Chapter 25

Wes

“I don’t think that live event unfolded the way anyone foresaw it,” Clark casually claims at the same time he places a dish full of couscous in the middle of their kitchen table. “Self-included.”

“You honestly had no idea that Monica wasn’t his sister?” J.T. investigates from the other side of the table. “Like… none ?”

“That’s not what he said,” Lauren reprimands while placing a tray of lemon roasted broccoli with pine nuts close to the center.

My best friend’s eyebrows instantly dart down in consternation. “Is it not?”

“How have your listening skills gotten worse over time?” Clark scolds, playfulness dancing through his tone.

“I’m inclined to blame Uhura,” he swiftly sells out the woman at my side.

“And I’m inclined to kick you off my ship.”

“Your mom’s ship.” His taunting gets us both laughing. “You are not the captain here.”

“Like I’ve said before,” Lauren sweetly interjects, the brown sugar glazed plate of salmon joining the other food on the table, “it’s best that I only had one.”

“Because one was just enough.”

“Or more than enough,” pokes J.T. around another laugh.

“You are this close ,” Bryn demonstrates on her fingers, “to getting a shitty uncle nickname.”

More snickers reverberate around their rustic cottage home prior to Clark placing a kind hand on my shoulder. “How are you doing with everything?”

The temptation to lie is short courtesy of a stern stare I know better than to disregard. “I’m ambivalent.”

He shifts his body into the head of the table seat to my right. “Why?”

“Part of me is grateful to know that my father didn’t hide my actual sibling from me, yet the other part of me hates that in a way he still did. That he hid so much from us both. That both of our parents – Monica’s mom and my father – weren’t honest. ” Bryn’s hand lands on my thigh and mine drops to cradle it. “I think we have a weird Batman and Joker like camaraderie built from not knowing of their relationship when they were alive and not having enough answers to satisfy our curiosities; however, I feel guilty for still wanting more information. For hating that there are unfilled gaps that will probably never be filled.”

“Weston,” my mother-in-law in the making unexpectedly calls out as she settles into her seat opposite her husband, “do you know what a parable is?”

“A made-up story to teach a moral lesson.”

“I told them often to you when you were a boy,” Clark fondly chimes in.

“Bryn was never a fan of listening to me tell a story-”

“Not when Star Trek did it better,” mumbles my fiancée between scoops of side dishes.

“However, I am hoping now that I’m going to be a grandma-”

“Have we settled on grandma?” she asks on a casual point. “Have we considered g-ma? Or Gigi? Or Gam Gam? Or maybe even something way off script like Roz?”

“Homage to Helena Rozhenko?” J.T. asks without missing a beat. “Worf’s mom? The saint of a woman who raised a Klingon child?”

“ Exactly! ” exclaims Bryn, accidentally flinging tiny pieces everywhere.

“Okay, no,” Lauren denies with an open palm, “we won’t be calling me that.”

It’s impossible to bat away my smirk when the woman at my side dramatically rolls her entire head.

“Like I was saying…” finding my gaze occurs again, “now that I’m going to be a grandma, I hope that I finally get the opportunity to weave such tales.”

Touched by the idea, I softly smile. “I have no doubt that you will.”

“There’s one in particular that I think you might like to hear.”

A small twitch of befuddlement is presented.

“And it’s one I know Clark would love to help me tell. ”

Additional confusion cuts through my glare.

“Once upon a time, there was a noble and mighty king, beloved by many, who had been bitten by the Golden Bug very early in his life…” he begins, clearly having planned this entire moment. “The bite was big and nasty and often turned him into a cold, cruel, and uncaring king.”

“Like an anti-Spiderman,” J.T. interjects.

“A king that sought ruthless ways to acquire riches upon riches and conquer kingdoms upon kingdoms,” emphasizes Lauren.

“Like a dick,” my better half murmurs under her breath before sliding a salmon fillet onto my plate.

“This king wanted an heir. In fact, he told his queen, that it was the only thing he really wanted, that all the riches in the world would be dull in comparison, that they wouldn’t matter nearly as much as they did once he had one, yet after she bore him his son, his greedy ways still continued,” Clark proceeds, attention fixated on me.

“So, a dick and a liar,” grumbles Bryn between sucks of her sticky fingers.

“The king spent ludicrous amounts on extravagant clothing for the queen that she did not want. The king also insisted every night be accompanied with the most expensive food and music and alcohol that he could find,” Lauren illustrates further.

“His drinking made all of his Golden Bug symptoms worse . Much, much worse.” Clark’s eyebrows soar to the ceiling, and I thoughtlessly sink into my seat. “Most of the kingdom – outside his queen and his faithful royal adviser – had no idea about the ongoing war he faced with the bottle, but it was real . It was as strong if not stronger than any adversary he had sent his men to face in battle.”

Bryn and J.T. join me in leaning closer to him.

Into the tale.

“As the young prince began to grow up,” my Head of Household shifts the reins back to her, “the beautiful queen often feared for his life because of the Golden Bug bitten king’s drinking. And then one dark and stormy night, her worst fear came true.”

“ How? ” whispers her daughter.

