Part 28

William Reid sat at one of the tables that had been arranged in an area off the the side of the dance floor and observed the guests. He sighed suddenly feeling everyone of his years. The wedding had been lovely, he could admit that, but it didn't matter whether or not he approved of either of his sons marriages, as both of them were over thirty. He really liked Brooke and Jeremy as husband and wife so he approved there, but as for Spencer and Harper...

If Harper Hotchner had not already been married then he would approve of the match, but she was and he had made it more than clear that he didn't approve of multiple relationships, not that it mattered. It had been made very clear to him that he had no right to control anybody's life, except his own, as this wasn't back centuries ago when the head of the family could control whatever their offspring did, but especially their daughters. Men had more freedom, so long as they didn't care if they were cut off from the parental teat and therefore, the family coffers by their fathers. Diana had finally made him realize though, that he had driven a wedge between himself and Spencer and the chasm it had created would very likely never be repaired.

He should have realized years ago that when Spencer was a boy that any child would go their own way and making snide little comments or showing clear disapproval was not the way to get a child to obey, especially not one as intelligent as his oldest son. He should've taken a much different tack and shown his son what a lawyer did, answered his questions, instead of brushing them aside as unimportant. Spencer had been interested initially, William now realized, though it took an intense search of his own memories to realize that. After the way he had brushed aside his questions though and basically ignored his childish curiosity the boy had changed his mind quickly.

If only he had taken the time to answer his son's questions Spencer might have decided to become a lawyer, instead of defying family tradition, but he had put too much pressure on him to obey and Spencer being his son had gotten stubborn about it and decided against becoming a lawyer. He had stuck to his guns despite all family pressure to the contrary. Reids were known for their stubbornness unfortunately.

Instead of being proud of his son for standing up to him he had done his best to make Spencer hate him, though he hadn't realized it at the time that's what he had done. At the very least Spencer strongly disliked him and he had no idea how to change that or even if he could. William remembered nearly threatening not to pay for Spencer's college education if he didn't become an attorney and Diana had stopped him cold and told him that the boy was intelligent enough to look for scholarships and she would pay for his education herself if she had too.

He still hadn't understood the damage he had done to his relationship with all his children not just his oldest son at the time, but now he did, as he barely saw all any of them except for Whitney. However, Will now realized that was more for the sake of his grandchildren then Whitney herself, something he hadn't realized until recently, because his daughter had kept her opinion of his attitude towards Spencer to herself. Even if Whitney had said anything to him he wouldn't have listened and he knew it.

Will knew that he could have threatened to disown Spencer from the Reid name if he didn't distance himself from Harper and Aaron Hotchner and if he also knew if he had done so Diana would immediately start divorce proceedings. He also knew that his father would reverse his son's status as soon as he learned of it and take him to task for being an idiot, for he was technically, head of the family until he died and therefore, was the real power. It wouldn't matter anyway because Will was sure that Spencer would gladly take on the Hotchner name and would continue to maintain contact with anybody in his family except himself just to defy the order, so really what good would it have done?

His relationship was rather rocky with his wife and Will could now admit to himself that it was mostly his fault. A mother was supposed to protect her children from anything bad happening to them and that included from her husband. Oh, he had never laid a hand on any of his children or his wife, but that didn't mean that he hadn't left plenty of scars mentally and emotionally at least. He had used that famous Reid stubbornness in the wrong way to try to force his children into a mold he found pleasing, even if that was mostly Spencer. His oldest son hadn't been turning out like he had wanted or expected and that was clear by the time the boy was three or four years old. He had tried to force Spencer into doing more the activities he had done as a child, to play baseball or just go outside and had not been pleased when Spencer had defied him even at that young age. He remembered Diana telling him that he should be proud of his son for liking to learn and he hadn't said anything at the time against it, but had not agreed with his wife's statement. He had not appreciated that way Spencer had absorbed information, even at that young age and remembered everything.

William mentally winced as he remembered his son's eidetic memory, because he knew Spencer would never be able to forget every time he had said something disparaging about him or every time he tried to force his son into being what he wanted. Spencer might be the quiet one of the Reid family, but he had his own way of defying anything he disagreed with. Well, there was no point in dwelling on his numerous failings when it came to his family not just Spencer, though he had taken the brunt of it.

