family, but
instead he walked with his head in the clouds and thought everything
was right with the world. But these last few weeks, his whole life came
crumbling down at his feet and his family with it. He needed to fix it!
“I put him to bed,” she just said. “We talked through the night and a lot of
facts came to my attention.” Tamryn looked at each of them while
saying that. “That’s why I asked you to meet me this morning.”
They all kept quiet, waiting for her to continue. Everyone could see
Allan had a heavy hangover and Stephanie could not look anyone in the
eyes. Both Ryan and Lydia had worried looks in their eyes.
“Allan, I’m going to start with you,” Tamryn warned. Allan’s head
whipped up towards her. He knew he was going to have to answer for
his behaviour of yesterday.
After looking at her brother for a few seconds and shaking her head, she
started: “Allan, you hurt Liam so much with what you said yesterday.”
Her voice was quiet and calm but the true meaning of her words hit him
hard. “He loves you, you know?” she continued even though she saw
him hanging his head in shame.

Then she shifted her attention to Stephanie next to him: “Stephanie, all
of this started with your lies. Lies you told or didn’t tell. You know,
keeping quiet is the same as lying? Liam knew about all your lies and
he tried to get you to own up to them and make things right with your
husband. But instead, he came into the crossfire because of you.”
Stephanie knew what was coming and she held her breath: “You were
pregnant with Louise before you married my brother.” When everybody
gasped, she quickly said: “And, no! Louise is not Liam’s child! He would
never do that to Allan! But you knew it, didn’t you Stephanie? You knew
all of this but still you let Liam take the fall for all your lies.”
Stephanie blushed a deep red. She knew all her secrets was going to
come out now and she had nowhere to hide. “You got pregnant from
Gavin. You were still seeing each other while you and my brother were
together. And when you told him about the baby, he wanted nothing to
do with you. So you decided to marry Allan and tell him the baby was
his.”
Allan looked at Stephanie with his mouth hanging open. He was
grabbing his head in his hands but Tamryn continued: “You didn’t think
it would all come crushing down on you, until Louise got sick a few years
back and the blood tests showed that Allan could not possibly be her
father. And that’s when Liam confronted you and told you to tell the
truth. But you refused and you knew he couldn’t because it was doctors-
patient confidentiality.”
Allan looked at Tamryn and it dawned on him. Liam didn’t tell him
because he wanted to keep secrets from him, but because he wasn’t
allowed to talk! Not only Allan, but also the rest of the family was now in
shock. Allan glared at his wife. She was the reason he hated his
brother! For not reason! For no reason at all! The anger inside him was
starting to build up.
Stephanie just sat there, completely aware that everyone was looking at
her for answers. But she didn’t deny anything Tamryn just said.
“But that’s not all, is it?” Tamryn kept going. She was also getting angry.
“You started working late. And you and Gavin started seeing each other again. So, at the charity ball, Liam confronted you because he walked in
on you two one night at the practise.”
Tamryn turned her attention to the rest of the family. They were all dead
silent. “You see, Guys! The man she is moving in with, is Gavin. Not
Liam!” She turned to Allan again to get the message across. Allan sat
back in his chair and drew a hand over his tired face. She almost felt
sorry for him but kept going: “Shame on you, Allan, for even thinking that
your brother would stoop so low!” Tamryn was reckless. The man she
loved was hurt and she couldn’t stand it! “Shame on me for believing all
the lies! I’ve known that man for almost all my life. I’ve known him
inside and out and still I didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt!” Tears
sprang in her eyes as she said this. She would never forgive herself if
something happened to Liam last night.
She turned to Stephanie again: “And shame on you for letting Liam
stand true for all your lies and scheming and not speak up. You knew
he would be too decent to rat you out!”
Tamryn finally turned to Lydia: “Lydia, to expect Liam to say nothing to
his brother about your illness, was also not fair. Do you know how much
pressure it put on him? To look his brother in the eyes and lie to him
every time he saw him? It was eating him up inside! But still he tried his
best to save your life, for his brother. He loves his brother so much; he
cannot stand by and see him lose you!”
As soon as it dawned on Lydia what she has done, she started to cry.
She never thought of it this way. She never realised what she’d done!
“Ryan,” it was now his turn: “How could you not give your brother the
benefit of the doubt about the night our parents died? Did you know the
reason he could not answer his phone? He was with another woman, as
you and Allan so easily accused him of. But that woman was your wife!
That was the day she got her diagnoses and she went to see Liam. She
went there to ask him to treat her. To be her doctor. And as he always
do when he is with a patient, he turned his phone to silent.”
Ryan was gasping for air now. He looked like he was about to throw up.
Lydia cried even harder. Tamryn could not take this any longer. As she
laid out all the lies that were told about Liam, it became even worse to hear them. Her heart just ached for him. For the way they all treated
him! And he was just trying to protect his family.
With a shivering voice she said: “Mom and Dad would be so
disappointed in all of us! We are supposed to be a family. We are
supposed to love one another and protect each other. But instead, we
threw our brother under the bus when all he wanted to do was to protect
us!”
“That man almost had a breakdown last night! He could just as well
drank that whiskey and used that gun to kill himself. But lucky for us, he
talked himself out of it. And I’m just as much to blame for all of this. I
believed the lies that were told. I should have stood by him like I did my
whole life. Heaven knows, he always stood by me. He never ever
would’ve doubted me! So, yes, I failed him and I will have to deal with
that for the rest of my life. But I tell you this, no one will ever hurt him
again! I will see to that. No one!” She was getting tearful again and her
voice choked up.
Then she stood up from her chair and looked at them, trying to calm
herself down before she spoke again: “Allan, get your life in order. Sort
out yourself and sort our your wife. And go make things right with your
brother. He misses you.”
She turned to Lydia and Ryan: “I know you are going through a lot right
now. But talk to Liam. He loves you both so much.” They just nodded.
They couldn’t speak. Their emotions were all on the verge of exploding.
She gave all of them one last look and then she just turned and left.
When she got home, she went straight to Liam’s room. He was still
sleeping soundly. She took off her shoes and got into bed next to him.
She put her arm gently around him and held him close. “I’m so sorry for
all the pain I caused you,” she whispered against his ear and gave him a
kiss on the cheek. Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep next to him.

THE END!