Princess Ch. 05

She recoiled when I used to term hate. She took my hand and began to speak.

"Your father has always had a high sex drive. A year or so after you were born I found out that he was having an affair with one of the tellers at the bank. I kicked him out of the house and talked to an attorney about a divorce. My mother and father tried to talk me out of leaving Herb, and his parents disowned him"

"We were separated for six months. During that time I met a man and dated him a few times. One night while he and I were out I ran into Herb. We talked for quite some time and agreed to talk again the following day. The next day I talked to Herb and we made a plan to get back together. I told him though that I was going to see the other man a few times more and might sleep with him to make a point."

"The night before Herb and I got back together, I slept with the man. Herb moved back in with me the next day, and we had three days of make up sex. Six weeks later we discovered that I was pregnant. At that time I confessed to Herb that I had slept with the other man before we got back together and therefore wasn't entirely sure whose baby I was carrying. Herb was livid, but I threatened to kick him out again, and reminded him that he was sleeping with tellers for a year and I had only been with this guy once."

"He was so sure that the baby was the other guy's and hated him from the start. Herb demanded we get a paternity test as soon as the baby was born. If it was proved to be Herb's nothing would change. If it was the other guy's he would expect some sort of financial support from him."

"Your brother was born and had blood drawn and a DNA swab before he was ten minutes old. Herb was convinced that the baby didn't look like him. Everyone said he looked just like me. Anyway, herb was so mad that he couldn't tell right away that he made me name the baby after the man I had slept with. Steven Randall."

"Herb called my folks shortly after Steven was born and told them I'd had the baby. He also proceeded to tell them that he didn't think it was his and he had doubts as to our marriage. My parents quit speaking to me at that point. The tests came back and proved Herb to be Steven's father, but he'd already made his mind up that he didn't love the boy."

"My parents never warmed to Steven either. They were sure that Herb and I lied to them about the paternity test results. Plus my mother had this thing with the number three. Since Steven was number four in our family he was cast aside. Pressure from Herb and mom made me shun my son. Your father got so mad when you would be nice to Steve. Eventually he made you just like the rest of us. He even threatened to sell my piano if I didn't quit teaching Steven to play. I sent him to Helen Martinelli and she brought the music out of his heart"

"Herb was so against Steve having any happiness that he refused to allow Karen and Frank to have him. I wanted them to take him if only because they'd show him the love he so deserved. I knew that Karen would take him to visit his parents when she'd have him for vacations. Your father felt he'd been stabbed in the back when we got to their house at Christmas and saw all of the pictures of Steven on their walls. I don't know what he'd say if he knew I have pictures of him on my desk at work."

"I was secretly happy that you and Steven had patched things up between you. I was devastated however, when Steve moved out of our house. I was planning on divorcing Herb if I had to, and trying to revive my relationship with Steven. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't live with that man any more. I resent the fact I had force my son out of life to have peace with him."

I sat there and digested all she'd just said. "The saddest thing to me mother, is the fact that people that only knew Stevie for the past few years wept more at his death than you did. Even Jefferson Boyd spent a couple of nights in Denver waiting with us in the ICU for Stevie."

She started crying again. "I was so wrong. Please forgive me Maddie. I only pray that God forgives me and that Steven forgives me."

The Funeral

The family section at the funeral was full. Shelby and I sat together. She proudly wore the ring Stevie had bought her. George, Heidi and Brandi sat next to her. Jeff and Alison and Heather Boyd sat next to them. Aunt Karen and Uncle Frank sat with my Grandma and Grandpa Sheppard in the next row. Pam Reed and Kenny Calibrese also sat in the second row. Charley and Helen sat third row along with Gary's sister Gina and her kids. Her daughter Sam was inconsolable. She had definitely connected with Stevie.

About ten minutes before the funeral was supposed to start, Mom, Dad and Grandma and grandpa Murphy walked in. Mom came to me and asked where they could sit. I told her that she was welcome to sit with us, Herb and her parents could sit elsewhere.