He would just have to accept that his son now had a wife that already had a husband and he should because his father certainly didn't have a problem with it and as he was head of the family he had a right to say how it would be.

He had wrecked his relationship with his family all due to his own stubbornness, pride and being to busy to see he was doing so. This wasn't the 14th or 15th or even the 16th century after all where most children followed in their father's footsteps, the boys anyway, while the women were often married off against their wills, but it was obey orders back then or risk being thrown out with only the clothes on your back and disowned.

"Well, you seem rather melancholy for such a happy occasion," came a voice that Will vaguely recognized, as he had been introduced briefly. This was David Rossi the father of Harper and Brooke and Will had met his three wives two beautiful blondes and a gorgeous brunette. Will couldn't understand how anybody could marry more than once and form a happy marriage, but he had been told that David Rossi and three wives had been together for a very long time, more than 50 years though none of them looked like they could possibly be past 40. Since Will know there were numerous ways to make someone look younger than they actually were he didn't bother to speculate how they could maintain looking the way they did.

Will also now knew that there was no way that this David Rossi would have let his son starve considering his daughter loved him and the daughter had plenty of money of her own and that wasn't even counting that his son did run a successful business.

Will had done a background check on Harper and Aaron Hotchner in a desperate attempt to stop his son from associating with them because he could see that his son was falling in love with Harper and that his feelings were returned, but their records were as clean as a whistle with only a few minor traffic violations all paid up. Will doubted now if he had found something that it would have stopped Spencer from doing what he wished since his son was just as stubborn as he ever had been and you couldn't exactly turn off your feelings for someone and even if you could that would hardly be healthy. It would've had to be some kind of capital crime like murder to get Spencer away from them and Will hadn't actually wished for that.

According to their background checks they were upstanding citizens with quite a bit of money of their own.

Will merely grunted not replying and sipping the drink he was holding though the ice had long since melted in the heat.

"You look like a man whose deeply troubled," Dave suggested quietly. "Here you are sitting by yourself when you should be out there dancing with your wife reveling in the fact that two of your sons have found happiness and have just gotten married to women they love."

Will said nothing and just kept drinking his now warm drink doing his best to ignore David Rossi, but the one thing William Reid wasn't aware of was that the other man knew how not to be ignored when he didn't want to be.

"It might help to talk to someone," Dave suggested. "It can't be all that bad."

"You think I'm going to tell the father of my sons brides all my troubles?" William asked finally his tone rude.

"You don't have to," Dave acknowledged calmly, ignoring the rude tone, "but it would probably help to get them off your chest. At the rate you're going you're going give yourself an ulcer at the very least."

"And what do you know about it?" Will almost snapped.

"I know that keeping stuff bottled up doesn't do your body any good," Dave said calmly, not responding to the snapping tone. "You could have a heart attack or stroke just because you don't release your emotions. You know if you would only acknowledge it, in this way your oldest son is just like you, as he keeps stuff bottled up, as he's afraid to show emotion in case you consider him weak or something."

Will winced at that wishing that was one trait Spencer had not inherited from him, but he had taught his son to well just by ignoring his needs. He had always known that children tended to emulate their parents so yes, that was a trait Spencer had very likely picked up from him.

"Luckily, both Harper and Aaron were stubborn enough to help your son overcome certain traits learned in childhood, even though at this point they'd be pretty deeply ingrained. He's already opened up so much, from what I understand, from the man that they originally met."

"I hadn't noticed," Will said slowly.

"Spencer knows he is loved unconditionally despite or perhaps, because of his faults and that is enough to make him open up to the two people he trusts absolutely. Trust hasn't been easy for him from what I understand from my daughter, but at least he made the effort and has succeeded for the most part," Dave explained.

Will winced visibly again knowing that he was the main reason Spencer was so cautious around people, although he wasn't the only one he was sure to cause his son not to trust people easily. His son had learned well not to trust people until he knew them intimately and while that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it stopped people from taking advantage of him there were also some disadvantages.

Dave mentally shook his head. His children might be all be grown up now, but that didn't mean that he didn't stay in contact with them as much as he could and offer them advice when they asked. He was still very in tune with all of his children, even if he didn't hear from some of them very often. Of course, it was easier to remain in contact nowadays, then it had been when he and Emily had been born, but still, he had tried to remain in contact.