“During dinner, the king grabbed the young prince’s wrist so roughly for refusing to eat his peas that it almost snapped.”

Gasps from the other guests aren’t surprising.

And what’s even less surprising is vaguely remembering that moment.

Or something like that moment.

Was it peas?

Why is there a niggling in the back of mind that it was a different vegetable?

Asparagus, maybe?

“The queen knew – she knew – she had to do whatever it took to protect her only son,” Lauren proceeds, “so, she gave the dreaded king a no-win choice before bed.”

“A Kobayashi Maru!” squawk the Star Trek twins at the table.

“When morning came, he could leave or she would,” finishes the woman I have no doubt knows more about parts of my upbringing than I do.

They gasp again, yet I let my gaze drift to Clark.

Focus on what he’s going to say.

“The next day the heartbroken king made the sober decision not to rip his child and wife away from the palace so long as she promised that after enough time had passed, they would talk. Attempt to reconcile. He didn’t wanna lose her forever.” A wistful glance in the distance is taken. “The queen reluctantly agreed and off he went.”

“I get it,” Bryn quietly concurs on a mouthful of couscous.

She does.

And I hate that she does.

I also hate how much my father and I have in common.

It’s haunting.

“Thankfully, it didn’t take the sad king long to realize how sick he truly was, nor did it take him long to set off on a magical quest for a cure.” Clark mindlessly fiddles with the fork beside his plate. “That quest led him to buy a small home in a very poor village where he knew he could completely heal. He went to extreme lengths to keep the kingdom from knowing why he had momentarily stepped away from his throne and continued pretending that everything was as perfect as ever. The very sick king knew that he couldn’t defeat the poison in his system all alone and hired help , which included a young, homeless woman who had recently become pregnant.”

“ Oh, shit, ” escapes without my consent.

“The two quickly built a beautiful friendship,” Lauren exclaims, voice flooded with hope and cheer. “She helped keep him sober and far, far away from the poison that made his bug bite worse, and he helped keep her healthy. He had the local doctor tend to her pregnancy in private as to not start new rumors about her in the village. He kept her fed. Loved. And in return she reminded him of the man he was before he had been bitten by the Golden Bug.”

“Eventually, their relationship turned into something more than just friendship.” My father’s best friend tilts his head pensively to one side. “However, shortly after the village woman gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, the king realized something very important. He longed for his own child. The one who bared his name .”

“The one he had with the queen. His. Queen. ”

“The one he had big dreams of ruling the kingdom with passion and purpose.” He leans himself back in his seat. “It was at that moment that he realized it wasn’t the young village woman he was in love with, but the queen . He came to the conclusion that the woman he had spent months caring for, who had spent months helping him get past the sickness from the Golden Bug and other poisons, was nothing more than an angel sent to assist him in finding his way home.”

“So,” Lauren excitedly takes over yet again, “the king left the angel with promises to thank her however he could. Upon his return to the palace and reconciliation with the queen – who had missed him more than words could say – there was a royal decree for the household to never speak about that time or what they knew.”

That’s the legal document Clark signed.

“The king and the queen also came to an agreement to give the young angel – that they both felt indebted to for bringing them back together – all the riches she could ever want or need for her and her child for what remained of her life. Her thanks to them was her life-long silence about the king’s difficult journey back to his queen and keeping them informed of whenever someone went searching for answers that were not theirs to have.”

Monica’s mother didn’t have to stay silent?

She actively chose to be?

To hide their relationship?

To contribute to having that whole town erase the evidence?

“I love that all the women in this story are badass,” Bryn announces on a bite of fish. “ That’s my kind of women empowerment shit.”

“After the king and the queen were together again, the entire kingdom changed,” Clark resumes speaking. “The king spent more time with his heir and his queen. He allowed for his riches to continue to grow plentiful yet made it his mission to give back to the towns he reigned over. He became known as a great and kind king, loved and adored by many rather than simply feared. He along with his trusted royal adviser and the queen, went to great lengths to protect the young heir from ever getting bitten by the Golden Bug. The king – in particular – didn’t want him to suffer through the same fate he had endured.” He braces his bent arms on the table. Leans forward. “He wanted more for his son, but not in the financial aspect. The king didn’t want greed or alcohol to lead the heir astray as it had once led him. He wanted the prince to be a better man than he was. He wanted him to keep his eyes on making the kingdom better for all rather than getting wrapped up in keeping it better for just himself .”

“And the young heir did just that,” Lauren lovingly adds, finally dragging over the tray of vegetables. “He created a wonderful kingdom for all those in his realm, fell in love with a strong – albeit mouthy – princess, and lived happily ever after, which is all the king and queen truly wanted for their only child.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a princess speaking her mind,” Bryn sasses at her mom. “ We both know that. ”

Laughter circles the table alongside the containers of food as the truth of the tale properly settles in.

I am the king’s heir.

I am following in his footsteps.

I am living the life he wanted me to lead in spite of his absence.

No.

He wasn’t perfect.

He made mistakes.

Many of the same mistakes that I’ve now made; however, he pushed on.

For himself.

For my mother.

For me.

I, too, will progress forward.

For me.

For them.

For Bryn.

And for my own heir that I can’t wait to meet.

***