Chapter 11

Four weeks earlier, Manchester

"I want to see Mom, Abbey. Do you think we could have her for dinner tonight?"

"Sure. No problem. Why don't you call Jon and invite everybody out here as well? The kids like to ride the horses and I'm sure Zoey will watch them."

"Abbey, those kids, as you call them, are twelve and fourteen. I think they can ride a horse by themselves."

Her laughter told Jed he had been taken. "Jed, hon. I know that. I meant Zoey can go with them. She's really been anxious to get on some of the newer trails that have recently been cut near the pond."

"That's a great idea."

A few hours later, the adults were pouring their after dinner drinks.

"Mom, can I get you a brandy?"

"That would be nice, Jed. And when you're finished, I want to talk with you and Jon alone. Is that okay, Abbey and Claire? I won't be long."

Abbey quickly stood beside her sister-in-law. "No problem, Catherine. Come on Claire. Let's go to the kitchen and catch up." Claire followed Abbey out of the living room, leaving only the mother and her two sons.

"What is it, Mom? You know you can say anything in front of Abbey."

"I know, and if you both want to tell your wives later what I'm about to say, that's fine. But I want just the two of you right now." Catherine gave Jed a smile as he handed her the brandy snifter. "Thanks, Jed."

"What's so important, Mom?" Jon was as curious as Jed.

"I'm getting up there in years and I want to say a few things before I die."

"Oh, Mom. You have many more years to come. You're only eighty-eight. Beside, I'm sixty-five or I will be on my next birthday." Jed groaned in anticipation of becoming an official senior citizen.

"Now, Jed. You too, Jon. I have some things I want to say to both of you. So just please listen to me."

Both men said "Okay" simultaneously.

"First, let me say that your father and I have loved you both since the day each of you were born. Now, I know you thought your father didn't love you, but in his own way he did. There were times I disagreed with his way, but it was his way. It was tough trying to give you support and strength when all your father was doing was holding back. There were some arguments about it, but John was my husband and when it came right down to it I had to agree with him and the manner in which he raised you both. Your father loved me, but never showed it openly. After a while, I just got used to it and accepted it. But I knew it. And he was always welcomed in my bed.

"Later on, as you two became teenagers, he felt he had to be tough in order to prepare you for, as he put it, the 'real world'. He was tough on every boy at the Academy. He knew that the parents trusted him with their children to educate them, to help them become better men. And he took that responsibility seriously. Some said he took it too serious. But that's the way he was. I'm not trying to make excuses for him. I only want to give you insight into how he really was, at least from my perspective."

Jed shifted uncomfortably. He knew his mother had to know about his father hitting him so much. 'She had too. All the bruises I had on my face and arms, she just had to know. But this is not the time to bring it up. But I do need to talk with her with it. Dad was a monster, at least to me.'

Catherine continued. "I miss him deeply. He's been gone for fifteen years and I miss him more everyday. So I'm glad I'm about to join him. I believe he went to heaven, in spite of some of his behavior, and that I'll join him soon. But soon is a relative term. It could be months. It could be years. There's just no way of knowing.

"You two have become fine men and I'm proud of all that you've achieved. And your father would be too. In each of your own way, you have achieved much and given back much more. As my will states, everything I have is to be divided equally between each of you. But I hope you will use it for good, for helping people who maybe haven't had the opportunities that our family has.

"Promise me one thing."

"Sure, Mom, whatever."

"Yeah, anything."

"Promise me that you will always remember that family takes priority over everything else. When you're my age, that's all you'll have left. I love you both so very much." She drew her boys into a tight hug and cried right along with them.

Catherine smiled through her tears. Hopefully, her boys had listened to her. John was not the monster others thought him to be.