"You must think I'm a lousy excuse for a father at least," Will finally said after a long silence.

"I didn't say that," Dave said in mild protest. "I think all of us learn at different speeds and that when you got married you weren't really ready to be a father. To accept that your child might not turn out not like you wanted. If there's one thing I've learned by raising twins is that they grow at their own speed mentally and emotionally and often in ways you don't expect. All we can really do is guide them, but you should never try to force a child into being what you want them to be. I realize however, that I had a different upbringing then you did, but that's what I was taught when I was a young man. I always had around me several good examples, as my parents are still very much in love as they were when I was a child and so are my grandparents and my great-grandparents. They never tried to force me to go into the same profession that they themselves had, as all they wanted me to do was find a good woman to marry have a family and a career that I would be happy in. I have done so, though I am long since retired."

What Dave told William Reid was the complete truth he had just edited it appropriately, as he couldn't exactly explain that his parents and grandparents were much older than average due to being Immortal, though they might decide to pass on one day being bored with life in general, which happened to Immortals sometimes.

He had also spoken the truth when it came to his parents not trying to force him into particular career and would've been happy if he had never worked, because it wasn't like he was going to starve due to the large trust fund they had set up for him. They had taught him to be careful with his money until he made some good investments as what they had set aside for each of their children wouldn't last forever. His writing career had brought in billions, especially considering that he had been several different writers over the last thousand years, so he was in no danger of going broke.

Besides, all three of his mates had fortunes of their own.

"And what did they have to say when you married three instead of one?" William asked curiously.

"They truly didn't care one way or the other," Dave shrugged. "So long as I was happy and my wife was okay with it and also the lady in question was agreeable they didn't see any harm in it. In fact, they were very happy that I'd found so many beautiful ladies to love and that loved me in return. Love is what makes life worth living, because humans aren't happy just working for a living as they need someone to love and to come home to, to be more then simply content.

"They need companionship, someone who has at least some of the same goals, the same values, the same ethics and morals. I was very lucky when I met Emily, then a few years later Jennifer and finally Penelope. I've been very happy and content since then and so have they, because I've made sure of it.

"I do as much for them as they do for me and we never let the romance fade from our marriage. I always remember our separate anniversaries, their separate birthdays and they always remember mine, though I have to admit that they have an easier time of it, because they only have to remember one birthday and anniversary, instead of three. We never let life in general make us forget our common ground, which happens far too much.

"We still go out on dates and we take plenty of trips just to get away for a week or two. It's not like we have any children to look after anymore as Harper and Brooke have been grown up for a long time, so we're pretty much free to do whatever we want, though we will always be available to give our daughters advice if they ask for it. That of course includes, Spencer and Aaron though Aaron has never come to me for advice, but then he doesn't have to. He knows though, that any of us are available if it ever becomes necessary. We support our children in anyway we can and we always let them know that they are loved. Well, you can see the result for yourself."

Dave gestured out on the dance floor, where Harper and Spencer as well as Brooke and Jeremy had resumed dancing after taking a lengthy break. Will's eyes went to Aaron Hotchner wondering what he truly thought of his wife getting married again and was surprised to see the younger man smiling slightly, as he watched Harper and Spencer dance together. Apparently, Aaron approved, but then he would have to since he would have to sign a statement that said he approved of the marriage between his wife and Spencer. The opposite would've been true if Aaron met another woman and they agreed to add her to their relationship and who knows it might happen, William mused. After all, technically, there was no limit of people you could marry though most stuck to just three partners or less.

Harper and Brooke were well raised young ladies, William admitted to himself silently. They were well spoken, well educated and polite, even to people they disliked. Plus, as a bonus they couldn't be called gold diggers because they had plenty of money of their own and they clearly adored his sons.

