"It was just so ironic. Mother was so subsided," Emily told everyone the next morning. "She certainly didn't sound like the mother I knew."
"I told Emily that Elizabeth Prentiss had just realized her mortality," Aaron told Dave and Penny who were listening to the recounting of the visit to New York and one of the hospitals there.
It was after breakfast and they were alone at least for the moment in the living room, so this was a good time to tell Dave and Penny what had happened in New York.
"She's just realized that she won't live forever like all of us," Emily said. "It's like you said years ago Dave, that eventually, loneliness was likely going to be the cause of her death because she has no friends, her children don't want anything to do with her and all she has is business associates and people who come to her for donations for some cause of theirs, usually political in nature."
"That is so sad and tragic," Penelope said feeling badly for Emily and her brothers.
"It is, but it's also very common unfortunately," Dave commented squeezing Penelope's hand in affection. "Emily's mother is just one of those types that's narcissistic in the extreme, who doesn't do very well listening to anybody's opinion, especially her children's."
"Theo had to remind Edward and Raymond that we made a vow back when we were children," Emily mentioned. "We vowed never to turn out like our mother, cold, hard, domineering, narcissistic. We vowed that we would care about others, that we would raise our children with love and listen to their worries and concerns. That we'd not get upset when they told us something that we didn't agree with like mother did with me back when I was 7. That we'd be kind and considerate of others something mother definitely wasn't when we were growing up. Something still isn't even today."
"I would say you've done a good job," Penelope said smiling at her friend. "You're nothing like your mother."
"Actually, I forgot about that vow, because I was only 11 when I took it and Theo was 17 and it was less than a year before he went to college, before he could escape the hell that was our childhoods. Unfortunately, I was stuck for years after that, as I was the baby. First, Eddy escaped a couple years later, then Ray a couple years after that. I don't know how I survived for the last couple years by myself with none of my brothers around. I had absolutely no one to talk to, it's not like you could have a decent conversation with mother and if I had bothered to talk to the servants they might have reported me to mother and even if they hadn't, they probably just would have shooed me away."
"You survived that should be all that matters," Aaron said.
"All I had to do really was watch endless television and sneak into the library to read some of the books that were hardly appropriate for my age at the time," Emily said. "I'm sure you noticed I normally don't watch much TV and that's because, I lost my taste for it back when I was a kid and a teenager. I'll join you for a movie or something when we are all doing the same activity, but that's different then watching regular TV."
"Yeah, I had noticed that," Dave admitted. "I suppose I would've gotten sick of TV too, if that's all I had to do for years, especially after your brothers left for college."
"Yeah, those last two years before I could leave home were hell, even more then normal," Emily said. "Did you know mother wanted me to take business courses, so I could take over from her one day and I turned her down flat. I asked her bluntly why I should do anything she wanted me to do considering that she ignored me and my brothers when we were growing up. By the time she recovered from her shock of being defied I was gone in the car that I got from mother and father when I got my license. I'm actually surprised that mother arranged driving lessons for us or had the housekeeper take each of us to the DMV to take the test in order to get our licenses considering their general attitude and her habit of forgetting that she even had children at all."
"I'm surprised your parents got you a car considering how they treated you all your childhood," Penelope said.
"That's true, but on the other hand, they could certainly afford to get all four of us new cars and not used. Mine was actually a very nice Mercedes in a decent color, which was dove gray. I miss that car sometimes as it ran like a dream. It was also my way to escape the house sometimes once my brothers had left for college. At least I had enough money to put fuel in it, as even mother realized that we wouldn't be able to drive our new cars if we could fill the gas tanks, so she gave each one of us an allowance, which she should've done years before she did."
"At least it was some compensation for your terrible childhood," Penelope commented.
"Yes, it was, even if it didn't make up for my childhood by a long shot," Emily said empathically. "It was the only kind thing that either one of my parents ever did for their children.
"What about that stipend you mentioned back when we first met? Surely you were getting that from the lawyer once you hit 18 anyway," Dave asked. "I mean, how else are you supposed to put gas in your car to get to the college you were attending or back home for the holidays? Your mother might have given you an allowance, but she might not have thought about the fact that you needed money to buy things books and food at least. Considering her inattention when you were children that was a likely possibility. Surely your family lawyer would've seen that you needed money for gas at least."
