Trying to help her sister-in-law stage a coup at the company was keeping Liz from thinking of her problems, and it was good to sit and talk to Priscilla as she brought out the bottle of the wine she had started to drink before and now they were talking about how Priscilla could get control of the company, while inside his bedroom Lex was watching the movie, and he had tried to eavesdrop on the conversation that his mother and aunt were having, although to the thirteen year it, it was boring,
all that talking about business he thought. He had enough it when at dinner with his grandparents before his relocation, so he did not want to hear it now. So, he went back to the movie, and got into the action, and heard the ding of his phone, and he smiled when he saw a text and selfie picture of his sister in her waitress uniform.
Whoa Lex smiled at the sight of the whole ensemble that his sister had to wear for her job.
He almost wished he was back there, so he could witness his older sister dealing with her job
Almost he thought.
He did not want to deal with the other stuff he told himself and found it too on the nose for his sister to be dressed like she was, but still it was cool.
Cool he texted back.
Are you finished working?
Yes, came the response.
What are you doing? Lex asked.
Planning on a movie with River and Sierra Mariah wrote back.
Being the third wheel tonight, are you in Chicago, yet?
Yeah, Lex text back.
Is it the same place that we left? Mariah asked.
Yes, except Grandpa is in the hospital. Lex texted back, unsure if their mother had already told her but he suspected she would not have unless they had talked. Lex was smart enough to know his mother had been preoccupied with him.
What came the response.
What happened?
Heart attack, things might be dicey. Although do not really know. Grandma is at hospital. Aunt Priscilla is here talking to Mom, and staging a coup of the company?
“What the hell,” came Mariah back in Roswell as she was in a running conversation with her little brother and she leaned against her bed, in the room she was staying, which happened to be her mother’s childhood bedroom.
The one with the balcony but knew her Grandfather would have an eagle eye on her so that she did not repeat the stuff her mother had pulled off. But she never expected her brother to text back, about her grandfather. She dropped her phone, and switched off the feature, and dialed her brother’s phone. “Grandpa is in the hospital, and what about the company?” she asked.
Am I missing drama? she thought because she knew how much her father had not wanted to follow in the family business and she had heard how disappointed her grandfather was that her father went into another field.
I was too young to know what really was happening she told herself.
But now, it felt normal to be talking to her brother about their family.
*
While back in Chicago, Liz was talking to Priscilla. “You know I had those shares Brady left me in his will.” She said of the shares that all the immediate family members were given,
spouses excluded she thought
unless you are widowed, she told herself, which meant she was holding onto Brady’s shares. The kids had their own,
not as much because they stood to inherit their father’s portion once they come of age. As I am placeholder until Mariah and Lex is 21. but enough to make a move if you wanted to, and because both kids were minors, she controlled both her husband and children shares. “If there is a challenge to the company?”
“You would do that?” Priscilla asked.
“Brady trusted you, and he loved you, and if we trust that you would do right by the company. If you father cannot be a head of it, then it needs to stay in the family, until we know for sure what the kids what to do with their lives,”
Mariah is unlikely, but you never know with Lex she was thinking, “and therefore I could help you out, if you wanted me too…”
“Wow, I did not even think of that” Priscilla sighed as she was not sure whether she wanted to go in that direction or not.
“Think about it, and I am prepared to help you, and I know the kids would want to help you too even if I make all their decisions
for now, so I definitely would be open to give you, my proxies.”
“I do not know what to think,” Priscilla asked. “Thank you.”
“All I ask is that you continue to make the company a success and prove to your father that he should have been grooming you and not bitching about Brady all this time,” Liz laughed and got a smile out of Priscilla. “I know that your brother did think you had leadership potential because he told me, and he definitely was disappointed when you did not take that job with the company after graduation.”
“I was in my funk period with Dad at the time, and I wanted to be on my own.”
“I know the feeling,” Liz said softly.