William made a decision, which he felt was the right one and that was he would stay away from both of families as much as possible, except when he absolutely had to be present. He would leave them alone to live their lives the way they chose like Diana had been trying to get him to do for years, particularly his oldest son. Of course, he would love any grandchildren unconditionally, unlike he had done with his own children. And that's only if Spencer let him anywhere near them, as it was a distinct possibility that his son would forbid him from ever seeing them considering how he had treated Spencer as a child. He didn't see Spencer being that vindictive, but still, it was a possibility he was going to have to accept just in case it happened and not protest too much. He was actually surprised that Spencer hadn't disowned him, but perhaps, he hadn't wanted to hurt his mother, since the two of them were very close, which was something he had resented a lot over the years, but now he realized that he had brought it on himself.

William well knew that Diana was the reason that Spencer had turned out as well as he had, though of course, he had his hangups, but everybody did, though Spencer probably had more than most due mostly to him he knew.

"From what little I have seen of them they seem polite and well spoken," William said.

"They were raised that way I assure you, though Harper has quite a mouth on her when she's annoyed or angry, but then I didn't raise my daughters to be pushovers, but to standup for themselves. I'm afraid they picked up the coarse language from Emily as she has quite a mouth on her to, but to be fair a lot of kids in high school or even elementary school have very foul mouths. We sent our girls to a nice private school, but that doesn't mean that some of the children don't still swear sometimes and children tend to mimic their peers."

William recalled back to years ago when Diana had argued about sending Spencer to a private school for children with out of the ordinary intelligence and he had been determined that Spencer was going to go to public school just like he had and it hadn't been about the money, since those kind of institutions cost.

He had done his oldest son a great disservice by being stubborn about the wrong things, which was something he had realized years too late. His son might have made friends of his own sort that were geniuses just like Spencer was. Spencer had never brought friends home, William now realized, but that was probably because he didn't have any close friends. He had always known that more ordinary children tended to pick on those that were more intelligent and showed it. At the time he had insisted that Spencer had to go to the same high school he attended he hadn't thought of that. It had never occurred to him that he was not helping his son's mental or emotional maturity by insisting on placing him in a public high school where he would outperform the other children easily. Spencer had too much pride to dumb himself down just so he had a easier time in school, which the other children would have seen as showing off. Spencer had really been more mature then most of the other children in school and his life experiences of being at least verbally bullied was part of the reason why, though he also shared some of the blame.

Spencer had known better than to bring his troubles to him, as he knew himself well enough to know that he just would've brushed Spencer's concerns aside and told him to handle it. He supposed any influence he had on his oldest son's life could be considered a negative example.

"I should've done the same I now realize," William said looking guilty. "I'm the one that insisted Spencer had to go to the same high school I attended, but I didn't realize I was doing my son so much harm mentally and emotionally at least."

"I think he turned out okay, as I've met him several times and was very impressed with the depths of his knowledge," Dave said. "Yes, there were likely plenty of things you could've done to help nurture his intelligent mind, but that's water under the bridge as the saying goes, so there's no point of dwelling on it. You can still at least try to make things up with Spencer, though how you do that I'll leave to you."

William said nothing about how he had intended to avoid both his sons and their families as much as possible, leaving them to live their lives the way they wanted, but particularly Spencer. It was for the best really, because he was sure Spencer would never be able to forgive him and even if he could there was no guarantees he wouldn't do something else to hurt his son. He already didn't see much of any of his children really, though he hadn't realized that until fairly recently or he had chosen to believe that they were just too busy to come for dinner.

"Now, while this has been nice, I think, I'm going to go dance with Harper and then Brooke as I know I won't see them for the next few weeks," Dave said. He rose to his feet and headed to do just that.

