5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Lennon
Igive my uncle a smile as I open the door for him a few days after the girls headed home after their stay with me.
To say it had been bittersweet watching them leave would be an understatement.
I wanted nothing more than to get on that plane with them and head to Vadena, but alas, reality is a cunt.
“Hello, niece,” Brett says, giving me a bright smile as he heads into my kitchen like he has every other time he’s visited.
He doesn’t hover awkwardly by the front door waiting to be invited in, he simply makes himself comfortable, crossing the room with an easy familiarity that catches me off guard.
“Uncle,” I reply with a smile. One I don’t think I’ve worn for the longest time.
It has been surprisingly nice getting to know Brett in the months since that game where he demanded to see me.
I had been cautious at the beginning. I didn’t trust him or his intentions.
When people pop into your life the way he did, the possibility of their intentions being questionable is high.
Especially after everything Patrick taught me about putting blind faith in the people who claim to care about you.
Part of me now wonders if this was his way of warning me what he had done.
His guilty conscience rising to the surface of his philosophical parenting skills.
As much as I hate recalling any of it, it’s the only parenting I’ve known.
Still, I let my walls come down, brick by reluctant brick.
It wasn’t quick, and it certainly wasn’t easy, but somewhere between the awkward coffees, shared stories, and the occasional unsolicited life advice, Brett stopped feeling like a stranger who happened to share my blood, and started feeling like family.
Through him, I got to know my parents. Or at least, the versions of them that still lived on in his memories.
Thanks to Brett, I have photos of them now.
I find myself hanging onto every story, every little detail handed to me like a lifeline.
This is more than just a journey of learning where I came from.
Part of me thinks that through learning who they are, I’ll find pieces of myself in them somewhere.
Maybe I’ll learn that I’m not just the result of the man who destroyed them.
I want to know everything. What they liked.
What they didn’t like. If they were in love as they look in the pictures.
I’ve never seen anyone look at another quite like my fathers looked at my mother.
Part of me hopes that through them, I could find that too.
Not because I’m all of a sudden interested in finding a pack.
After everything with Ars Mortis, I think I’m comfortable right here on my own.
But I won’t lie and say that I don’t think about it sometimes.
Finding someone or someones that treat me the way I deserve to be treated.
Just like my mother did. If that’s even in the cards for me who knows?
“How have you been? I hope that place is treating you well.” I watch as he settles on one of the chairs at my dining table, loosening his tie a little as I grab two sodas from the fridge.
Being a businessman himself, he knows firsthand what it’s like for Omegas like me in the corporate world.
I appreciate his concern, but he’s learned by now that I know how to hold my own.
Still, it’s nice to know that there’s someone who genuinely gives a damn how I’m treated.
Especially after being the one to break the news to me that changed my life forever.
I shoot him a look over my shoulder that hopefully conveys ‘I got this’, before grabbing a glass each from the kitchen cupboard, and walking over to sit in the chair opposite him.
“You said you wanted to see me?” I ask, dreading that something else might have popped up because my luck meter has a personal vendetta against me, I swear.
Brett nods, the corner of his lips tilting into a gracious smile as I set the glass of soda on a coaster before him.
“Yes. I got a call the other day from the lawyers that handled your parents’ estate. Now that they know of your existence, they want you to sign some paperwork so they can begin processing your inheritance and organizing a transfer.”
I nod, eyeing the folder sitting in front of him. “Of course.”
Pulling a pen off the folder, Brett begins flicking through the documents, finding the signature lines that have been marked with yellow tabs.
He slides the folder towards me, already expecting me to sign.
I reach over and take the pen, hovering over the papers before me, but I hesitate, my eyes rolling over the information on the page.
This will have to wait for another day. There’s way too much here to go over, and I want to get a thorough read through first to ensure everything on their end is correct.
You’d be surprised how many lawyers make even the smallest error that could potentially cause years of back and forth I cannot afford.