I definitely know that feeling…
“Still, I don’t know what to say,” Priscilla said once again. “And after all the things I have said or even thought of you over the years…
“I do not take it personally,” Liz said
much she laughed.
I have had my own opinions of my husband’s sister, but life is changed for all of us now. “I probably deserved it.”
“It sounds like moving back to your hometown has been doing you wonders,” Priscilla asked as they were finally getting to the crucks of the situation, and they both knew it had to come up at some time,
right? Liz muttered to herself.
And things were going well.
“It has been quite a change,” Liz admitted. “Life is different than the one I was leading here with Brady, but I still wish Brady had not been taken from us,” she sighed. “So much might have been different for us, because he really did not get to experience Roswell in all its glory,” she muttered to herself.
“It could not have been easy,” Priscilla murmured. “Again, I am sorry I did come back for the funeral.”
“I understood,” Liz said softly. “Seeing your family home made me realize how different the life we are leading in Roswell is from this one, and probably is one of the reasons why Brady wanted to get us away.”
“You know, huh?” Priscilla asked.
“That it was Brady who engineered the move to Roswell,” Liz said softly. “I did not for the longest time, but it was my son who filled me in because he heard the two of you talking, and I know now that it was my daughter’s relationship with her ex, Josh that drove the move to New Mexico.”
Priscilla nodded.
She needed to say. Liz needed for it to be out in the open. “Lex also told me that you seemed to have some suspicions about Mariah,” she said softly. “And you basically admitted it earlier when we came over to the house, and the fact that Mariah stayed back in Roswell…”
“I do not know what I was thinking,” Priscilla muttered.
“I think you do…” Liz asked. “You made it sound like you doubted Mariah’s paternity.”
“I would not have said it like that,” Priscilla muttered.
“I know you would not,” Liz said. “And I hope you realize that that I never did know. I always assumed that when I got pregnant back in college that it was Brady who was the father. Which is why we married when we did. And if Brady had any doubts, he never registered them to me,” she muttered
I really do not want to be saying this once more, after saying it so many times before…
“How could you have not known?” Priscilla asked.
“It is very long story,” Liz sighed.
And I am not going to repeat it now. “I probably should have, but then given the circumstances, it was easy not too…”
“So, Mariah…” Priscilla asked.
“Yes,” Liz sighed. “I wish she was Brady’s, but she is not, and she now knows, and it has been a rough adjustment which is partly why she did not come with us because she needed to stay back home, and deal with the consequences of her actions, and not be rewarded with a road trip back here to Chicago so she could visit her friends.”
“What did she do?” Priscilla asked, curious as to what her studious niece could have done.
“She was being a teenager, and she did somethings she now regrets” Liz said softly. She really did not want to have to discuss it all again. “I got her a job at my parent’s restaurant, and so she is working there, and that is why she could not come.”
Priscilla nodded. “Working I am sure will be a good experience for her…”
“I hope so,” Liz sighed. “Can I ask, how did you know, or why did you have suspicions about my daughter?”
“Father,” Priscilla muttered.
“What did Mitchell do?” Liz asked. Because she was imagining a lot. So much could have been done by her father-in-law she knew. Being the President and CEO of a major company, well, you can be capable of some shady stuff. She knew that well enough because of sixteen years within the Brady family and knowing what her father-in-law was capable.
To get to the top, you have to be ready to fight.
“He did the same thing with me, and my first husband,” Priscilla muttered. “Hired a private investigator and the man found some stuff, and filled my father in. Now, later on I almost was glad he did with my first husband but even then, I put down my foot and refused to allow him to do with the others, and he has as far as I know largely has cooperated but when Brady met you and married you so quickly. Father hired a private investigator, and they dug up your criminal record, and that you were with someone back in Roswell or the fact that the two of you were even engaged before you came to Chicago. When Mariah was born, there were doubts raised by father about you know her paternity, but Brady refused to deal with them and tore into our father for having hired someone. He said he trusted you, and knew you were with someone, but it was over, and he had no reason to not think that Mariah was his…”
“But did Brady suspect?” Liz asked as she sighed over what Mitchell could have found out.
