Page 64 of The Heavier The Chains…
Kenzlee~
“Kenzlee, I’m so sorry, honey,” Uncle Allen murmured with his arms wrapped around my shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why is she like that?” I cried. “How can you be so…sonormal,and she’s so horrible?”
“I don’t know, Kenz, sweetie,” he replied sounding sad for me. “I really don’t know.”
When Talon had dropped me off, I had taken a shower and met up with my uncle and aunt. I had wanted to talk to them about paying off their house before speaking with my mother. I wanted them to know that I wanted to do this for them regardless of what happened with my mom.
They immediately refused the gift, but I insisted. I might have even manipulated them a bit when I told them it was the only way I’d feel comfortable continuing to stay with them. When they finally relented, I called my mother, and the conversation was everything I thought it would be.
It’s funny about disappointment. You see it coming; you expect it, even. However, even bracing yourself for it, you still can’t avoid the hurt feelings that come with it. I knew what the conversation with her was going to be centered around, but I was still hurt that she wanted my money more than she wanted a relationship with me. I wondered if we are always destined to want to matter to our parents, because my mother and father were neglectful of me and Kaden all our lives, but I still mourned my father when he died, and I still hurt that my mother cared more about money and status than she did me. She was at a point in her life where she’s lost her son, her husband, her money, and her status, but instead of salvaging a relationship with me, since I was all she had left, she just wanted the money my father left me.
It hurt.
It shouldn’t at this point, but it did.
My mother was the only member of my immediate family left, and all she wanted was the money she felt she deserved. She didn’t care about my future or my happiness, at all. And the sad part? Even though it was close to three million dollars, with the way my mother spent money, she’d blow through it all in a month, if that.
No. If anyone should benefit from what my father left me, it should be the people who have seen me through all these hard times, and that’s my uncle and his family.
“This is it, Uncle Allen,” I sniffed. “She’ll never forgive me for keeping this money from her. She’ll never…” I took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure I just lost my mother, only she’s not dead like my father and brother.”
Uncle Allen couldn’t say anything inspiring, because he knew it was true. He knew his sister enough to know that she’ll hold a grudge over this money and there was no talking to her into doing the right thing and quit being a money-grubbing socialite.
We stayed sitting on my bed, with Uncle Allen’s arm around me, while I absorbed the truth about my mother. After a while, Uncle Allen asked, “So, are you going to tell me about this Talon kid?”
I couldn’t stop the smile on my face, but I guess that’s what Talon did for me; he made me smile. “What all has Alex told you?”
Uncle Allen let out a soft chuckle. “She told us enough to make us hope you’re being responsible,” he huffed.
I leaned my shoulder into him and rested my head on him. “I know you might not believe me, Uncle Allen but, trust me, if Talon ever got me pregnant, he’d haul me off to the Justice of the Peace and get the job done right,” I laughed. Then I went on to tell him all about how Talon takes care of his mother and sister. I told him about the fights and sending Edie to college. I told him almost everything I could think of to make him see how moral Talon was.
“He sounds like a decent guy, Kenz,” he murmured in my hair.
“He is, Uncle Allen,” I assured him. “Our only issue right now is he’s not…comfortable with the money Dad left me. He thinks…I don’t know. He somehow thinks he’s not doing his part in taking care of me if I don’t need taking care of.”
“Awe, honey,” he groaned. “I’m probably not the guy to talk to about this. To be completely honest, I’d probably have issues with it too.”
“You men are so damn delicate, Uncle Allen,” I teased.
He let out a deep laugh. “Why, yes, Kenz. Yes, we are,” he agreed jokingly.
“It’s okay though,” I replied. “I think it’ll work out.”
“Do you have any other plans besides buying a car and treating us like kings?”
I leaned back and look at him. “I…I do,” I admitted. “But…it involves Talon’s family and I’m not sure he’ll be okay with it.”
Uncle Allen gave me a quick understanding nod. “Look, Kenzlee,” he said, “all you can do is share your...wishes with him and take it from there. But, honey, if he says no, you have to respect that. While it’s your money, it’shisfamily.”
“I know that,” I replied. “I…I just…” I looked at my uncle and the tears started forming. “I don’t feel right having the money when…I don’t feel right getting it the way I got it.”
Sympathy and understanding dawned across his features. “Kenzlee, you would have gotten that money even if Donovan hadn’t done what he did. That money was always going to be yours. Don’t…try not to taint it with what he did.”
“But don’t you see?” I replied. “That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to do good with it. I want to take care of my family with it. I don’t want to waste it on shopping trips and expensive cars. And I sure as hell don’t want to give it to Mom.”
“Then, maybe, that’s how you need to explain it to Talon, Kenz,” he advised. “I’m not sure if it’ll help, but maybe if he can see that it’s not about him not being able to take care of you, but rather that you just want to be able to take care of the people you love, he’ll feel more comfortable about it.”