"That's true and yes, I did get a stipend, though it wasn't as much as it would be once I hit 21. Henry was actually pretty nice about it and normally, I don't like him at all, as he's a stick in the mud and very uptight. However, even Henry realized that we would need money for certain supplies since we were older now and could drive."
"I heard how you marched into his office and demanded your inheritance once Aubrey was born," Dave chuckled, as that was exactly like the Emily he knew. Emily was a spitfire and she had always thought it ridiculous that she had to have four children before she could get her full inheritance, not just a stipend. The stipend would have been not even a tenth of the amount of her full inheritance. Emily would've had to be careful with the amount she spent until it increased when she hit 21, but even then Dave doubted it was even a 10th of the money Emily would have gotten once she had four children, as required by those out-of-date family statutes, which were apparently still valid, even in what was now the 21st century.
"I still remember Henry sputtering that Emily had been so rude," Aaron chuckled. "Emily marched right passed his secretary who tried to stop her, but Emily was determined. It would've been like trying to stop a bulldozer."
"I told him he better have the money transferred by two tomorrow and that I'd be checking before Aaron and I headed back to New Mexico," Emily said remembering her confrontation with the family lawyer. "He threatened to report my behavior to my mother and I told him I didn't care if he did, as me and my mother weren't exactly best friends. Mother had no control over what I did or said once I was over 18. I said he would never have to see me again once I had my inheritance that should've been mine years ago."
"Material possessions can't make up for lack of love from their parental figures for a child, but at least having a car allowed you to escape when it was time to go to college," Dave said.
"True," Emily agreed. "I could've escaped two years before that but where would I have gone really? Mother might have sent the cops to look for me if I had left before I was 18."
"I'm sorry that happened to you, but as Aaron said you survived it and you never had to go back after you went to college," Dave said.
"True, I never once went back, not for summer not for any holidays Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter so mother was left on her own and I didn't particularly care if she was lonely, as she certainly hadn't shown me any love as a child. I spent my summers and vacations with Theo as he graduated years before I even went. I gladly took his couch, as it saved me from having to go back home. Far as I know, mother never called around to find out where her daughter was and the same goes for my brothers, which just shows you she didn't really care about us at all, because otherwise, she would have been concerned about us when we didn't come home for the summer at least.
"Still, mother was certainly more introspective than I've ever seen her before and she said being in the hospital allowed her a lot of thinking time and she realized that she wasn't really a mother to any of us. She was so busy with her business and avoiding father as much is possible that that led to her ignoring her kids. She admitted that she totally forgot about us most of the time. Failed to realize, that we needed things to entertain us, because we weren't important in her life or my father's for that matter. Apparently, she and dad had sex just enough to produce the required four children in order for him to get his inheritance. I wouldn't be surprised if dad had several mistresses over the years."
"That's all to common I'm afraid," Dave commented. "Not just in those marriages that are arranged either, like your parents, but even those that supposedly marry for love often cheat on their spouse."
"You better not think of doing the same," Penelope told Dave only halfway joking.
"For me, it's a totally different situation," Dave told Penelope gently pulling her close and kissing her thoroughly making her relax against him and look contented. "Remember, I'm immortal and I was born in a time where you didn't cheat on your wife or your husband as the case might be. Also, why do you think it took me so long to finally settle down? I had trouble finding someone that would accept my explanation about immortality, that I could also love. You don't need to worry about me cheating, as its never going to happen."
"Dave is a totally different kind of man from most men today," Aaron told Penelope with a smile. "You know very well he's loyal to those he loves."
"I know that," Penelope said. "I was mostly joking as I know what kind of man Dave is. He's the kind of man that almost doesn't exist in this day and age. One who is generous, kind, gentle and loving. I know I was lucky when Emily introduced us."
"Good, I'm glad you know I would never cheat on the love of my eternity as that would be stupid and I am anything but," Dave said. "You are it for me or I never would've told you about immortality in the first place, as I know how hard a concept it is to believe. Why would I want to make myself miserable if you left me, because I cheated on you? I mean technically, we would still be married so we couldn't get involved legally in other relationships. You must remember that we aren't mortal so neither one of us is going to die anytime soon, which means we'd never be able to get involved with anybody else or at least not married legally to anybody else."
