30.

Xander

I have a little sister. I look over at her, she's sitting with my mother, and they seem to be laughing about something. They both shared the same laugh and smile. They were beautiful.
We were sitting around the dinner table, having lunch that our mother's so wonderfully prepared. Damien and Charles were whispering, and Nikki's mother and Nikki were talking. That loneliness started to creep in.


No, Xander, I scold myself, you are surrounded by people that love you, and they are just being normal.


They don't like you; you should have died; he hears his father say.


I shake the thoughts out of his head. He wasn't going to let his insecurities ruin his life anymore.


I feel a hand on his arm, he turns his head and Charles and Damien have a worried look on their faces.


"Are you okay, bud?" Damien asks.


I nod, "Yeah, it's probably the meds."


Charles sighs, "If you aren't feeling okay, tell us, okay?"


"Thank you, Charles."

Lunch wraps up and my mother and sister and I are given some space. I was nervous. I didn't know what to say or do. Especially now that there is one new edition for the family.

"I must say, I am so happy to have a big brother, especially you. You are just so awesome!" Jessica squeals.

I chuckle nervously, "No I'm not, I've done some pretty shitty things."

"Oh, honey, we all make mistakes. It's a part of life."

"And we would never hate you for it, but I can hate our father."

"Jessica, Marie." my mother scolds.

"I don't blame her for saying that he separated us. He turned me against you. He made you the enemy, yet he was the enemy all this time."

My mother looks at me with sadness in her eyes.

"We've found each other, and that's what's more important. We can work on getting to know each other." my mother says, placing her hand on my knee.

I sigh, on the brink of tears. Every time I thought about what my father did, I'd get angry, and the guilt would kick in and then the sadness. All these years, he lied. Let my father drive me to the brink of insanity, to the point where he manifests himself in my dreams, and it feels so real. Like he has never left.

My mother moves from her couch and sits beside me, Jessica kneels in front of me.

"Hey big brother, it's okay." she says, holding my hand, "We are here for you."

I sniff, "I don't deserve you."

"Yes, you do. After all these years, us being together is what you deserve. To be happy, Xander." my mother says, rubbing my back.

I smile through the tears, "I feel like such a baby."

"You are my baby, you both are."

Jessica and I laugh, and our mother kisses us both. The warmth that I feel from them both is enough to reassure me that everything is going to be okay and for the first time in a long time, I don't feel tense, heavy, or burdened. Everything feels so good.

"When you can, you can come to our house and spend some time with us." Jessica says, "If you want, that is."

"That would be awesome."




"Oh fantastic, so you and Nikki?" my mother says, giving me a mischievous grin.




I groan, "Mom, she's going to be my wife, I know that we barely know each other, but she is an amazing woman. She never judged me, never asked about my dad, she's got her own money, and she is so loving towards me, something I've been craving for a while. Dad didn't really give me any relationship advice."




"I honestly don't know what happened to your father. One minute he was the sweetest person and then boom, he turned into an asshole overnight. I thought it was the money or the fame, but when he kicked me out of my parent's home because I caught him cheating for the 10th time, I didn't know what to think."




"He never said anything about cheating, he said that you did." 




She sighs, "I did cheat on him, there is no justification, but I did do it and when I feel pregnant with his daughter, he didn't want to believe that it was his. Yet he was the last person I had slept with."




"I'm glad that you are owning up to your mistake's mom, dad couldn't do that. "




"We did a DNA test after she was born, and it was confirmed that Jessica is his daughter, but by then he wanted nothing to do with me or your sister."




"I'm sorry mom, I should have tried to find you, but I was so brainwashed by dad that I couldn't think for myself. If it wasn't for Charles, I don't know where I'd be."

"All that matters is that we are together now, and we get to start our lives as a family." Jessica says, "Mom and I have prayed for this day and now that it's here, I want it to last forever."

---

Nikki


"You can't possibly be thinking of doing that, Nikki," Charles says to me in disbelief.


I sigh, "I feel as though I don't have a choice. Investors are putting pressure on me to resign, and they want to put in some new guy from London who worked with my father back in the early days, but that is my father's legacy, Charles. I can't just hand it over to someone else."

"No, get Xander to help you. I'm sure he can think of something to help you." Charles suggests.

"He's dealing with a lot right now."

Charles rolls his eyes, "Don't be stubborn, Nikiwe, please. That's why Xander in most of the problems he's in today."

"I'm not being stubborn; I just don't want to overwhelm him."

Charles pours himself another glass of whiskey.

"Lord, my children are stressing me out, knock some sense into 'em."

"Charles?"

"You're forgetting what got us into this mess Nikki, secrets, lying, deceit."

"I'm not forgetting, every day that I wake up and turn on the news and check my emails, I'm reminded."

Charles sips on his whiskey, "Then do the right thing."

"Pour me a glass."

Charles takes the bottle of whiskey and puts it on the floor, "Not with that bun in the oven, I'm not."