"Mother," Emily said, as she approached the bed.
"Emily," Elizabeth said her voice weak. "I'm surprised you traveled all this way just to see me considering we don't exactly get along."
"I don't like your attitude mother but that doesn't mean I don't love you," Emily said. "I've often wished over the last few years that you had paid attention to me and my brothers, but you were just too busy to. You just never bothered to take the time to actually spend with us. You didn't even bother to eat dinner with us so we could tell you how bored we were, because we had no toys to play with.
"All we got for our birthdays and Christmas was clothes, no toys, no books, not even a pack of cards. You're lucky that one of us didn't commit suicide or run away, because we were so bored. Sure. there was a TV, but there's only so much you can watch at one time and not want to tear your hair out or become bored with it. You didn't even allow the nanny to read us bedtime stories mother. Do you know how often I laid in bed unable to go to sleep? I'm sure that Theo, Ed, Ray would say the same thing if you bothered to care enough to ask them."
Elizabeth had no choice but to listen and she realized suddenly that Emily was absolutely correct. No toys in order to entertain her children when they were young, as it had just never occurred to her that they needed entertainment of some sort other than getting into mischief. She couldn't really blame any of her children for wanting nothing to do with her, because she had been so busy avoiding Alan as much as possible that she had also ignored her children. How her children had survived with nothing to do other than lay on their beds, watch endless television or talk to each other, no boardgames or card games or games of any kind. Also, no books or toys, appropriate for their ages, as it had never occurred to her to buy such a thing for her children.
She knew that she had overreacted all those years ago when Emily had asked to have a friend over so Emily had never had girlfriends to spend the night or over at all and she'd had never thought about how bored her daughter was being the only girl. She hadn't exactly been approachable, Elizabeth admitted to herself now. She had just never taken the time to listen to her children as she barely remembered they existed most of the time. She made sure they were fed, clothed and educated and that was about it. They'd had outings, but it wasn't her or Alan that had taken them to the museum or other educational places it had been the nanny and when they were older the housekeeper.
There had been no time for fun, to just be children, but it was too late to make amends, as all four of hers had made it clear they wanted as little to do with her as possible. She had basically regulated their every breath. It had been like they were in the military instead of just being children. Children who just wanted to be loved. Emily was absolutely right that she hadn't bothered to take the time to spend with her children. But then neither had Alan so he was just as guilty, as she was, but he couldn't make up for it, because he was dead. She couldn't really make up for her inattention either, since none of her children wanted anything to do with her and she couldn't blame them.
She now really understood why Emily had insisted on getting out of New York as she had no influence outside the city. She had made it necessary by not just allowing Emily to make her own decisions without her interfering in them, which her daughter or her sons hadn't appreciated.
"We all survived and we all learned what not to do when we had children of our own. But that doesn't make up for our friendless, loveless, boring childhoods. I know very well that it was your secretary that bought presents for our birthdays, because you never spent any time with us, never even wished us a happy birthday on the day of. It was just another day for a lot of years.
"I know very well that it's the children that suffer the most when a marriage is arranged, but that doesn't make it right. Father was so busy politicking he didn't spend anytime with us either. I barely remember him at all. I know he did so in order to avoid you, but that meant he didn't see us either. I wouldn't be surprised if he had several mistresses over the years.
"You're lucky that at least one of us isn't an alcoholic or taking illegal drugs, because it's not like you were a positive influence on any of us," Emily said finally seeming to run down.
"You're right about everything you said," Elizabeth said trying to control her emotions, as her voice came out sounded like she was close to tears. "I wasn't a proper mother. I realized that back when we were planning your wedding and had said you'd thought about eloping. I realized now that I should've thrown everything my father taught me just by being a bastard with a capitol B. I know you and your brothers hate me for not spending any time with you. I never thought about the fact that children need entertainment, toys, books and friends to play with."
"That's quite the admission, though it's a little late," Emily said. "You should have come to this revelation back when me and my brothers were children mother not when I'm over 40 and Theo is closing in on 50.
"I should have," Elizabeth admitted. "Where are your brothers? Couldn't they be bothered to come?"
"The others will be by to visit tomorrow, as the nurse just let one of us come in to see you. Every single one of them as well as Aaron are in the waiting room and I have to report back to them as soon as I leave. It was Theo that called me and it was nearly 10 o'clock when he did so. Aaron and I were lucky to get a flight out as late as it was when he contacted me."
"What about the children?" Elizabeth asked.
"They're being looked after by friends of ours, the ones we moved in, with Dave and Penny Rossi," Emily said. "They have five of their own just like Aaron and I do so they'll look after them. They were in bed when Theo called to tell me that you were in the hospital and we didn't want to get them out of bed and then have them sit in the waiting room being bored, miserable and impatient. The Rossis can easily get them to school along with their own and pick them up."
"Too bad, I would've loved to have seen them," Elizabeth said with a note of wistfulness in her voice.
"You know I think this is the first time you've ever said something like that," Emily said staring at her mother in astonishment. "I always thought you at least disliked kids and were forced to have as many as you did, because her father's inheritance."
"Ending up in the hospital gives you plenty of time to think," Elizabeth admitted.
"Yeah, I suppose it does," Emily agreed. "I'm going now mother, but Aaron and I will be back tomorrow as will my brothers."
"How is your marriage going," Elizabeth asked. "You and Aaron still seem close."
"We are close and my marriage is fine," Emily said. "I love Aaron and he loves me. Aaron understands me and I can't say the same about every other man I dated. He sympathizes with my lonely childhood, but doesn't pity me just respects me for surviving it. I can't see that happening if I had agreed to that arrange marriage you tried to get me to agree to, as I have no doubt, I would have at least disliked whoever you chose for me and if not outright hated him. Many children with childhoods similar to mine don't survive you know. You have no idea of the statistics of children who runaway and end up on the street, just because they're severely neglected. Or the ones that get into the cleaning supplies and die because they drink something that's poisonous to humans beings. You're lucky that none of us did that or you may well have been going to one of you're children's funerals," Emily said.
"I'll be back tomorrow, but then, me and Aaron need to head home, because while Dave and Penny don't mind looking after our kids for a few days it's not right to leave them with responsibility for our five as well as their own."
"How much are you paying them to look after your kids?" Elizabeth asked.
"Absolutely nothing, they're doing it because they love our kids as much as they love their own. Their family, even if they're not technically related, it's as simple as that, which is a concept I don't think you'll ever truly understand mother. Where somebody does something for you with no expected reward in return, monetary or otherwise, because they are good and kind people," Emily answered leaving a very astonished Elizabeth behind.

