Summer's End Ch. 05

Instinctively, Brandon drew Emma into him as the full weight of his father's words came crashing down upon them. It was useless to deny the obvious, and neither Brandon nor Emma even tried. Their mother was directly behind her husband, and she began to weep when she saw her children together in bed. "I suspected as much," she moaned through her tears.

"It appears you were right," Bruce sighed. He turned his attention to his only son. "Get up."

And Brandon did. In all his naked glory he stood up and faced his parents.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" his father barked.

"I love Emma," he stated, plainly and simply.

"You love Emma," Bruce repeated. "You love her and you've fucked her?" His anger was beginning to get the better of him. "She's your sister, godammit!"

"We're in love and we want to be together. Don't ask how it happened because I can't answer that." Naively Brandon thought that maybe they would understand, but when his dad looked at him like he'd lost his mind, Brandon knew he'd never win. They would never understand.

"You love her and you want to be together. That's impossible. You're brother and sister. It just doesn't happen."

Emma spoke up for the first time. "But Daddy, please," she begged, as if it would help or change anything.

"Go to your own room, Emma. Margaret, take her in there and make sure she stays put," Bruce ordered his wife.

Emma protested loudly. "No! I won't leave Brandon!"

Before their father could turn on her, Brandon spoke quietly to Emma. "Go on, Em. It's okay. Please? Just go on. We'll talk later." He pulled the sheet off his bed and wrapped it around his sister's naked body.

Bruce watched the tender way Brandon spoke to Emma, the way he lovingly wrapped the sheet around her nakedness, and his heart broke for them. But he steeled his spine, determined not to give in.

"Put some clothes on and get your things together. I'm calling you a cab."

"But Dad, I—" Brandon tried to plead. He wanted to explain, or at least try to, but his father would hear none of it.

"Enough, Brandon." Bruce was so angry he could barely form the words. "Do not speak to me right now. Just get your things together and be downstairs before the cab gets here. And whatever you do, donot try to see Emma. One call to the police is all it will take." Bruce held up a finger. "One call. Do you hear me? I can have you both arrested for committing incest."

Brandon swallowed hard and nodded. He refused to give into the tears that were pricking his eyes, even as his heart was breaking. Emma. He would never see her again. What would he do without her? An overwhelming feeling of panic threatened to undo him, but he held it in check.

Slowly he drew on his underwear and the discarded jeans and shirt he'd worn to dinner the night before. As he turned to leave his bedroom for what he figured would be the last time, he spied Emma's night shirt peeking out from beneath the comforter. On impulse he took it and stuffed it into the side pocket of his suitcase.

True to his word Bruce called a cab for his son's ride to the train station. As the vehicle backed down the driveway, Brandon fixed his eyes on Emma's bedroom window. At that moment the shade flew up and Emma was there. The light was on in her room and he could see her perfectly. The image that was burned into his brain would come to haunt him for many a night.

***

For Emma, the days and nights were equally painful. Since the night her parents had discovered her and Brandon, she had to contend with silent stares and mournful sighs from her mother. Whenever she tried to bring up Brandon to her father, he would cut her off, until one Saturday in late October, when Brandon had been gone nearly two full months, she blew.

"We're adults! Brandon and I should be allowed to make our own decision about this." She couldn't resist a dig. "At least he'll be home for Christmas." That was the one thing that kept her going through it all, the knowledge that Brandon would be home for the holiday. But her father crushed that slim thread of happiness.

"Not under my roof," Bruce bellowed. "My house, my rules. And anyway, Emma, your brother has decided to not come home for a few years in order to put some distance between you two." He eyed his daughter carefully. "It's for the best, anyway, that you not see or speak to him. No visits, no calls, no e-mails. He doesn't want them." It was the exact same lie he'd told his son about Emma two weeks ago when Brandon had called, begging to speak to his sister. Bruce had told him that Emma decided to move on and didn't want any contact from her brother for a while.

Emma gasped. "That's not true!"

"I'm afraid so, Emma. Leave your brother alone to concentrate on his studies and allow him to move on with his life. I suggest you do the same. You'll feel differently about each other in a few years. You'll see this was all a mistake. A horrible, sick mistake."

***

Emma didn't know where to go or what to do. Her dad had just told her that Brandon didn't want anything to do with her. How could her brother feel that way after everything they'd gone through? She grabbed the keys to Brandon's car and jumped in and took off down the road, with no thought as to her destination. To her surprise she found herself on the highway hurtling northward, heading straight for the cottage.