Probably not much, but Utah was always going to be out there…
But there were so much deeper entanglements than misadventure in another state and being drummed out of there with the very real possibility of prison time. Liz was once again greatly relieved to know her husband had not cared about her past,
or the stuff I was able to tell him, and she had told him about her record, because it was only a turn on in the way she was in the wake of Roswell,
to be the bad girl looking for trouble.
Brady had not cared.
He was a good one.
One of the best.
She was lucky she knew and now Liz was listening to her sister-in-law trying to assure that her husband never doubted her, “If he did, he did not tell me but he knew you had a past in Roswell, and that you got into some shady business back there, and there were warning signs but he refused to believe the doom in my father’s voice, and tried to keep his distance from the family company after that, and of course, because you guys stayed married for so long, I believe father did start to understand that the two of you might have something, but you know father, he has a hard time believing someone is on the up and up.”
Liz nodded.
“I warned him against going back because of our earlier information because it did look like you had a history back here, and we could not help but notice how you did not go back to visit your parents, and because you did not, then there must be a reason why you never went back there or took him or even the kids. So, I warned my brother that he should be wary of that, and why would he want to put himself through the wringer of going back and having to deal whatever your past was. Especially if father’s reports were as accurate as they seemed to be at the time,” Priscilla murmured.
Why do it? she thought.
Why put himself through it all? she thought. “So, I warned him.”
“But he wanted too,” Liz asked of her husband, and she had a similar question as her sister-in-law.
Why would he have wanted to put himself through that…
“He loved you,” Priscilla murmured as if she could read what her sister-in-law was thinking. “That is one thing I never doubted. It is why my marriages did not work out until this one, because I always wished I could love my husband the way he loved you, but he certainly knew that while you loved him, but he was never the
one for you.”
“That is crazy…” Liz murmured,
but was it?
Be honest Liz. If Brady could even see it.
But he stayed with me… “Why would he have stayed if he did not believe I loved him like he loved me?”
“Because he did not want to lose you or the kids, so he was prepared to put up with a lot to have you in his life,” Priscilla muttered. “He wanted to make you happy. You gave him the kids. My brother loved being their father. I know for a fact that he loved Mariah from the moment she was born. She was the pride of his life. If he had any doubts about you know than it did not matter to him, and when Alex was born, sorry Lex,” she laughed. “Sorry, but you cannot tell me that it is not a weird name?”
“It is, but he wants to be called it, so we wanted him to be who he wanted to be, and not force anything on him.”
“Which was the life we led. Until Brady was old enough to buck orders, but still it was hard to say no to our father, or both of his parents in the case of my brother, and while I mostly lived with my mother. Father’s presence casts a large shadow, and when he had you in his life. And had his children. He wanted to be a different father, and he was, and I know he had it all, until the day he died.”
Liz nodded.
“He was happy Liz,” Priscilla murmured.
“He was,” Liz agreed.
“The always wanted you and the kids to be happy, which is why I think he wanted to move back to Roswell, to take you home, and allow the kids to know the life you once left” Priscilla said softly. “He was prepared to face the angst, but he knew how much you loved your parents because he always saw you with them when they came to visit you guys, and sure it was Josh, and getting Mariah away from her boyfriend, but it was the change of pace he wanted. Chicago is such a big place. And dealing with our family all our lives. We tend to want freedom, and I had Los Angeles and my mother. Brady had his parents, and they can be a lot to deal with on a good day, so I think finally he needed to be away from it, and even if it meant he was taking you back to the past, and if it were to be true about Mariah…”
“He was risking a lot,” Liz asked.
I always knew it, but I said yes.
I took him back to the lion’s den.
“Yes,” Priscilla nodded. “And my brother knew it. But he wanted you to be happy…”
“Your brother did make me happy,” Liz said softly.
