My hands were cold and clammy as I pressed the doorbell. Stephen, our butler, opened it with a wide smile. In his mid sixties, he still looked fit and healthy as though years had not passed since we saw each other.
It was a day I would never forget even if dementia came for me. I was a frustrated and angry nineteen year old who wanted independence and more time with my father. But my mother had custody and I could only visit him once a year.
“You pull this stunt again and I'll send you to your grandpa,” my mother warned that night, her chest heaving while I stood there, staring down at her. I was drunk on defiance, like I could say or do whatever I wanted.
“I am my own man,” I shot back. “You can't tell me what to do.”
She turned slowly, halfway to her room, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. “What did you say?”
“Look, it's not my fault you can't keep a man. That's why daddy left you. I won't let you control me.”
It was past two am. That did not stop her from throwing me out on the street. “You're a man, right? Fend for yourself.”
A week later, after surviving on scraps and sleeping under the bridge, regrets set in. But she would not let me back into the house or her heart. Instead she sent me to live with grandpa and I became a better man for it.
That was seven years ago.
I received the call that she had passed—stroke. My two elder brothers and sister scowled at me as I walked into the living room. We shared a mother but different fathers so that distance had always been there. Her passing made it worse.
“She left you a letter,” Sterling, the eldest, said, pressing a white envelope into my chest. I held it and moved to the balcony to read.
Son, I have missed you. Our lives are tales, and only those who love us truly cheer us on. I had to be tough on you but I never stopped rooting for you. I love you. Take care of all that is mine.
She left me her entire estate.
“We will contest this will,” Bright, my other brother, snapped as the solicitor finished reading the will.
“Um, how do they say it…you better lawyer up.” I declared and walked out. I would honour my mother's request. No one would take what I had left of her.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "better lawyer up!".
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Image credit: Advogadoaguilar