It was exactly as she and Brandon had left it two months ago. She entered through the squeaky screen door, letting it bang shut behind her. Immediately she felt Brandon's presence and was comforted by it. He was everywhere she looked: sitting on the couch in front of the stone fireplace, perched on a stool at the island that separated the kitchen from the living room. Everywhere. She made her way out to the sleeping porch, to his bed, and sat down. His sheets were still there. She leaned down and sniffed the pillow. It smelled faintly of him. She picked it up and cradled it to her and she cried. For hours she sat there, crying on and off, thinking of her older brother and the summer they had shared.

A voice startled her. Someone, a man, was calling Brandon's name. Emma looked out to see Adam approaching. She flew out the door and into his arms, nearly knocking him down.

"Hey, hey, easy there, Em. What are you guys doing here? Where's Brandon? Isn't he in Chicago?" Adam had seen Brandon's car in the drive and came down to see his old friend.

Emma incoherently babbled for several minutes. Adam continued to hold her while he patiently waited for her to calm down, then took her by the hand and led her into the cottage. "Okay, Emmie, tell me again what's going on."

They sat on the couch in front of the cold fireplace, where she told him what had happened with Brandon and their parents. Adam had found out about her and Brandon over the summer and while he was stunned, he had remained true to his longtime friends.

Emma wiped her eyes and smiled at him. "I'm so glad you're here. Why are you here, anyway? You guys closing up the cottage?"

"Yeah, that's it for another year." Adam reached over and tucked a lock of Emma's hair behind her ear. "It was quite the summer, huh?"

Emma grinned in spite of herself. "Yeah. God, Adam, I miss him so much."

"So go to him."

"Didn't you hear me? He doesn't want to hear from me or see me."

"Do you really think that's true?"

"My dad told me so."

Adam was silent, but he raised an eyebrow in question.

Emma turned to look at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? Adam, c'mon."

Adam sighed. He was going to have to call Emma's dad a liar. "He's lying to you, Em. No way in hell would Brandon do that. That's not his style. C'mon, he's your brother. You know him better than any of us. Brandon doesn't run, and he doesn't hide. He wouldn't cut you off. And if he did want to, he'd find a way to do it to your face."

Adam could see Emma still had her doubts. "Remember when I caught the two of you doing it in the lake?" he grinned.

Emma blushed and rolled her eyes. "As if I could forget."

"Your brother didn't try to avoid me or skirt my questions. Remember? He faced me and we beat the shit out of each other."

Emma laughed at the memory and she knew Adam was right. Brandon wouldn't do that to her. She knew in her heart that he wouldn't. She couldn't face the fact that her father had lied to her, not yet. But she made a decision.

"Will you call him?" Adam asked gently.

"No. I'm going to Chicago."

"Want me to come with you?"

"Thanks, Adam, but I can do it."

"I know you can. Be brave." Adam reached out and brushed her cheek.

Adam's concern touched her. She smiled. "I will be, but I've got a stop to make first."

***

"Hi Nana," Emma smiled in greeting as her elderly grandmother swung the door open.

"Emma, dear, what a lovely surprise. Come in, come in." Ruth stepped aside and ushered in her beloved granddaughter. She knew that, finally, the time had come.

***

It was a bleary-eyed Brandon that made his way to the door. He'd been studying, or trying to, when his ears caught the faint tapping. The past two months without Emma had taken its toll, as had the knowledge of what their actions had cost the entire family. Guilt weighed heavily on his broad shoulders, but he accepted it as his penance, as he accepted his banishment for the next four years.

That particular phone call to his father had been devastating to him. The thought of not seeing Emma for four years nearly drove him to his knees. He would've done anything to see her, but their father had said Emma didn't want anything to do with him, that she was trying to move on, and so Brandon respected her decision. He didn't call or write or e-mail her. He allowed her to move on with her life.

That was why he did a double take when he opened the door and saw his little sister standing there. He blinked once, twice. He heard a familiar hiss and looked down to see Emma's beloved tabby cat, Scooter, angrily staring up at him through the bars of his carrying cage.

"Emma? What..." Brandon didn't know what to say. At a loss for words he simply stared down at her, not daring to believe she was really there.

