The Master Finale | manxman | (Book Four: The Master Collection)

XVI - The Will of a Father

Alone with his mother, Broderick could still hardly believe he was here, and on the brink of listening to an apology of all things. When he was growing up in this manor, he'd come to terms with the idea that his parents didn't know how to be parents, but to discover their regret was surprising to him. There was so much time neither his mother or father could make up for now that he was grown. His father had passed away some time ago, and there was no way to turn back the clock. If there was anything that could be done; however, it was that it was possible for his mother to express regret about how inattentive she and her husband had been to their family back then.

Blythe had yet to let go of her son's hand, holding it in her own feeble grasp. Her heart was so happy to finally look upon the face of her very own child. And while so many years had gone by, and he'd grown so much, there was nothing in her that questioned if this was in fact her boy, her Broderick Thorne. From the shape and color of his jade green eyes, to his ever curly hair, the image of his handsome face, everything about his physical appearance pointed to the truth that her son was finally home and sitting before her. The joy in her heart was so overwhelming, she thought any moment now she could faint.

"When you vanished, Broderick," she said, "Your father did not show it at first, but we were tremendously frantic, so very desperate to find you. As your mother, all I wanted was to know where you'd gone, why you'd gone, and that night we discovered you missing, Stanley suspected he knew why you'd gone as you had. Over and over, he kept saying 'I wasn't going to punish him' and 'How could I have let him fear me?'. I hadn't known of what he meant, but then he told me, told me about the affair you had with the stable boy during that time. Yes, it was a shock to acknowledge, but your father and I, all we wanted was for you to come home, to come back to this house where we could tell you everything would be all right."

Broderick almost didn't understand his mother for a second. "You mean, you and father, you would have been alright with my relationship with Neville if I had come back?"

"Oh, Broderick," Blythe went on, voice woeful as she spoke. "Stanley was previously afraid of your being with the boy on behalf of the law. That kind of relationship, if discovered by another, he could only envision you at the end of a rope for such an act. To hand you a wife, to force you into a marriage, that was all he could think of to protect you from the law. Your father and I, we knew upon your departure that we were not the greatest, most wonderful set of parents in the world. That much we understood quite well, and we were torn that it took losing you and Jamie on the same night to see it so clearly."

Hearing Jamie's name, Broderick felt his throat tighten but he controlled his show of emotion. "I never thought you all truly cared," he said. "When Jamie fell ill, neither you nor father saw the severity in his condition. Father neglected him. Johanna and I were the only ones who offered him true acknowledgement."

"I know," Blythe spoke through her tears, "Given the guests that were often in and out of the manor, Stanley hadn't wanted anyone to look upon Jamie in his condition. He was afraid people would find him unsightly, not for our sake, but for his own. He was afraid people would degrade him."

"I would not have let that happen," Broderick said. "Jamie was my brother. I would have protected him from everything. Everyone."

"And what a wonderful brother you were to him," the woman dried her eyes and cheeks with a napkin on the balcony table. "You never ceased to show young Jamie that he was loved by someone. A thousand times, Broderick, I say sorry a thousand times, but even with such words, there is nothing myself or your father could do to make up for not being the loving parents you all deserved. But there is one thing your father left behind before age took him away." Blythe stood then, bringing Broderick to his feet as well. "Come," she said, "There is something you must see."