To Whom Have Lived

Chapter 23 - The Other Son

TW - Homophobic slurs, mention of suicide (and just funeral/death as a whole)

"What's up with dad? I thought that he was on his best behavior today." Elizabeth asks, walking towards Jules.

"Old memories that's all. He never got over me and Kyle being the way that we are, did he?" Jules answers.

"Nope." Jameson chuckles, "Mom got so mad at him once that she finally kicked him out. Not for long though, only like two weeks."

"Well good for her. He needed to get knocked off his high horse." Kyle scoffs, looking back at Brad.

"Mom would love this. All of her children, here, in this place. Feels like you two should know that as she got older, she started respecting what you guys go by. I think the two weeks away from dad really helped her."

"I'm glad. She was always my favorite parent. She was also way more open minded than Brad but his beliefs always towered over hers since he 'was a man.'"

"What did you mean by all the things you said to Brad?" Kyle asks, searing the conversation to a more deep one.

"We used to have another brother. If he was still alive he would be 28 right now. He came out to our parents as gay a year after Elizabeth was born. A lot happened and three years later while I was 'babysitting' you guys, there was a knock at the door with a military guy saying that my brother Mathew was dead." Jules answers, making sure that their dad doesn't know that they are saying all of this.

"And why didn't he ever tell us about this?" Jameson asks.

"He doesn't think he did anything wrong. He thinks that what he did was justified. Mom never found out about it, but, he wasn't allowed to do that to me or Kyle." Jules paused, taking a quick breath, "Mary may not have liked that she had three kids that were in that community, but she never wanted to put anyone through the horror of going through one of those camps."

"And mom didn't realize that her older son was missing?" Elizabeth asks, shaking her head.

"She thought he ran away. Brad was so horrible to him that she thought he just up and left. He never had a proper funeral for him, but Mathew was cremated and before I left Brad gave his ashes to me. Mathew always wanted to go to the state of New York so the minute we got to New York I spread his ashes."

"Mom wanted us to give you this Jules. She said that with all of the things that are going on, it would be good if you had a protector. If you wear it all the time, nothing bad will happen to you. Her grandmother had it, then when she died mom got it. And mom specifically said that you get it." Elizabeth says, handing the present to Jules.

"She also said it was meant to be an 18th birthday present but you left before she could give it to you. She always knew that you were going to leave when you turned 18 no matter what happened. I know that it never excuses the things that we did to you both but mom was just trying to save herself." Jameson adds, trying not to cry.

"I understand. Trust me, I told Kyle to do the same, no matter what, the best way to survive a house like his, is to not go against him. I was never mad at you guys, I knew what you were trying to do. I can forgive you guys and mom but I can never forgive dad."

"I get that, The minute I turn 18 I'm taking Eli and my girlfriend with me and we're leaving." Jameson says, pulling Elizabeth into a side hug.

Jules grabs something in their pocket and takes out a piece of paper, "Here's my new number, call me if you need help."

"Thanks. It's odd that mom's death out of all things brought us closer." Jameson chuckles, grabbing the paper and putting it in his pocket.

~~~~

"What is wrong with you?" Brad asks, stepping up to his children after the funeral.

"What is wrong with you?" Elizabeth asks, maintaining eye contact.

"Whatever that disgrace of a daughter told you is a flat out lie."

"Really? Even after all this time you still don't see that you did anything wrong?" Jules breathes, "You still think that you were in the right?"

"He was a Faggot. A disgrace of a man. I did what I had to do to keep the public from finding out what our golden child had become."

"Fuck you dad! He did nothing to you!" Jameson screamed, slapping Brad in the face.

"You are all dead to me! I don't care what the public thinks. I can't have disobedient children. Once we read the will, you guys will wish that you were nice to me!" Brad declares, storming off into the building to read the will.

"I guess we better follow him." Jules says, following Brad.

...

"Alright, is everyone here?" The will reader asks.

"Yep. Let's get this over with."

"Mary Bowman, who has a net worth of $250,000, has a two story, four bed and three and a half bathroom house, and two cars in her name, has said to give $200,000 to Jules Anderson $50,000, the house and both of her cars to Jameson Bowman, Jameson also gets full rights of her youngest daughter Elizabeth, which she has already signed off on. Kyle Bowman gets all of her old CD records, and her husband gets her half of their business."

*A/N ~ I actually have no clue how a will, and the reading of a will works so bare with me :)*

"What!" Brad yells, slamming his hands on the table, "Give me that!"

He proceeds to rip the paper out of the will reader's hands and reads it out loud. The kids can't believe that their mother did this. Each knew that the only reason she left him half of her share of their business is because she knew none of the kids would want it. Also because he can't fight them for anything since he got something.

"This can't be real" Brad yells, "That is final! All of you are dead to me unless you give me what you got!"

"I would rather be dead to you then give you Elizabeth." Jameson spats, walking out of the building.

"I'm with Jameson on this one. Come on Eli." Kyle says, grabbing Elizabeth and following Jameson out of the building.

"You brought this on yourself. I was hoping that you changed and if not for me then at least for Kyle. He always wished that you both would accept him someday and him hearing that our mother finally did really made him hopeful that you did too.

"I wish that I could say something to change your mind and be in their lives but you already made up your mind. I understand, that the unknown can be scary but your daughter is dying and will be dead very soon. I wasn't even going to come to this funeral until one of my old childhood friends called to say that they hoped my mother died peacefully knowing that her daughter and son were doing great.

"Sometimes you have to cut ties with people you care about. It just makes it easier on me knowing that at the end of the day I wasn't the one that caused you to lose all of your kids. You were. Have a great life, dad."

~ End of Chapter ~

Word Count ~ 1278