“I am glad, and you made him happy” Priscilla admitted. “I do not care what my family thought of the two of you together. You made it work. And I know Brady enjoyed his life, and you made his life worth living, and at the end of the day, that is worth it, and now we all have to figure out a way forward.”
“It never expected it to be this hard,” Liz sighed.
“I know,” Priscilla murmured as she stood up. “Thank you for the drinks," she said with a smile. “I appreciated the talk. Maybe we can get together before you leave town.”
“Let me know what you decide to do about the company,” Liz murmured.
“I will,” Priscilla promised. “And in the meantime, I know life has been unexpected. You never expected to lose my brother in the way you did, and you have the kids to deal with, and now that they are both teenagers, well, I am sure it will not get easier.”
“If the past few months have been any indication,” Liz sighed.
“It will,” Priscilla smiled. “I was the difficult child once, and I am sure the kid’s lives are overwhelming in ways it was not for me, but still, I managed to get through that phase in my life and so will my nephew and niece.”
“Thank you,” Liz said smiling.
As she walked her sister-in-law to the door and watched as Priscilla headed towards the elevator. As she wished that she and the kids could find their happiness…
Somewhere.
As she turned, back and found her son looking at her. “What is it?”
“Mariah in the on the phone, I called her, and told her about Grandpa” Lex admitted. As he handed his phone to his mother and did not acknowledge what he had overheard.
Accepting the phone, “Mariah, how are you sweetheart?”
*
Meanwhile,
Max was trying not to think of Liz. Nor was he looking to revert back to old patterns and slip away from the world. Of course, he knew so much more than he did at eighteen, when he found himself wanting to ignore his family, and even his son. Now, he had a son who was almost a man, and about to graduate, and a daughter who did not know him and barely wanted to have a relationship with him, but it was not causing him to slip away, instead it was making him continue to engage with the world.
Although it was early days, and early hours and still even though Liz had been gone for three days yes, I am counting he thought. Anyways, with River having plans with Sierra because Mac had changed his mind about wanting to do something after his shift, and before River’s
own shift because he had to work at whatever job he was dealing with,
which is something I still do not want to know about Max thought as he now at
Cow Patties meeting up with his sister and Michael for a drink. “I told you that I would show up.”
“We did not believe you,” Isabel said with a laugh. “Because your rap sheet with commitments is pretty nonexistent,” she murmured
before about four months ago. “But we are glad you showed up at all,” she said as she took a beer off the arriving waitress, “Thank you,” she said as she handed the beer to her brother and picked the two off for herself and Michael.
“Still, I am amazed you are here at all,” Isabel admitted
“It’s boring at home,” Max said to the laughs and chuckles of his sister and best friend. “Yes, I know what I am saying.”
“I hope so,” Isabel muttered. “We could not get you out of that house before December,” she sighed, “and now you cannot be there, I wonder why?”
“It does not matter,” Max sighed.
“No, I guess it does not” Isabel agreed. “Anything from Mac?” she asked of her best friend. “It has been quiet on that front because my daughter refuses to discuss anything about it,” she sighed.
“Nope,” Michael muttered. “Silence.”
“That is not good,” Isabel sighed.
“If something breaks, I am sure you will know it” Max suggested.
“Unfortunately,” Isabel sighed. She did not know how she would feel if something did happen between her daughter and Mac.
Not that I will much of a choice to grin and bear it she told herself. “Roxy split town,” she muttered.
I tried to help her, and she left…
“What was her purpose anyways?” Michael asked. “Except to remind of you know, that group we do not like to admit exists,” he thought.
Because it means we are not the only ones on this planet, that there are others, exactly like us.
“Who knows,” Max muttered.
It does matter to me except it brought my son happiness he thought.
“Let us have another one,” Michael suggested.
“I want to wait,” Isabel sighed.
“I will go head another beer,” Max said with a smile. As it felt like this was something normal, to spend time together, even thought they had not had the experience since they were teenagers because Max had been a hermit, but still it was nice as he got up, and walked to the bar. “Another two beers.”