I turn to face my uncle, his eyes curious as he takes a sip of his soda. “Thank you so much for everything, truly. I appreciate just how there you’ve been for me through all of this. I’ll read everything over and send them through to the lawyers, including yourself, once I’ve signed them. ”
Brett’s eyebrows pull together in confusion, though the expression is fleeting.
“It’s just confirmation of inheritance documents, nothing more.”
I nod, even as I close the document folder.
“Of course. I just want to read them over. Make sure there aren’t any administrative errors and all that.
” I smile, shrugging a little. “You never stop being a lawyer, you know,” I say jokingly, because it’s true.
I’ve learned what not to do simply by watching others in the game.
But also, I’ve made some mistakes too. Ones I sure as hell won’t make twice.
Out of habit, I won’t even throw away a damn post-it note. Everything is a legal document to me.
Brett chuckles, the sound warm as he shakes his head. He knows first hand what lawyers are like. He’s spent enough years negotiating contracts and sitting across boardroom tables from them to appreciate just how painfully meticulous they can be.
I’ve learned a lot about him over the past few months. He owns multiple multi-million dollar companies in cities all over the country. He’s smart, that’s for sure. Calculated. Patient. The kind of man who never makes a decision without thinking five steps ahead.
Maybe that’s where I get it from.
It’s a comforting thought.
Hockey had been my passion, but law had felt like something so much more to me.
A calling. A way to stand between horrible people and those far too innocent and vulnerable to realize they’re being exploited.
To fight against injustice in a world built on corruption.
To force people to answer for the damage they leave behind.
“You are so much like your father, Glen, you know. He was such a stickler for the rules. Every single document was analyzed with a fine tooth comb. Nothing got past him. That’s what made him so great on the ice.
Everyone wanted him. There wasn’t a day that went by where he wasn’t poached by other teams.”
I smile to myself, fighting the feeling in my chest from finding its way onto my face. Knowing I share even the smallest piece of the man who helped bring me into this world feels...achingly beautiful. A long, quiet moment passes between us, before I finally say, “I wish I could have met them.”
Brett nods solemnly. “They loved you, Lennon. I hope you know that. They would be so proud of the woman you are today.”
I will myself to not get emotional. I’ve already shed far too many tears these past weeks, allowing myself to heal after everything that happened.
“Thanks, Brett.”
He rolls his eyes, but I mean it. Yes, I have Bronte and Veronica, and words will never be enough to explain how much they mean to me.
I’ve handled most things alone over the years, only having Patrick to turn to, but they’ve singlehandedly refused to leave me to deal with life on my own since leaving Vadena.
But it’s nice to know that I at least have one family member around, someone who knew my parents.
In a way, it’s helping me feel closer to them.
“That’s what uncles are for, you know?”
Uncles.
Even with Patrick around, I’d never known any other family.
I’d never questioned it, either, which I suppose he’d have never told me the truth anyway.
Other than observing others, I don’t know what having an uncle or any other family is supposed to be like.
The idea has me smiling. My inner child is feeling a lot less lonely.
“That’s better. Smile, Lennon.” Brett chuckles before giving me an affectionate tap on the shoulder.
“Anyways, I have an appointment I need to get to.” He shifts his gaze from me to the files on the table before me.
“You’ll get them back to me as soon as you can, won’t you?
The lawyers are already hassling me. Everything’s a damn deadline these days, you know how it is. ”
“You got it.”
The front door clicks shut behind him, the sound echoing through the apartment far louder than it should. Silence settles over the room once more, only this time, it doesn’t feel quite so empty. My gaze drifts to the stack of papers waiting for me.
Inheritance.
It’s a strange word to me now. Inheritance has been the topic of most conversations since Patrick passed.
I don’t find myself wondering how much any of it is.
Truthfully, simply hearing stories about my birth parents has already given me more than money ever could.
No amount of wealth could buy what I really want.
To bring them back. To know them the way my heart aches to know them.
I would trade every dollar for the chance to hear their voices just once. To know what it felt like to be loved by them instead of simply being told that I was.
I’d rather have one ordinary memory than an extraordinary fortune.
Some losses don’t have a price tag. They have a lifetime. And I’ve lost enough this year to last me one.