The night before, Grandma Murphy had said that Shelby looked like a hooker and she could see why Steven had hooked up with her. I left Herb's house and stayed in Stevie's bed that night, after telling them just what I thought of their opinions.

When mom sat with us, Herb came up and tried to sit too. George stood and told him in no uncertain terms that this was the family section and he wasn't welcome. Charley grumbled a few four letter words behind us and Herb stormed off, yelling that it was bullshit that his son had died and he was being left out of things.

The service was nice. Many people got up and talked about Stevie and how he'd touched their lives. When the service was over, we all walked up and said our goodbyes. Herb rushed up and tried to join the family receiving line. Uncle Frank and Charley told him to either get back with the rest or leave. He threw a fit and tried to drag my mom out with him. Two of Chief Boyd's officers walked him out of the funeral home and admonished him not to come back.

As Heather walked past the coffin, she pinned her medal from the piano contest on Stevie. I cried as I realized that she loved Stevie as much as any of us did. As everyone filed past, there were over a hundred people there; they each thanked my mom for finally coming around.

Charlotte and Amanda walked by and hugged Shelby and I. "I am so sorry about all of this," said Amanda with tears streaming down her face. Charlotte said nothing. I could tell she was fighting not to bawl. She'd lost Tommy too, and knowing the pain Shelby and I were in made it harder on her. She could be a stone cold bitch, but she was more than empathetic to her friends.

Finally they ushered is out of the room while Vincenzo sealed Stevie's coffin. Then Gary, Craig, Mike, Don, Zeke and George carried the coffin into the hearse.

The graveside service and reception went off without a hitch. Everyone enjoyed the fellowship. Many stopped by to thank my mom for coming around. She tried to talk to everyone who'd paid for the funeral into allowing her to pay part. They told her to hang onto her money, and that they were more than happy to pay for Stevie's final resting place.

Five years later.

Five years ago I lost my brother for the second time in my life. It was still sad to me that it took him dying to get our mother back into his life. My mother left my father the night of the funeral. She moved into Stevie's house and shared it with Mike for several months. She lived in the basement where Stevie had lived, and I stayed with her when I went home.

Monday following the funeral, Robert Miller called Herb into his office. He explained to Herb that he was moving him to an auditor's position, because he had lost important customers due to my father's behavior at Stevie's funeral.

The morning after the funeral, Kenny Calibrese, Charley Martinelli and Vincenzo Carapace closed their accounts and moved to a competing bank. Several other people who'd been at the funeral did the same. When asked they all said that an asshole like Herb wasn't someone they wanted to be associated with. The only reason he didn't fire Herb, was the fact that Herb had always been an exemplary banker and he was an asset to the bank.

Mom and Herb got back together the following Christmas. He might not like it, but mom proudly displays several pictures of Stevie around the house. She doesn't speak to her parents anymore because they told her off for leaving Herb.

Today is Eater Sunday and I am sitting on the back patio at my parent's house, watching my daughter and Shelby's son run around the yard looking for hidden eggs. Mom dotes on my little girl and Herb can't get enough of her. I simply tell anyone who asks that her father died in a car wreck five years ago. Mom and Herb assume that Tommy was her father.

Stevie Randi Sheppard will be five in September. Mom thinks it's sweet I named her after my brother, Herb calls her angel. Shelby's son, Steven Randall Sheppard Jr. will be five in November. He is named after his father.

Shelby became pregnant the weekend of Valentine's Day. Mom loves the little boy as much as she should have loved her own son. Herb is nice to him, but he prefers Stevie. I often wonder what he would say if he knew that the granddaughter he adores so much, was fathered by the son he couldn't stand.

Fin.

A few notes.

I hope I have answered all questions now. I know not everyone will agree with me killing off Steve, but it was planned from day one. I tossed around many ideas why Herb and Dianne hated Steve, the one you read was the one I couldn't poke full of holes. Maddie getting pregnant was also an idea that I had early on in the story. When I hooked Shelby and Steve up, that threw a wrench into my plan. I fixed that with the whole revenge on Mark angle. I threw you a hint in Chapter 2 when I had Maddie on anti—biotics. I hope you all enjoyed this tale as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Saxon Hart