Page 98 of Theirs

We watched Theodore walk back into the house in silence. I looked back at Iris with tears in her eyes, but she was angry. This is what happened when we all came together. We fought because some of us, I should say most of us, didn't agree with our parents and for some reason she always made excuses for them.

“I’m going to sleep too,” Jude said, getting up, following Theodore.

He was going to go check on Theodore. He had always protected him and he was pushed away by our parents since he always sided with Theodore. All this arguing these past couple of days was weighing heavily on me.

“I don’t want to hear it,” she snapped when we locked eyes.

“I don't want to argue, I’m tired of arguing, especially when we should be grieving,” I said, rubbing a hand over my face.

“He wants to sell the farm,” she snapped.

“No, he asked what we were gonna do.” I corrected her. “Look, Izzy, the farm needs a lot of work and we are eventually going to have to figure out what is the best course of action for all of us.”

“You mean, for you guys,” she sneered.

Camila tensed by me, ready to tell my sister something.

“I know you think none of us cared for mom or dad, but unlike them, we all tried, Izzy,” I said, standing up. “You think they ever came to one of my games? Not once have they ever called me other than the yearly Christmas or Thanksgiving call or a card to invite us for the holidays.”

“You turned your back on this family,” she snarled.

Camila stood up, opening her mouth to say something when I grabbed her hand.

“No, Iris, they turned their backs on us,” I said calmly. “Instead of nurturing us, keeping us safe and loving us, their love had conditions and that's not how you raise children.”

“What conditions? You all act like they didn’t love you,” she snapped.

“Did you know Theodore was bullied in high school and there was not a damn thing our parents did for him,” I said, trying to keep my anger down. “One day he came home bloody, with a broken rib, bruised torso and a broken arm. He told them who had done it. Mom and dad didn’t do shit for him. Jude and I had to walk him everywhere because the bullying never stopped.”

Her eyes grew wide.

“He came home bloody another day and he never said a word to any of us. Not who did it, where it happened, nothing because he knew our parents wouldn’t do anything for him.” My voice broke. “I left for college and they didn’t call me for three years, telling me my dreams of playing ball were stupid. The only reason I came back was because Theo called me to tell me you and Jude had been in an accident.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that,” she said softly. “Why didn’t they say anything?”

“Would you have believed us? I didn’t want to tarnish your view about our parents, it wasn’t my place to do that and I honestly hoped they would do that themselves, but with you, a lot of things were different,” I said wearily. “It felt like they sheltered you from us and until now, I didn’t realize how much they made you believe we were the bad guys. If you don’t think Theodore did anything for this farm you should go back through bank records and see that he sold some of the ranch to help mom and dad. Almost a half a million dollars went to them and did they even say a simple thank you? No, they didn’t.”

Her lip trembled.

“I love you, but everything isn’t as black and white as you think it is,” I said, kissing her forehead. “Get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow.”

I grabbed Camila’s hand and began walking away from Iris, hoping this was the last time we argued. We didn’t need our parents tearing us apart even in death.

“I’m going to check in on Theo and Jude.” I kissed Camila.

“I’m going to go to our room so I don’t say something to your sister,” she said cupping my face. “You and your brothers did as much as you could.”

“I know,” I sighed. “They didn’t let her see anything that could have painted them in a bad light, we know this.”

“I love you,” she said, kissing me.

“I love you too, Hermosa,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I’ll be just a minute. Genevieve called and I want to chat with her before we head to bed.”

She tensed briefly before smiling. It made me nervous that she wasn’t going to give Genevieve a chance. She had been like this since we had left and I knew something was wrong, but she told me it was nothing. My mental load was too much and I didn’t know if I wanted to dive into this just yet.

“Ok, I’ll be in the room,” she said, heading down the hallway.

I watched her walk away, my heart ached for many reasons and it felt like I was being pulled in so many different directions. Taking a deep breath, I walked to my brothers’ old room. Jude was already in the room on the floor reading a book, but no sign of Theo.

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