The bartender nodded as he was talking to someone else behind the bar, “I know you are off, but Evans is going to be late, so you have to wait because it’s busy tonight and we cannot be without someone else,” Max overheard being said behind the bar.
Evans, he thought. Now he knew his last name was not considered odd by any sense of the imagination of the word, but still, he did not know personally of too many Evans in Roswell, New Mexico.
He supposed there could be others…
For all I know.
“
River is screwing me here, who told him he could be late for his shift” muttered the other bartender, and Max did a doubletake.
Excuse me, he thought.
Damn it he told himself since he did know River’s name was pretty unusual, and no one could probably have the name, “Excuse me, does River Evans work here?”
‘Whose asking?” came the lead bartender.
“I happen to know him,” Max muttered.
I also know my son to be underage he thought.
Does the bar know this?
Max knew his son needed money to pay him back, but he did not expect that his son was doing this, of course he had suspicions that his son was up to something,
but still he muttered. “I was looking for him, that is all.”
“He’s up later,” came the bartender. “Still need those two beers?” he asked.
“Yes,” Max muttered.
Damn it River, what are you doing? he asked as he picked up the two beers and took them back to the table. “What is wrong?” Isabel asked as she saw that her brother that was troubled about something. “Did you get some bad news or something?”
“Something like that,” Max muttered. “Well, I know how my son is getting the money to pay us back for his antics a few months back?”
“Where?” Michael asked, as his own son was dealing with two demanding jobs to get the money. Not that they were not prepared to be lenient at a certain point, but they were not there,
yet not so far, he thought.
At least Mac is trying to make the money back.
“Here?” Max muttered, unsure of how to react.
“Excuse me,” Isabel asked, surprised because this was not exactly where she assumed her nephew to be working.
Although there were not many places, and Mac has a corner at the Crashdown, and I am even sure River would have gone there for a job if he had wanted too, because of the history there… she told herself.
Still… “Wow,” she said as it sunk in. “Do they know you know?”
“Probably not,” Max sighed. “And it sounds like he is a bartender.”
“Wow, that is some balls” Michael said with a smile. “I wish I thought of that back in our day.”
“You were way too young,” Isabel commented of Michael’s need to be emancipated at sixteen, “And you were already being watched, I do not know if you could have pulled it off.”
“But still,” Michael thought. “It would have been good for a laugh or two,” he smiled. “So, what are you going to do about your newfound information?”
“What should I do?” Max asked.
“Ignore it,” Michael advised. “As long as he’s not getting into trouble, it’s the fault of this establishment that hired him, but River is a good kid and I would not worry,
now if it was my own son, then I would have cause to worry.”
“Because he’s exactly like you,” Isabel muttered.
“In some ways,” Michael commented. “In other ways he is actually like his mother but he’s young and he feels like he’s invincible, and that means he’s open to any challenge out there…”
“Pot meets kettle,” Isabel smiled.
“Yeah, I know” Michael said. “All we want for our kids is to be happy, and I am sure you do not have to worry about River” he allowed. “River knows how to handle himself,” he thought. “I will be right back; I need to check on this text message that I got.”
Max and Isabel nodded.
“I guess if you have something to say, then here is your time to say it, because there is your son” Isabel said as she saw through the crowds of the busy bar, her nephew walking in,
solo.
“Perfect,” Max said as he took a big gulp of the beer in front of him. “What do I say?”
“That is up to you,” Isabel said softly. “He’s trying to be responsible. He is not looking to ignore his responsibilities. Same with Mac. But this is probably a more problematic job although he probably would be the best to handle the unruly,” she said softly.
We know how to handle those who get out of line.
“That is true,” Max said getting up. “I guess I better show that I am here.”
“Oh, he will know it” Isabel smiled as she watched as her brother walked up to his first born, and River’s smile as he was talking to a co-worker’s turn into a frown. “Dad?”
“River, imagine my surprise in finding out you were working here?” Max asked.
“Yeah, I am sure it would be?” River muttered, unsure of what to say.