William watched him go and knew that David Rossi whether he had meant to or not had given him a lot to think about.

~~~Immortal Soulmates~~~

"Can I have this dance?" William asked his wife who was sipping a drink over at one of the tables.

"So you have finally decided to participate?" Diana asked a little sarcastically. "Finally stopped feeling sorry for yourself, just because nobody listened to you? I thought I asked you to at least appear happy that two of your sons have found someone to love and yet you sit over at one of the tables and brood instead, though at least you didn't object when the priest asked."

"Why don't we dance," William suggested.

"I suppose," Diana said suddenly feeling exhausted. She knew that the changes Will was going through were going to take time, but the least he could've done was get up and participate in the reception, danced with both Brooke and Harper at least once, as it would've been the proper thing to do. The man who had built his life around presenting the proper appearance in public sure had failed when it came to his sons nuptials. Besides, it had been months since he had come to the realization that he had truly driven a wedge between himself and his family and that meant he'd had plenty of time to at least learn to pretend to be happy for his sons marriage, Spencer's in particular.

Still, he was trying and Diana had to give him massive points for that.

"So what made you finally decide to participate in your sons wedding reception?" Diana asked, as the two of them took a spin on the dance floor.

"Oh David Rossi came over to my table and subtly gave me a lecture, though at the time I didn't realize that's what it was, because as I said he was very subtle about it. He told me all about how he had allowed his daughters to choose what they wanted to do with their lives and that he had never tried to mold them into what he wanted. He said how he learned to raise his family from his parents and grandparents example. He might not have meant it as a lecture actually, perhaps, that's just the way I took it once I'd had a few minutes to think. He subtly pointed out that I should be proud of my son for all he's accomplished and that he came out better than anyone had a right to expect. He apparently likes Spencer very much, respects his keen mind and even if he didn't approve I suspect that he wouldn't interfere with his daughter's choice, as he apparently believes in letting his children make their own decisions, even if those choices turn out to be mistakes."

"Now that's something I approve of," Diana said nodding. "You can't learn anything if you don't make mistakes as that's the way that we grow and mature. I met some people that are so arrogant that you just want to slap them and either they apparently never made a mistake and learned from it or they just never learned from their mistakes at all because their parents just took care of of any consequences without punishing them so they learned their lesson. When we are learning and growing we expect our parents to help us with any mistakes we make depending on the severity, though usually whatever mistakes we make are pretty minor and easily corrected. However, in this case Spencer didn't make a mistake as I believe he chose well, so don't expect him to get divorced, because I don't see that happening."

Actually, Diana knew it wouldn't happen, but she couldn't tell Will why she was so certain that Spencer's marriage to Harper was going to last or Jeremy's to Brooke for that matter. All that mattered was that her sons were happy and it didn't matter that both of them were going to live basically forever, barring serious, life threatening injuries. From what she understood an Immortal had a better chance of surviving something like that, depending on the injury, where it was located and whether they got medical attention in time, so it wasn't a sure thing.

"That's not what I was thinking," William protested.

Diana simply stared at him intently and finally nodded believing him despite herself.

"Alright, maybe I judged you unfairly, but considering the interference in Spencer's life you can't exactly blame me," Diana said quietly.

"No, I can't blame you," William admitted with a sigh. "I suppose I was obsessed with having Spencer be exactly like I was as a child and because he wasn't I drove a wedge between us. I was determined to have him follow in my footsteps and when he showed no interest in doing so I tried to force him as you know."

"You should have rid yourself of any preconceived notions of what your children would turn out to be like before they were born," Diana told him in a severe tone. "It's a mistake that many parents make, which only makes their child miserable and most of the time the parent as well. Spencer isn't suited to be a lawyer as he just doesn't have those types of instincts. Oh, he's intelligent enough certainly, probably more intelligent than any three other people put together, but still he's not one to talk in front of a lot people like in a courtroom. He would've made a fine lawyer if he was at all interested but he's not. I can't believe that you didn't see that Spencer would've been miserable in that profession if he had actually done what you wanted and gotten his degree. I have no doubt that even if he had got his degree to become an attorney that he would have stayed in that profession for very long. We all have to do what makes us happy Will, and being a lawyer like you wanted was not something that Spencer ever considered being for himself, except perhaps when he was a real small boy."

"He was interested originally, but I brushed aside his questions as unimportant, which was my mistake, as it didn't take Spencer long to figure out that he couldn't depend on me at all," William sighed. "My mistake was not answering his questions as he was more than intelligent enough to understand, even at such a young age. All I had to do was spend some time with him, answer his questions and yet I was too busy building my career to do so. I know now that's no excuse, but at the time it seemed like there weren't enough hours in the day."

"Perhaps, we should've waited a few more years to have children, but considering how many we had it's just as well that we started as soon as we came back from our honeymoon," Diana said.

The two talked quietly as they left the dance floor to sit at one of the tables, to continue their private conversation and also to rest their aching feet. It was getting late so soon the two newly wedded couples would leave the cleanup to everyone else and disappear to their separate destinations for the night before their flights left tomorrow.

~~~Immortal Soulmates~~~