Family Feud

Soon It was getting dark, and Emily waited for over an hour for Jackson to pick her up for dinner, but there was no sign of him. The worst part was he wasn't even picking up his phone or returning her calls, she glanced at the phone in her hands multiple times and exhaled worriedly.

"Great," she muttered out of frustration and picked up her keys and purse from the kitchen counter and head out of the house from the back. She got in her Jeep and drove to Chadville; her siblings were supposed to have arrived earlier that day for the engagement the following evening, but there was no exception, at least when she spoke to her brother before his arrival, he said they were landing in the morning, and she guessed her younger sister had arrived too. She was a bit nervous meeting them, most especially her sister, they weren't really on good terms; she'd planned to go see them in the morning but, fuck it, tonight was no different. Precisely she rather faces the family feud, than sit home with different thoughts on why Jackson canceled dinner without calling or even texting.

The following evening was her engagement, she wouldn't want anything to jeopardize that.

After a thirty minutes drive, Emily arrived at Chadville, she felt a rush as the thought of her sister being here crossed her mind again, wondering if it was excitement or she was scared there wasn't going to be any positive reception; her younger sister was always the family's black sheep, growing up, their father set out all these tough rules for them. Yes, their father was a multi-millionaire, they got almost everything they needed, and he made sure he set out a suitable career for each one of them, just the ones that would boost his self-esteem. But her sister wasn't in for all that, she didn't care about what she needed, but she was adamant about what she wanted. She didn't give a fuck about daddy's damn rules, as long as she followed her heart, she was fine. Emily was their father's favorite, very obedient, and she always had good grades back at school, while Thomas was just around the corner, attending school like he wasn't, going in and out of rehab; Richard always hoped Thomas was the one to take over his empire, so as time went by, he tried to deal with Thomas' addiction problem, which didn't go as he hoped by the way, in his words; Thomas was unfit to stand in his shadow. But Richard made sure Thomas didn't tarnish his image with all his galavanting.

And by the time Emily turned eighteen, Brooke was still the same rebellious child, she even moved out of the house, as a minor, it was dangerous for a sixteen years old, roaming around; She got arrested a few times for driving under the influence, and also assault one time, but daddy took care of her records too, not for her but to protect his name. Finally, she spiced it all up by dropping out of law school and picking up an acting and modeling career, it almost broke their family as Richard's anger exploded, Although other interesting matters caused the drift between the pair. But all Brooke acted on was only how much she despised him, and it drove her far away from the family, to the extent she dropped the family name.

This crazy feud has been going on for over seven years now, and throughout those years, Brooke never came back home. Though, Emily and she were in touch, till four years ago, when she was trying to preach their changed dad to her, which cost Emily her sister again. Now she wouldn't even talk to her. But at least, it was a good thing she was always In touch with Thomas; Thomas had his way around them, always the peacemaker, and at least he tries pretty hard to clean up his nose before sticking it in their family's affair. Well, at least she got to see her superstar sister on TV.

"Brother!" Emily embraced Thomas as she met him on the patio outside the mansion. He was just the exact copy of their father, except for the ego and the hair.

"Emy!" he grinned, squeezing her in his arm. "God… look at you, wow, you look amazing."

"Thanks, brother—and you look—" she took a step back to appraise him. "—great, I can sense the happy Aura."

"I feel great… I am happy, these last few months have been awesome, and when you told me you were getting engaged, it couldn't be better, it was like adding icing to my joyful cake. I wouldn't miss this, I took a private flight from Paris here."

"For me?…Aw! That's cute. And Brooke? She's not here, is she?"

Thomas sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I tried to get her here, I'm sorry I couldn't."

Emily raspberries and waved at the air. "come on Tom, it's not your fault, I guess I kinda knew she wouldn't be here." She said with a disappointing frown.

"You could just call her, you know."

"No.." Emily said quickly, "no, I'm not."

"Drama queen," Thomas chuckled and pulled her to him. "let us go inside, I think we need a drink."

"Yeah, we do… and Don't call me drama queen… come on, you are going to catch me up with those happy things that got my brother a bright smile… I guess Paris has done its magic on you."

"sure thing Ems… can't wait to tell either, we should do all the catching up before daddy gets here.. but no magic, just wonders."

"Wow! Let me see if I got this straight," Emily said standing by the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, across from Thomas, with a glass of red wine in her hand. "you recently learned you'd fathered a child? Who's now six years old?" he grinned and nodded. "This is amazing news Tom… wow!"

"I know I've shocked you."

"Yes… I didn't see that coming, I'm an Aunt… wow!—how by the way? Who's the mother?"

"Mary-Anne."

"Who's that? Doesn't ring any bell…Do I know her?"

Thomas shook his head and sighed. "She's sweet, she was on a one-night stand six years ago at a retreat in Rio, she got pregnant, but I didn't know… she was the one who found me months ago... I received an email… and bam! She told me about our son… Charlie."

"His name is Charlie?… cute."

"I met with them, did a bunch of DNA tests, just to make sure she didn't reach out for some extortion or something… but her intentions were the purest, In her words 'He deserves to know his father'—we began to spend time together… damn! it was like I was dreaming" he said, and suddenly, all expression flushed from his face, and that minute he was quiet.

Emily swept her long wavy hair away from her face, then took a sip from her glass and met his gaze. "Something tells me there is more… Thomas? Come on don't be dubious with me?"