Like a dam bursting, Emma spoke up. "I had to come, Brandon. Please don't be angry. Daddy said you didn't want me here, that I had to stay away and you didn't want to come home for a few years so we could put distance between us, but I had to, Brandon. I just had to. If you really don't want me, tell me now, tell me to my face." Tears began to roll down Emma's cheeks and she brushed them away with an impatient hand.

"What?" Brandon looked around and didn't see anyone. "Get in here." He grabbed Scooter and Emma's one bag. Emma followed. He set them both down and shut the door behind her. "First of all, come here little sister." He opened his arms and Emma literally fell into them. "I've missed you so much. I think we've got some talking to do."

It didn't take long for the siblings to figure out what had happened. They knew their dad had done what he considered to be the best for everyone, but it still hurt them both to know they'd been deceived.

"We did our own share of deceiving, Emma," Brandon reminded her when she expressed outrage over the deception. "And we hurt Mom and Dad. Do they even know you're here?"

"Nana knows. And she's also known about us since summer." Emma related to her brother what Ruth had told her.

"Oh my God, are you kidding me?"

Emma shook her head. "She loved him, too, and she gave him up. Their parents discovered them."

"Uncle Hank died in the second world war..." Brandon trailed off as the realization hit him. "He enlisted in the Army after they were found out?" A nod from Emma confirmed his thought process about their great uncle, their grandmother's older brother. "And then he was sent to Europe and was killed over there."

"Nana never saw him again."

"Christ, Em." Brandon raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. He could hardly believe the similarities in the two different sets of lives, lives separated by more than a generation.

"I'll never give you up, Brandon. Never. I want to stay here with you if you'll have me. And Scooter, too, of course." Emma reached down and unlatched the cat carrier.

Brandon eyed his sister carefully. "Seriously, Emma? Are you sure?" It was beyond his wildest dream to think Emma wanted to be with him. He knew how she felt about him. He knew she loved him, but to potentially give up everything to be with him? He was floored.

"As sure as I've ever been about anything, Brandon."

There were complications to work out, to be sure. They could be found out even in the relative anonymity of the University of Chicago where Brandon was just another law student. They still didn't know what the future held for them, if their parents would ever forgive them or not. But they both knew they couldn't suffer the same fate as their grandmother and their great uncle had. A true love lost forever.

Their reunion in Brandon's tiny bedroom that night was full of passion. They were hesitant at first, exploring each other's bodies all over again, as if it was their first time. And Emma cried when her brother gently pushed inside and began to make slow, sweet love to her. She couldn't help it. She'd thought they would never be together again, would never be able to express their love, and when she finally realized that they were destined to be together no matter what, it was like the sun bursting forth and the dawning of a new day.

***

"Look what came today, Bran," Emma said to her brother as she waved a piece of paper in his face.

"If you'd stop waving it around I'd be able to tell what it is," he laughed and grabbed it from her. As he quickly scanned the short note, his heart began to pound. "I can't believe it." Nearly a full year had passed with no contact. He looked up at his sister.

"Do we go?" she asked hesitantly, hoping he'd say yes.

Brandon slowly nodded. "I think we should."

***

Brandon and Emma sat on the couch in stunned silence as they listened to their parents. They'd arrived at the cottage after a tense five hour drive not knowing what to expect.

"We hope you both can find it in your hearts to forgive us," Margaret whispered.

The siblings looked at each other and, without words, stood and embraced their mom and dad.

"Of course we forgive you," Emma insisted. "And we're so sorry for the hurt we've caused, but can you accept Brandon and I the way we are?"

"You're our children and we love you, no matter the circumstances," Bruce managed to choke out from his son's embrace. "We were wrong, so very, very wrong, to send you away the way we did," he told his son, and then turned to Emma. "And I'm sorry I lied to you both to keep you apart. I thought at the time it was the right thing to do. I was so wrong."

It had been a torturous year for all and rebuilding their fractured relationship wouldn't be easy, but Bruce and Margaret knew it was up to them to reach out to their children. They had penned the short note to their kids with the hope that Brandon and Emma would accept their gesture and come to see them. Their efforts had been rewarded in a way greater than they had imagined.

With love and understanding, they were determined to overcome.

The End

Thank you to all who stuck with me through the long process of writing this story. When I started it I didn't think it would take me eighteen months! And thank you for all of your feedback, it really means a lot.