~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~

"How is mother?" Raymond asked, as soon is Emily appeared in the waiting room after leaving her mother's room.
"She's conscious and coherent. We talked about our childhood and I didn't even cover a 10th of it, as I only had a few minutes. She's weak of course, but she'll survive and probably come back meaner than ever."
"Let's hope not," Theo said shuddering at that possibility.
Their mother was mean enough already, she didn't need to get any meaner.
"If she does none of us have to deal with her. She's going to make it so that we never even bother to check on her if she starts acting meaner then she does on a normal basis. As it is, we interact with her as little as possible. I hope you found us a decent hotel, while I was busy talking to mother," Emily said to Aaron. "I'm ready to go to sleep for the rest of the night. I'm exhausted."
"It's no wonder, because you and Aaron came all the way from New Mexico," Edward said. "I mean you were lucky to get a flight to New York so late at night and then when you combine that with the flight itself and waiting on news about mother it's no wonder you're ready to sleep. You're the only one that doesn't live in New York."
"True," Emily said hiding a huge yawn behind her delicate hand.
"I did get us a hotel, a five star," Aaron told Emily answering her earlier question. "It's not too far away from the hospital, so we can come back in the morning doing visiting hours."
"So long as they're clean sheets on the bed I don't really care at the moment if it is a five star," Emily said. "I'll see you tomorrow," Emily added to her brothers.
"You go and get some rest and we'll see you here in the waiting room," Theo told Emily giving her tight hug. "Love you sis."
"Love you too Theodore," Emily said kissing her brother's cheek. "Love you Edward, Raymond."
"Love you, Emily," Ed and Ray responded at the same time.
Emily walked towards the entrance to the waiting room Aaron following, even as he wave goodbye to Emily's brothers.

~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~

"I'm going straight to bed as soon as we check in," Emily said yawning.
"I can't blame you for that," Aaron said, even as he got behind the wheel of their rental car.
"You know mother was more thoughtful than I ever knew she could be when I went to see her," Emily said, as Aaron drove out of the hospital's parking lot. "She actually admitted that she wasn't much of a mother to me and her sons when we were growing up. That she was so busy avoiding father as much as possible that she never spent any time with us."
"She's looking at her mortality sweetheart," Aaron said. "She could very well be realizing that she could be in worse shape then she is or even have died if that servant hadn't found her and called for an ambulance. She's suddenly realizing that she's mortal and that she's not going to live forever not like you and I are anyway. That's often enough to make a person do a lot of introspection and realize that it was their fault entirely that their children or anybody else doesn't want anything to do with them because they're rude, domineering, abrasive and a lot of other negative descriptive phases. She's realizing that she ignored her children when they were young, not even spending the minimum amount of time with them. She's basically rethinking her life knowing that she can't make up for not being a mother to her children at this late date. For one thing, all of you are grown-ups and would never accept any coddling at this point in your lives,as you're much too old for that type of behavior."
Emily considered that briefly the nodded. Aaron often surprised her with his wisdom and this was one of those times, as he had her mother pegged.
"I believe you're right," Emily told Aaron. "You know you often surprise me with how wise you sound, but I know you've been alive for centuries, so I suppose I shouldn't be so astonished. I always knew you were intelligent back when we were married in the past, but you, also didn't have the experiences you do now. You seem to understand my mother and her attitude."
"I've seen a lot in my time honey," Aaron said smiling a little as he stopped at a red light. "You know Dave and I traveled through a lot of different places back when he turned me immortal, mostly by foot though, as we couldn't afford horses back then. We did occasionally catch a ride with somebody going in our direction a farmer or a craftsman taking their wares to the nearest big town or city to sell."
"I wish I could've been with you," Emily said sounding wistful.
"I wish you could've been to," Aaron said. "Of course, if you hadn't died along with our children I never would have traveled with Dave to various places and agreed to let him turn me immortal after a decade. I would've stayed with you and our children in our little rented cottage, which wasn't really big enough for all of us, but it's all we could afford at the time."
"True," Emily agreed seeming to wake up somewhat due to the discussion. She still feel tired but at least she had quit yawning. She was sure she would sleep well once they were in the room that Aaron had rented.
"There's one thing I've learned over the years if you change one minute of events that happen you'll likely change everything to where we never would've met years ago or had our children. While I wish your childhood had been better, your life now is much better than it was back in the far past. We both have money now, so we can give our children every advantage, which is something we couldn't do before," Aaron said.
"True," Emily agreed, even as Aaron reached the hotel where he had gotten them a nice room. "I would gladly go through everything I went through, just to have you and our children in my life now. I am grateful that I am so happy now, even if my childhood was so bad."
"I am very happy to have you back in my life," Aaron told Emily kissing her cheek after parking. "You're not gonna die this time around like you did due to the influenza, because you're immortal now just like I am."
"I'm glad I am immortal, so we'll never be parted ever again," Emily said smiling.

~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~