"She's moving here with Charlie—"

Emily frowned and it was all suddenly clear to her that her brother wasn't here for her,"—You aren't here for the engagement, are you?" Their gaze met and Thomas paused, her mouth twisted, her eyes burning questions with hurt. "Cool, yeah… no one cares, right? It's an engagement… it can always blow up as I've always been screwing up every relationship once it gets this far… you guys always think, ah… it's Emily, she's fine, her life's perfect, she has everything she's ever wanted… daddy's girl, blah-blah-blah bullshit!" panting, trying to catch her breath, she blink back teary eyes and continued. "Well, guess what, I'm horrible, I'm not perfect, I let my sister down, I'm a hypocrite… I sided with daddy back then, when I should have stood up to him and fought for this family…"

Her breathing was heavy and she began sobbing. Thomas walked over to soothe her.

"Hey, Don't think less of me, of course, I'm here for you, you are my sister, I wouldn't miss it for the world … shhh! Ems, none of this is your fault, we all had our part to play—come on, don't cry. I should have been here with you guys all those times too, but what did I do? I let my pain get to my head, and kept throwing myself in and out of rehab only to pick up from where I dropped 'em off, what a brother I am… look, I wish I could go back and undo the wrongs, but, we can't. All we have is now, you know." He said and Emily nodded slightly.

"Marry-Anne is sick… leukemia." He added

Emily's head snaps to look at him. "Oh Tom, that's bad…I'm sorry, " She said and he nodded. "so you're planning on staying here in Miami?"

" For now, Yes—I'm going to fix this, Em," He said getting up to walk towards her. "don't you see it? I can finally be that son daddy has always wanted… I could take over the business for him—"

"—business?" She scoffed and shook her head, "Yeah?" Thomas gave a reassuring nod when she gave him a questioning look. She laughed sarcastically and nodded, "you are kidding right? Or you are just being delusional… you'd have to work your magic on how to convince dad that all his business isn't going up your nose… again." She said and they both laughed.

"Emily! Come on… you know I'm clean, I've been clean for years now, and he also knows that."

"Does he?" she raised a brow and held a stare. "Fuck! Tom, you and I both know our father is a selfish prick—but, he's trying to be a better man these days, at least so I'm told," She said and he chuckled. "Well, let's see how he'd deal with the grandson part first."

Thomas smirked and thought. He hoped it does. And as they both stood by the window, their father's car pulled over downstairs.

"Speak of the devil," Emily rolled her eyes and squeezed her brother.

"I think you better leave me to face him alone." He said.

"Absolutely! Good luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed—" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek "—And pray so hard that you'll think a thousand trumpets were sounding and the judgment day in sight!"

Which it might just be, Thomas told himself gloomily as he watched her leave the room. He was by no means sanguine about the encounter with his father. The old man hasn't yielded an inch in the past; why should he now? Still, it was something he had to try, this Decker feud has to end.

He was tired of living outside, like a pariah. With the discovery that he had a son, had realized that family was important to him—this family, as well as the one he had with this child and his mother. And like it or not, Brooke Decker was part of it too, and he was going to put every piece together.

"Who in the hell d'you think you are, barging in here like this? The icy voice had Thomas turning to face the door. That ego filled the room, his eyes had this cold, deadly stare; just like he could remember, except for the obvious wrinkles and his eyes seemed weirdly bleak.

"I wasn't aware I'd done any barging," he replied with deliberate mildness. He gestured around. "I grew up here, remember… this is my home."

Richard peered at him, with so much interest and took a few steps closer with a hand in his pocket.

"Home?—" He scoffed and shook his head. "—You don't have a home here. Addicts are not welcome in my house! I think I made that clear the last time you were here before you ran off again."

Thomas chuckled wistfully and took a pace, "I didn't run off...you kicked me out. I don't use anymore, I'm Three years clean—"

"Bullshit! What every addict would say, it won't take a day to ruin everything… why are you here, Tom? I don't have time for this, I know it's not for your sister's engagement, I'm sure you've managed to feed her those lies, but, can't fool me. Let me guess, you need money?" he paused to watch Thomas for a bit, then continued "... yeah I guessed right—I'm not surprised, I always knew this day would come, you always find a way to mess up your life.

What is it this time? Huh?... Drugs, gambling?" Richard rolled his eyes and sat down cross-legged, then poured himself a glass of whiskey from the coffee table. "How bad have you ruined my name this time?... spill it! So I can know where to start cleaning up your mess."

"—my mess?" Thomas shook his head and faced him, always blaming me for every bad decision. Thomas noticed the lines on his face, which once had been slight, merely lending it a suave maturity, were now deeper grooves. But he also noticed this chill. What in hell could have—

"Don't look at me that way!" Richard snapped.

"You see—" Thomas began pacing, "You've never, ever asked me if I was doing okay… if I was fine. My world began to crumble the moment Mom died."

"Dammit! Don't bring that up, she was my wife and I mourn her every single day—"

"Of course she was… and she was my mother too!" Thomas said and Richard saw the tears glistening in his eyes. "Then you began molding me into something I never wanted to be, just so you'd feel better and you could keep lying to yourself that you loved Mom—"

"What are you saying? Of course, I did love your mother."

"Dad?"

"Um… how dear you stand there and questioning my love for your mother!" Richard said angrily as his voice raised, "after all we've all been through—" he took a sharp inhale and exhaled trying to calm down.

"We?... Did you just say we, Dad?—does Emily know why Brooke is so angry at you?...huh! Does she?" Thomas asked and Richard was speechless. "Did you even ever know why I used to get high?"

Richard sighed as he said it, and Thomas rubbed his nape again. "That's what I thought."