"He does have a point, Penny," Emily told her friend with a smile the original discussion forgotten about for the moment.
"Yes, he does," Penny agreed. "That's not unusual though."
"No, it's not," Aaron said smiling at the conversation, as it was mostly lighthearted and Penny wasn't serious in her words of what she'd do if Dave cheated on her. Penny knew that would never happen in a thousand years or ever.
"If only my mother had understood the concept of love then maybe my childhood wouldn't been so bad," Emily commented.
"Try not to dwell on it Emily, although I know that'll be hard," Aaron said. "There's no reason to make yourself miserable because you're dwelling on things that might have been."
"I'll try not to," Emily promised. "I make no promises though."
"What you need is something to distract you, so you're not constantly thinking about it," Aaron said. "You managed to put your past behind you years ago, but when you heard your mother was in the hospital that brought it roaring back."
"I'll put it behind me again now that I know mother's going be OK," Emily said. "We might not exactly get along, but that doesn't mean I don't love her, just not her attitude and personality."
"Of course you do, as she's your mother after all," Dave offered. "Just because you had a lousy childhood doesn't mean that you stop loving her, even if you'll never be close."
"True," Emily agreed appreciating Dave's wisdom and understanding.
She had always been grateful that Dave and Aaron had met way back in the past when she had been Bernice and that Dave had turned Aaron immortal, as she might not have been as happy as she was otherwise. She doubted she'd ever would've remember her former life at all, because it had been explained to her by Dave that likely the only reason she had remembered her past life at all, was because of Aaron who had been at the center of her life along with her children. Someone in the universe had wanted them to be reunited, even if that had taken a centuries to happen and she would be forever grateful. While she missed her children from her past she was grateful to have Aaron back in her life, as she knew if she had ever married at all it would've ended in divorce eventually, especially if she had agreed to that arranged marriage her mother had wanted to push off on her.
"I'm grateful that Aaron met Emily totally on accident, because the two of us wouldn't have met otherwise," Penelope who had been silent told Dave.
"True and I'll always be grateful as well as I probably never would've married at all if we hadn't met nor had my children no matter how much my mother wanted me to settle down," Dave agreed.
"She certainly told you so often enough," Aaron snorted in amusement, as he remembered how many times Rebecca Rossi had urged her son to go ahead and settle down and give her grandchildren. It wasn't even that she didn't have grandchildren galore from her other children, just that she wanted the same thing from her oldest son. Rebecca had finally gotten her way after many centuries and she was very happy to finally to have grandchildren from Dave, her firstborn.
The four of them continued to talk quietly for awhile, before they went their separate ways for a few hours.
Life was very full and very fulfilling for all the adults in the house. The children would eventually grow up and leave home and the Hotchners the Rossis would move elsewhere and have more children in a few decades.
They would handle any problems together and always be as close as they were now.
As for Elizabeth Prentiss, she would eventually die so she wouldn't be like an albatross hanging around her children's necks. When she did none of her children would bother to mourn her and Emily at least wouldn't bother to name any of her girl children Elizabeth in the future, since her brothers had already had their children long before she had met Aaron and that none of those children had been named after their mother wasn't surprising.
Really, what did that say about Elizabeth Prentiss, since it was common to name a child after a parent? It said that she wasn't well liked by her children that none of them, even considered naming any of their little girls after her. It was usually considered an honor to have a child named after somebody that had had a great deal of positive influence in your life.
That Elizabeth had survived this time was due to the fact that the servants had found her unconscious on the floor, because otherwise, nobody might've found her before she was in even worse condition and possibly dying in the hospital, because she had not been discovered for days or even a week or more. She might even have died by the time she was found if not for the servants and that would've been a tragedy because you can't make up for the past mistakes if you were dead, as you needed to be alive in order to do so.
That no one would have cared, not even that servants, if she had died alone and unmourned said a lot about Emily's mother's personality and behavior towards others.
Emily refused to think about the woman who hadn't really been a mother to her and just went about her life as normal not worrying at all. Her brothers would tell her if she was needed, as they were supposed to check on her every day, as they actually lived in New York, while she did not.
The four of them would watch their children grow before they moved elsewhere and it was the most perfect life you could expect in this corrupt world.
